UPUMC
• Teach Me To Pray, Adult Sunday School Class begins today, 11:30am, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Education Committee meets with lunch, today, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Worship Committee meets Sunday, March 12, 11:30am, Sanctuary.
• Staff-Parish Relations Committee meets Monday, March 13, 6:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Administrative Council meets Monday, March 13, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Outreach Committee meets Tuesday, March 14, 7:30pm, Errol Stephenson Hall.
• Finance Committee meets with lunch Sunday, March 19, 12:30pm, Errol Stephenson hall.

THE COMMUNITY
• Portsmouth Neighborhood Association Forum, Tuesday, March 7, 7pm, Columbia Cottage.

THE LARGER CHURCH.
• All Is Ready—Join the Party! A weekend retreat for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people, their families, and allies at Suttle Lake Camp in Sisters, Oregon, Friday-Sunday, March 17-19. Co-sponsored by Oregon-Idaho Camp and Retreat Ministries and Reconciling United Methodists of Oregon.

FUTURE EVENTS, FOR YOUR CALENDAR
• Annual Meeting, Community of Welcoming Congregations, Sunday, March 26, 3-5pm, Morningside UMC, Salem OR.
• North Portland Candidate Forums co-hosted by UPUMC and the Portsmouth Neighborhood Association, Tuesdays, April 18, 25, and May 2, 7-9pm, UPUMC sanctuary.
• 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.


STAYING IN TOUCH
Edna Riddle, Sunrise Adult Care Center, 11945 SW Butner Rd., Portland OR 97225; 503-841-1295 [a new number]

Harriet Bonhorst, Pioneer Tower, 515 P Street #202, Sacramento, CA 95814; cell phone: 503-330-6915

Elmina Nath is staying with her son. She can be reached at her previous phone number, 503-285-1973, which will ring there.
TRUSTEE NEWS
The Trustees Committee met on February 21 and discussed a number of items relating to the building and its condition. The bell in the bell tower is not ringing currently and the motor may need to be repaired. It currently needs to be lubricated two or three times a year, which is too often if the motor is in good shape. The fascia board that fell off some time ago needs to be replaced and the remainder of them checked to see if they are in need of repair. Ed Moseley has replaced the shingles that were blown off during the last wind storm. Many thanks, Ed!! Dick has purchased the materials to repair the stained glass windows and to stop the leaking in that area of the roof. He and Ed will tackle that project when it dries out enough to do it. The committee adopted a building use policy and guidelines for building use for groups and individuals who use the building. These were developed by Lisa Horne, Marcia Hauer and Jeanne Knepper. Lisa will present them to the Administrative Council in March. Dick developed a warning note for people who are parked in the lot who are not there for church meetings. It lets people know that they are parked on private property and may be towed if they do it again. Since we are almost out of parking on Sunday mornings and for several of the groups that meet during the week, we think that this is necessary. We discussed the need for better signage so that the parking lot is clearly marked and the entry door is marked. Dick has plywood that could be used to make these signs. The next meeting will be March 21at 7:00 p.m. If you have problems or concerns, please contact Dick Burden or Lisa Horne, co-chairs. –Marcia Hauer
END HUNGER IN ALL OF OUR COMMUNITIES!
Dear Members and Friends of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference,

Grace, mercy and peace to you in the name of Christ, the bread of Heaven!

A scripture passage that I learned as a youth in Sunday school continues to inspire me:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. (James 2: 15-17)

In the midst of unprecedented wealth and prosperity, the nagging presence of hunger in our communities is an ethical and moral shame. Statistics demonstrate that despite the abundance of produce and edible goods, we live alongside many who do not have adequate nutrition. Children, women, and men are affected. To us, as followers of Jesus Christ, the presence of hunger should be deplorable. When we fail to address it, our faith is dead.

If the statistics tell of the many that are without adequate nutrition, they also reveal that in actuality, it is well within our means to eliminate hunger. There is ample food being produced in our nation and we have the means of delivering that food to all. What is lacking is the social and political will to do so.
Please join with me as we launch a major effort to transform our world! I invite you to participate with heart, mind, soul, strength, and resources in the Bishop’s Initiative to Eliminate Hunger in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference!

Many churches are already engaged in significant ministries to reach out to the hungry in our communities. I commend them for their generous witness to their faith and for their compassionate caring for the hungry. But this bold initiative seeks the involvement of each one of our United Methodist congregations and ministry settings. I am asking all of us to join together to bring an end to the persistence of this disgraceful scourge on humanity. I am calling on each United Methodist in Southern Idaho and Oregon to step forward to increase our efforts to eliminate hunger in our annual conference.

By our words and deeds, we can offer ourselves to the work of this Initiative. I encourage us to initiate or to continue programs that offer food and comfort to those who are hungry. I challenge us to address the injustices that contribute to the persistence of hunger even amidst our abundance. And I invite us to pray and study the Word of God which compels us to engage in ministries of compassion and justice.

Lives will be transformed through this initiative, if you and I care enough to reach out to those in need and to confront the powers that contribute to the proliferation of hunger. I dare to believe that as we work together, we will eliminate hunger in our communities. I ask you to commit yourself to the efforts of the Bishop’s Initiative to Eliminate Hunger in the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference.

When invited into this bold life-transforming ministry, please respond with a resounding, “AMEN!�

In Christ’s shalom,
Robert T. Hoshibata

Our loving God: We give you thanksgiving for the gift of creation and for many abundant blessings that are ours. As we offer ourselves and our ministries to care for the hungry among us, bless our work and our love. As we reach out in caring love and as we work to change the powers and principalities of this world for the elimination of hunger bless us. Through our efforts, may we usher in the peaceable kingdom made known in Jesus Christ. AMEN!

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