The newsletters have been inconsistent.  One reason is the lack of a newsletter editor after the loss of Dave Haugh to format and edit the newsletter- I thought we would have another ‘quarterly’ newsletter.   But then Laura Harryman came to church.

Laura just happens to have been the administrative assistant for the Presbyterian Church in Baker City.  She now lives at the Estates.  She came by today to see about using one of the plots for planting some vegetables.  Knowing she had been a church secretary  I asked if she was busy.  (People who know me, know to run when I ask that question, but being new she said no I am not busy.)  And so I said, could you by chance  help with the newsletter?   And she did.

Note the new cover page.   Laura was able to move the picture to the cover page.  I hope that we can use the mural in many different ways.  This is just the beginning.

Update on the Mural Project.

On May 19^th the Mural Committee will hold a public hearing at city hall.  Our hope is all will go well and the mural will be up before the summer traffic.

This morning the person who helped us set up the irrigation system for the community garden met with Walt Mangerich to give us suggestions for the landscaping on the south side of the church.  The hope is to have irrigation set up and grass planted to compliment the beautiful mural when it is placed outside.

Community Garden Update

Planting day is scheduled for May 17^th.  Jack from Al’s garden will bring the plants around 8:00 am and we will start planting at 9:00.  Come join in the fun.  Warde Hershberger took advantage of the good weather this week and tilled the garden.  It is ready to go.

Kim Johnston is busy fixing up the woods for people to use.  The labyrinth has new lines and is ready to walk.  GK Machines have built and donated bench legs for the wooded path.  Mark Sterling will find the planks for the seats.

This area is becoming a beautiful restful place to be. I hope the people of the community will take advantage of this peaceful area of the church.

Love INC update

Love In the Name of Christ continues to help people in the community.  Bill Anderson has gotten involved by volunteering to use his truck and pick up furniture and deliver it to people.

The session voted to help with the Bunk Bed ministry.  What we will do is make a bunk bed kit that can then be assembled on site to a family in need.  This is the perfect gap ministry for us since our space for storage is limited.

Kim Johnston is part of the committee that will host a dinner and auction in August.

Nora, the new interim executive director, has told the board she is always looking for volunteers to help with the call center.

Newsletter PDF: May 2014 web

You may have noticed that you have not received a newsletter for two months.  You also may have noticed that this newsletter is listed as a threemonth newsletter .  You may be wondering why.

NO we are not doing a quarterly newsletter, but this was just a case of “doing one more thing and then I will get to the newsletter” problem.  The one more thing didn’t seem to end.  So here I am at six in the morning at the church doing the newsletter before “one more thing” comes across the desk.

I can only say I hope you read this newsletter from cover to cover because a lot has happened in these three months.

We have done some serious upgrading of the  heating and lighting in the church.  We are moving forward  on the Mural project which should be  completed this spring.   And we have lost some dear friends in the last few months.

We are moving into spring.

On March 22nd a group of people will be cleaning the garden and preparing the area for plowing and then planting.  This date has been changed twice because too many people had one more thing to do.  O yes, and then there was the snow!

We are now concentrating on the south side of the church.  With the new mural will come new landscaping.

But most important spring  is the time when  we move into the Lent and Easter season.  Lent is the season of reflection and Easter is the season of rejoicing.

It is the time of year that reminds us who we are.  We are Easter people.  We are people of the resurrection, people who follow Christ, people who gather together to worship and praise the God who continually blesses us in new and exciting ways.

As spring is a sign of renewal, so too is the symbol of the resurrection.

Many are sad that the ‘world’ has taken over the Christmas season.  And though, to some extent Easter has become commercialized, yet  it is a time the world can not fully embrace because it does not fully comprehend what it means that someone could be raised from the dead.

A baby Jesus in the manger can be comforting, but a Risen Lord can be disconcerting to those who seek to control and maintain the status quo the things of this world.

We should not waste this time of year, but thoroughly embrace the reflection of Lent and the celebration of Easter.

Newsletter PDF: Jan-Feb-Mar 2014 WEB

Pastor: David Morelli
Editor: Joanne Hanson

In recent years we have trimmed our house with Christmas lights when my son can come from Seattle.  It is usually before Thanksgiving and before our “Hanging of the Greens” at the church.  But this year with the late Thanksgiving he came the same weekend we were having our party and helped decorate the fellowship hall and put lights on the Christmas tree in the sanctuary as well as at our house. Tradition has kept me from turning on the lights until after the Thanksgiving, but this year I turned them as soon as they were up.  And I wasn’t the first in my neighborhood!

Don’t ask me why I did this.  Perhaps it was the fact that there are less days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I would not know this except this was the reason retailers said they had to start selling Christmas ‘stuff’ right after Halloween.

But I have to admit I did not mind seeing Christmas come early.  In fact, I think I could handle Christmas year round.   The after Christmas let down is like going to a Blazer game, watching them win, and then leaving the Rose (Moda) Center to return home.  It is like returning home after going on the beach.  How often have I preached about keeping that feeling of Christmas all year long?

What does that mean anyway?

I think it means having that feeling of hope that there might someday be ‘peace on earth and good will to all”.  I think it means taking time for family and time for friends.  It is about buying gifts for those we love, and even those we don’t know: shelters and other charities.

I used to like to shop the day after Thanksgiving; watching the people, looking at the decorations and listening to the Christmas music in the store.  But I must say, the crowds and the outright commercialism has taken some of that joy away.  I prefer seeing the lights on houses and going to Christmas special in the area.

Christmas points towards hope and helps us reflect on what the world can be.  We look forward to the day when we will turn swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.

As I give into the retailer’s calendar, perhaps that is ok.  There is nothing wrong with making Christmas all year round, if Christmas means looking towards the hope of the world, and living “as if” it is already here, but also the feeling of anticipation knowing it is ‘not yet’.

My family wishes everyone a blessed Christmas and a hope filled New Year.

– Pastor David

Newsletter PDF:  Newsletter-12-2013-WEB

Pastor: David Morelli
Editor: Dave Haugh

In November when leaves change colors and fall to the ground, and the air grows crisp, and the stars seems brighter in the autumn sky, I know that Thanksgiving is approaching.  It is this time of year I bring a book off the shelf that Jackie was given.  It was written and put to music by John Bucchino, illustrated by Anna’ Liisa Hakkarainen, and sung by Art Garfunkel on a CD included with the book.  The title: “Grateful”, A Song of Giving Thanks.

Here are the words which express my thoughts this time of year.

I’ve got a roof over my head.
I’ve got a warm place to sleep.
Some nights I lie awake counting gifts
Instead of counting sheep.

I’ve got a heart that can hold love.
I’ve got a mind that can think.
There may be times when I lose the light
And let my spirits sink…

But I can’t stay depressed
When I remember how I’m blessed!

Grateful, grateful,
Truly grateful I am.
Truly blessed
And duly grateful.

In a city of strangers,
I’ve got a family of friends.
No matter what rocks and brambles fill the way.
I know that they will stay until the end.

I feel a hand holding my hand.
It’s not a hand you can see.

But on the road to the promised land
This hand will shepherd me…

Through delight and despair,
Holding tight and always there.

Grateful, grateful,
Truly grateful I am.
Truly blessed
And duly grateful.

It’s not that I don’t want a lot,
Or hope for more or dream of more.
But giving thanks for what I’ve got
Makes me so much happier than keeping score.

In a world that can bring pain,
I will still take each chance…
For I believe that whatever the terrain
Our feet can learn to dance.

Whatever stone life may sling,
We can moan…
Or we can sing!

Grateful, grateful,
Truly grateful I am.
Truly blessed
And duly grateful.

Truly blessed
And duly grateful.

May everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving.

-Pastor David

Newsletter PDF: Newsletter 11 2013 WEB

Pastor: David Morelli
Editor: Dave Haugh

It seems that before I write the October pastor’s page I look at the ones I have written the years before.   I find a common theme.

The first theme goes like this.  I have just returned from the Lectionary Retreat at Mt. Angel that I have attended for the past 18 years.  It was this time of year as I was driving to the retreat that I received a call from Woodburn asking if I would be the pastor of this church. I then go on to explain something new I learned.

This year we studied Romans with one of the few women Pauline scholars in the world today. It would take me many pages to explain all that I learned this weekend.  I will leave you with this.  Paul did not hate women.  In fact he had many women apostles around him.  The problem is later theologians interpreting the text said the interpreters in the first one thousand years of Christianity must be wrong because everyone knows women cannot be leaders in the church.

One troubling text is Romans 16 verse 7.  The person, Junia (a female name) is also translated Junias (a male name) in some bibles.  Check your bible and see how they have translated that name.  I just did.  The New Revised Standard Version,  that is in our pews:

“Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”

The Revised Standard Bible translates the Greek like this:

Greet Andronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners; they are men of note among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

And there is more, most notably Romans 1:27 that split the church.  After spending 24 hours studying Romans as a complete book one realizes how much we snatch one verse to make a case for our own bias.  Anyway let me say the Lectionary Retreat is my favorite conference and it did not disappoint.

The other theme in the October newsletters is fall programs are beginning.  There are students back to school across the street, and head start children running around the church.  The garden is full of empty plants ready to be plowed under and leaves changing color and soon will fall off the tree. It is the beginning of the school year, the return of church choirs and Sunday School and first Sunday lunches.

Fall is here: My favorite time of year.

-Pastor David

Newsletter PDF: Newsletter 10 2013-WEB