On January 31 the Jr High youth group (along with some very wonderful adult leaders) hosted a babysitting night at PMC. The $500 in donations they received will go toward making some much needed improvements around the church. The leading idea at the moment is to purchase some new tables. The next time you see a Jr High kid around church tell them how much you appreciate this act of kindness and generosity!
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If you ever want to see a pastor feel uncomfortable, just go to a meeting where the church budget is the focus of the conversation. Pastors’ salaries, benefits (from health care to sabbatical) are available for all to see. From a personal experience, budget time is definitely not my favorite time of year. If you notice that from October to December each year I’m on edge, well now you know why, budget. Here’s the thing, though, as much as I dislike the focus that the budgeting process puts on me and the rest of the staff, it’s necessary. As the church we are called, expected, to do our part to bring heaven to earth. As Mennonites we have a pretty good understanding of what it means to serve, to be in service to one another and the world For example, if there is a house that needs built (remember when Woody Miller built a house?), if family needs help making the transition from homelessness to housing (Pugh family), if a children are facing food insecurity (Backpack program), we are there. And this type of service is easy to preach. How many times have you heard one of us pastors talk about taking care of the marginalized? (I’m hoping you can answer by saying many times.) One thing you probably haven’t heard us talk much about is giving financially. This is hard and awkward, because most of us would like keep our money matters to ourselves and most of us have other fiscal responsibilities. For my family its school loans, mortgage and our children’s schooling besides the basic necessities of life. The church can seem like one more place that is asking us to give. So why would we give to PMC? To some it may seem that we are giving to a cold, entrenched institution, but I do not believe this to be true. The church is an agency of justice, that’s purpose, is to care for the “least of these”. Just like our bodies do physical service outside of these church walls, the offering that comes through the church does not stay in church. The bulk of what you and I give is then used to help the homeless, to feed the hungry, to educate our children in the ways of peace and justice, to challenges us to move and grow in our faith. Our faith is to be active. This active faith includes financial gifts which move from us into our city, our nation and our world. I, on behalf of PMC, do hope you will consider giving regularly so that we can continue to Seek the Peace of the City.* If not regularly, then, when you can. By working together, we can bring heaven to earth. May it be so. RRM *You can find info on our website on how to give electronically.
The Jr. high youth group is hosting another Babysitting for Benefit! You can come and drop off children at PMC at 5:30 p.m. and the Jr. High youth group will watch them until 8:30 p.m. We will supply a snack, fun activities, a craft, and a story.
You get a night out... and maybe you donate a little something. The Jr High kids do something cool with the money and the world gets a little better. Pretty cool right? Please bring: a supper item for your child (no peanuts or nut products), pajamas & blanket for story time. Signups will start NOW! Email Melissa Burton or sign up on Sunday! Space is limited! If you have any questions, contact Melissa Burton or a Jr. Higher. One year ago PMC started on the journey with the Village Support Network. A program from New City Initiative that partners faith communities with families who are moving from shelter to housing. Our Advent Donation Drive last year was collecting household items for their new apartment. At point we did not know who the family would be. We were matched with Pugh family of Arlen, Kelley, Lily, Jacob, Joseph and Jonathan in February.
The Pugh family are doing great. Arlen has been employed by The Old Spaghetti Factory for about 6 months. Liberty Rose was born on September 9. Liberty is a laid back girl and great sleeper which gives Kelley time to do work around the house while the older children are in school. The kids are in new schools, but adjusting and making friends. They are outgoing and a fun family to be around. Their future is bright! While the program is technically over, you may see the Pugh family from time to time. For example, Arlen told me that they plan to attend the Christmas Eve Service. This is the beauty of the program, it’s sustainable and healthy relationships between people who we would have otherwise not met. ~ Rachel Ringenberg Miller In the fall of 2014 we will once again begin the process of walking with another family. If interested contact Rachel. Do you want to see what PEACE SCHOOL was all about this year? Press play and experience it through the eyes of four 4th and 5th graders. This is basically uncut. They did a great job! Eleven members of the PMC MYF and three adult sponsors met at Portland International airport on Monday, July 1st to embark on a journey that was two years in the making. After having served breakfasts at Easter, and selling wreaths at Christmas and dishing up strawberry shortcake this spring and last we were finally going to Youth convention in Phoenix Arizona. Upon arrival we checked into our hotel and tried to come to terms with the record heat we had just experienced when we walked out of the airport. After catching a quick dinner with Duncan Smith, Lin Rush and Rachel Ringenberg Miller we slid into the youth convention worship hall just as the worship band was finishing their prelude. It was the last time we arrived late! Worship sessions at convention follow the same rules as attending an open seating concert. Get there early and have a plan!
One of the highlights of the week for me was attending the “intergenerational conversation rooms” where issues like Biblical interpretation, and human sexuality were discussed. Our group had decided before convention that these experiences were unique to the convention and reflected the essence of being Mennonite and that we would attend them together. The first time we arrived at this event the folks at the door handed us numbers and told us we could not sit with anyone we knew. I was worried that the youth would be freaked out by this experience. My worries went away when some of them volunteered to share their experiences of being there with the room of 200 people at the end of the session. I was so proud of them! I would encourage you to ask members of the MYF what their favorite part of convention was when you get a chance. Youth convention was a wonderful experience and we have this congregation to thank for making it possible. Thank you! ~ Curt Weaver Christians at the BorderThe most engaging speaker during the delegate sessions was Dr. Daniel Carroll. He spoke for two hours and those two hours flew by. He spoke on immigration in the Old Testament. Dr. Carroll reminded us how immigration permeates through the Old Testament. Abraham and Sarah crossed a border for food in Genesis 12. Joseph is taken and sold in Egypt. Joseph integrates into Egyptian society, is bilingual, and marries an Egyptian (Genesis 41). Over and over God’s people are told to remember when they were slaves in Egypt, to remember how they were strangers in a foreign land. They are not to treat others like the Egyptians treated them. You shall love the stranger, for you were once strangers in the land of Egypt (Deut. 10:19) ~ Rachel Ringenberg Miller If you are an "older kid" and are coming to VBS this Saturday..."Steve" has some stuff for you to bring along! Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference met June 21 and 22 in Portland. Our conference is made up of 35 congregation in five states; Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. We meet annually to discuss the business of the conference as well as to hear how God is at work in other congregations. This year we had two new delegates, Tim Gannett and Rachel Joy, who share their experiences below. Other delegates were; Charlene Epp, Marty Lowen, Harold and Gloria Nussbaum, Rachel Ringenberg Miller, Lin Rush and Curt Weaver.
Tim Gannett As someone still very new to the Mennonite Church, going to the conference was completely a learning experience. I got a better understanding of how the church is structured in general, but it raised a lot of questions about how the different congregations within the conference are connected to each other. I think the most I got out of being a delegate was simply the chance to meet delegates from other congregations and hear what is going on in other congregations around the conference, what their concerns are, what issues they're dealing with, and so on. It really drove home the diversity of congregations, and their diverse needs and resources. It was a valuable experience for stepping back a little bit and looking at the church in a broader, regional context, challenging me to try to think through how each different congregation can support others and build stronger connections--one thing brought up was (if I remember correctly; it may have just been discussed at our table) that the regional conference might be able to facilitate support for various projects by sharing information about needs with individual congregations and allowing them to take offerings for specific purposes, or to go specifically to the region for such purposes. Again, simply discussing some of these ideas with delegates from very different places and congregations was incredibly valuable. Rachel Joy I went to PNMC curious about what Mennonites are like beyond my home congregation, since PMC has been my main exposure to this denomination in the 9 years since I made my baptismal commitment within this generous group of people. I expected that I would be confirmed as an outsider. To go as a representative of PMC, to be told to show up at the table and be myself, was my first clue that the love of God is greater than our differences. At the first business meeting, I learned that we are a region including churches of many sizes, speaking multiple languages, of varied ages and many different leadership and mission styles. Some said they addressed challenges with fasting and prayer, others with potlucks and social retreats. I spoke with people from Boise and Seattle, who shared urban concerns about how to organize and worship. The re-organization process that Seattle Mennonite has recently been through shone through as vitality in the faces of the representatives I met from Seattle, and reminded me that as we talk about our future at PMC, other congregations have been through change and offer resources and encouragement. I expected business to be a lot of discussion about things I might not know much about, but as we talked about the role of delegates, about how PNMC can help congregations better, and about conference finances, things about which I had almost no prior experience, I learned that the people around my table, and at the tables around the room, were concerned about preserving the movement of Spirit in our dialogue. Questions were as welcome as opinion. That attitude of openness finally convinced me that perhaps, after all, I do really and truly belong in this group. As Katherine Jameson Pitts said at the beginning of one business session, the ear can't say it's not part of the body because it's not a toe. I finally, amid the many voices and ears and hands and feet at PNMC, believed it, and accepted myself as a member of this body. At the seminars I attended, following my personal interests about global issues, poverty, and interculturalism, I was happy to find that others share my concerns. We are nowhere near perfect in our diversity, but we are working together to find a way to speak God's love in ourselves, with each other, and throughout the world. |
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