Here are the Next Steps for your faith journey:
Establish daily practice: Look for Jesus.
Read a good book, do a puzzle, be.
If wearing a mask, remember to smile with your eyes toward others around you.
Give and receive -- this is a season for learning both.
Peter had denied knowing Jesus. He had seen Jesus since but they hadn’t talked. Still, he felt a bit disconnected, a bit like a failure, a bit like he had royally blown it. At this juncture, he had done what any good follower will do -- he had stepped back to doing something he knew HOW to do before Jesus had said, “Follow Me!” He went fishing.
"The heart. The head. The gut. These define three approaches to life that divide into nine personality types which relate to how we respond to the world and how we interpret it. Life and its situations all relate to our sense of who we are. Some of us walk through life unaware, and our personalities crash into others along the way. But when we have some understanding, it makes such a difference. Where do you fall? Do you know? Would you like to learn more about yourself and others?
Join the ENNEAGRAM COURSE beginning May 4th at 1:00 pm. We will meet via ZOOM from 1:00 - 3:00 pm on Monday, May 4, 11, 18 and 3:00 -5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 26th. We will watch together and discuss a course written and presented by Ian Cron whose book on the enneagram “The Road Back to You” is excellent.
The course comes with a workbook which Pastor Brian will email to you.
Do you want to learn more about life and how to approach it from a place of centeredness? Join this course.
Do you want to solve relationship issues you have had with others? Join this course.
Do you want to learn how God has authored your own character? Don’t miss this opportunity.
We will start Monday May 4th at 1:00 pm. Email the church office, office@westsidejourney.org, to register and receive your workbook.
Here is more information, from Pastor Brian, on the organization that the Free Food Ministries works with:
Birch Community Services is a facility located on the Portland/Gresham line. Birch was formed in 1999 in a response to seeing people struggling to even obtain bread. The Birch family began collecting bread from local bakeries and stores and providing it to area families. This grew over time to redistributing millions of pounds of wholesome food, clothing and household goods deemed surplus by product donors; and providing workshops and courses designed to equip families with new knowledge and skills for achieving fiscal stability.
BCS gives families the means to reach their goals of decreasing or eliminating consumer debt, catching up with mortgage or car payments, meeting medical bills, or helping pay for vocational training to earn a livable wage.
Agencies are allowed to shop once per week for a monthly charge of $125. Agencies are allowed to take as much food as they need to service their community. We at Free Food Ministries have been able to obtain loads of 2100 lbs, 2300lbs, and 3100 lbs of products ranging from meat to dairy to dry goods, and more.
We are blessed to have this service as it allows us to provide a wider range of goods to our visitors as well as our partnerships with local school districts during this challenging time.
Currently our food tents run by Amy Fiederowicz are sharing 12,000-15,000 pounds of food and serving 2000 families a week. Contact Amy to volunteer to help. If you would like to donate, please mail a check (payable to WUMC, memo:FFM) or give through our website.
Glory to God
As bishop of the Greater Northwest Area of The United Methodist Church, I am extending the suspension of in-person worship in United Methodist Churches and other ministries and the closure of church facilities to all but essential services throughout the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences through May 30, 2020, despite the loosening of restrictions in some or all of the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. This date may be reconsidered as circumstances change.
You may read her entire message here.
Thank God for the technology we have today that keeps us together!
If you missed your opportunity to write a note in the journals at church, it’s not too late!
Email or mail your message to Kari and she will attach it to the journal.
Words of thanks, welcome, encouragement; favorite scripture; or whatever you feel led to share - all will be a blessing to these two servants of Christ, Pastor Brian and Pastor Brett.
Just a reminder that the signup for our Day of Action closes tomorrow!
We are partnering with CityHope, the Western Farm Workers Association, and the North by Northeast Community Health Center this year.
Please read the directions carefully for each slot and sign up for as many as you like.
We particularly need posters made for the WFWA, to notify their clients that they are still open. They are requesting handmade, 11”x17” posters that they will post around town. Things to know:
Posterboard and markers are available from the WFWA office at 725 SE 7th Ave, Hillsboro. Call 503-681-9399 first, and they will leave the items on the front porch. You may return them in the same manner.
Use LARGE BOLD LETTERS that can be seen from a distance.
Feel free to use color
Slogans for the posters are listed here. Use one slogan in one language for each poster.
If writing in Spanish, please pay attention to accents, e.g. Atención
Day of Action 2020 signup here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4BABAF22AB9-dayofaction2
Thanks!
"The heart. The head. The gut. These define three approaches to life that divide into nine personality types which relate to how we respond to the world and how we interpret it. Life and its situations all relate to our sense of who we are. Some of us walk through life unaware, and our personalities crash into others along the way. But when we have some understanding, it makes such a difference. Where do you fall? Do you know? Would you like to learn more about yourself and others?
Join the ENNEAGRAM COURSE beginning May 4th at 1:00 pm. We will meet via ZOOM from 1:00 - 3:00 pm on Monday, May 4, 11, 18 and 3:00 -5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 26th. We will watch together and discuss a course written and presented by Ian Cron whose book on the enneagram “The Road Back to You” is excellent.
The course comes with a workbook which Pastor Brian will email to you.
Do you want to learn more about life and how to approach it from a place of centeredness? Join this course.
Do you want to solve relationship issues you have had with others? Join this course.
Do you want to learn how God has authored your own character? Don’t miss this opportunity.
We will start Monday May 4th at 1:00 pm. Email the church office, office@westsidejourney.org, to register and receive your workbook.
If you missed worship on Sunday, catch it here:
Amy F and her Free Food Ministries team do a remarkable job of providing food for free, literally, for anyone who needs it. And there are lots of people who need it now. The requests have leaped from 200 to 2000 families per week.
But where does the food come from? A portion comes from the Birch Community, a non-profit that acts somewhat as a brokerage location for food. Similar to the Oregon Food Bank but easier to work with, and with a better variety.
The Free Food Ministries pays $125 per month for their participation.
If you are able to contribute, above and beyond your giving to the church, so many people would be benefited. You may mail a check to the church (made out to WUMC, memo: FFM) or give through the link on our website (put FFM in the special instructions.)
Thank you so much for your generous hearts!
Object lessons. You know them. The ones where a leader usually working with children cuts open the pumpkin and says, “Did you know that carving a pumpkin for Halloween is a lot like being a Christian?” And everyone thinks, “No way?”
And then as she cuts off the top. “When Jesus comes into our lives he takes out all the things that we had become accustomed to which were not helpful to us being the person He’s called us to be.” She begins to scoop out the seeds and says, “He scoops out the sins, the attitudes, the hurts, the injuries. As we forgive, more is taken away or released. Then,” and now she carves the face, two eyes and a smile, “Jesus brings joy to us we had not known, and finally,” and lighting a candle she places it inside, “We have light shining from the inside.”
There’s something about those kinds of lessons that stick. You know, you cannot shake them. You leave thinking about them. You chuckle about the idea of Jesus “taking your top off,” but then realize that God had done just that -- changed you from the inside out.
I find that Jesus still uses those kinds of lessons on me. Week by week, day by day, God uses object lessons.
Back in December, I took the plunge and bought three new pairs of shoes. I’m not a shoe person. I tend to have one pair of dress shoes, one pair of tennis / walking shoes, boots and flip flops. So, I needed to replace tennis, dress and casual walking shoes all at once. So, I got some sales at this online store and ordered them. They all fit, which was a surprise, and after wearing them inside the house, enjoyed them outside. Then in late February or early March, my toes began to hurt. They felt like the ends of the toes all had blisters. It was painful. They began to hurt all the time. The ends of the middle toes were bright red and swollen. I began to wonder what was going on.
At a doctor’s appointment, I had her check and her first question was, “Did you get new shoes recently?” And even though it had been a few months, suddenly the connection seemed possible. That even though I had purchased the normal sizes, the shoes were a narrow width, and were pushing my toes into the ends of the shoes. With the pandemic, I have been home more, so have been going barefoot to give my toes a break. During Holy Week I led us in a nightly time of Examen -- it is the Ignatian practice of prayer in which you first review your day with thanksgiving and then pay attention to the emotions of your day. Finally, you choose one event or moment, whatever catches your attention, and pray from that. In that short period of time, one night, the Lord focused upon my shoes that did not fit my feet. And the object lesson came forth as a poem, entitled, “Shoes”:
I bought three pair
Yes I did
And found them too small
My feet don’t fit
So I find that I am
Frustrated and mad
My feet don’t fit
And that feels bad.
But you say to me
“These shoes are a sign
of bigger shoes for you
Shoes that are Mine
I’ll fit you for them
I’ll show you my plan.“
“Lord I submit,
And won’t complain again.“
I don’t know what this might mean, really, but I am still waiting for God to “show His plan.” And in the meantime, I ordered another pair which I hope this time will work!
On another front, I made some cookies and really wanted gingerbread, so I got out “Grandma’s” recipe from Cindy Loayza and went to make them. The recipe called for shortening, which I know sometimes makes for a good consistency, but we were out. Butter is my go-to for cookies, but I hesitated since they were a rollout. Karen suggested the lard we had on hand. Now, we had had it “on hand” for a long, long time. Does lard go bad? I used it. It smelled a bit rancid, but I thought, “It’s worth it for we can use this up.” The dough tasted a bit off, but I thought, “It will taste better once baked.” The baked cookies tasted a bit off. But, I thought, “I bet they will get better once frozen.” But I took three out of the freezer the next day and ate them, and they tasted a bit off, and my stomach felt “off” for some time. So, finally, I threw them all away.
Some reading this are like, “Brian, what? Just throw them away!”
The thing that was hilarious about myself was that I used the lard to “use it up,” but could have thrown it away, based upon what it smelled like, and saved wasting all those other ingredients. Another day during the time of Examen, the cookies came to mind and I prayed from them, and felt a parallel to faith. We cannot hope to apply stale, rancid faith to life and have it work. Faith needs to be fresh, or our lives will taste stale. A stale and rancid faith will flavor everything in life. Keep it fresh, current, connected to the Source.
Object lessons. God still uses them. May God keep speaking to you during this time of pandemic for you to listen and hear what He might speak to you.
Here are the Next Steps for your faith journey:
Establish daily practices of word, prayer, and getting outside.
Pray: “Lord, I look to you and find my hope in you.”
Greet others when you are out -- show love.
Give to help those in need via food gifts or extra financial gifts.
For me, the toughest phase of parenting kids was when they had grown up, left home and then began to traverse that icy lake of questioning everything we had taught and lived. That was the toughest.
I remember the phone call to this day. I was in the Ontario Airport and Gabri and I were chatting while I was waiting to catch my next plane, and I said something that caught her and we stopped to talk further about it. It was a memory. It was when she was little -- around 5 -- and then I prayed frequently with her through the stuff encountering her 5-year-old life by walking her through the memory, the encounter, by looking for Jesus and allowing him to meet her there.
In her young life she had many opportunities for such times since life felt hard to the youngest with three strong, dynamic, older sisters, and two busy parents. But in each, Gabri gave herself to the moment, experienced Jesus and watched him unravel the fears, meet the hurt, and cradle her heart.
Then, in that phone conversation as I sat on the bench against the windows, just through the security area at the Ontario Airport, leaning against the pillar with the galvanized steel look, and looking over towards where the entrance to the women’s bathroom was, as was the exit of the terminal, as people hurried past me, Gabri was saying, “I don’t think those things really happened. I just think I made them up.”
To say I was grieved for her is the understatement of the century. I had been there. I had seen God move. To deny that felt to me like denying God Himself. But I knew better, somehow, not to argue with her, but to say, “Really? I remember those times as very significant and real. That feels hard to hear that you are doubting them.”
That was quite a long time ago now, about five years, and Gabri has done a ton of questioning since then, and a ton of growing from “our faith” into her “own faith.” That I celebrate. But I’ll never forget the feelings that surged through me during that phone call, nor the sense that I’d lost her forever.
You know those thoughts, right? I’m not the only one who creates a catastrophe from a normal circumstance…
But it is instructive to me that faith is a journey, not a destination. It is a word -- believe -- but it is more than a word. If you cannot doubt what you believe, then, your beliefs are rather flimsy. Everyone walks through seasons of sincere doubt, of question, of heartache. Gabri had her own “dark night” as she questioned everything and dug down until she hit solid rock and built anew her own faith upon that firm foundation.
In this week’s passage, Jesus embraces the wild request of one disciple who says, “I’ll not believe unless…” and laid down his particular desires. In this passage we see Jesus’ immense love and willingness for that disciple and for us to doubt, to struggle, to wrestle with faith. As a friend wrote: “No matter where you are going, what you are doing or what you are facing, the most important thing you can carry with you is faith. It is always okay to ask questions and even lean on other people’s faith for a while, but there will be times as well when others will need to lean on your faith in their own times of doubt.”
Come to Sunday worship, 9:00 am Sunday, bring your doubts, bring your fears and encounter Jesus with Thomas afresh. There is no doubt that Jesus cannot handle. And there is no faith that doesn’t need strengthening. There is perhaps no one’s story quite as poignant as Thomas’ to point us to the need to embrace Jesus with our doubts and watch how he handles them and embraces us. Doubts don’t frighten Jesus away, at all. Let’s live with faith.
Yes! Day of Action 2020 is happening! Because, even in these days of staying home and physically distancing, Westsiders have a heart to help!
We are partnering with CityHope, the Western Farm Workers Association, and the North by Northeast Community Health Center this year. You will get an opportunity to sign up through an email that will be sent on Friday, April 24.
Some activities can begin immediately, such as making cards of encouragement, and some activities will occur on Saturday, May 2. Please read the directions carefully for each slot; you may sign up for more than one.
If you have questions, please contact the church office. If you didn’t receive the signup email, please click here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4BABAF22AB9-dayofaction2
Help advertise the fact that the Western Farm Workers Association is open and available to help!
They are requesting handmade, 11”x17” posters that they will post around town. Things to know:
Posterboard and markers are available from the WFWA office at 725 SE 7th Ave, Hillsboro. Call 503-681-9399 first, and they will leave the items on the front porch. You may return them in the same manner.
Use LARGE BOLD LETTERS that can be seen from a distance.
Feel free to use color
Slogans for the posters are listed here. Use one slogan in one language for each poster.
If writing in Spanish, please pay attention to accents, e.g. Atención
Please email the church office with any questions. Thank you so much!
This next Tuesday, April 28, only: the Prayer and Connection Zoom meeting will be at 2:30 pm. If this makes it possible for you to attend, please email Pastor Brian to get the link. Thanks!
If you missed worship on Sunday, catch it here:
While living on earth Jesus performed many, many miracles. These have long been the focus of controversy by people wanting to see each reproduced today -- and they all have been. But still people doubt. Then Jesus topped all of them in this triumphant defeat over death! Talk about the miracle to top all others! In the context of that mighty miracle, I was struck with this quote by Timothy Keller, a Presbyterian pastor in NYC.
“We modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be the restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming…a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict.” (The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism)
Jesus came to change the world order and restore it back to what God had intended in the first place. Miracles do not suspend the natural order, but establish it. And with the resurrection, Jesus began a new beginning for all people. We could begin to live from a new place, a new Spirit, and walk on a new foundation.
As we march forward during this season of quarantine, what in your life has risen to the surface that needs to be “restored to a better way?” The fact is that such a change in life as we are currently experiencing tends to expose what is most raw within us. For some, you might have settled into the idea of confinement easily, but for others it might not have come so easy. So, either way, what is God wanting to adjust and shift within your heart in this season? Where is Jesus seeking to bring your humanity back into being lined up with His own?
That’s the goal, right? To be more like Jesus, and if more like Him then more human, not less human. The epitome of humanity is not seen in sin but in righteousness, it is not in becoming “unlike Jesus” but becoming like Him. So often the human response to sinfulness, to errors in judgment, to a lack of love is the excuse, “Well, I’m only human.” When actually, our humanity is best expressed when it is exemplified by the fruit of God’s Spirit through that life. It is when love, joy, peace, patience, etc. are showing forth that our truest humanity is made known.
I think my favorite line from Keller’s quote is the line that “Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts…” The miracle accounts are all promises to our hearts. I love that assurance. What a way to view them. There’s a better world coming, and we are all going to be a part of that even as we walk in this world now.
That’s great, but when in the middle of the darkness of the world today, it can be of little comfort. Then, what we need is to open up to what Jesus is saying to us in this day -- we can listen and journal what God speaks to our hearts, we can read the scriptures and look for a message or phrase that stands out. We can pray and just open up to the possibility of God bringing an answer in some unexpected way. We can listen to music and see what line of the song stands out to our hearts. It is important to just listen. God is always speaking, we are just not always listening. And a little light from God goes a long ways -- like lighting a single candle in a black room. Eventually the light will penetrate the darkness.
I’m writing this on “Easter Monday” -- the Monday following Easter Sunday. Last night was an incredibly challenging evening. There were all kinds of relationship stresses for Karen and I -- possibly due to exhaustion and possibly due to the quarantine and other factors. Have you ever said something and wish you hadn’t? It was one of those nights for me, for certain. Karen and I ended up in a very long, convoluted conversation and eventually found our way back to the ground. You know the feeling -- tension, exhaustion, emotion, stress, and misunderstanding all can make horrible bedfellows in a conversation! Both of us were careful during it, we didn’t want to say something in frustration that we would regret this morning.
Then this morning, it was light out, and beautiful, and the air had cleared between us. But more than that, when I opened my journal it fell open to a page where I had written, “God was there,” a reminder that God is in the middle of every place of darkness. Reading further in that day’s thoughts, the invitation was there to “Remember to forgive yourself,” alongside receiving forgiveness from God. So, right there, as my journal fell open, God was speaking to me. He was reminding me, “Look for Me in everything.”
In this season: Keep looking for God, and remember the promise to your own heart that God is working and has worked to bring a new world into being. This new world begins now, it begins every time I forgive, I love, I listen, I pray. God is on the move. Trust this. God is there with you. Believe it. No matter what the true source of this whole virus and lockdown, here is the truth: none of it surprised God, and God is in it to lead us closer to Himself.
Here are the Next Steps, that are normally printed in the church bulletin:
Establish daily practices of word, prayer, and getting outside.
Pray: “Lord, I look to you and find my hope in you.”
Greet others when you are out -- show love.
Give to help those in need via food gifts or extra financial gifts.
What would you say if you had the opportunity to talk to a graduate or give a graduation speech? It was this chance encounter, the opportunity there before you. Perhaps you were just asked by your neighbor’s teen, “Hey, what advice can you give me for the next season of my life?” Or maybe you are actually lined up to be the commencement speaker, perhaps at the online graduation (?), what would you say? What words would you use?
In my own life, God used the importance of the last things that Jesus said and a sermon preached at my congregation’s Maundy Thursday service in Santa Barbara (March 31, 1983) titled “The Importance of Last Things” to catapult my life from travel agent into ministry.
Imagine what it might have been like for Jesus. He knew the time after his resurrection and before he ascended to be with the Father was short, 40 days to be exact. So he intentionally spent his time pouring into his disciples. In those first days after his resurrection, who did Jesus meet with and what did he say and do to launch this tiny local gathering into a global movement that is still growing in impact today?
Over the next several weeks we are going to look at these appearances of Jesus to his disciples. In each of the stories of appearances of Jesus after the resurrection, Jesus met each person where they were and helped them take the next step. Regardless of your season of life, or your season within quarantine, perhaps it’s time for a God sighting of your own and to consider your next step in living for God and walking alongside Him!
We will begin with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus as we look at how Jesus interrupted them and challenged them to take a fresh look both at the events they had just walked through and the Scriptures they were familiar with in order to shake them out of their grief and into the joy that Jesus really was alive.
Sometimes it takes a wake up call to shake us from our complacency, our depression, our fears, our pains, our despondency, our inabilities, our griefs, our nearsightedness, etc. I know in my life God has continually used this pattern. So, let’s join in Sunday worship and look for Jesus in this unique season. Join in at 9 am Sunday!