october 2015 the messenger -...
TRANSCRIPT
The Messenger A Publication of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 5415 SE Powell Blvd., Portland OR 97206
OCTOBER 2015
It’s October! And Lu-
therans’ thoughts turn to Ref-
ormation Day. Maybe. Some
days I think it’s one of those
historical obsessions, like
whether the congregation was
ALC, LCA, or some other
part of the pre-merger alpha-
bet soup, or whether the con-
gregation was Swedish, Nor-
wegian, or another ethnic
grouping with odd names and
peculiar food. Those are the
days I worry that the Lutheran
church is going to become
nothing more than the source
of Ole and Lena jokes and
Garrison Keillor monologues.
So I come to my annual
exercise of wondering if and
how Reformation Day pro-
claims good news to my place
and time. First, I think it’s
hard to have a celebration of
theological principles. I
mean, “Justification by grace
through faith” ceased to be a
really snappy cheer several
centuries ago. Not many pom
-poms get waved for
“priesthood of all believers”.
And, let’s be honest, even if
some of us remember the
phrases from confirmation
class, we wouldn’t welcome
a pop quiz on their meanings.
So why do this? Why not
skip singing “A Mighty For-
tress is Our God” and observe
the 23rd Sunday after Pente-
cost?
Here’s what I find of
value in Reformation Day.
1st, we remember where
we came from – a pugnacious
German monk whose under-
standing of God was so over-
whelming that he couldn’t be
argued out of it.
2nd, we get to try asking
some Reformation questions
ourselves: why do we do
this? What does this pro-
claim?
3rd, we have a chance to
come smack up against some-
thing at the core of our church
that we’d rather dodge – per-
sistent questioning and possi-
ble change.
I find it pretty funny that a
church which celebrates re-
forming – changing for the
better – has such a reputation
for sticking with the way
things were (“How many Lu-
therans does it take to change
a light bulb? Change?!?!?”)
Reformation Day, by its
very name, is a day for asking
how God’s people are called
to be and act differently than
what they currently are.
And, Reformation Day is
a very good day for hearing
once again what Luther has
been shouting all those years
– that set free from our wor-
ries and expectations by God,
fully relying on God, return-
ing again and again to our
baptism, we are able to be-
come what God has called us
to be.
Gracious Father, we pray
for your holy catholic church.
Fill it with all truth and
peace. Where it is corrupt,
purify it; where it is in error,
direct it; where in anything it
is amiss, reform it; where it is
right, strengthen it; where it
is in need, provide for it;
where it is divided, reunite it;
for the sake of your Son, Je-
sus Christ, our Savior, who
lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and forever.
Pastor Elizabeth Larsen
Pastor:
Rev. Elizabeth Larsen
Office: 503-777-1443
Monday-Thursday: 9:00-2:00 pm
Off Fridays
Cell Phone: 503-267-8053
Organ/Piano: Arlan Evensen
Administrative Assistant/
Newsletter Editor:
Joyce Nance
Office: 503-777-1443
Monday-Thursday: 8:30-1:30 pm
Off Fridays
Council President: Brian Steves
Custodian: Epic Janitorial
Webmaster: Scot Brende
Servant Fund Chair:
Sally Durham
Ministers to Chinese
Community:
Pastors Andrew Yong & Terry Yang
503-860-3388 (Pr. Andrew)
Asamblea Apostolica: Pastor Andres
Cruz 503-333-5038
Who’s Who at St. Mark’s
2
Update on “God’s work. Our hands” Sunday
AS SERVANTS OF CHRIST THE SERVANT, WE ARE CALLED BY GOD TO:
Spread the Word of God through worship, prayer, disciple-ship and education
Spread God’s love by example through service, advocacy and community
Be spirit-led stewards of our time, talents and money
St. Mark’s church council updates *Portland Chamber Music group will do special music for All
Saints Sunday November 1st. The outreach concert will be Satur-
day on November 7th at 7:00pm.
*November 22nd Christ the King may be here?
*Christmas Eve: During the October newsletter/Electronically
notify and ask congregation on time of Christmas Services and
how they can contribute to a Christmas Eve service and who the
congregation will invite to the service. Idea is to make Christ-
mas Eve service work more efficiently.
* Shoe fund made $285.
*Capital building fund money has been pretty good.
*Brian Fajardo has offered to create a 3D rendering of the church
for building blueprints and measurements.
*Welcoming Workshop. Pastor Elizabeth’s colleague Donna
Hertzfelt-Kamprath of West Linn Lutheran just announced that
she has had mentor training with the Kaleidoscope Institute. The
Kaleidoscope institute focuses particularly on equipping
churches for multicultural ministry.
*Roof repair had some unexpected costs: $3965 dollars over bid.
This will be examined by the property committee. Buck Johnson
will be reimbursed for getting the airshaft cleaned out and re-
screened.
Thank you to everyone who contributed on “God’s Work. Our
hands” Sunday (Sept. 13th). Whether you brought food pantry and
clothing closet donations to worship that morning, came down-
stairs and sorted donations or cleaned the pantry, or turned out for
the PEM Housing Event: all of it ways of living out Christ’s love
for the world. A special thanks to the Ladies’ Dance Group from
Heavenly Peace, who not only got an amazing amount of clothes
on hangers for the closet, but then provided a delicious and abun-
dant tea break!
3
The parking lot is paved.
The work on the roof began the
week of August 10th. The first
round of work has been done on
the infamous basement men’s
room.
And the Mission Investment
Fund loan has come through.
The monthly payments, begin-
ning in August, are $651. The
Servant (Endowment) Fund will
match each donation to the capi-
tal drive.
We now have a generous of-
fer from Jenny and Dean Winter
to match the capital fund dona-
tions, which will double the
match from the Servant Fund!
After a year-long congrega-
tional conversation about what
Fall and Winter Events There’s all kinds of interesting things coming up this fall. Here’s a list, with our best explanations.
Mark your calendars!
Sunday, Oct. 4th St. Francis of Assisi Pet Bless-
ing in the parking lot at 2pm. Please bring your
animals leashed, in carriers, or in cages. All
creatures great and small are welcome.
Sunday, Oct. 11th: Church coming out day.
Our sisters and brothers at “Queering Sacred
Spaces” have asked all of us to celebrate “Coming
Out Day” by coming out as allies of our gay, bisex-
ual and transgender siblings. All too often churches
are seen as bastions of hate; we’re called to make a
conscious effort to show ourselves as a loving and
welcoming congregation. At the conclusion of the
worship service, everyone is invited to process out
the Powell doors for a photo around the St. Mark’s
sign.
Sunday, Oct. 25th: Reformation Sunday. The
anniversary remembers 1517, when Martin Luther
posted his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the
Castle Church in Wittenberg. That action sparked a
series of reforms in theological understanding of
grace, liturgical practice, accessibility of scripture in
the common language, and much more. Not just a
historical event, we celebrate our on-going reforma-
tion. God's word is alive, speaks truth, and surprises
with grace; Christ's truth sets us free for mission and
ministry in Jesus' name.
Sunday, Nov 1st: All Saints Sunday. We un-
derstand the saints to be God’s holy people, living
and dead, who have been baptized into Christ, not
just martyrs and famous Christians.
All Saints Sunday is a day to remember that the
church is a communion not only of the living and the
local, but of the dead and the distant as well. It is the
day we celebrate that even death cannot divide us
from the body of Christ, because Jesus Christ has
conquered death. So, on All Saints Sunday we com-
memorate those who have died and celebrate what
God has done through them.
At the beginning of the service, we will read out
the names of the friends and family of the St. Mark’s
community who have died in the last year, and light
a candle for each one. The candles will be
placed on the altar, until the altar is ablaze
with the light of those saints, who, al-
though they have departed from us, con-
tinue to share Christ’s table with us.
This year, members of the Portland
Chamber Music group will provide spe-
cial music during the worship service.
Sunday, Nov. 22rd: Christ the King.
The end of the church year, celebrating the
anticipated victory of Christ, knowing his
victory will be the nonviolent victory of
love.
Wednesday, Nov. 25th Thanksgiving
Eve Pie Fest! Yes, we’ll gather for wor-
ship at 7pm on Wednesday Nov. 25th, and
share some pie, and then send most of the
pies to the St. Francis Dining Hall for their
Thanksgiving feast. Dust off those pie tins
and start baking!
Sunday, Nov. 29th: The first Sunday
in Advent! The promise of Advent is that
God is always at work in the world, bring-
ing new beginnings and a new creation to
people and powers long bent on destruc-
tion. Yet, because we live in the genera-
tion that exists between the "already" of
Christ's resurrection and the "not yet" of
God's full restoration of the creation, we
cannot know when that final day will ar-
rive. Instead of becoming preoccupied
with the end times, we are counseled to
live our lives in a state of preparedness—
trusting that our home is God's home and
that God is coming once again to dwell
with us. That trust is the strength that sus-
tains us as we "wait for the revealing of
our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:7).
4
Erik Stotik is having quite an autumn! He has a
show of new work at the Laura Russo Gallery Oc-
tober 1-31 (805 NW 21st Ave-
nue, Portland ,Tuesday – Friday 11–
5:30; Saturday 11–5) and a showing of his enor-
mous (5ft by 45ft) painting Fugue, as well as
other pieces, at Lewis and Clark College’s Ronna
and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art
until Dec. 13 (Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.
to 4 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the pub-
lic; parking on campus is free on weekends.) And
Linda Brady Tesner is writing an art book on
Erik and his work: all kinds of cool St. Mark’s
connections.
Ready to sew? We’re looking for indi-
viduals to sew LWR back
packs. Our congregation
was very generous provid-
ing school supplies for this
projects. This is a very
simple pattern. Fabric is
pre-cut. If you can help
out, contact Sally Durham. We want to
have the backpacks completed by Oct.11,
as we have volunteers who will be stuffing
the back packs on Oct. 14.
We have a birthday!
Sunday, October 18th after the 9:30 wor-
ship service, we’ll gather in the coffee
room to help Fay Day celebrate her 100th
birthday
Servant (Endowment) Fund News Servant Fund still has grant funds remain-
ing for 2015. These funds are available for
educational, outreach and new ministries.
We also match special offerings such as
the shoe fund drive and our noisy offer-
ings. Contact Sally Durham if you have
requests or questions on the grant process. Noisy offering
& special offerings *Sunday, October 18th we will take up a
“noisy” offering of coins for Lutheran World
Relief’s efforts in the Syrian refugee and migrant
crisis (more information at
lwr.org).
*Sunday, November 8th
we will do a “pre-
Thanksgiving” gathering
of donations for the St.
Mark’s food pantry
*early in December we
will hold a toy drive for
the Bethlehem Children’s
Clothing Closet.
Your Reformation Sunday joke
5
Celebrate Life Together
Birthdays October, 2015
Victoria Morrow, 3rd
Gene Petrasso, 6th
Ruth Wentzien, 6th
Doris Zilk, 7th
Carol Johnson, 8th
David Clark, 14th
Ellen Anderson, 15th
Fay Day, 12th
Buck Johnson, 16th
Ed Ronning 20th
Laura Richards, 24th
Rev. Elizabeth Larsen, 26th
Laura Donnelley, 29th
Anniversaries, October, 2015
Dorothy & Leroy Teeple, 18th
Marcia & Don Olney, 25th
Vicki & Dennis Morrow, 25th
Prayers & Concerns
Unable to worship with us: Fay Day, Lenora
Johnson, Ceil Libke, Fern Luke, Don
McLaughlin, Pauline McNeff, Audrey Rut-
ger, Lucille Stariha, Dorothy Swanson, Clare-
ann Teeters, Marguerite Thomson, Ruth
Wentzein, Doris Zilk, Al & Lorna Schwartz
Continued Needs: Fern Luke, Robert Thir-
inger, Lucille Stariha, Carol Deo, Esther
Stotik, John Etzel,, Mark Gardner, Lorna
Schwartz, Crystal and her children, James
Langley, Carole Cole, Robert Capozzi, Mi-
chael Williams, Sally Hallum, Marguerite
Thomson, Mike Giante, Vivian Huber, Bruce
Huber, Zinnia, Laura Richards, Jackie
Tschaggen, Deanna Huntley, Esther Huntley,
Belinda, Lucas & Savannah,
In Mourning: Family and friends of Bonnae
Helber Lindley Hooff, Susan Martin and Ste-
ven Briggs
The Church & Beyond: The Oregon Synod
and our partner churches; the Portland East-
side Ministry Coalition; Pastor Yong’s &
Terry’s Ministry to the Chinese Community;
Pastor Cruz and the Asamblea Apostolica; our
service men and women, our Muslim brothers
and sisters; the volunteers and clients of the
food pantry, clothes closet and community
basket; for peace and compromise in the
Mideast, and in Ukraine. Prayers of gratitude
for the mediators, every cease fire and aid
box .
Date *Volunteers
OCTOBER
24TH
Brenda Richards, Lynda Kennedy
Others TBA
NOVEMBER
28TH
Lynda Kennedy
Others TBA
DECEMBER
26TH
Lynda Kennedy
Others TBA
FOOD PANTRY: Fridays from 3 to 5:30 PM
DATE LEAD VOLUNTEERS
OCTOBER
2ND
Mary
Karter:
Al Bowen. Dean & Jenny
Winter, Madeline Grimm
OCTOBER
9TH
Dolores
Morelli:
Sally Durham, Brenda Richards,
others TBA
OCTOBER
16TH
Mary
Karter
Ruth & Jerry Griffith, Pastor &
Max, D.B.
OCTOBER
23RD
Madeline
Grimm
Elise and Owen Christman
Others TBA
OCTOBER
30TH
Mary
Karter
Madeline Grimm
Others TBA
A MINIMUM OF FIVE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED EACH WEEK
BETHLEHAM CHILDREN/S CLOTHING CLOSET
Coordinated by Brenda Richards and Deb Schulz
4th Saturday from NOON to 2 PM
Bible study meets every Sunday at 8:30am in the coffee
room, led by Dean Winter
Coming up:
Sept.6-Oct.4: Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity
Why can’t we all just get along?
Oct. 11-25: NOOMA
Nov. 1-29: Science and Faith
Dec. 6-13: The Advent Narratives of Matthew and Luke
Worship Ministries at St. Mark’s Please speak with the office if you would like to get involved with one of these important ministries
OCTOBER
2015
4TH
Lectionary 27th
11th
Lectionary 28th
18TH
Lectionary 29th
25TH
Reformation Sunday
Greeters Lynda Kennedy Jon & Ted Cheskin Mary Karter Lynda Kennedy
Prayers
Of the People
Teresa Osgood Lynda Kennedy Dolores Morelli
Al Bowen
Readers
Jean Johnson
Mary Karter Lynda Kennedy Dean Winter
Nursery Attendant
Vicki Rutger Dolores Morelli Carole Johnson
Lorie Petrasso
Jeri Dayton
Ushers
Travis Osgood, David
Sawyer
Don Olney
Madeline Grimm
Marg Lyseng
Brenda Richards
Terry Larson
Gene Petrasso
Ruth Griffith
Buck Johnson
Vicki Rutger
Brian Etzel
Brian Fajardo,
Lynda Kennedy
Wholly Love
Jon Cheskin Sally Durham Dolores Morelli Lynda Kennedy
Communion
Assistants
Mel Anderson
Marcia Olney
Taylor Osgood
Brian Fajardo
Lynda Kennedy
Fajardo
Brenda Richards
Scot Brende
Paul Brende
Brenda Richards
Mel Anderson
TBA
TBA
Communion
Prep
Carole & Buck Johnson Brian Etzel
Brenda Richards Terry Larson
Bread Baker
Carole Johnson Brenda Richards Lorie Petrasso Terry Larson
Sound System
Bob Olsrud Bob Olsrud Brian Fajardo Bob Olsrud
Announcements
Mel Anderson
George Peters Brian Steves Mel Anderson
Refreshment
Lynda Kennedy
K. D. Brown Lynda Kennedy Dot Long Madeline Grimm
Counters
Brian Etzel
Mary Karter
Madeline Grimm,
Bob Olsrud
Edgar Ronning
Al Bowen
Dolores Morelli
Jean Johnson
Brian Etzel
Madeline Grimm
Gary Lippert
Marg Lyseng
Scripture Readings for October, 2015 Sunday, October 4th: Genesis 2:18-24, Psalms 8, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Mark 10:2-16
Sunday, October 11th: Amos 5:6-7, 10-15, Psalms 90:12-17, Hebrews 4:12-16, Mark 10-17-31
Sunday, October 18: Isaiah 53:4-12, Psalms 91:9-16, Hebrews 5:1-10, Mark 10-35-45
Sunday, October 25th: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalms 46, Romans 3:19-28, John 8:31-36
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All God’s Children are invited to Sunday Worship
8:30 a.m. Bible Study (coffee room)
9:30 a.m. Worship with Communion Every Sunday
10:45a.m. Coffee Fellowship
11:00 a.m. Choir Practice: Everyone Welcome!
11:30 a.m. Mandarin Chinese Worship
3:00 p.m. Asamblea Apostolica
www.smpdx.org
“Servants of Christ the Servant”
Pastor: Pr. Elizabeth Larsen Heavenly Peace Ministry Pastors: Pr. Andrew Yong & Pr. Terry Yang Organ/Piano: Arlan Evensen Administrative Assistant: Joyce Nance Custodian: Epic Janitorial Webmaster: Scot Brende
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church 5415 SE Powell Blvd. Portland OR 97206
NON-PROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT No. 1115
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED.