CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Dinner and Film, Joan of Arcadia, Wednesday, September 7, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• United Methodist Women meet Wednesday, September 7, 10am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, September 12, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, September 12, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, September 13, 7pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Meeting Our New Neighbors in New Columbia, Thursday, September 22, 6-8pm.

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Candlelight Vigil in memory of GLBT Victims of Suicide, 6-8pm, Wednesday, September 7, LDS Portland Temple, 13600 SW Kruse Oaks Blvd, Lake Oswego, OR.
• Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors: Motto or Reality? 6-9pm Friday September 16 and 9am-4pm Saturday, September 17. Worship at Woodlawn UMC 1425 NE Dekum at 11am on Sunday, September 18.

THE COMMUNITY
• TCAP/PNA forum meets Tuesday, September 6, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• All-Church Beach Retreat at Camp Magruder, Friday-Sunday, September 16-18, 2005.
• Meeting Our Neighbors at New Columbia, 6-8pm,Thursday, September 22.
• Charge Conference, Wednesday, October 19, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Come to the Table, Community of Welcoming Congregations, 5-9pm, Saturday, October 22, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church.
• All-Church Homecoming Celebration, Sunday, November 13.

WEEKLY AT UPUMC
• Choir practices Sundays at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 6pm, Sanctuary.
• Men’s Group. Tuesdays, 10am, Narthex.
• Let’s Go Walking, Wednesdays, 1pm, Narthex.
• Alcoholics Anonymous, Narthex, Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm, weekly.
• Overeaters Anonymous, Wednesdays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm.
• Peninsula CDC Youth Council, Mondays, 1-3:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.

THE NURSERY IS STAFFED DURING WORSHIP

PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.

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PARCHED HEARTS AND FLOODED EMOTIONS
Psalm 148; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
September 4, 2005
Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

Rev. Charles Davy was writing between nine and ten o'clock in the morning when his papers began to tremble. This surprised him since the day was calm and beautiful. He heard a rumble, which he thought came from carts in the street. Then his room shuddered. It dawned on him that he had been jolted by a mild earthquake. While he debated whether to stay inside or run out, the house shook so violently that its upper stories collapsed.

Holes appeared in the stone work of his room. The air was so choked with dust that for several minutes he could scarcely breathe. Only with difficulty was he able to keep his footing. Outside, he heard screams and wails. In every direction churches and stone buildings toppled in ruin. Priests led prayers. Frightened people shrieked to the saints for help and clutched crucifixes and images seized from the churches, apparently thinking these would save them.

"The sea is coming, we shall all be lost" cried a voice. Davy turned and saw a wall of water, about twenty feet high bearing down upon him. The quake had generated a tsunami. He ran for higher ground. The roaring wave smashed all in its path. When it retreated, it bore bodies with it. He found herself up to the waist in water and clung to a heavy beam to keep from being dragged away. Fire followed. Candles and ovens had lit the city. Looters set even more fires. Once a jewel on the Atlantic, Lisbon burned for five days.

I thought of the Lisbon earthquake this week. The falling buildings, the tsunami driven floods, and then the fires, some started by household candles and ovens, some by looters, that burned for five days. Twenty thousand, perhaps thirty thousand people perished in less than a week of horror. A beautiful cultured city was utterly destroyed, and along with it, a smug and scary pattern of thought.

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News In Brief - Sep. 2, 2005

Brief items for use in local church newsletters
prepared by United Methodist News Service

The United Methodist Committee on Relief has issued an emergency appeal for health kits, bottled water and blankets for survivors along the Gulf Coast. Information on assembling and shipping the kits is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/kits.cfm. UMCOR said new blankets were preferred but recently cleaned blankets in good condition were acceptable. Donations to UMCOR's relief efforts can be made online at http://methodistrelief.org, through local church collections and by mail to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Drive, Room 330, New York, NY 10015. Designate checks to UMCOR for Advance No. 982523 and "Hurricanes 2005 Global." Credit-card donations may be made by calling (800) 554-8583.

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Hearts on Fire

Dear Friends of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference,

On the eve of my departure to participate in the orientation for new district superintendents and directors of connectional ministry, to be held at
Lake Junaluska Assembly in North Carolina, I am preparing to lead a workshop on hospitality in our United Methodist churches. It is appalling that as I prepare to lead a discussion about hospitality, there are some in our Church who are prepared to deny hospitality based on sexual orientation.

A controversy is raging about Lake Junaluska Assembly and another conference that will be held there. “Hearts on Fire� is a conference of the Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN), a “national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of The United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice� (from the RMN mission statement).

The controversy has been fueled by a letter from another group within The United Methodist Church calling on the Lake Junaluska Assembly to refuse permission for RMN to meet, declaring that because of RMN’s goal of full participation, the group should not be permitted to meet at Lake Junaluska.

This debate about whether a United Methodist site should or should not host a conference such as “Hearts on Fire� is incomprehensible. We are not of one mind when it comes to the question of inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons in our churches’ ministries. But when did we lose sight of the importance of conversation and hospitality in our understanding of Christian conduct?

That we are embroiled in this current controversy is a sign that some believe it is permissible to limit conversation about difficult, divisive matters. Some persons believe that rather than being in relationship with those whose thinking differs from our own, it is far more expeditious to reject a meeting of the minds, hearts, and souls. Fear of what some do not agree with keeps them from being in community with others and leads to the attempt to prohibit the use of a United Methodist facility by a United Methodist group.

The Church belongs to all persons, and thus, “we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people…� (I Timothy 4: 9 – 10). God’s love is for all persons. As a bishop of our United Methodist Church, I wholeheartedly support the decision by the Lake Junaluska Assembly to open its doors to the “Hearts on Fire� conference. I call upon all of us to live into the high standard set for us in the grace of God in Jesus Christ which opens our hearts, minds, and doors to all persons, unconditionally.

In Christ’s shalom,

Robert T. Hoshibata

Gracious God, we commit ourselves to live in ways that are consistent with your Good News of love and grace. Touch the lives of those who do not know you as our God who loves all persons. Tear down the divisions that threaten us; and dispel any fears that prevent us from being fully disciples of Jesus Christ. Bless us as we continue our work of justice and mercy in His strong name, Amen.

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‘Give Until It Heals,’
Hurricane Katrina

Dear Friends of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference,

At the 2004 General Conference in Pittsburgh,
Bishop Bruce P. Blake (then of the Oklahoma area,
now retired) preached an extraordinary sermon entitled, “Give Until It Heals.�
In that sermon, Bishop Blake urged us all to exercise the Wesleyan discipline of giving until our gifts of love, compassion and money result in the healing of mind, body and spirit in our communities and world. We now have another opportunity
to demonstrate our willingness to give until it heals.

This past week has seen danger, destruction, and death in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. As always, the media have offered us startling glimpses into the fury of the hurricane. When the morning after dawned, we became aware of massive destruction and the sorrow of loss brought by wind and water. A very long and extensive recovery process will be required before life can resume with any sense of “normalcy.� We offer prayers for those whose lives have been touched directly and indirectly by Hurricane Katrina.

Now, efforts are being directed at the clean-up and rebuilding. As resolute as humans are, most are beginning to focus on the future. And yet, there are many who will not be able to see clearly what comes next in their lives. Still too much uncertainty; too much pain to get on with life just yet.

As you and I have come to expect, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is already responding. This disaster relief arm of our United Methodist Church is ready because you have empowered it to be ready through your “One Great Hour of Sharing� special offering. UMCOR is thus empowered to turn 100% of your donations to relief supplies and efforts, not administrative costs. It is a miracle of our denomination that such immediate reaction is possible.

This calls to mind our United Methodist “connectionalism.� The response to a disaster elsewhere in our connection is a reminder that we are one in Jesus Christ in our common compassion for others who are suffering or in distress. When Jesus calls us to be “one,� it is exactly this kind of benevolence that unites us, and UMCOR offers us the mode to respond not as individuals, but as a body of Christ,
a family of God. Together we can participate in the healing of those in pain and the uplifting of those who are downtrodden. In the vernacular, “That’s what ‘church’ is all about!�

Just 8 months ago, we were called to respond to the disastrous tsunami in southern Asia. You responded graciously and generously. Now, I call upon you to in like manner, to give out of compassion to those whose lives are overturned by this disaster of mammoth proportions. To do so is to share in the call to care for one another as Christ cares for us.

In Christ’s shalom,

Robert T. Hoshibata

God, our Creator, we stand in humility in the midst of destruction of such proportions as we have witnessed. We are stunned by the proportion of destruction and damage. So we turn our prayers to ask you to lift out of darkness those who have experienced great loss: of life, of health, of purpose in life. We ask that you also surround with your care the many who have lost homes, places of employment; material goods and property. As we respond with our prayers and
with our resources, may we know deep in our hearts that we are living into our faith in Jesus Christ when we give generously and compassionately. We ask that your spirit may move us to give until it heals in the name of Christ who gave his life that we might be healed in eternal life, Amen.

P.S. You may make a donation to UMCOR for this disaster through your local church. Your checks should be marked “Fund #587, Hurricanes 2005 Global.�
You may also give online; click here. We will also be putting a link on the homepage of the Conference website, www.UMOI.net, to keep you up on the latest news. You may also go to www.UMC.org.

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