CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets, Monday, June 12, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, June 12, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, June 13, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Lunch Bunch will go to Jubitz, Tuesday, June 20, 12:30pm. Bev Read is taking reservations.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Razzle Dazzle, Saturday, June 17, 8pm, Portland Newmark Theater, pdxgmc.org.
• Portland Pride Parade, marching with CWC, Sunday, June 18, Noon.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• Children’s Sunday School goes to Camp, Wednesday-Saturday, August 16-19, Suttle Lake Camp.
• Readiness Fair, Saturday, August 26, Roosevelt High School.
• Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006.

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, Saturdays at 3pm.
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.

Show (0) - Add comments:

CUT OFF NO LONGER
Isaiah 56:1-5; Psalm 22:1-18, 25-31; Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 4:7-21
May 21, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

“Cut off.� “Cut off.� I can’t begin to tell you how painful that language became for me. It seemed to define, to limit, to cut off my whole existence. And of course, that was the whole point.

You see, there was no place in my faith for the ones who were called “cut off.�

But, I realize, you don’t know who I am, do you? I was a Jew by birth, and by heritage and belief, but not by practice. My family had moved South and East along the caravan lines, finally settling South of the Sahara Desert, in the land we called Cush, and you call Ethiopia, part of the great Diaspora, all the forces that took Jews into all parts of the known world. I was raised in the community of faith, but when it came time to become a son of the covenant, I was barred. Even then, you see, it was obvious that I would never marry, never have children, never be a part of the continuing line of our people.

Now, I understand that you all have some language for what it means when there is no one to carry on the family name, a sense that it is a sad thing for a family when that happens, and a rejoicing when a next generation of sons is born. That might give you a tiny inkling of what it meant to us, when one of us wasn’t going to have children. You see, our life past death, our on-going existence in the memory of the people—all that was carried in the great line of ancestors and descendants, a chain that carried us from the distant past into the unimaginable future. So long as the chain continued, every ancestor participated in the present, and would be there still in the future. But if that chain was broken, by me, for example, then it wasn’t only me that lost any hope of continuing in the mind and presence of God; it was all my ancestors as well. Can you imagine how terrible it would b e to realize that, because you will never have children, all of your ancestors will disappear from the mind and memory of God? I was a disgrace, a sadness, a travesty visited upon my family, a cause of unending grief for my parents and disgrace for my brothers.

How bad was the disgrace? Well, the term “cut off� was applied to only three classes of people: to those who had been sentenced to capital punishment, to die because their offences against the community were so great; to those who had been banished and could never again live among our people; and to those, called eunuch if they were male and barren if they were female, who would never have children.

Show (0) - Add comments:

CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Education Committee meets with lunch, Sunday, June 4, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets, Monday, June 12, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, June 12, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, June 13, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Lunch Bunch will go to Jubitz, Tuesday, June 20, 12:30pm. Bev Read is taking reservations.

THE COMMUNITY
• Home Buying Basics Workshop, Wednesday, May 31, 6-8pm, Errol Stephenson Hall
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Meeting, Tuesday, June 6, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.
• Portland Pride Parade, marching with CWC, Sunday, June 18, Noon.

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference meets Tuesday, June 6-Saturday, June 10, Nampa, Idaho.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• Children’s Sunday School goes to Camp, Wednesday-Saturday, August 16-19, Suttle Lake Camp.
• Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006.

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, Saturdays at 3pm.
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.

MAY FOOD DRIVE
Twice each year, in November and May, UPUMC collects non-perishable food for the Good Samaritan Food Bank of North Portland. On Thursday, June 1, we will take the gathered food offerings to the Good Samaritan Food Bank of North Portland. Remember, we gather offerings of food at the altar because we are called to care for our neighbors as an act of worship. Please remember those who are hungry as you do your shopping and contribute as you can.
Eternal and Compassionate God, remind us in the midst of plenty, that there are many all around us in urgent need of food. Many in our towns and cities go hungry this day. And more go hungry as each month passes. Help us to learn how to care deeply. Show us ways Lord, to respond as Jesus would, and bless us as we feed and serve the hungry. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL. TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.

Show (0) - Add comments:

CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Thinking About Joining UPUMC? Adult Sunday School Class [with food], 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Lunch Bunch, Tuesday, May 16, The Orient, 12:30pm. Tell Bev Read if you plan to attend.
• UMW Bake Sale, Sunday, May 21, after worship.
• Finance Committee meets Sunday, May 21, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• All Church Potluck Grill and Games, Sunday, May 28, Noon.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Board Meeting, Tuesday, May 23, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.
• Home Buying Basics Workshop, Wednesday, May 31, 6-8pm, Errol Stephenson Hall

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Pioneer UMC Style Show/Luncheon/Tea, Saturday, May 20, 1pm. Tickets $8. Reservations: 503-286-2105
• Sing Out, Speak Up for Justice, Christ the Reconciler UMC, Sunday, May 21, 2:30pm, Sunnyside Grange Hall, SE 132nd and Sunnyside Drive.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• The Laramie Project at Southridge High School, May 26 and 27 $7. www.southridgetheatre.org
• Children’s Sunday School goes to Camp, Wednesday-Saturday, August 16-19, Suttle Lake Camp.
• Third Annual All-Church Retreat at Camp Magruder on the Oregon Coast, Friday-Sunday, September 15-17, 2006.

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, Saturdays at 3pm.
PLEASE DON’T GO HUNGRY. WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR PANTRY, LOCATED IN THE HALLWAY LEADING TO ERROL STEPHENSON HALL, TAKE WHAT YOU NEED.

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.

Show (0) - Add comments:

I CHOSE YOU
Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; John 15:9-17
May 14, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard Scott quote the words of our prayer of dedication to me, the part where it says, “generous to your world and all of our brothers and sisters within it,� but I know it’s a lot. And he’s not the only one. I remember that Carol told me she cut it out and put it on her desk, a reminder for her encounters with co-workers who aren’t always easy to live with.

Life would be a lot easier, if we could chose our family or co-workers, if we could chose our neighbors the way we chose our friends. But the reality is, we often live with, or work with, or live near, people who are difficult. People we wouldn’t chose. People who are confused or crusty or self-centered or cruel. People caught up in troubles, in addictions, in life-long patterns of dysfunction. People to whom we try to be generous, not because they are nice, not because we’re going to get thanked, not because it “pays� to be nice, but because it is a part of who we are as people of faith. It is our calling, to recognize that all the people we meet, even the difficult ones, are beloved children of God, brother and sister to you and to me.

This is part of what baptism means to me. This simple water ritual makes clear the almost unbelievable reality, that the one who is at the center of everything that is, the one we call God, Creator, Father or Mother, that this one loves me, and you, and everyone of us, not in some generic way, not like I might say, “Oh yes, I love ice cream,� but with a very specific love: loving us by name, like this very carton of Tillamook French vanilla or that specific dish of Alpenrose Tin Roof Sundae, loving us in particular, as Jeanne and Leanna and Betty and Dick and David and Mariah and Anthony and Brett. Before we were born, before God called us into being, God loved us, in all our individuality, in all our particularity of color and size and race and ability and orientation and preference and, and, . . . anything. This is what we celebrate in baptism, that the one who is God claims us before anything else, claims us not because of what we do or because of who we have become, but because it is God’s nature to love and claim us.

I am sometimes asked, by people who have experienced some hard times and some turning around in life, if I will rebaptize them. Yes, they say, “I was baptized as a child, but I messed my life up so bad and now I’m trying to get it on track. I need forgiveness for how I’ve messed up.� And then I explain, as gently as I can, that I don’t rebaptize people, not for any reason. To do so, you see, would suggest that we can do something to remove ourselves from God’s claim and care, and we can’t. God claims us, regardless. We can’t make it happen; we can’t do anything to make it go away. It just is: we are beloved children of a God who loves. Period. Now, I say, we can remember that we are beloved; we can reaffirm that being children of God empowers us in so many ways; we can reclaim and we can reawaken ourselves to God’s love. But we can never separate ourselves from God’s love. Even the ritual of baptism doesn’t make God love us; doesn’t make us children of God. It just recognizes that this is who we are, every one of us, just because we are.

Show (0) - Add comments: