eNews for Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Deep Listening

By Kaji Douša, Senior Pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, in New York City

“And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language”?—Acts 2:8 (NRSV)

I’m not going to “bright side” the tragedy of the past 15 months, but I will say this: there have been some blessings in this season.

One of these blessings is that, at least for me, I have been deepening in my relationships. Having real and long conversations with people I love around the world. I talk daily—sometimes for hours—with people. And this didn’t happen before. In fact, I almost never talked on the phone socially prior to the pandemic. (At least not since middle school.)

We are talking. And we’re talking deeply. Sharing more than we usually would. Moving past trying to put on a cheerful take and into more intimacy and vulnerability.

And with this deep talking, so many of us have also been practicing deep listening, too.

What is deep listening?

Deep listening, as one piece put it, is “listening to learn.”

And what happens when we listen deeply is that we come to understand someone better.

Deep listening is an antidote to isolation. Nothing feels better than being seen, heard, and loved for who we are. In fact, this is one of the primary purposes of church.

We are now in the season of Pentecost, which reminds us that when the church was born, they were together. They were worshiping. And they were seen. And heard. And cared for. They didn’t just talk; they revealed who they were, and they were loved and understood. They learned from and about each other. All facilitated by the Holy Spirit.

Which to me means that in these moments of intense isolation, when we have these opportunities of connection, we are actually receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are experiencing God.

Is this your church? If so, give thanks. If not, ask questions.

Prayer

Thank you for the opportunity to love and to be loved. Amen.

Update from the Search Committee

Jane Killough is the chair of the search committee, joined by Parker Tewes, Jack Setterland, Anne MacLean, Clyde Johnson, and Carri Hoagland. We were commissioned in January and spent three months developing a profile which is an honest portrayal of the church we love. This profile is based almost exclusively on the responses to a questionnaire completed by more than 70 Pilgrims last fall. The profile was approved by the Conference and was posted on April 9.

We have received a good number of profiles from ministers who are interested in being the settled pastor at Pilgrim, and we are still receiving more profiles. After studying each of the profiles, we have decided some candidates would not be a good fit for Pilgrim; we have interviewed others, and will be interviewing more this week. We are a thoughtful, diligent group working together well, and are excited about finding a settled pastor for Pilgrim.

Pilgrim Women's Book Club

Monday, July 12 | 4:00 pm

The Pilgrim Book Group will meet on July 12 at 4:00 pm. The book will be Colton Whitehead’s The Nickel Boys, the devastating tale of two boys unjustly sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow–era Florida. The novel is based on the real story of a reform school that operated for 111 years and warped the lives of thousands of children. The book was chosen as the Duluth Library’s City Read for this year.

Ten copies of the book, supplied by the library’s Books in a Bag program, are now available from Patrick in the church office. You can sign out a copy and return it after the meeting. This will probably be a zoom meeting. (Stay tuned for possible changes later this summer.)

All are welcome to participate.

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.

Pilgrim Annual Meeting

Sunday, June 13 | After worship

Please join us for Pilgrim's Annual Meeting this Sunday. You can attend either in person or via Zoom. The agenda will include discussion of the annual budget, voting on officers and committee members and a brainstorming session on conflict resolution in our church. Following the meeting, we will honor Bob Reichert, Church Treasurer and Mary Sopoci, church business manager who will both be retiring from their positions at the end of June.

In addition to the officers and committee members identified in the mailing last week, Bob Heller has been nominated to serve on the Building & Finance Ministry Committee.

• Download the agenda here
• Download Conference Minister Rev. Shari Prestemon's annual report here

Join us on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84031635073?pwd=ZWpzS0lhOC8ySmkvaE15ZS9PWWVUUT09

Meeting ID: 840 3163 5073
Passcode: 053152

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.

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: 44
YouTube views: 16
Facebook reach: 38

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

Chester Creek on a sunny day

We're lucky to live in a community with so much beauty and access to nature. Send Patrick your photos 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

Here's Barbara Cook singing "In Buddy's Eyes" from a concert production of Follies alonw with some backstage footage!