Our collaborative bible study with Vermont Hills UMC will be reading and discussing chapter 15 of Acts tomorrow night. Arguably one of the most important chapters for the Christian faith.
Our online gathering begins at 7:00 pm and lasts just over an hour. All are welcome to attend!
Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Kari – My God Sighting is that we were able to meet in person yesterday for our Church Council meeting. Which is the first time Pastor Brett has been able to meet with us in person. And we were at the Gabels, distanced on their beautiful new deck. So, that was really great and we had a great time. Also, my other God Sighting is my oldest niece, Ella, graduated from high school back in Kentucky; she got to have her prom last night. So, that was super cool. I was happy that she got to have some normal senior activities. And she’s going to be coming out here to Willamette for college and playing soccer on their team; the Oregon family will be getting to cheer her on.
Pastor Brett – Nice, thank you, Kari.
Gavin – I ended up with a new American made studio vocal microphone. Of course, testing by going 1…2… doesn’t mean anything at all. I laid the piano track and went over to Kevin & Laura’s house and Laura was the first one to sing in this microphone. It was exquisitely beautiful; Kevin with his mighty computer Kung-Fu had manipulated all the digital snags that always seem to come up whenever I deal with a computer. The finished result is to me spectacular! I’m very happy with the team effort! Yah! And the big trash pile is gone!
Pastor Brett – Thank you, Gavin, that’s awesome. I don’t think the Cosgroves are on, but if you’re watching later, Cosgroves, that’s awesome – Laura being able to sing in Gavin’s new mic.
Michele – I think the cease fire was a huge God Sighting; there being at least a temporary peace between the Palestinians and the Jewish people. I thought that was a huge God Sighting.
Pastor Brett – Amen. Thank you, Michele. Whenever weapons of war are laid down, and definitely where peace reigns, there we find Jesus.
Sandy – I was outside between the Lighthouse and church building singing with Kari & Gayellyn. And a big gust of wind came up while we were singing which reminded us of Pentecost.
If you were unable to attend our online or in-person worship on Sunday, view it here:
Reminder: This Sunday, the service time will be at 10:00 instead of 9:00 am. Wear RED for Pentecost as we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2! We will continue to do a hybrid service, but our in-person capacity now accommodates 30 people in the Lighthouse. What should you expect if you’re coming in-person on Sunday?
-Sign In: Upon arrival, put your name on the sign in sheet.
-Masks: To be worn indoors, at all times for now
-Singing Inside: Not yet
-Singing outside: If you really want to sing, you can step outside into the breezeway between the church and the Lighthouse, and sing along outside.
-Physical distancing: One side of the room will be set up for distanced seating, the other side will allow for closer seating. Pick where you feel most comfortable, and be respectful of other people's need for space.
-Physical touch: Obtain permission from others before hugging, touching or coming into their personal space.
-Bring a warm jacket or blanket in case the Lighthouse gets cold, as we will have windows and doors open during the service for good ventilation.
Looking forward to a great time on Sunday!
—Pastor Brett
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Registration is now open for Help Build Hope!
Our annual event with Christ UMC builds all the walls for a Habitat for Humanity home. The lumber is measured, cut, and sorted on Friday and crews assemble different walls on Saturday. Then all the walls are loaded onto a truck for transport. It’s a remarkable, fun-filled, hopeful day for the participants!
This year, the dates are June 25 and 26. Volunteers are needed for Friday cutting, Saturday building, and for the check-in/safety crew on Saturday.
Register today at https://cedarmillchristumc.org/serve/help-build-hope
Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Jan – I had an interesting experience this week. A couple of days ago, I was fooling with my phone out in front of Safeway and I wanted to add another person into my contacts. Anyway, I couldn’t do it and there was this young fellow out there putting out the fruit in front of Safeway. So, I thought - I bet that kid knows just how to do this. I went over to him and I said – Would you mind helping me put this contact in. He says – Oh sure, and he showed me exactly what to do. And so, I say to myself – Bingo! Say something! I said to him – You are so kind and I’d like to say thank you by giving you some good news. He said – Oh, okay. And I think – Open door! So, I told him – You know, you kind of remind me of my son and he’s in Heaven now. Do you know for sure that you are going to Heaven? He just looked at me like – she’s a fruitcake… but he wasn’t negative. I asked him – Do you go to church? He said – Well, not really. I said – Well, a lot of people go to church, they even pay tithes and they go every Sunday, but they don’t have the key to go to Heaven. Do you know what the key is? He looked at me really waiting for what I was going to say. I said – The key is Jesus, He is the whole ball of wax. You got Him, you got Heaven, and you got all you need! He just stood there and he was so open and so sweet. I said – I just wanted to pass that on to you as a thank you for helping me with my phone. Have a good day. And that’s all I said.
Pastor Brett – Amen, Amen! You know, sometimes we can over complicate it and we can worry about the words. I was encouraged by my wife, Janelle, what she said around Easter time, something that had come to her through her work. She said – You know, you just have to trust that the message is the power; you don’t have to have eloquence, you don’t have to have perfection…Just testifying that Jesus is risen from the dead and lives & reigns and wants to bring new life and healing to people. And that is itself the Holy Spirit who enters those words, those simple words and can do mighty things through it. So, thank you Jan for sharing that.
Bonnie – This week I asked for prayer for Angie, the daughter in law of my best friend in Iowa. She’s 40 years old, 3 months pregnant and was having bleeding. The doctor said it could possibly be the beginning of a miscarriage. So, I put it on our prayer chain and all of my friends were praying and her friends were praying… About two days later she went to the doctor again and everything seems to be fine. The bleeding has stopped, the baby’s heartbeat is strong; the baby has grown since the last time. So, we’re just praying that this truly is going to be a normal pregnancy.
Pastor Brett – Thank you Bonnie. Boy, how scary would that be?
If you were unable to attend our online worship on Sunday, view it here:
Set a reminder! Beginning May 23, Sunday morning worship will begin at 10:00 am.
New re-opening guidelines, from both our bishop* and our governor, mean that we can resume worshipping in person with more than 10 people.
Our target date is Sunday, May 23 - Pentecost. “When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” —Acts 4:31-32a
If you aren’t comfortable in groups yet, don’t worry. We will continue our hybrid worship, online and in-person, for the foreseeable future.
Thank you for your faithfulness!
*Here are the bishop’s new guidelines if you’d like to read them.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
We continue to collect items for the migrant farm workers this month.
Thanks to your generosity, we were able to provide dozens of toiletries last month. For May, our focus will be on pantry staples and basic comfort items such as pillows and fans.
You may sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050b4babaf22ab9-mayraok.
As always, we are happy to do the shopping if that’s more convenient for you. We can also purchase fresh fruit and vegetables with your cash donations. Simply click here and designate RAoK.
Thank you!
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
There’s never been a better time to build hope!
Our annual event with Christ UMC builds all the walls for a Habitat for Humanity home. The lumber is measured, cut, and sorted on Friday and crews assemble different walls on Saturday. Then all the walls are loaded onto a truck for transport. It’s a remarkable, fun-filled, hopeful day for the participants!
This year, the dates are June 25 and 26. Volunteers are needed for Friday cutting, Saturday building, and for the check-in/safety crew on Saturday. We will post the registration site as soon as it’s available.
Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Bonnie – This week at the pantry, I met a man named Gary. Last year he got out of prison after being in prison for 20 years for something that he did in his early 20’s. He said when he was young and stupid. He was talking about his grandmother and how much his grandmother meant to him; that his grandmother always kept him on the straight and narrow and was such a good influence to him. When she died, he turned away from those things and for whatever reason, ended up in prison. He was just saying how blessed he was now. He’s out of a job but he’s confident that he’s going to get another one. Because of Covid he lost his job, but he’s just very upbeat & positive. And it’s always amazing to me the people who are really down and out are so positive and know that God’s going to take care of them.
Pastor Brett – Amen, thank you Bonnie. Happy Mother’s Day to everyone! I saw Merry’s post in the chat. We’re going to say a special prayer for that later in the service, but I want to say to all the mothers out there – Happy Mother’s Day! That’s a God Sighting right there!
Merry – One of our members had a knee replacement donated for free this week and more care donated for someone else, at the Farm Workers this week.
Kari – I think that nature is always a God Sighting; we celebrated Mother’s Day with my mom yesterday and we took her to the Rhododendron Garden. It’s in full bloom and spectacular; how each little detail and all the different colors on all the Rhododendrons & Azaleas are incredible. I never get tired of looking at them. This is for Gayellyn, there were all these little baby ducklings all over the place too and they were so cute. So, there you go, I’ll say – Go Ducks to them.
Michele – This week we had so many pretty days, but one day in this condominium complex that I live in, we have a pond. It’s spring and the pond is just so pretty. I was walking my dogs down by the pond. The sun was out and the wind was blowing; I sat down at this bench there. You know, it’s interesting to sit and watch, to just stop and smell the roses. I sit there and watch people; a lot of times people don’t realize the beauty around them. If anything really makes me feel so close to God, is when it is so beautiful and all you want to do is say thank you. That you can have this in your life. No matter where you live, no matter where you are, there’s still so much beauty around us. Sometimes though, we just forget to stop and smell the roses and just look around and put our head back and say - Thank you for giving this to us! That was my God Sighting, it was so beautiful.
Pastor Brett – Amen. Thank you Michele.
If you were unable to attend our online worship on Sunday, view it here:
We are building a team to return in July of 2021!
World Servants follows the CDC guidelines both for the US and other countries, as well as stays informed on the State Department Travel advisories. You will see in this safety protocol that they require a negative COVID-19 test three days prior to the travel date. This is the same timeline that many airlines use.
They also have volunteers sign a release form. While World Servants does not require people to be vaccinated to participate in a mission trip, it is highly recommended. There is no quarantining unless someone comes down with symptoms on the mission trip. They will require community members with whom we are in contact to also wear masks at all times.
Contact Wendy F or the church office at office@westsidejourney.org for more information on this year’s trip.
If you’d like to relive our memories from previous years, take a look at the 2018 photos and 2019 photos.
Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Bonnie – This week at the food pantry a lady came in. She’s come about every week. When they’re homeless they can come every week to get food, because they don’t get very much. She was telling us how she lost her house, then she lost her kids - obviously due to drugs. But she’s getting on the right path. She said that she felt that God was with her and that it was a blessing that she lost her house, because now that she’s homeless she is able to help other people. And she considered that a blessing.
Pastor Brett – Wow! That is quite an interesting testimony, Bonnie, thank you for sharing that. That’s not something that I hear every day. God is Good! All the Time!
Kari – This is a power of prayer story in that God is even in the little details. Roberta, Joe’s mom, needs to have surgery on her toes in June and she has to go to a rehab place because she’s not going to be able to walk around and move or transfer herself. So, we needed to call Kaiser to get some help with the referral and everything. Joe was kind of complaining about how difficult it was going to be and they were just going to give us the run around….. I looked at him and said – Well, we’re just going to pray that we get the right person and a good operator who can help us. He said – That’s a good idea. So, we prayed about it in the car on the way there. We got to her place and made the call and we got the nicest operator who was so patient, kind and understanding. I told her – You are an answer to prayer. And Joe was just kind of flabbergasted that it was as easy as that! So, that is definitely a God Sighting.
Pastor Brett – Awesome, thank you Kari for sharing.
Fred – We both got our second (Covid) shots this weekend and neither of us have any symptoms, which is amazing!
Pastor Brett – Awesome, that’s great; congratulations. Sandy & Rich had theirs a couple of days ago and they’re doing fine; Morgan got hers, so that’s awesome.
Pastor Brett – Two weeks ago, we were doing the communion in the parking lot and it was Becky, Sandy, myself, Gayellyn and Gavin who were here lingering afterwards. We saw one Bald Eagle circling in the sky near or above the church. So, we’re all staring and looking at him; saying – Whoa, what does that mean, that’s so cool! We were talking about freedom and talking about the building… and being able to be back in church. And we’re like – That’s a God Sighting, right there! Then, Gavin who is getting into his car about 30 seconds later says – Look! There’s an Eagle, and pointed; that’s a God Sighting! And then another Eagle came, we’re like – There’s another Eagle! About 20 seconds later, Gavin says – There’s another Eagle there! We were all kind of thinking the same thing. Jane Williams is here saying - There were Eagles on Christmas Eve that were kind of circling overhead, as well. That was just one of those things that you can’t do on an online context, is have moments like that where you are physically sharing the sky and the clouds; look what’s going on above us. We all enjoyed that moment.
So, my office where I do my writing and the work I do at home, I have this tree and a fence; all sorts of squirrels and birds are constantly going, it’s like a highway. This week, I saw squirrels getting up in the trees and eating some of the tree blossoms. Just this morning, I saw a bird eating tree blossoms up there. Earlier this week, I saw two birds procreating, you might say. It was a gift because they don’t care about the pandemic, they’re just living their best life. I was just so encouraged looking to nature and what the animals are doing. They’re going about their business, hiding nuts away for the winter, squirrels are gathering their food and the birds are being fed. It just gave me encouragement and a sign of – Life goes on with the animals, we should follow their instincts, we should follow them.
Martha – My husband, Ken, suffered another AFib session this week; it wasn’t as serious as the one on July 4th. We didn’t have to go to the ER. What I am thankful for is technology. He was able to send his heart rhythms through his iPhone or iWatch to the Cardiologist. They were able to view it and say - It’s not as bad as it could be and just stay home and if it doesn’t improve…. So, about 8:30 that night it was all gone. So, God has provided people with the knowledge to give us those things so when we do have events like that happen, knowing that we can stay home, and not that we’re 100% comfortable, but knowing that we are being taken care of.
Pastor Brett – Thank you, Martha. Beautiful witness to what’s available to us and how God moves, awesome.
If you were unable to attend our online worship on Sunday, view it here:
Join us in the parking lot this Sunday at 10:45 am for communion. We will observe all rules and regulations for safety’s sake.
Our April Random Acts of Kindness is collecting toiletries for migrant workers Please sign up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050b4babaf22ab9-april. This lets us know what we may need to purchase with any cash donations.
Items will be collected this Saturday, May 1, from 10:00 - noon.
You are also welcome to bring new or gently used household items - bed linens, towels, dishes, silverware, pots and pans. All will be appreciated and put to good use.
If you prefer, you may donate and have the shopping done for you. Donate on our secure website at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9JRWF6TGN7EGN or mail a check to the church. Be sure to designate RAoK.
For those of you who heard about Kari's co-worker's son being shot and killed in front of his North Portland home last week and wanting to show Westside's support, here is the link to the GoFundMe page to help cover expenses for his funeral: https://gofund.me/2b61f8ae
Share from your week; where have you seen God at work?:
Wendy F. – This one is not specific to this week only, it’s been happening for a couple of weeks. I’m super grateful that Barrett F. & Dylan T. are able to play baseball this spring. It’s been two years for both of them; they’ve know each other in this church since they were babies. And it’s been very fun for them to not see each other for a long time, but to come back and play baseball all of the last several years. So, it feels outstanding particularly right now when a lot of the kids are going to school half time or not at all; that’s Barrett’s outlet – to see his buddies, in particular Dylan. So, we are grateful.
Pastor Brett – That’s such good news, Wendy. Are they on the same team?
Wendy – Yes, they are. Dylan is our catcher and Barrett plays outfield; they bat often times right next to each other. So, it’s fun to hear them cheering for each other in the dugout. Just wonderful.
Pastor Brett – That’s amazing. A sign of hope; sustaining hope.
Merry – We continue to see God’s work in the generous gifts of food that are given to our farm workers.
Pastor Brett – I know that Gwen F. had a birthday yesterday. So, we celebrate that with her. I think it was a good one from what I’ve heard.