eNews for Tuesday, March 2, 2021
One Great Hour of Sharing
Offering date: March 14, 2021
One Great Hour of Sharing is the refugee, relief and development special mission offering of the UCC. OGHS is at work all around the year, all around the world - sharing resources and changing lives. The UCC works with domestic and international partners, to provide support to health, education, refugee, agricultural, and emergency relief initiatives.
You can learn more about what OGHS is doing by visiting their Facebook page.
You can give to OGHS via the office or online.
And you can watch a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2kCj41TBbA
Lenten Family Toolkit
From the Minnesota Conference, this weekly Lenten toolkit provides content for home and community practice from Ash Wednesday (February 17) through Palm Sunday (March 28). Check out the thoughtfully focused and curated video reflections, spiritual practices, readings, creative/art activities, games, community service projects, justice and advocacy opportunities, and more.
Week two is on the theme of Practicing Boldness.
If you would like to receive a direct email each week, please email Sandy Kellen.
Snow Sculpture Experts
Thank you to everyone who participated in the snow sculpture activity on Sunday. It was a lot of fun to see the creative effort of our Pilgrim families. The sculptures were made in a way that would be easy for the residents of Aftenro Home to see the wonderful work done by our families. We had a lot of fun!
View the whole gallery on Facebook
MN FoodShare 2021 from CHUM
The Minnesota FoodShare March Campaign brings together various Minnesota organizations, schools, businesses, and places of worship to help keep 300 food shelves statewide stocked throughout the year. The March Campaign is the largest grassroots food and fund drive in the state, having raised more than $21.5 million dollars and 7.4 million pounds of food in 2020.
We envision a Minnesota where all residents have access to healthy food and no one suffers from hunger. The March Campaign addresses those issues directly, and we’d love to have you join the fight against hunger. By increasing awareness and advocating for long-term solutions to hunger in our communities, together we can meet the needs of those who need it most.
A long standing philosophy at the CHUM Food Shelf has been to provide as much fresh, healthy, and nutritious food as possible to our clients, while trying our best to support local. Thanks to a new partnership with our local Community Supported Agriculture Guild, we have made a commitment to make that happen in a very big way. With your support during MN FoodShare month, we are able to leverage your donated dollars, and turn it into almost 100,000 more pounds of fresh produce grown by local farmers--Farm fresh food going directly to our neighbors in need, while providing support to up to ten farming operations, in hopes of creating a sustainable system for local food production and consumption.
Our goal for March 2021, is to raise $150,000 and 50,000 pounds of food to stock our shelves, and we can achieve that success in this campaign with your help.
During 2020, the Food Shelf distributed 391,340 pounds of food (that is up 77,943 pounds) to 16,503 people in Duluth. The CHUM Food Shelf was a major source of each visiting family’s nutrition throughout the year. Together we are fulfilling our call to feed the hungry.
So what do we need?? More money, or more food?? We need both! But the CHUM Food Shelf can do much more with money. As a member of Second Harvest Food Bank, our money goes much farther than it would shopping at Super One or Cub Foods. For every $1 that gets donated, I can buy $7 worth of food—that’s seven times more!!!
You can learn more and donate at https://www.mnfoodshare.org/, or send your donations to the Pilgrim office.
Appreciating What We Have
From Stewardship Ministry
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Epicurus, a Greek philosopher in the third century BC said, “If you want to make a man happy, add not to his riches but take away from his desires.” When we desire less, we are more content with what we do have. Coveting puts us in a state of discontentment with an insatiable appetite for more, making contentment impossible. Those who are content enjoy what they have rather than complain about what they don’t have. They are joyful for what they have received from God knowing that all of life is a gift.
The apostle Paul writes, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment…” (1 Timothy 6:6). Our happiness is not dependent on what we have or own. Asaph, the Psalmist had an intimate relationship with God who enabled him to be content with what he had provided. We would do well to meditate on his words, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:25-26).
Follow Paul’s directive in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus for you.” As you pray, thanking God for all his blessings, especially the gift of his Son and his Word and Sacraments, you will find your heart and mind being filled with more and more reason to give thanks to our wonderful Lord.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your generosity to me. Help me to receive with a thankful heart. Amen.
Calling for Volunteers
From the Human Resources Ministry Committee
We are looking for volunteers to serve on various committees at Pilgrim, including:
- Church Council
- Worship & Arts Ministry
- Christian Education Ministry
- Building & Finance Ministry
- Stewardship Ministry
- Human Resources Ministry
If you're curious about serving on a committe, please get in touch with Steve Therrien at paddldog@centurytel.net or (218) 591‑1955
Lenten Vespers
Join us for Lenten Vespers services on our YouTube channel and Facebook page starting at 6:00 pm each Wednesday during Lent. Come join us for a time of contemplation and reflection. The video will continue to be available after 6:00 for those participating in Lectio Divina.
In case you missed it, you can view last week's Vespers service on YouTube.
Pilgrim Women's Book Club
Monday, March 8 | 4:00 pm
The book for discussion will be The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates. This book is available in paperback for $17.99 or $11.99 on Kindle. The library has some copies, too. Please join us for what promises to be a great discussion.
Meeting ID: 856 8820 1294
Passcode: 260291
Sunday Worship at Pilgrim
Join us Sunday at 10:00 am for Sunday Worship at Pilgrim. We are recording in our chapel, and doing everything we can to make it as Covid-safe as possible. You can view the service on Pilgrim's YouTube channel and Facebook page.
Salter Hall Zoom: Join us after worship for conversation and fellowship every Sunday.
Meeting ID: 843 9163 0668
Passcode: 912010
If you have an announcement that you would like read during a Sunday service, please get it to the office or directly to Pastor Judith by Monday each week.
Please send in your prayer requests to include in Sunday services. Send your prayer requests, joys, and concerns to Pastor Judith via email by Friday each week to be included. We will use only first names during the service in order to maintain confidentiality, and your prayer requests will be passed along to Marge Fraser and Pilgrim's Prayer Chain.
In case you missed it, you can view last Sunday's worship service on YouTube.
YouTube views: 34
Facebook reach: 61