A couple of weeks
ago our choir sang “When the Angels Song Is Silent.” This song is written from
an after-Christmas point of view; “the stable door is open…the angels song is
silent…the shepherds have gone home…the swaddling clothes are folded…then the
promise of Christmas begins.”
Over the last
year Prineville Presbyterian Church worked to make good on this Christmas
promise by trying new things.
We provided new
stuffed animals to the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department for officers
to use in comforting children caught in traumatic situations.
We used our
“Souper Bowl” canned soup collection on Super Bowl Sunday to launch a monthly
canned food drive to help stock the food pantry at St. Vincent DePaul. By the
end of the year we had collected enough groceries to provide 1100 meals.
We found
ourselves suddenly brought into a situation with a person living out of their
motor home. Taking a big, deep gulp - while seeking to authentically follow our
Christian faith - we extended temporary sanctuary that allowed this person to catch
their breath and position themselves for a brighter future.
Like many people,
we are aware of homelessness; however our sanctuary guest brought the
challenges of homelessness right to our door step, opening our eyes even more fully
to the depths and complexities confronting people lacking secure housing.
This led to an
increased sensitivity that has brought us into new partnerships. Now, with our
friends at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, we are looking at ways to bring our combined
efforts alongside clients from Redemption House - the local homeless shelter - in
using our one acre garden to provide opportunities for Redemption House guests
to learn gardening skills and other work habits while providing fresh
vegetables for their own use.
Our Squares and
Prayers quilters group embarked on an ambitious project that resulted in a
gorgeous quilt. Their great work continued as the quilt was raffled off to
raise money for our Children’s Fund. This fund is used in our partnership with
St. Vincent DePaul to provide aid for families needing assistance with rent or
power bills.
We have been honored
- and humbled - to use these funds in helping 50 families during the past year.
In many cases the financial assistance was only a part of the aid we provided; meeting
with the families also created a safe space for people to vent and share and seek
God’s comfort.
Words like “we”
and “our” are the key to all of this. Carrying out the ministry of Jesus Christ
is not the work of one new pastor, nor is it left to the work of one church
community.
Rob Bell is a
writer and has been a very popular pastor. He has supporters and critics, I
find him thought provoking. In his book Velvet Elvis he writes:
“We can insist
that hope is real and that a group of people who love God and others really can
change the world. We can reclaim our idealism and our belief and our confidence
in the big ideas that stir us deep in our bones. We can commit all the more to
being the kinds of people who are learning how to do what Jesus teaches us…
…but I can’t do it alone…
We need you to
rediscover wonder and awe.
We need you to believe that it is really
possible.
We need you to join us. It’s better that way.
It’s what Jesus had in mind.”
The earlier
mentioned “When the Angels Song Is Silent” also included this: “All the world
is changed forever…for the echo lingers on.”
That echo begins
with all of us rediscovering, believing, and joining. And that echo lingers long
after the Christmas decorations have been put away.Together We Serve,
Pastor Mike
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