All Who Find Religion Strange
Psalm 118; Mark 16:1-8
April 16, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

Christ has risen and forever lives to challenge and to change all whose lives are messed and mangled, all who find religions strange. Christ is risen, Christ is present, making us what he has been—evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen.

Oh, there are so many longing for that evidence, evidence that God is real and present in this messed and mangled world, so many who twist in the hard space between strange religions that demand impossible beliefs and a terrifying and lonely emptiness. Singer Libby Roderick has captured that longing in her lyrics:

I wish I still believed in angels hovering somewhere in the air
Living just to do for humans what the humans do not dare
I wish I felt them all around me when the pain comes bursting through
I wish I still believed in angels, but I still believe in you.

For all of those who find religion strange, and I know that includes some of us, we might be the only evidence they see of a transformation in which God can be known and seen.

But let me tell you a story, a story of death and resurrection, a story of Theresa. When I first met Theresa, she only had a couple “good hours� a day. The rest of the time she slept, recovering from an illness that had nearly killed her. She was a bright, engaging woman, and over time, as she recovered more of her energy, she told me a good deal of her story.

Theresa was a chiropractor who had also trained in massage therapy. A virus spread through the practice where she worked with others. Most of her co-workers were sick for a while and then recovered. So did Theresa, partly. But then she passed out, entered a coma she would stay in for weeks, caused when the virus attacked her pancreas, shutting down insulin production. Theresa, who had not been a diabetic before the illness, spent those months in a diabetic coma, hovering between life and death.

As she told me of her experiences of that time, she used language I’d read elsewhere, spoken by others who had what we call “near death� experiences. She talked of a warm and loving light, and of being in the presence of Jesus, of feeling a tremendous warm love that surrounded and assured her, then told her she had living yet to do.

Theresa was not a religious woman before her experience, but she came out of it with a profound trust in God. At the center of everything, she knew, she truly knew, was a deep and abiding love. Although she came back to her healthy self slowly, and had many challenges that her disability and profound lack of energy caused, she did not lose heart. Beyond all trouble, beyond all economic challenges, beyond all disability and struggle with a mind that had been starved for oxygen, beyond all of that, Theresa knew that there was a God, a God of love more profound than anything she could explain. And the knowledge of that love made everything else okay, even when it wasn’t. Theresa could trust God. It was enough.

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CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Finance Committee meets Sunday, April 9, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, April 10, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, April 10, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, April 11, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Maundy Thursday meal, service and Easter eggs, Thursday, April 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall and sanctuary.
• Easter Breakfast, Sunday, April 16, 8:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Community Food Security gathering, Wednesday, April 12, 5-6:30pm, Ainsworth United Church of Christ, 2941 NE Ainsworth.
• Interfaith Service for Peace in Iraq, 4pm, Sunday, April 23, St. Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta.

THE COMMUNITY
• Children’s Relief Nursery Open House, Thursdays, April 13 and 27, 5-7pm, 8425 N Lombard.
• Easter Egg Hunt for children at Expressions of Faith, Saturday, April 15, 10:30am, 8326 N Lombard. Reservations: 503-289-7887.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary. Childcare will be provided.
• All-church potluck and forum, featuring Rev. Ron and Diane Ray, former pastoral family and missionaries in Kenya, Sunday, April 30, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• The Laramie Project at Southridge High School, May 26, 27 and 28, $7. www.southridgetheatre.org
• 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.
• Morrison Child and Family Center program, Mondays, 4-6pm.
• 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.

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POURED OUT TO MAKE US KIN
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; John 12:20-32
April 2, 2006
By Rev. Dr. Jeanne Knepper

Mychal Judge died on a sunny Tuesday morning in September, a day that had dawned clear and bright, with no hint of what would come. Mychal was a recovering alcoholic, a gay activist, a Roman Catholic priest, a Franciscan friar, and chaplain for the firefighters of lower Manhattan. On September 11, 2001, he went to the World Trade Center with his firefighters. Early that morning, as he bent to pray for an injured person, a piece of debris hit him on the head and killed him. Father Mychal Judge was the first casualty of 9-11.

The firefighters and police who knew him as a dear reflection of Christ, as the man who would laugh and pray with them, who would go anywhere with them, who was devoted to them, these firefighters and police put his body on a broken chair, carried him to nearby Saint Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, laid him on the altar in the sanctuary, knelt beside him, laid their hands on his body, and prayed for him in his death. In that moment of grief and loss, they took on the role of the priesthood; they became the church for one another, ministering to each other as they tended to the one who had loved them so.

A photographer caught the drama of the firefighters carrying Father Mychal on the broken chair in a photo that recalls Michelangelo’s Pieta, the sculpture of Mary holding the broken body of Jesus. His death has become a focal point for the oft-voiced and painful cry, “Why?�

Why? Why did Father Mychal, who did not have to be there, why did Father Mychal go towards a collapsing building? Why did he stay to comfort someone who was injured instead of saving himself? Did God want him to die? Why did he die?

Always, after the denial, always comes the question, “Why?� And so it was for the early Christians, those Followers of the Way of Jesus, the ones who walked and talked and slept and ate with their beloved leader, the ones who were left bereft when he was accused, tried, and executed, “Why? O God, why did he die?�

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CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• Baby Shower for Jennifer Herbach and Darrell DuShane, today, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Education Committee meets Monday, April 3, 7pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Finance Committee meets Sunday, April 9, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, April 10, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, April 10, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, April 11, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Maundy Thursday meal, service and Easter eggs, Thursday, April 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall and sanctuary.
• Easter Breakfast, Sunday, April 16, 8:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Community Food Security gathering, Wednesday, April 12, 5-6:30pm, Ainsworth United Church of Christ, 2941 NE Ainsworth.
• Interfaith Service for Peace in Iraq, 4pm, Sunday, April 23, St. Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Forum meets Tuesday, April 4, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.
• Roots and Wings Celebration of Families and Community, Saturday, April 8, 9am-1pm, World Forestry Center, 503-988-4008.
• Children’s Relief Nursery Open House, Thursdays, April 13 and 27, 5-7pm, 8425 N Lombard.
• Easter Egg Hunt for children at Expressions of Faith, Saturday, April 15, 10:30am, 8326 N Lombard. Reservations: 503-289-7887.


FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary. Childcare will be provided.
• All-church potluck and forum, featuring Rev. Ron and Diane Ray, former pastoral family and missionaries in Kenya, Sunday, April 30, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• The Laramie Project at Southridge High School, May 26, 27 and 28, $7. www.southridgetheatre.org
• 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.
• Morrison Child and Family Center program, Mondays, 4-6pm.
• 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.

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CONNECTIONS
UPUMC
• All-Church potluck and forum, featuring Lisa Jean Hoefner talking about camping in the Oregon-Idaho Conference, today, 11:30am potluck, Noon forum.
• Baby Shower for Jennifer Herbach and Darrell DuShane, Sunday, April 2, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Education Committee meets Monday, April 3, 7pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Finance Committee meets Sunday, April 9, 12:45pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, April 10, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, April 10, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, April 11, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Maundy Thursday meal, service and Easter eggs, Thursday, April 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall and sanctuary.
• Easter Breakfast, Sunday, April 16, 8:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.

THE LARGER CHURCH
• Annual Meeting, Community of Welcoming Congregations, Sunday, March 26, 3-5pm, Morningside UMC, Salem OR.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Board meets Tuesday, March 28, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Forum meets Tuesday, April 4, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary.
• All-church potluck and forum, featuring Rev. Ron and Diane Ray, former pastoral family and missionaries in Kenya, Sunday, April 30, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• The Laramie Project at Southridge High School, May 26, 27 and 28, $7. www.southridgetheatre.org
• 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.
• Morrison Child and Family Center program, Mondays, 4-6pm.
• 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.

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