eNews for Thursday, June 3, 2021
Don’t Forget Us
By Martha Spong, editor of The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle
The Lord will fulfill God’s purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do no forsake the work of your hands.—Psalm 138:8 (NRSV)
I grew up Baptist, so my idea of prayer was your own words you strung together with a particular purpose in mind—whether to ask for something, or to ask forgiveness for something, or to ask for something for someone else, or to thank God for any or all of the above. Six years in Episcopal school exposed me to repeated forms of prayer, including confessions and petitions and praise, all sounding like poetry. Bits and phrases still live in my head half a century later. They are words to pray when I don’t have my own words.
The psalms were written for that purpose, to put prayers into a form that a community or an individual might use, and they often end with a word of trust in God—that God hears, or God cares, or God will act. This closing verse of Psalm 138 is doing a lot of that work. It’s saying, “There must be a reason why I’m here,” and “God never stops loving,” and, just in case, “Please, don't forget me.”
We need these good prayers, in our words or in the psalmist’s, for all the moments when we believe but also worry about what’s happening around us, or how we fit into what God wants for the world. This past year plus raised those concerns and questions for me daily.
Is your idea of prayer the words in a book, or the words that stream from your heart to your mouth, or omething else?
When you need words and don’t have them, try these.
Prayer
Holy God, we trust that you have a purpose for us, and you will never stop loving us. (Please, don’t forget us.) Amen.
Getting to the Root of It
From the UCC's Justice & Peace Action Network
In this month’s Getting to the Root, UCC Racial Justice Minister, Rev. Dr. Velda Love, speaks to the importance of loving God and your neighbor through remembering and honoring our past.
What's Love Got to Do With It?
“Church folks, come and listen to what I have to say. Some of you believe and practice the great commandment to love God, and to love and welcome neighbors and strangers. The rest of you love your nation more than you love God. You serve idols and worship yourselves. You ignore my commandment to love. You hate your neighbors. Your hatred results in violence, death, and murder of God’s good creation. Your toxic self-indulgence unleashes genocide, ethnic cleansing, and ruthlessly kills my sacred family members.” Read More.
Get the rest of Justice & Peace Action Network's June Newsletter here.
Taking a Stand with Indigenous Water Protectors
National UCC Offers Climate Justice Webinar on Line 3 in Minnesota
Buses and carpools are being organized from around the country to go to the headwaters of the Mississippi in Northern Minnesota so that people of conscience can join Indigenous-led nonviolent actions to stop the expansion of a massive oil pipeline.
While not all of us can go in person, all of us can act in other ways to support this vitally important cause. The Line 3 Expansion is a tar sands oil pipeline project under construction that, if completed, would cross a hundred waterways. It would also pass near the border of multiple Native nations and across hundreds of miles of treaty-protected land, which those communities depend on for drinking water and wild rice gathering.
The Minnesota Conference UCC has hosted two visits of Conference members and ecumenical friends to one of the Line 3 encampments in Palisade, and several local churches & pastors in our Conference have been engaged in this issue.
In the UCC’s next Creation Justice Webinar on Monday, June 14, at 12 noon (CDT), you’re invited to learn more about Line 3 and what faith communities can do to stop it. Featured speakers will include the Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs from the Minnesota Council of Churches, Nina Berguland from the Youth Council and Indigenous Council for Earth Guardians, and Joe Meinholz from Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light. Even if you can't make the webinar’s scheduled time on Monday, June 14, you can still sign up, and a recording of it will be sent to you.
Life House Tour Invitation
From Amber Sadowski, Community Development Director, Life House
Dear Faith Community Partners,
At Life House we are celebrating our 30-year Anniversary this year, and we are grateful for all of your support over the years. As a token of our gratitude, I'd like to invite you or any of your staff or parishioners to join me on a tour of our campus. Please see details below, including how to RSVP. I hope to see you there!
Kind Regards, Amber
Annual Report
Pilgrim's 2020–21 Annual Report is complete. You can view a digital copy here or take one of the paper copies available in Salter Hall. The Annual Report details what Pilgrim's staff, officers, and committees have done in the past year and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead. It also contains financial information from the 2019–20 fiscal year.
An Introduction
Hello, Pilgrim Congregational UCC!
My name is Jessica Schroeder and I will be starting in August as your new organist, pianist, and choir accompanist. My family and I are moving to Duluth this summer and we are so excited to be part of your wonderful community. My husband, Richard Carrick, just completed his doctorate from the University of Washington and is starting at the College of St. Scholastica as the Director of Choral Activities. We have two daughters, Silvia (4) and Lark (2), who are also excited about the move (and keep us very busy)! I grew up in the Seattle area, but lived in St. Paul while getting my doctorate in Collaborative Piano at UMN, so I have a little bit of an idea of what we’re walking into, weather-wise. I am really looking forward to meeting you all and getting to make music together!
Confirmation 2021–22 Informational Meeting
All students 9th grade and higher are eligible for confirmation. All potential confirmands and their parents are invited to an informational session Sunday, June 6, from 11:30 to 12:15. The purpose of the gathering is to:
- Find out more about the process of confirmation
- Get your questions answered
- Have a chance to share your ideas and goals
- Listen to the experiences of recent confirmands
- Listen to the experience of recent sponsors
We plan to hold the meeting outside, weather permitting, after the church service. In case of inclement weather we will meet by zoom. Hope to see you there!
Sunday Worship at Pilgrim
Join us Sunday at 10:00 am for Sunday Worship at Pilgrim, in person or online. You can view the service on Pilgrim's YouTube channel and Facebook page.
This week we will be honoring our high school graduate, Annika Nielsen.
You can download a Bulletin here.
This Sunday's scripture readings:
- 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20
- Psalm 138
- 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
- Mark 3:20-35
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.
Attendance: 32
YouTube views: 25
Facebook reach: 40
Morning Coffee
Wednesdays | 10:00 am
Join Pastor Judith for your morning coffee! We'll have a time for checking in with each other, prayers, and perhaps a brief meditation. Grab the beverage of your choice and join us on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 497 627 641
Passcode: 926781
Prayers and Condolences
Keep in your prayers:
- Anita and her family as she undergoes medical treatment
- Wanda and Carol and their families as they recover from surgery
- Betty and her family as her son undergoes medical treatment
- Andrew, as he continues with medical monitoring
Show Us Your Walks
From Carolyn Sundquist, a view from the Munger Trail Bridge over the Saint Louis River in Jay Cooke Park
We're lucky to live in a community with so much beauty and access to nature. [Send Patrick your photos][office] to share your walks with us in future emails! It's another way to stay connected in these troubled times.
What Patrick's Listening To
The great Martha Argerich plays Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Orchestre national de France. (The multiple encores are lovely as well, especially her signature Scarlatti!)