SAVING THE WORLD, ONE BY ONE Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15 June 3, 2007
Amy Dalton and I had a long conversation this week. She wanted to tell me about her involvement in and excitement about a New Sanctuary Movement, a faith-based movement to address the terrible pressures being brought to bear on poor people, peasants, and farmers of Central America. A few years back, you may remember, the United States became a part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA. The idea behind it was that free trade, without local protections, would improve life for all. The reality is somewhat different.
You see, one of the big provisions of NAFTA is that member states cannot enact regulations and tariffs to protect their local economic communities. That might sound reasonable, if no one has special protection, then the businesses that work most efficiently will thrive and grow and the inefficient ones will wither away and—to use an image from the arguments for NAFTA—a rising tide lifts all boats. Unfortunately, in the real world, that rising tide is drowning a lot of people who don’t have a boat, whose feet are sort of, shall we say, stuck in the mud as the waters rise around them.
To explain, let’s look at a simple crop, corn. We grow it in the US. Local peasants grow it in Mexico and Central America. It is the cornerstone of a poor person’s diet in Central America. For many, many years, small farmers, peasants, have grown corn, ground what they needed for their own tortillas and sold the rest in the local markets to get the money they needed to live a simple life. It was a simple way of being, and no one got wealthy, but also, no one starved.
After NAFTA, the cheapest corn in the markets of Central America is corn grown in the United States, corn subsidized, fertilized, and grown with the economic benefits of very large agribusiness, often to the harm of local small farmers, here and in Central America. So, the local farmers of Central America no longer have a market for their own corn, even as they still have all the debts associated with farming. Sometimes it’s even worse. They may have been convinced at some time to plant one of the new hybrid patented corns, noted for high production, in an attempt to beat the economic margin. But using that corn carries terrible consequences. You see, subsistence farmers have always saved seed from one harvest to plant the next year. But if the saved seed has the new, patented corn genes in it, which of course it will, for that is how seed forms, then to use that saved corn seed to plant the next year is theft—for it is taking the patented genes without paying for them. Moreover, if one farmer decided not to go that route, but continued to plant the lower yield seed he had always planted, the next year’s saved seed might still carry the patented genes, for pollen blows in the air from farm to farm and is carried from plant to plant by bees who don’t distinguish between ordinary corn and patented corn. So now, whether or not the farmer decided to use the hybrid corn initially, it is not legal to use the seed he has saved from the previous year. He must buy seed on the old agricultural plan, debt in the spring, to be paid off at the harvest, when the crop is sold.
Do you see the problem? NAFTA has eliminated the local market for the corn, and without the market, the farmer goes deeper and deeper into debt. Someone may be working land that has been in the family for generations: for the first time, it is not able to provide a simple livelihood for the farmer. To stay on the land is not simply to not have the riches that someone else has; it is to watch your family be destroyed by debt. This is the economic engine that is driving the massive emigration from Central America to North America; this is why the young men and women of Central America are risking so much to move North, legally or illegally, so that they can earn money to send home to keep their families—parents, siblings, spouses, and children—alive. How much impact has this economic engine had in recent years? Between 1994, when NAFTA was passed, and 2004, 1.3 million Mexican small farmers went bankrupt. Mexico has been a net importer of US corn all those years. Many of those farmers and their families moved North. How many? Perhaps this tells us something: in 2005, Mexicans in the United States sent $20 billion home to family members still in Mexico. Their efforts to support their family members bring more money into Mexico that all of tourism, than all of the oil trade, and than all the maquiladoras factories assembling “Made in Mexico” goods for export into US markets. At the same time, workers in the US fear that the presence of so much desperate labor drives wages down North of the border. The great economic engine of NAFTA is pitting workers against each other, all scrambling for the jobs that will keep their families alive, North and South of the border. This is the engine that drives both the vastly increased immigration rates and the profound anger at the numbers of immigrants.
CONNECTIONS UPUMC • Unbinding the Gospel, Adult Sunday School meets Summer Sundays, 11:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall, beginning today. • Education Committee meets Sunday, June 3, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall. • Shower of Stoles, Sunday, June 10, 10am-4pm, Sanctuary. • Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, June 18, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall. • Administrative Council meets Monday, June 18, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall. • Lunch Bunch, Cup and Saucer, Tuesday, June 19, 12:30pm. Bev Read makes reservations. • Family Karaoke Night, 6:30-8pm, Saturday, June 23, Errol Stephenson Hall. Information: Jenn Herbach. • Outreach Committee meets Sunday, June 24, after potluck. THE LARGER CHURCH • Retirement Party for Rev. Karen Crooch, Morningside UMC, Salem, Saturday, June 23, 1-4pm. • Creation Vacation, June 30-July 4, Camp Magruder. See Marcia for more information. • Sing Across the Walls: 2007 Oregon-Idaho School of Christian Mission, July 12-15, George Fox University, Newberg, OR. Registration Deadline is June 29. • UMW Young Women’s Event, July 13-15, George Fox University, Newberg, OR.
THE COMMUNITY • Game Days, First and Third Sundays, 2-5pm, University Park Coffee Shop. • Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Event, Walking the Neighborhood, Tuesday, June 5, 7pm, Clarendon Elementary School.
FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR • Third Annual North Portland Pride Festival, Sunday, August 12, Noon-4pm, UPUMC. • UPUMC FUNd-raising Cruise, September 16-23, 2007. Talk to Betty Cruson to sign up.
WEEKLY AT UPUMC • Choir practices Sundays at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 6:30pm, Sanctuary. • Men’s Group, Tuesdays, 10am, Narthex. • Alcoholics Anonymous, Narthex, Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm, weekly. • Overeaters Anonymous, Wednesdays at 7pm. • Morrison Center Program, Thursdays 5-9pm, beginning June 21. STAYING IN TOUCH Edna Riddle, Sunrise Adult Care Center, 11945 SW Butner Rd., Portland OR 97225; 503-841-1295.
Harriet Bonhorst, Pioneer Tower, 515 P Street #202, Sacramento, CA 95814; phone: 1-916-446-4863.
Erica Martinez, 182 E Nevada St. Ashland, OR 97520. Cell phone: 1-503-791-3680.
Elmina Nath, 5525 NE 15th Ave., Portland, OR 97213, telephone 503-206-7654.
Jeanne Pulliam, 8603 SE Causey Ave, Apt 202; Happy Valley, OR 97086-2604, Telephone 503-594-2539.
Aleena Sologar, 6611 NE MLK Blvd Apt. 101, Portland, OR 97211. 503-285-4761.
HOLDING IN PRAYER Dana Brandt—cancer, chemo—at home. Carolyn Hammett—cancer, chemo—at home. Phil Herbach—awaiting hip replacement—at home. Bev Heginbotham—chemo—at home. Barb Sawyer, recovery from TIA, at home. WEEKLY FINANCIAL REPORT Budget for 2007: $120,895 Needed monthly: $ 10,075 Needed through June: $ 60,450 Received year to date: $ 40,721 Received in May: $ 7,853 Needed during June $ 19,729
IN THE MAIL Please join us for a Retirement Party as we honor Reverend Karen E. Crooch for her love and grace throughout her many years of service, Saturday, June 23, 2007, 1-4pm. Program at 2pm. Morningside UMC, 3674 12th Street SE, Salem. Hors d’oeuvres and beverages will be served. They request no gifts. Karen was the pastor of UPUMC from 1988-1995.
THE NURSERY IS STAFFED DURING WORSHIP FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN SCHOOL AGE.
PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL. TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.
UNBINDING THE GOSPEL Do you cringe whenever you hear the “E-word.” Does the thought of talking about evangelism make you remember that your baseboards need to be scrubbed RIGHT NOW? Do you feel a little guilty anytime someone says, “Well, if we could just get more people to come to UPUMC, things would be better.”? If you answered yes, even in the privacy of your own mind, to any of these questions, then the summer Adult Sunday School Class, Unbinding the Gospel, is for you. Honest. The Administrative Council listened to part of the first chapter of the book at its May meeting and stayed for a captivating discussion of what evangelism does and could mean to us.
Here’s the question: What difference does it make in your own life that you are a person of faith? Put aside the idea of going out to ring doorbells and talk to strangers. What if you could find the words to tell yourself, your kids, your neighbors, and your friends why your church is important to you? What if you could reclaim the word “Christian” in a way that was healthy, accurate, and respectful? What if you felt more confident talking about the parts of your faith which are important to you?
Plan to come to adult Sunday School, beginning next week, June 3. The program will run through the summer. We’ll have something to snack on—fruit, crackers, cheese?—something that will let you make healthy choices. Tell us beforehand and we will plan to have childcare available. We’ll have good information and great conversations. We’ll come out of it knowing better who we are and how we live that out with excitement and integrity. WE’LL HAVE FUN! Class begins today at 11:40 in Errol Stephenson Hall.
GAME DAYS RESUME TODAY UPUMC and the Portland Neighborhood Association will continue to sponsor Sunday afternoon Game Days on the first and third Sundays from 2-5pm. The location moves to the University Park Coffee Shop, diagonal across the intersection from the church. Lisa Horne will continue to coordinate the no-host events, which will run through the summer. Everyone is welcome to attend, participate, meet people, play games, and converse.
ALTON L. COLLINS SUMMER EVENTS Did you know that Alton L. Collins Retreat Center is blessed to have a gourmet chef who prepares the meals for guest of the retreat center? On Father’s Day, Sunday, June 17, the Retreat Center will host a Father’s Day Brunch for the whole family from 12:30-2pm. $17 per adult, children 3-12 half price, under 3 free. Reservations at 503-637-6411 or
On Sundays June 17, July 8, and August 19, Alton L. Collins Retreat Center will host SummerFest Music Events. the schedule is 4:30 gathering, 5pm entertainment, 6pm ice cream and home made cookies.
In addition, the July SummerFest will be preceded by the 2nd Annual Southern Style Barbeque, with donations to raise money for Retreat Center Programming. Requested donations, $15 for adults, $7.50 for children. Reservations at 5033-637-6411.
CONCERT: THE PEACEMAKERS The Portland Gay Men’s chorus will present The Peacemakers at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert hall on Saturday, June 16, at 7:30pm, featuring the world premier of BraveSouls and Dreamers, which contrasts the stark realities of war with a hope for peace. Governor Barbara Roberts will host and a portion of ticket sales will go to support Mercy Corps. Reserved seating at $30, $25, and $20, available at 503-226-2588, www.pdxgmc.org or at the door.
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper March 25, 2007 These are the words of Drew Cameron, talking about his friend, Specialist Jose Perez, of San Diego, Texas: I’d just like to talk about my friend Jose Perez. He was the guy I served with when I was in the Army. He was a Specialist and he was killed in Taji, Iraq in May of 2003. He was a Medic attached to our field artillery unit. I served with him for a number of years before we got went over there. Jose was the kinda guy who would give soldiers who didn’t have a car because they didn’t have enough money a ride to work. He is the kind of guy who would go out of his way to do a friendly deed. He was the kind of guy that you’ll hang out with in a beat on the weekends.
It’s a really unfortunate thing because this is a guy who really believes in his job as a Medic. He was the one tasked with taking care of us. You know he was the guy you could lean on when you had any sort of issues—like you needed IV ‘cause you were dehydrated. Or you needed something because you got injured. He believed in that and he really worked to his fullest to make that happen for us. He was 22 years young and just like all of us sent over there, you know, kids. He’s from Texas, we lived in Oklahoma at fort Sail. And we all miss him.
Monday, March 19th, was the fourth anniversary of our war with Iraq. It was raining hard. Seventeen of us, old and young, men and women, gathered under the roof next to Errol Stephenson Hall to remember the ones who have died or been injured in that war, American and Iraqi. Three people read the names of soldiers from Oregon who have died in that war. Marcia and little Mary Louisa read the names of a few of the Iraqi civilians who have died there as well. I read short reflections on war and peace, quotations from the Bible, from history, from poetry. Luther Sturdevant, a retired United Methodist pastor who lives down the street, read short passages written by friends and family members of Americans who have died in that war. The stories brought tears to our eyes and sorrow to our hearts. We cried and sang, over and over, the words of the World Peace Prayer: Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts; let peace fill our world; let peace fill our universe.
And we hoped it would make a difference, in our hearts and in our world. Tuesday, I talked with a woman who had not come to the event. She felt bad, she said, “But it hurt too much. I know that the vigils and all are about breaking us out of our apathy, but I just can’t do it. I turn the radio off when the news comes on. I just can’t listen.” Not because she doesn’t care, but because she cares so much. Like several of you, she loves someone who future winds through Iraq. Mention of the war brings her to the edge of her deep pool of tears, the one that sits right next to her, all the time, the pool of fear and worry and dismay and wrenching anguish that threatens to overwhelm her at any moment, if only she were to let it.
A dozen of us are taking a Lenten journey together, in the form of a study, the Way of Transforming Discipleship. The author, Trevor Hudson, has been a pastor in South Africa during its profoundly wrenching movement from apartheid to constitutional equality. In the process, he has learned that nations, as well as individuals, each have their deep pools of tears, the pains we each sit beside but fear to enter, terrified that they will overwhelm us. Hudson writes: Befriend your own pain; don’t run from it. Addictions result from covering up or running from pain. We do anything to keep the pain away and then wonder why we feel so dead. Whatever is in your pool of tears, befriend it. Find a wailing wall. And let your pain find its voice. God calls us to attend to our pain. Often it is there that we find the seeds of our own calling in the world. We see this so often around us. the recovering alcoholic reaches out to another alcoholic. The person who has lost a child reaches out compassionately to another parent who has lost a child. Parents of a mentally handicapped child reach out to others who have this experience. Through our own pain God speaks and often gives a sense for what God wants us to be about in this world.
CONNECTIONS UPUMC • UMW Bake Sale, Sunday, August 20, Narthex, after worship. • Farmers’ Market, West covered walk outside Errol Stephenson Hall, Sundays, 11am-1pm, through the growing season. • All Church Pot-luck and Forum, Sunday, August 27, 11:30am. Forum with Vision PDX, thinking about how we’d like Portland to be in the future. • No choir rehearsals on Tuesdays August 29 or September 5. • Rummage Sale, preparation day on Friday, September 1, sale on Saturday, September 2. Plan to attend and assist. See Judy Griffen for details.
THE LARGER CHURCH • Oregon Idaho Reconciling United Methodists will meet Saturday, September 9, 12:30-4pm at Montavilla UMC. Potluck meal at 3:30pm. • Linnea Good Concert, Saturday, September 9, Tigard UMC, 7:30pm.
THE COMMUNITY • Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Board meets Tuesday, August 22, 7pm, Fountain Room, 4610 N Trenton, New Columbia. • Readiness Fair, Saturday, August 26, Roosevelt High School.
FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR • UPUMC Yard Sale and BBQ, Saturday, September 2, 10am-4pm. • Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006. • Interfaith Transgender Conference, October 21-22, 2006 at Corvallis First United Methodist Church. • Celebration 2006: 115 years of UPUMC, Celebration dinner, and Charge Conference, Sunday, October 29. Plan to attend!
WEEKLY AT UPUMC • Choir practices Sundays at 9:30am, Tuesdays at 6:30pm, Sanctuary. • Men’s Group, Tuesdays, 10am, Narthex. • Alcoholics Anonymous, Narthex, Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm, weekly. • Overeaters Anonymous, Wednesdays at 7pm. • Morrison Center Program, Wednesdays at 4:30pm, Thursdays at 3:30pm.
THE NURSERY IS STAFFED DURING WORSHIP FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN SCHOOL AGE. SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN ARE INVITED INTO THE SANCTUARY UNTIL THE ‘PASSING OF THE PEACE’; THEN THEY GO TO SUNDAY SCHOOL.
PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL. TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.
University Park United Methodist Church (UPUMC) is located at 4775 N Lombard, Portland Oregon 97203. UPUMC is small, diverse, growing, laughing, committed, caring, serious, warm and REAL! We are a community that encourages each other as we grow in faith, in knowledge, in service, and in love of self, God and neighbor. At University Park we not only respect but welcome diversity in race, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical and mental ability, economic status and profession. We believe all people are equal before God and entitled to Gods grace and abundance. Pastors: Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper & Rev. Marcia Hauer http://www.upumc.net
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