Sunday, July 19, 2020 at 9:30am

 

 Online Worship Logistics: 

• The online doors to our Zoom worship will open at 9:00am. 

• From 9am to 9:30am, the worship space will be open for folks to gather and get settled in. Our worship service will begin at 9:30am. 

•  Holy Communion will be a part of our online worship, so we encourage everyone to prepare by putting together your own communion set from whatever you have handy in your kitchens and pantries. Please have these items nearby and handy when you join us online.

Forgotten Books of the Bible Preaching Series: 

“Song of Songs” or “The Parental Guidance Suggested Edition”

 

Over the next two Sundays, the texts I will be preaching from come from the Old Testament book called Song of Songs. You may know it as Song of Solomon. It is an odd little book consisting of love songs that never mention God. Some scholars take the book at face value and appreciate its celebration of love, sexual desire, intimacy and beauty. Other scholars prefer to view the book as an allegory for the love between God and God’s people. Many, and I am certainly in this camp, wonder why it can’t be both.

 

I’m not going to lie, there are lines in this book that make me blush. I am not used to such sensual imagery showing up in scripture… so I blush, and get a little embarrassed. But along with the blushing and the little bit of embarrassment comes gratitude— gratitude that a little book in the Old Testament dares to says something about human bodies and sexuality that is something other than a list of restrictions and thou shalt nots. So, I invite you to join me in the blushing and the gratitude.

 

I am an avid podcast listener and one of my favorites is This American Life. As I began to dig in to Song of Songs, a line that host, Ira Glass, occasionally uses to introduce stories that might deserve a “Parental Guidance Suggested” rating came to mind: 

 

“A warning to listeners, 

there's nothing explicit or graphic in this story, 

but it does acknowledge the existence of sex.”

 

We’ve been warned.

Hope to see you this Sunday!

 

Pastor David

If you are curious, take a look at the outline of the summer preaching series, available via PDF here. 

What is RIC?

The Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program is for congregations, synods, colleges, seminaries, and other Lutheran organizations and ministry communities who have made a public commitment to welcome, include and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people. By having a statement affirming this welcome that specifically names either, "LGBTQIA+ people" or "people of all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions" in their statement, these faith communities are accepted into the Reconciling in Christ partnership with ReconcilingWorks. There are now around 886 RIC Partners throughout the United States and Canada.

 

Clunky Questions video: Why can’t church just say all are welcome and leave it at that?

https://youtu.be/KeJ8_umyMc0

 

RIC at Community of Christ Church

We have been meeting monthly for almost 2 years and we became a formal ChristChurch Committee approved by the council on January 9, 2019. We have attended trainings and workshops on how to become a welcoming RIC sanctioned church. We are putting forth a welcoming statement to the congregation to consider as we move forward on our journey as a congregation and as we continue to learn how to open our doors and our hearts to all people.

 

Why are we doing a welcoming statement?

It is important to develop a Welcoming Statement to show others that your faith community has publicly committed to living as a Welcoming faith community on a lifelong journey. This statement becomes a great tool to show visitors as well as members what you believe and how you intend to live it out. Each faith community will develop a statement that fits their community. Every faith community’s Welcome Statement is as diverse as they are.

Please read the statement after watching the Clunky Questions video. We will be sending out a straw poll regarding the welcoming statement to see if we are ready to move forward as a RIC partner. Please be looking for this poll in your next Faith News.

 

- Respectfully Submitted from your RIC Committee

 

Welcome Statement for Community of ChristChurch-July 2020

Community of ChristChurch is an open and affirming Christian community who lives in God’s love and grace. We strive to welcome and include all people because we believe God loves and welcomes all people. Regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, physical or mental ability, political stance or theological perspective or anything else that might divide us, you are welcome here.

 

What this means is:

 

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here:

If you are young or old, you are welcome

If you have brown skin, black skin, white skin, or any color of skin, you are welcome

If you are an immigrant or refugee, you are welcome here.

If you are married or single or partnered, separated or divorced, you are welcome

If you are gay or straight or queer, you are welcome

If you are transgender, you are welcome

If you are a man or a woman or non-binary, you are welcome

If you cannot hear or see or speak, you are welcome

If you are sick or well, you are welcome

If you are happy or sad, you are welcome

If you are rich or poor, powerful or weak, you are welcome

If you believe in God some of the time or none of the time or all of the time, you are welcome

 

You are welcome here.

Come with your gifts, your pain, your hope, your fears

Come with the traditions that have helped you and hurt you

Come with your experiences that have made you and broken you

Come with a mind ready to engage, and a heart open to discern

Come and listen for the Sacred Spirit that calls you to love your neighbor wholeheartedly, seek justice, create peace and practice compassion

You are welcome here!

Building Update 7.15.20

-The garage sale last Saturday was a huge success. After the sale, we only had a small amount of remaining items that were picked up by ChristChurch members and have been taken to various donation sites. It was fun to see everyone that day. Thank you to everyone who helped.

 

- Larry Wade has been taking carloads of surplus building materials and recycling to Habitat ReStore and Far West Recycling. He has also wrapped and cataloged the art that is going into storage so it will be well protected. His energy and attention to detail are greatly appreciated. Thank you Larry!

 

-The tech and worship teams have been hard at work organizing equipment and scanning music. The communion and baptism items have been carefully packed but will remain accessible while in storage.

 

-Rich Radford has been removing hardware from the walls to get them ready for spackling, digging up the sign in the front of the building (that was anchored in concrete), moving furniture, and building shelves in our storage unit. He has continued to work with the new owners to ensure a smooth hand-off at the end of the month.

-Rachael Jans and Pastor David are finalizing their plans for working remotely and packing up their offices.

-There are a few final pieces of office furniture to be sold. Jane Jackson is managing the listings for our sale and free items and is doing an amazing job!

 

-We have secured two storage units at Premier Storage which just down Cornelius Pass Road on Aloclek (near Winco and Kohl’s). We have hired movers to help us move our large pieces of furniture on Sunday afternoon!

 

We still need help with:
-Patch and smooth holes in the walls
-Scrape tape off the floors and stickers off windows in the spaces we use
-Vacuuming and sweeping floors after the wall-patching project has concluded

Please contact Chris Radford at chrisrad4d@gmail.com if you can help.   

 

-Chris Radford
Transition Coordinator

JULY 14 UPDATE FROM ELSA:

"I wanted to let the congregation know that if they had supplies to be donated to PERIOD, that they could email me and let me know, and just leave the supplies on their doorstep, and I would drive there and pick them up. Alternately, if they would like to order supplies online, they can have the package shipped to our house. Hopefully, this will make it easier to donate supplies."

===================================================
Throughout July ChristChurch is continuing our donations to the nonprofit organization PERIOD, whom we have helped in past years with donations of feminine hygiene products for care packages. PERIOD helps those who are in need of feminine hygiene products, and do not have access to them or cannot afford them. This is an issue in many countries across the world, but also in our own community.
 
This year especially, many people need help, and PERIOD has expressed the need for supplies other than exclusively feminine hygiene products, including:

Pandemic Emergency Economic Relief (PEER)

In the midst of this pandemic, many families who were already marginalized and pressured are now facing acute economic and food insecurity.  At the same time, most of us are feeling isolated and longing to act.  What if we could GROW connection during this time and ACT together to relieve pressure in our communities?

 

How it works:

ChristChurch has received a $500 matching gift grant from the Oregon Synod (ELCA). We are combining that with funds dollars from our benevolence fund and the pastor’s compassion fund for a total of $2,000. We will then buy grocery gift cards and deliver them to counselors at Evergreen Middle School, who will in turn get these grocery gift cards to families.

What can you do:

Help us double these funds by clicking on the PEER category in our online GIVE button so that we can purchase even more grocery gift cards to impact local families in need. 

Thank you to everyone that has already donated!
To date, we have received $1,200!

Even if you can not donate please feel free to share this opportunity with friends, family, and neighbors! It’s a wonderful opportunity to do good and connect more with our local schools. If you have questions about the program please contact Rachael Jans or Pastor David Eppelsheimer. 

Electronic Giving
Since we can't pass our offering basket during virtual worship, we encourage you to automate your giving. Electronic giving also offers an easy way to give on a recurring basis.

THANK YOU to everyone that has signed up!
We are so grateful for the response. 

Go to https://app.easytithe.com/App/Giving/comchristchurch and select the checkbox ‘Make this gift recurring’. You will then be walked through the steps for setting up an account with Easy Tithe.

Community of ChristChurch

This is Christ's church. There is a place for you here.

Mailing address:
 Community of ChristChurch

3300 NW 185th Ave #224
Portland, OR 97229

(503) 617-9526

Do you have an article or piece of news to share with the congregation? 
Submissions for Faith News are needed by 2pm on Wednesday afternoons via email. 

Pastor David Eppelsheimer: pastordavid@comchristchurch.org  
         

Administrative & Communications Coordinator, Rachael Jans

admin@comchristchurch.org

Prayer Requests: admin@comchristchurch.org