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Community of ChristChurch
Faith News Update for May 21, 2020
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Online Interactive Worship with Holy Communion
Sunday, May 24th at 9:30am
If prompted enter password: 080114 |
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Joining by phone:
If you are not able to join worship via your personal computer, tablet or smartphone you are welcome to join using your phone.
- Call this number: 1-669-900-6833
- Use the meeting ID: 669 927 281
- Enter password 080114
You will find yourself in our Zoom worship space. |
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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. Be creative! For instance, the cup could be wine, juice, water, etc. The bread could be actual bread, a cracker, a tortilla, tortilla chip, etc. Please have these items nearby and handy when you join us online.
Easter Season Theme: COVID Conversations
During this Easter Season, we are having a series of conversations during virtual worship to help us to place ourselves in a larger community context, as we shelter in place and worship from home.
This week for our COVID Conversation during worship we welcome the Rev. Julie Smith. Rev. Julie is an Episcopal priest and serves as the Spiritual Care Director for OHSU Tuality Healthcare here in Hillsboro.
I look forward to seeing you in worship this Sunday!
God’s peace,
Pastor David
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FINAL One Coin Found
Book Study
We will wrap up our One Coin Found book conversation online using
Zoom this Sunday.
We will be discussing chapter 10: Found.
We have invited Beth Russell, Vice Chair of the Westside Queer Resource Center board, to join us for this final discussion.
Beth just recently read the book (from cover to cover in one sitting!) and has offered to share her perspective of author Emmy Kegler's story as a Christian and as a member of the queer community.
https://zoom.us/j/99148154087?pwd=ajIxZkZqYmIvclBwVHFYRmhQSnV2QT09
Meeting ID: 991 4815 4087
Password if prompted: 038988
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Donations from the sale proceeds
As you know, the ChristChurch council decided to donate $36,000 of the sale proceeds by the end of June 2020 to lessen the church’s tax burden from the building sale. Nominations for many worthy organizations to receive donations were accepted from the council and church members and at the Council meeting on May 13, 2020 we evaluated and selected the beneficiaries.
The council wishes to thank all those who brought forward suggestions and also wish to remind the congregation that this $36,000 marks only the beginning of the ways that our faith community’s transformation and journey out of 5170 NE Five Oaks Drive will continue to be good news to the surrounding community.
In evaluating beneficiaries, the council focused on one or more of the following criteria: whether the cause and or organization response was COVID related; whether the organization was local (Washington County); whether the organization was a potential partner in the future; and whether they were a 501c(3) non-profit.
Initially, the council set aside $10,000 to match your donations made to the Bienestar Oregon Esperanza fund. Council agreed that the fund would receive all of the $10,000 because of the tremendous need of the low income and Latinx communities that are disproportionately burdened by COVID-19. The fund primarily provides emergency food and assistance to Bienestar families.
Fifteen other organizations were nominated. All were discussed and the council was polled. We wanted to provide significant donations to those selected, so the list of recipients was kept to a shorter list and the donation was proportioned by the number of votes received.
The organizations receiving donations are as follows:
Willamette West Habitat for Humanity: Habitat works to eliminate substandard housing, builds homes and advocates for fair housing policy. People who qualify for their homes provide labor for their homes and receive fair financing. ChristChurch has a long-standing relationship with Habitat having participated in several volunteer builds and funded a house in Hillsboro. Currently Habitat is seeking $75,000 in donations to complete two homes by the end of June. Donations will be directly matched up to $25,000 by a separate donor. ChristChurch Donation $4,335.
Borland Free Clinic: Borland Free Clinic is a dream of some members of a local congregation to provide free health care services for the uninsured and underinsured. Currently housed in part of Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin they are seeking to grow and provide more than part time health screening and primary care. The Borland Clinic is the only free drop in clinic serving Washington County and is staffed mostly by volunteers and is not heavily subsidized by local health systems and governments. Our gift will provide 20 free visits. ChristChurch Donation $4,335.
IMIrJ (Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice): IMIRJ is an organization of faith leaders, faith communities, and individuals that respond to the suffering of our immigrants in the U.S. due to unjust immigration policies. Through advocacy, accompaniment, and organizing, IMIRJ exposes the harm that these policies and actions inflict on the entire community and advocate for real change. IMIRJ has mostly been a volunteer organization but is hiring staff to be able to better coordinate with the immigrant community. Two ChristChurch council members are active members of IMIRJ. ChristChurch Donation $5,775.
HomePlate Youth Services: HomePlate is Washington County’s only non-profit provider of drop-in centers and street outreach for young people experiencing homelessness, providing sustenance, counseling, and housing assistance. HomePlate serves at risk youth also through employment program and community building. ChristChurch Donation $5,775.
Westside Queer Resource Center: WQRC is a fledgling organization with a goal to have a resource center on the Westside for LGBTQ+ community members, parents, friends, and anyone else who wants a place to be where they can get access to LGBTQ+ resources in a safe space. Board members for the WQRC have been working with ChristChurch’s Reconciling in Christ team as we prepare the welcoming work in our community. ChristChurch Donation $5,780. |
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Annual Congregational Meeting
Please save the date for our upcoming online annual congregational
meeting, which will be held via Zoom on Sunday, June 7 th at 10:45am.
At that meeting, we will be voting on the 2020 - 2021 Annual Budget
and our 2020-21 Church Council.
The 2020 - 2021 Fiscal Year Budget will be available electronically via
Faith News later this month, for your review prior to the meeting.
After meeting with three nominees last week, our Council
Nominations Team (Michael Gross, Tracy Litterer, Mark Henderson
and Pastor David) approved all three and brought their names to the
Church Council. The Council unanimously voted to approve all three
nominees and are recommending them to the congregation for
approval.
They are…
Cindy Kinnie, Larry Wade, and Suze Engbretson.
Tracy Litterer, who is finishing up her first two-year term this year
has also been nominated for a 2nd two-year term.
Council members, Anke Brandstater, Mark Henderson and Violet
Thetford will continue to serve the second year of their two-year term.
And Council members departing Church Council include
Paul Jackson, Michael Gross, and Rich Radford. Rich has completed
his two two-year terms as an at large council member, but will
continue to serve as our Treasurer in a non-voting role.
The slate of officers being brought forward for 2020 - 2021 include:
Denise DeMarre – President
Richard Radford – Treasurer
Violet Thetford – Secretary
We are so thankful to all of these people for commitment to serving
this congregation! |
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Meet your Church Council Nominees:
Cindy Kinnie:
I was part of the group of 10 people who founded CC and have been involved in many different ways since the beginning. I've served on the Council two previous times - during our founding and several years after, a second time when we called Pastor David and now maybe a third time when exciting things are sure to happen. I guess I like being on the cutting edge - or in liminal space!!
I'm looking forward to serving during these challenging times. God must have special ways of doing ministry ready for us to discover. While the pandemic has thrown a curve to us in many ways, I also see so many gifts in the midst of it - surely there are more to evolve. In my spare time, I love using my craft cutter and embroidery software and machine. And I'm certainly looking ahead to better times of connecting face to face with friends and family.
Larry Wade:
Lived in Cedar Mill 38 years, roots in Omaha, sojourned near Boston and San Francisco. Sherrie and I celebrate 55 years and have two daughters in the NW.
Raised in a non-church family but eventually confirmed a Lutheran/Missouri and in adulthood served in a variety of traditional stewardship, trustee, education and elder roles. Missed strong sermons and was attracted to Pastor Ron Mell of Beaverton Foursquare but never joined, kept one foot there and one in ELCA congregations, eventually ChristChurch. We love the sermons, people, music and the possibilities.
I'm honored to be asked to serve and look forward to finding ways to build an enduring church focused on learning and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a context of sharing His love in the communities where we live. I care most about having competent processes to achieve enduring outcomes; finding worship/service balance, being part of a learning, inquisitive and multi-generational community with its heart planted in Christ and hands ready to help.
Educated in engineering but mostly practiced marketing, which means my left and right brains fight a lot. My preferred exercise is swimming, pastime is woodworking, and reading is history. I can’t sing or dance but I can fix a lot of inanimate things. I once quipped, “You can’t fix anyone else, you can rarely fix yourself, the best you can do is fix your dog”.
Suze Engbretson:
I was raised in Montana. Came to Portland in 1986 to attend Lewis and Clark College. Shortly after graduation I married, Mike, and started a job at NIKE. 30 years later, still married, still at NIKE. I have a daughter, Lena, who lives in NYC and works in NJ and a son, Owen, who graduates from Liberty this year and will attend Carnegie Mellon University in the Fall.
I came to ChristChurch 10ish years ago. Sallie and Duane Bullock had told us about it and we wanted to find a place to worship. ChristChurch fit the bill!
While I did not know it is a Lutheran Church, for like 3 years, I knew that I liked the vibe. Fun music, coffee drinking, casual dress (or dressy dress if you want), and a friendly group of folks.
While I have enjoyed our Zoom Church Sundays, I am looking forward to helping us find a landing place (when we can meet in real life again), and get back to creating a warm, inviting, inclusive place for all of us.
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More Used T-Shirts Wanted!
There is a group of people in our community who are making face masks for a variety of organizations. These include assisted living homes, senior centers, addiction and recovery sites, homeless folks, and others who may not have access to them otherwise.
Thank you to everyone that responded last week.
This is an ongoing effort and we still need more used T-shirts.
We are using T-shirt’s for ties rather than elastic. This makes it considerably easier on the ears. We use old T-shirt’s and cut them into strips, and then do a magic trick which gives us soft rope.
The used shirts can be stained, and even have a few holes in them as we can cut around those. If you have any that would meet that criteria please let us know. There are several people making these, but contact Violet Thetford or Tracy Litterer to arrange pick up.....all at a distance of course.
Also as this is going on so long, if you need additional masks, let us know.
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Dear Community of ChristChurch Members,
I hope this note finds you and your beloveds safe and well in these strange times. I am a part of our Reconciling in Christ (RIC) team. RIC is a process through which Lutheran faith communities make a public commitment to welcome, include and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) people.
We have been in conversation with board members of the Westside Queer Resource Center (WQRC). Together we are collaborating on a project to offer training to allies in our community, especially allies in the faith community, who wish to learn more about, and be more welcoming to, people in the queer community. The original plan was to offer a Saturday workshop, where people could come together to learn and discuss. In this new pandemic, quarantine world, we are pivoting to an online format. WQRC board members will be working on developing curriculum materials to offer online that people can access on their own time: links to videos, curated articles, etc. Then, Community of ChristChurch will host online gatherings via Zoom, facilitated by WQRC members, where people can come together to discuss what they have learned and ask questions.
The first step in this project is to determine what kind of training is most needed. To this end, a brief online survey has been created to help us know what people are interested in learning about. This is the link to the survey… http://bit.ly/WQRCTIS.
We hope you will take the time to fill out the survey (it takes less than 2 minutes to complete). We also encourage you to share it with your mission partners, neighbors, friends and family! We are sending this to our community church partners in Hillsboro and Beaverton for their input as well.
To assist us in developing and offering this curriculum in a timely manner, we would love to receive the majority of survey responses by June 10th. Thank you for your partnership in this important work.
God’s peace,
Sallie Bullock and the RIC Team
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Bienestar Oregon Esperanza Fund: COVID-19 Response
Bienestar is a local non-profit serving the low-income housing needs of immigrant families in our area. Our immigrant population has been one of the hardest-hit populations during the pandemic with some of the greatest barriers to accessing services and benefits.
There are two ways you can help out:
1) Make a financial donation to Bienestar that will be matched.
On our ChristChurch web page, if you click on the GIVE button, select Bienestar. Any monies received in this category will be matched by ChristChurch up to $10,000 utilizing the benevolence fund we have set up to satisfy the terms of the sale of our building (see article above for all details on that).
To date, we have already received $6,140 in donations.
With our matching fund, that makes $12,280!
The deadline for funds to be matched is next Sunday, May 31st.
2) The other way to help is to volunteer to distribute groceries, essential items, and grocery food cards directly to families in need. We are working with Gracie at Bienestar and these other charitable organizations to maintain safe procedures for delivery with masks, gloves and minimal direct human interaction. If you are interested in helping out please add your name to this sheet.
God’s peace,
Pastor David
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Opportunities to stay connected: |
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ChristChurch Crafters
(online gathering)
Saturdays @10am
https://zoom.us/j/226185003?pwd=b0tzLzBDaTJlc1RvVEV2dFQyRTZ2QT09
Meeting ID: 226 185 003
Password: 012822
We have combined the Prayer Shawl and Quilters Groups, plus opened it up to any crafters in the ChristChurch family. We are meeting every Saturday until social distancing rules are lifted.
People can bring whatever they may be working on, or just come to chat.
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ChristChurch
Quarantine Coffee Hour Open House
Every Wednesday 10am to Noon
Save this Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/301147732?pwd=OHdrNDJDVC9pNkZKVnI5eFRzZXNhQT09
Meeting ID: 301 147 732
Password: 005805
We are offering an opportunity for you to visit on Zoom every Wednesday until the social distancing rule is lifted.
The meeting room will be open from 10am -noon on Wednesdays and hosted by Violet Thetford.
This will be an open house format for folks who want to drop in any time during the 2 hours. Feel free to come and go as you like. See ya Wednesday!
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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. |
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Community of ChristChurch
This is Christ's church. There is a place for you here.
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5170 NE Five Oaks Drive Hillsboro, OR 97124
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