If you were unable to attend our online worship yesterday, view it here::
Acts Bible Study
We have been invited by Vermont Hills UMC and Pastor Bo Sanders to participate in an online bible study of the book of Acts.
The study will be on Wednesday evenings, from 7:00 - 8:00 pm, beginning January 13. You are encouraged to pick up Willie Jennings's commentary on Acts. Jennings shows how Acts applies to the divisions of our present world.
We have been approved to use our building spaces for up to 10 people, if you prefer or need to meet in person. Indicate your choice when you sign up.
This group likes to really dig deep into scripture, so expect the study to last into early summer. However, you are not expected to be able to attend every week. Give it a try and see if it’s right for you. It’s not your father’s bible study! Both Pastor Brett and Westside’s admin, Virginia, have been in this group before and highly recommend it.
Immersed: An Advent Journey
Just a reminder that our immersive Advent runs through Wednesday, January 6 (Epiphany).
Five stations have been set up in the Lighthouse, each with art, music and scripture to reflect upon.
You and your household will have the building to yourself. Sign up for your timeslot here
December Acts of Kindness
What a tremendous response to our Random Acts of Kindness for December!
So many hearts were touched through your generous giving. Donations were given locally to several families in need, and to the members of the Western Farm Workers Association. See the photos below and the WFWA note. Thank you, Westsiders and friends!
Communion on Jan 10
Our monthly communion will be on the second Sunday, January 10, this month. Join us in the parking lot at 11:00 am.
Year-End Giving
You have only two days left if you’d like to make a gift to Westside in 2020. Rememer, there are special tax incentives this year.
Mail your check today or, even better, give through our secure online portal
Thank you and have a blessed 2021!
Sharing for Dec 27
Sharing – Where have you seen God at work this week?
Kristin - Good Morning from Chester, Montana! We have fresh snow this morning!
Merry - I wish you all a warm and lovely week. Despite setbacks, the Farm Workers had a wonderful Christmas food and gifts distribution. More details coming soon in the newsletter.
Francie - We loved the video that Brett made for the kids, that we got to watch from home! Nice to have something even though the service was during naptime :)
Pastor Brett - For those of us who missed the Xmas eve service in the parking lot, here is the webpage where you can find the message and meditations surrounding the coming of the Messiah into the world: www.westsidejourney.com/virtualadvent
Young Friends Moment: https://youtu.be/onJu1omk_ns (candle making)
Merry - Did you know that the 12 days of Christmas song is a memory device in which each verse is a Biblical reference?
Pastor Brett - I didn't know that Merry! I thought it was super impractical to get birds from a true love!
Merry - The three French hens represent the gifts of the three wise men.
Michele – Not sure this is a God Sighting, but the Blazers won last night and they really needed a win!
Kat – I received the needle with 1st dose of Covid Vaccine on Tuesday, 12/22. So, I am around 60 % immune now! I will receive my second dose the week of January 8th – 12th.
Kari – The Christmas Eve Service was fantastic. It was good to see others in person, even with the masks on. My special word for 2021 is “Hope”!
Pastor Brett – Levi has learned to get around by rolling everywhere….He is 5 months old today! And Kyrie is 5 years, 5 months, and 2? days old.
(Note: Our apologies if your comment is missing; the service was not recorded due to the district video)
Worship Video for December 27
For our online worship on Sunday, we watched the district’s recording, found here:
Christmas Message from Pastor Brett
Merry Christmas!
Thank You!
A note from Rose D:
The families that are struggling & received Christmas food boxes & gift cards wanted me to pass on a huge thank you for our church’s generosity. It meant the world to them
Thank you, Westsiders. You are the hands and feet of Jesus.
Christmas Eve Service
Did you sign up for the Christmas Eve Service, to be held in-person? The 4:00 pm service in the parking lot will include music, candle lighting, and communion. You may remain in your car, or bring chairs to sit (socially-distanced) outside. Last chance to sign up here.
If you’re not able to attend, have no fear! Pastor Brett is preparing a recorded message just for you! It will be available on our website by 4:00 pm this Thursday. The webpage also has the videos for Immersed: An Advent Journey. So you will get to experience every bit of the season.
Very Merry Christmas to you all!
Sharing for Dec 20
Sharing – Where have you seen God at work this week?
Camille - This week I received news of my cousin, Jim’s passing. He has been a very special part of my life the past 10 years. I was thinking that he had “gone over the rainbow” in the early morning, and I’ll be doggone if a few hours later as I was on the back deck I saw a beautiful rainbow arching over the whole sky; I don’t remember ever seeing a rainbow off my deck in the 5 years of living here. God, and Jim, were telling me he is doing fine and in a VERY good place.
Gerry – My God Sighting this week: Last Sunday afternoon I had a surprise visit from Sal & Dave. It was nice seeing them in person. We had a good chat and they brought gifts including the red Christmas hat which I am wearing today. It cheered me up! Also, they had a remarkable - How to cook and decorate cookies last night; connecting with so many people.
Krista – My God Sighting is pretty obvious for our family – my mom doing daily grocery runs, Paige bringing Costco goodies and chatting with me through the window, Laura for the yummy dinner last week, Stephanie for the gift card for another dinner; everyone texting and checking in on us.
Kari – Joe and I did the Immersed Advent Journey on Friday evening and it was really great; it was fun to hear everyone’s voices. Thank you to everyone who put so much time, effort; energy into making that a really neat experience.
Jan – I want to share that my husband is doing better. Last week, Gayellyn passed it along that he had fallen. He was so short of breath, it really bothered me, and his pulse was real rapid & it didn’t seem to go down. So, I wanted him to see the doctor because Saturday night he had a very poor night; was up a lot and he couldn’t get his breath. Sunday morning I called my son who works at an urgent care and asked – Is your urgent care open today on Sunday? He said – Yes mom, I’m here because I had to get a Covid Test (it was negative). Wayne was very comfortable then, because he knew Dan was there; he really thinks a lot of Dan. So, I got him to go to the urgent care and of all things, the doctor that I had worked with for 20+ years was on duty at the urgent care. She doesn’t work at the hospital anymore, she works at the urgent care. It seemed like it all dove-tailed. She told Wayne – Well, I think you should be seen at the ER because you are breathing so hard. Long story short, he said he wasn’t going to the ER, so that was that. So, she did an EKG & lab work. The lab work really looked pretty good & there wasn’t anything real unusual. The EKG was a little abnormal, but not tremendously bizarre. So, it made me feel better, I don’t think it really did a lot for Wayne – he went out about the same. But it did something for me, because I knew that it appeared there wasn’t anything real serious. I was just amazed at the way the Lord worked that all together. Just to kind of comfort me. Thank you for your prayers.
Pastor Brett – Amen, thank you Jan. Yes, we did pray for you last Sunday during the service. I am so glad the Lord was up to something!
Gwen – Me and my mom’s God Sighting was actually me reading to Sally & Dave.
Martha – My God Sighting is that in 1975 I graduated from Oregon College of Education, which is now Western Oregon University. When I graduated, I said goodbye to my wonderful roommates that I had lived with for 3 years & friends. And although we’ve connected, we’ve all gone on to get married and have our own families and that sort of thing. Well, this past year we’ve connected more. So, this Christmas I have gotten Christmas Cards from two of my roommates and then from a friend who lives in Florida who connected with me. It was so nice, God is kind of bringing us all together & bringing back such good memories, because we really did have fun college years.
Wendy F. – My God Sighting for the week is through two people who gave us great opportunities to give back. Thanks to Bonnie and everyone who was involved to organize all of the food baskets & presents. I had one last delivery yesterday morning and I got to see what Bonnie and the Walkers had organized. They had taken all of our deliveries and put them nicely into food baskets all organized for the families. So, it’s just truly amazing…Most of us spend a little time moving in and out of these opportunities, but there is very heavy lifting behind the scenes. Thank you Bonnie for everything that you do to organize and to be able to have so many of us give back; it’s echoing out throughout our communities. I know that several of us are posting online or just connecting in with our communities. So, it’s not just our church who’s giving back, it’s people that we know and it’s fun to see this ripple effect that wouldn’t happen without that strong organization. So, thank you so much Bonnie for doing that. And then another parallel group, our church works with the Western Farm Workers Association and thanks to Merry Goldthorpe, and all her work as our Liaison to that group. They organized toy deliveries to their community members; we are able again to just go and do small parts to deliver those toys, but what a wonderful structure that organization provides for everyone to give back and to take care of their community members. So, just really, really grateful for that behind the scenes work that so many of our families get to participate in.
Bonnie – Wendy, thank you for the kind words. It’s a team effort, that’s for sure. The Sullivans have some friends who donated $1,000 worth of gift cards for our families; we’re going to able to give every family a $100 gift card above and beyond the food & gifts and things. I wish I could deliver every one of them, because I can’t imagine the looks on some of the faces, particularly the women from Family Promise. I’m sure they’re going to be just overwhelmed by what we are bringing them. So, I want to thank everyone for all of the good stuff that you brought in. I know how appreciative the people are and I’m just thankful that Westside is such a giving church; that we’re able to do that.
Pastor Brett – Amen & Amen. Speaking of behind the scenes, my God Sighting is also in that vein. I want to highlight & lift up Rich Holt and Fred Cooper to everyone for their work on the Virtual Advent, which is taking our Lighthouse Immersed Journey and making it available for everyone who’s not comfortable coming in person to the building; for people near and far, this is a strategy where we can share the good news broadly and widely as far as the internet can take us. Rich learned how to do video editing in just under a week, right Rich? Or something like that. So, if you have a chance to check it out and share the good news with other people. The Worship Team and in particular Fred & Rich have made that whole experience possible alongside all of you who read scripture, all of you who created music and songs. I just want to lift you all up and say – What a wonderful gift we have to offer the community and the world wide community on the web. So thank you so much for that guys. Fred just posted the link: https://www.westsidejourney.com/virtualadvent
Merry – The toy drive went well for Farm Workers and there were some great stories. Pacific University Students donated gifts even though there is no school; they mailed them to our office. Thank you Wendy for your help.
Martha – It brought great joy to my heart to hear Merry mention Pacific University Students. And although I probably didn’t know them as students, it just brought great joy to my heart! Because, they really are good students; they always were. In the 18 years that I was there, I always loved each and every one of them I came across. So, Yeah!
Worship Video for December 20
If you were unable to attend our online worship yesterday, view it here::
Christmas Donations
Remember to drop off your donations for our December Random Acts of Kindness tomorrow, Sat the 19th, between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.
Didn’t sign up? There are still a few slots open, including canned fruit and gifts for children. Or would you consider donating cash to pay for the perishables, such as ham, pies, and fresh produce? You may drop off a check or give online. Just mark your donation for RAoK.
P.S. You may also bring new gloves, socks, hats, and blankets to place under the Christmas tree.
Thank you!
Safety at Westside Video
Pastor Brett has made a video about our new check-in policy.
Even for brief visits, you are expected to log your name, temperature, and other info. There is a station in each building, which has hand sanitizer to use afterwards.
As we open both buildings for groups of 10 or less, it will be important to be able to track who has been there and when. Thank you for your cooperation!
Blue Christmas Service
Blue Christmas helps us to acknowledge the longest night of the year with a worshipful space for those experiencing grief, loss, or the absence of joy. This Advent and Christmas are like no other in recent memory. Many of us are having difficulty getting into the spirit of the season.
Because of this, members of the Greater Northwest Area Cabinet will offer a Blue Christmas Service, available online beginning on Sunday, Dec 20, at 4:00 pm. The service will remain available after it’s original posting. Visit the website for complete information.
Christmas 2020 Letter
If you didn’t receive this letter in the mail, please read it here: Christmas 2020 Letter
And here’s the flier mentioned in the letter: 2020 Tax Benefits
Please contact the church office if we don’t have your current address. Thanks!
Sign-ups
There’s one easy place to link to all the recent sign-ups: westsidejourney.com. Simply look for Sign Up! in the menu. There you can sign up for:
The Christmas Eve Service. We are quickly reaching capacity - do we need to add a second service?
The Acts bible study being held at Vermont Hills UMC, Westside UMC, and on Zoom, beginning January 13 (more info here)
Immersed: An Advent Journey, running through Jan 6. You and your household get a private 2-hour slot all to yourselves in the Lighthouse, to fully experience the Christ’s birth. Uncomfortable going out in public? Here’s a link to watch videos for each station.
Sign up today!
Sharing for Dec 13
Sharing – Where have you seen God at work this week?
Stephanie – This week we got to do at HomePlate; typically, Westside helps out with the Holiday Store where they get to come and pick out these gifts for themselves and for others. Of course, this year with Covid, we couldn’t do that. So, instead we asked the community for $100 gift cards and we were able to hand those out to the youth this week as they came in. We had a cookie decorating kit and a $100 Visa gift card and lots of happy youth. So, that really filled my cup on Thursday in Hillsboro and then Friday in Beaverton. That was really fun to see the joy in the youth faces as they got to experience a little bit of the Holidays. So, very fun for me this week.
Gayellyn – My God Moment this week was Wednesday evening when we got to have our Advent Bible Study here and remotely as well. We had a few hiccups with the technology, but we got it all figured out thanks to Stephanie and her great idea. And we just had a really, really great time communing together.
Wendy F. 1)The boys and I got the pleasure of walking through the Lighthouse Advent. And words cannot do the experience justice. All I can say is please sign up and go. We’re planning to go multiple times; it was just tremendous. The 2 hour block is wonderful, because it gives plenty of time to not feel like you have to rush through it. So, thank you for those nice long blocks.
2) We don’t go out much at all, just like everyone else, so it was a significant moment to go out in the car – Barrett had a gift card from Starbucks and he decided that he wanted to use it at this time. We got in line and we had a really exciting moment that we wanted to pay for the person behind us. You know, you can do that all year long, but the holiday spirit makes you think of it more now. We got to the window and the person ahead of us had paid for us! So, we got to keep that going; the woman in the window was all excited to see how long the chain would go on, because once you get your own, often times people will then pay for the person behind them. So, I just thought that was a fun one to share. And again, in the few trips that you go out have a fun moment where you can start the chain or keep the chain going.
Kari – I got multiple Christmas Cards in the mail this week. But I got one from a friend who has really been more of an acquaintance; we haven’t seen each other very much due to the Covid. But, her family gave Joe & I a $50 gift card to Fred Meyers. This was completely unexpected and one of those Random Acts of Kindness that was so touching and just really made me feel special. So, that was really nice of her to do that.
Kat – Fun fact - Earlier this week there was a drive through pay for the person behind me chain that went over 300 cars long. I don’t remember what fast food restaurant it was. It made headlines that 300 cars in a row paid it forward by paying for the car behind them.
Pastor Brett – One of my God Moments was I got to see two people in person this week. The first person I got to see in person was Paige Flanagan; Paige it was so wonderful to see you masked up last Sunday at communion. We had this moment where – oh my gosh, we have never seen each other in person! The second person was Krista who visited the church building on Monday. I was painting my church office and she swung by and said hello. And it was so good to see you in person, as well! So, here we are 9 months into the pandemic and worship and I’m just finally meeting people in person, it’s amazing. I think I have met most of you, but Paige & Krista were still on the list to check off. So, yeah God!
Michele – I tried to create a God Sighting for a friend. I have a friend who used to live here and she moved to Arizona; her last family member, since she moved down there, finally passed. So, she eventually ended up in Iowa where she bought herself a home and this is where she is going to retire. She has no family left at all, so I know she will be totally surprised and that’s why I say it will be like a God Sighting. I sent her a fruit and cookie basket - which I know she will be totally surprised, because she doesn’t expect anything. She doesn’t know anybody in this town she moved to. It was just that economically she could have a home and a comfortable little retirement. So, this is a suggestion to other people that if you know somebody like her, who has nobody, you can send them a nice surprise to let them know they are remembered.
Paige – I’ve been able to be part of a fun one too. I’m a member of a Moms Board online. Somebody had come on a few weeks ago and said – they work at one of the assisted living facilities in King City and we are looking to have people adopt seniors for the time. So, there’s been all these moms in Tigard and Tualatin that have been able to adopt these seniors. So, Liam and I were able to a little thing for the lady we were given the name for. When we dropped it off, we weren’t exactly sure where we should take it; the facility was pretty much locked down. And one of the staff was in the entry way and said she’d be happy to take it; you guys have just been such a blessing to all of our residents. So, it’s just been fun to see the larger community come together to support these seniors who are on their own in Tigard and King City.
Neil – I have been enjoying work lately because we have been able to do a lot of stuff that adheres to the company values as opposed to just making money deals. We just worked with a group that does a lot of assisted living communities across the country providing them with small iPod Touches, which our company has basically discontinued. But, they still have use with the cameras and microphones to be doing things like we’re doing for church. We are providing these little iPods across the country for seniors to connect with their families, since there’s all the questions about whether families can go and visit with the seniors or not. And with the higher risk in assisted living communities, it felt really kind of cool to be part of the program. Several of us are volunteering to teach small classes via Webex on how to use the cameras and the microphones and everything else so that they are all set up to go by the time we hit the holidays at the end of the month.
You're Invited!
We have been invited by Vermont Hills UMC and Pastor Bo Sanders to participate in an online bible study of the book of Acts.
The study will be on Wednesday evenings, from 7:00 - 8:00 pm, beginning January 13. You are encouraged to pick up Willie Jennings's commentary on Acts. Jennings shows that Acts teaches how people of faith can yield to the Spirit to overcome the divisions of our present world.
We have been approved to use our building spaces for up to 10 people, if you prefer or need to meet in person. Indicate your choice when you sign up.
This group likes to really dig deep into scripture, so expect the study to last into the summer. However, you are not expected to be able to attend every week. Give it a try and see if it’s right for you. Both Pastor Brett and Westside’s admin, Virginia, have been in this group before and highly recommend it.