December 28th, 2020 Reflection
There is a method of reading the bible called Lectio Divina, an ancient art carried down from Monastic traditions involving quieting ourselves in order to hear the voice of God/Spirit in a particular passage, and then to rest in the presence of Spirit as we contemplate that passage. It is a slower and more intentional method of reading than we are used to. We usually just read a passage through. In the Lectio Divina method, we wait for Spirit’s presence as we read. So we take more time with the reading. First we quiet ourselves, and then we read slowly and attentively, taking in the words we are reading and the characters we are reading about, sometimes repeating a sentence in the passage, or a phrase, or even repeating a word in the passage, over and over, until we are truly interacting with the reading. We become a part of what we read. We let go of ourselves and rest in the presence of the words and how those words take on meaning for us.
What happens when we read scripture passages in the spirit of Lectio Divina, is that as we read we become the characters and the message that we read about. So in the Christmas stories, we become Mary and Joseph and the angels and the shepherds, and even those who were watching what was happening but weren’t named. We also become some of the words we read. We are peace, we are coming with joy, we are afraid and we are not afraid. We become the characters and the words by putting ourselves aside for a moment. So when we’re Mary, for example, then we remember earlier about hearing some astounding news in the midst of Roman occupation, knowing that our life is going to change and that our community is going to judge us, and that our future is unclear – all this meaning in just a few words, or in a name. We come to the reading with our fears and also our confidence, knowing God is with us, and we sit deeply in the presence of someone else’s story. When we make this kind of space for our reading, the idea is that the words will change us, and they do change us.
This Lectio Divina process slows us down for one thing, and for another, now we have someone else’s perspective. We’ve been through more than any of us wanted this year, and yes, we need grounding even as we celebrate in this season the birth of the Christ child; we also need comfort and guidance in every part and every season of our lives. So perhaps it would help if we begin this Lectio Divina process with the reading of scripture, and then take this process with us into our everyday lives as we settle back into the end of this Christmas week, contemplating decisions, hearing news from others, and wondering what the near future will bring us. And isn’t this so what we need right now, to sit in the presence of the stories of others, to try to feel what they feel and be in their context for a time, to walk in the shoes of those whom we just can’t figure out? Don’t we wonder, “Why do they say what they say?” “Why do they do what they do?” Sometimes in a mediation, when the disputants are at an impasse – they can’t agree on anything, they’re practically shouting at each other, one can only imagine what they’re thinking about the other – so the facilitator asks them to change places, to literally imagine they are the other person, the one with whom they have had it up to here. This doesn’t happen very often, but when I’ve seen it tried, it’s like a miracle. All of a sudden you’re seeing things through the other’s eyes, and something shifts. And then when they go back to who they actually are with their issues against the other person, they are usually able to move on in a way they weren’t able to move before. That’s how Lectio Divina works. As we become the words and the characters, we move forward with the message in a way we weren’t able to before, perhaps in our interactions as well as in our reading.
So let’s go slowly this week, to sit with what we know and with what we don’t know, and let it fill us how it will, with our focus on the story inside the story. As I think about the state of our world right now, the tensions we carry, the worry about tomorrow and next week and next month, and then the people we don’t understand, this kind of exercise could help us. Slowing us down. Giving us a new perspective. Helping us to give hope and peace and love and joy another chance. It’s a way of becoming the Christmas story. And I invite us to participate, not only with what we read, but with how we are with the other people in our lives.
Merry Christmas again, to all of you!
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Our Finances
Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we carry on being the church without in-person worship! It’s so important that we keep up our regular giving during this difficult time – serving the church and serving the people. In person worship is in our future, especially with the vaccines coming to all of us! In the meantime, please mail your financial gifts to Miriam Caddy, 16 Orchard Loop South, Tonasket, WA, 98855, or drop them by the church and slide them under the office door.
Worship in January
January 3, Daniel will lead worship and share the message
January 10, Daniel will lead worship; Debbie and Daniel with share the message
January 17, Daniel will lead worship and share the message
January 24, Debbie will lead worship and share the message
January 31, Daniel will lead worship and share the message
Zoom Link
To dial in to the Worship Service with a phone, Call 1-301-715-8592,
When asked for meeting i.d. Enter 236 009 838# Then # again
In our Prayers
-Cara Johnson and her mother, Eleanor, as Eleanor battles with end of life issues at Extended Care in Tonasket, and as she now struggles with COVID as well.
-Sid Bosch, and Martha, as Sid’s condition continues to weaken after two strokes and various other ailments connected to his strokes.
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 10 months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need. We have gone from the usual 150 families served each week to well over 200. Last week families numbered 269, and we served close to 300 for the Thanksgiving pick up.
-North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents who continue to suffer from COVID as it has made its way among residents and staff. We and they are so grateful the vaccine has arrived!
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and masking, and the discouragement and even tension among our community that health protocol has brought. The vaccine is here and will continue arriving! But before it reaches all of us, may we continue to exercise wisdom as we discern how best to stay safe. (We are seeing the toll in our valley and around our country from the lack of distancing during Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas. ) May we think and pray creatively for each other, and be present even as we stay apart.
-The Church of the Brethren (EYN) in Nigeria, where, on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, numerous churches and homes were attacked by Boko Haram. I have included EYN’s report below.
From
reports by EYN staff
“In skeletal information reaching us from Garkida, three churches were set
ablaze, five people killed, and five people are missing in a Boko Haram
attack,” reported Zakariya Musa, head of media for Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria
(EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Garkida, a town in the Gombi Local
Government Area of Adamawa State in northeast Nigeria, is the site of the
founding of EYN and the place where the former Church of the Brethren mission
in Nigeria began.
According to church officials the attackers invaded Garkida on Christmas Eve,
Dec. 24, Musa reported, burning several churches including EYN Ghung, EYN
Sangere, and Living Faith Church Garkida. “The Living faith Church was rebuilt
after the Feb. 21 attack on Garkida when four churches were destroyed in
similar attack,” he wrote. “The church said they spent Christmas Eve in the
bush and that some houses were selectively burned.” Also burned were road
construction facilities on the Biu Road.
In another Christmas Eve attack, “Pemi village was stormed by Boko Haram,” Musa
reported. “According to church officials, seven people were killed, an EYN
church and many houses were burnt, and one evangelist named Bulus Yakura was
abducted. A church official who spoke on the phone from Mbalala in Chibok Local
Government Area of Borno State, who was in the village the following morning on
Dec. 25 for assessment, said people have fled Pemi village for their life. Many
villagers in the areas of attack abandoned their villages on Christmas Eve
after finishing all preparations for Christmas.”
At least three more communities along the Biu Road were attacked the day after
Christmas, Dec. 26. Musa reported: “Three more churches and many houses are
destroyed at Tashan Alade, Kirbitu, and Debiro towns…. The destroyed churches
include churches that were destroyed in 2014, which later were rebuilt by
the Borno State Government. The renewed attacks are coming almost on a daily
basis in different ways, resulting in killings, kidnapping, destruction of
properties.”
In a separate email Yuguda Z. Mdurvwa, who heads up EYN’s Disaster Relief
Ministry, reported that the EYN Dzur church on the outskirts of Garkida also
was burned in the Christmas Eve attack. He added that drugs were looted from
the Garkida General Hospital and other stores and food stuffs were looted. In addition
to the five people who were killed, “many sustained injuries,” he wrote, and
“people slept in the mountains without celebrating Christmas.
“Our hope is that Christ was born to save us from all these pains and give us
peace,” Mdurvwa wrote. “Apart from the above insecurity, COVID-19 is surging in
the second wave, Nigeria is recording above 1,000 per day. Despite our
troubles, God is our comforter and our source of help.”
December 21st, 2020 Reflection
Today I want to reflect on a week of teaching and learning from Nigerian students, the beginning doses of the COVID 19 vaccine, and preparing for the darkest night of the year this evening. In many ways these topics are related for me. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. last Monday to begin teaching at 4:30 a.m. in order to accommodate a Nigerian time zone – a 6 hr. class and students needing to leave the class to get home safely before nightfall. As I reviewed the course themes and requirements to the 11 students in the class, they didn’t ask the usual questions of clarification around how much reading was expected, how long the essays needed to be, how the 6 hours of class time each day would be divided between discussion and mediation practice, and other nuts-and-bolts-type questions. Rather, their first questions included ones such as, “How do we learn to love those who have killed and maimed our loved ones?” “Why isn’t the Church of the Brethren here in Nigeria more active in denouncing violence in our country? “Does pacifism mean we can never object to what is happening to us because it will demonstrate violence instead of love?” “Is it possible for those who are not Christians to love as deeply as Christ calls Christians to love?” “How can we forgive the harm that has been done to us?” “We know peace doesn’t just happen, so how is peace made?” “As women are controlled by men in Nigeria, how do we women confront the injustice of male decision making?”
Everyday students came prepared with questions like this as we discussed the day’s reading, and every day we had long dialogues where they learned some of the skills of mediation facilitation, where I learned a tremendous amount about their culture and about the wisdom many of them carry as they navigate very difficult situations, and where they practiced mediation facilitation in the context of their own Nigerian culture and rituals. At times I felt elated with their commitment, wisdom and ability; at other times I felt deflated and discouraged with issues so broad, so harm-inflicting, and often so intractable that I wondered how they could even be addressed. But as we sloshed through obstacles and exercises, we created community among us and came to depend on each other whenever a barrier became insurmountable for any one of us alone.
I will look back on this class as one of the most important of my teaching experience, and I hope I will carry lessons from it into areas that are difficult to navigate in my own country. Take COVID-19 for example. Last week the first vaccines arrived, a real hallelujah moment as the vaccines give us hope that the virus is at the beginning of its end. But this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to be vigilant, to mask and keep our distance and follow other health mandates. The case loads are still increasing and many won’t follow health and scientific protocol. Still, for a long while some of us thought perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel had been turned off permanently. Now we know the light is indeed there just ahead of our vision, and as the Nigerian students would remind us, “we celebrate when we can.” The vaccine is cause for celebration.
Monday is the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest, darkest night of a long, dark year. This longest night is as literal as it is metaphorical with the catastrophic toll of COVID-19 and our trepidation for what is ahead of us, and with continued political and social tension in our country. But deep winter also reminds us that in this Advent Season, we in the church turn to some of our favorite stories to remind us that this particular moment, and even this particular year, is not the end of our story. There is indeed light ahead of us. Our Nigerian brothers and sisters reminded Seth (our son who was part of the class) and me this almost every day as we discussed some of their most difficult moments. Christ Jesus is born this week, again, and we celebrate his birth as we also celebrate his message and ministry. An added side bonus on our longest night, is that this evening about an hour after sunset, Jupiter and Saturn “will almost kiss in the night sky,” ( New York Times quote). “The last time they came this visibly close to each other was in the year 1226.” So look to the southwest in the hour after sunset to take in this sky marvel if the skies clear enough to see it. And join me in celebrating new friends when they come into our presence with wisdom and experiences to teach us, the arrival of now two vaccines and the hope they bring, and especially our Christmas story that becomes real again this week – the Light of the world. These are clearly moments to celebrate!
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Tonight at 6:00 pm! Don’t miss “The Light of Hope Returning”, an American folk solstice oratorio of the Christmas story from WomenSing and Elektra Women’s Choir, with music written by Church of the Brethren and Los Angeles Master Choral musician Shawn Kirchner (whom many of us know and love), and animated by Kevork Mourad. The music and artistry will be an extraordinary experience for the whole family! You can view the trailer by clicking on one of the links below.
It can be found on both Facebook and You Tube.
Trailer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btd3nA6ThNo
Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/events/1340756956271020
Light of Hope Returning link: https://www.thelightofhopereturning.com/
Our Finances
Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we carry on being the church without in-person worship! It’s so important that we keep up our regular giving in this difficult time – serving the church and serving the people. In person worship is in our future, especially with the vaccines coming to all of us! Please mail your gifts to Miriam Caddy, 16 Orchard Loop South, Tonasket, WA, 98855.
Join us for a Zoom Christmas Eve Service
Daniel and I will offer a Whitestone/Ellisforde Zoom Christmas Eve Service on Thursday, from7:00-8:00 p.m. We invite your contributions as we read and sing the Christmas story together. If you would like to read a scripture passage, if you have a hymn or song to share, or if you have other contributions, please let me or Daniel know. Let us know also if you have a favorite Christmas hymn you would like to hear during the service. Our Zoom link is the same as for our Sunday worship services.
Zoom Link
To dial in to the Worship Service with a phone, Call 1-301-715-8592,
When asked for meeting i.d. Enter 236 009 838# Then # again
Worship in December
December 27, Christmas Sunday, Debbie will lead worship and preach.
In our Prayers
-Pat Pyper continues to be grateful for your prayers for her extended family, in the death of her sister Nancy who died from injuries sustained in a serious car accident.
-Sid Bosch, and Martha, as Sid’s condition continues to weaken after two strokes and various other ailments connected to his strokes.
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 8+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark is grateful for all those who are part of the court system – judges, legal teams, juries, defendants, and all who work in this system or find themselves there, and particularly grateful for the decisions that have been made on behalf of her own case.
–Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need. We have gone from the usual 150 families served each week to well over 200. Last week families numbered 269, and we served close to 300 for the Thanksgiving pick up.
–North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents who continue to suffer from COVID as it has made its way among residents and staff. We and they are so grateful the vaccine has arrived!
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and masking and the discouragement and even tension among our community that it has brought. The vaccine is coming for all of us! But before it reaches all of us, may we continue to exercise wisdom as we discern how best to celebrate Christmas while staying safe. (We are seeing the toll in our valley and around our country from the lack of distancing during Thanksgiving. ) This will likely be a very different Christmas, and possibly a lonely one for many. So may be think and pray creatively for each other, and be present even as we stay apart.
–Others? Please let Debbie know.
December 14th, 2020 Reflection
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
Luke 1
for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant…God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”
These are the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus, after she learns she is pregnant. Mary is perhaps our favorite Christmas character. We love her partly because in her we have a picture of a young girl who is loving and gentle and wise and holy, but who is also powerful and prophetic. She’s not just a teenage girl willing to accept God’s call to become the mother of the Messiah. After the angel’s appearance, and her visit with Elizabeth, she now knows what it’s like to be both lowly and exalted, and with this new awareness, she gives voice to God’s glory and to God’s care for the oppressed and marginalized well beyond the border of her own community. The sequence of Mary’s story is that she is visited by an angel, who greets her as “favored one,” then tells her not to be afraid with this news that she will be a mother, then reveals to her that her cousin Elizabeth is also pregnant in her old age. When she visits Elizabeth, Elizabeth says to her, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” So Mary has been told this incredible and pretty disconcerting news, and now she knows that Elizabeth knows also. These two women in first-century Palestine where women were of very low account in the scheme of things. A woman without a father, or a husband, or son to provide for her was effectively destitute, and women’s words had so little worth that a woman had no say in public, and not in private either, unless she were surrounded only by other women, and even then, she would have to be the matriarch. Mary was a teenager in this story, and she responds to Elizabeth’s greeting with an out-pouring of the Spirit, in this song we know as the Magnificat. Her words are full of trust and wisdom and poetry. Clearly, God is doing a new thing here! A woman raised up, full of the spirit, to birth a long awaited Messiah not in the Temple, not in a kingly palace, but in a stable. So the place of power is changing with this story. And that’s the message of Mary. That her son, born of the Spirit, would be willing to give up the power and glory that Herod wouldn’t give up, in order to bless every single person he encountered. God’s love is that wide. And that’s new in first century Palestine, both that kind of love and the idea of a young woman who doesn’t accept the status her religion and her society has given her, as the bearer of that love.
How do we see the poor and lowly in our own context. Do we see them as bearers of God? Is God continuing to do a new thing for us in every single person we encounter? There is a developing situation in Nigeria, where a group of gunmen attacked a secondary school last Friday night, and at least 400 students are still missing and believed to have been abducted. On Monday I started teaching the class for Nigerian students who are attending Bethany Seminary by Zoom. Some of those students are from Katsina State, where the school was attacked. So some of them arrived at the class on Monday with this attack heavy on their hearts, 400 out of 800 students missing, knowing the area well, knowing the burden of tension in that area, knowing personally some of the families of the mostly girl students who were taken. When we pray that God is doing a new thing in every single person we encounter, our prayers must include those girls and boys in Katsina State, and even those people who have attacked the school and taken away the children. We must because if we want to hear God in Mary’s words then we must prepare ourselves to receive that voice in the people we’d least expect to represent her, even those who would do her harm. We must pray that all people everywhere see God in the least expected ways, and hope that through our eyes people who have been harmed, people who are angry and out for revenge, people who are misguided in their spiritual direction, will somehow see compassion in our eyes and in our actions. How else do we find Love in the wisdom and hope of Mary’s words?
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Debbie teaching for Bethany Seminary Dec 14-18
I have started teaching a week-intensive course to Nigerian students beginning on Monday. One trick of this course is that I was slated to teach it in Nigeria, but because of the corona virus, it will now be a Zoom class with me in Tonasket and the students in Nigeria. Because the time difference between us is 9 hours, and because the students need to end their class session by 6:00 pm each day in order to safely get home in a city that is often not safe at night, and because it is a week-long course so will go about 6 ½ hours each day, I will be compelled to begin the course at 4:00 am each morning to accommodate the time difference. Yikes! So I ask for your prayers and also for your understanding if you try to reach me during the hours I’m teaching (I doubt anyone will call between 3-10 am!), or if you call after 9 pm when I will try to be in bed each night! I keep telling myself, “It’s just a week, I can do anything for a week.” It has already been a rich experience as I am privileged to know these students from other courses, am learning about their culture, and continue to witness their gratitude for life in the midst of their suffering not only from this virus, but also from civil unrest and violence, from food shortages, and from the inner turmoil of uncertainty.
Our Finances
Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we carry on being the church without in-person worship! It’s so important that we keep up our regular giving in this difficult time – serving the church and serving the people. At least now we have a vaccine in sight and then possible in-person worship to look forward to in a few months time! Please mail your gifts to Miriam Caddy, 16 Orchard Loop South, Tonasket, WA, 98855.
The Church will not be locked!
At our Council Meeting on Sunday we decided to install cameras and lights at the doors to the church, rather than locking our front doors. We have a very long tradition of travelers using the sanctuary for prayer and meditation as they drive between Canada and the U.S., as well as our own community using it when we want a quiet and sacred space, so we want to continue to offer that space to everyone at any time. We will lock the downstairs door to the kitchen and to the sanctuary room that we set up for overnight guests. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie or a member of our Leadership Team.
Zoom Worship in December
December 20, 4th Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship and preach.
December 27, Christmas Sunday, Debbie will lead worship and preach.
In our Prayers
-Pat Pyper’s sister Nancy died last week from injuries sustained in a serious car accident. Pat’s family is grateful she did not recover consciousness so did not feel her many fractures and other wounds. We pray for the family’s comfort and support.
-Sid Bosch, and Martha, as Sid’s condition continues to weaken after two strokes and various other ailments connected to his strokes.
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 7+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark is grateful for all those who are part of the court system – judges, legal teams, juries, defendants, and all who work in this system or find themselves there, and particularly grateful for the decisions that have been made on behalf of her own case.
–Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
–The Tonasket Food Bank, as we juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need. We have gone from the usual 150 families served each week to well over 200. Last week families numbered 269, and we served close to 300 for the Thanksgiving pick up.
–North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents who have tested positive for COVID 19 and for the families of those who have died of the virus. We are so grateful the vaccine is on its way!
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and masking and the discouragement and even tension among our community that it has brought. May we be wise as we discern how best to celebrate Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.
December 7th, 2020 Reflection
‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’
Matthew 25:40
We have been taught in the Church of the Brethren to live by these verses. So how do these words of Jesus fare in the midst of this pandemic? As I wrote to some friends recently, COVID 19 became more personal, more real, and more tragic for our family last week. Last Sunday my step-brother, Ken, died of the virus. I often asked for prayers for him at Tonasket Extended Care, where he had been a resident for the past 4 ½ years, suffering already from Parkinsons before the virus took him. So many of you knew him through your own visits, through my words about him, and most recently through requests for prayer as the virus has made its rounds there. Hospital and Extended Care administrators and staff followed a careful protocol to keep the virus out of the building for 8 ½ months. I was grateful for their strict adherence to state health mandates even as I missed being able to sit down with Ken whenever I happened to wander by the nursing home. But however careful they were, in mid November it finally maneuvered its way in and arrived with a vengeance.
Ken tested positive just 11 days before he died. Once we realized how seriously the virus was affecting him systemically, I asked the nursing staff if anyone before him had died of COVID 19. The response was, “Debbie, we’ve had 9 deaths in 9 days.” Ken’s made 10 deaths in 10 days, and there have been more following his. We were allowed in 2 days before he died, once they suspected he was on his way. It was a “compassionate care visit,” allowing us to suit up and say goodbye, and him to hear loved ones’ voices one more time. He was in unbearable discomfort when we saw him – wearing an oxygen mask over his face as he was fighting claustrophobia and confusion, suffering the body heat of day upon day of a 102-105 degree temp, having obvious muscle and joint pain that he couldn’t voice, looking at us through half-conscious pleading eyes. Many of the staff at Extended Care have tested positive as well, so their work force is stretched to the max. Yet someone sat with him in his last moments because we couldn’t, and all of them who were working last Sunday evening paid their respects after he was gone and before they had to run over to the next crisis. Our family is so grateful Ken was able to live among such caring and careful staff.
My hat goes off and my heart goes out to all health professionals these many months who are willing to be at the sides of these patients who have become their friends in nursing homes and in hospitals. And my frustration builds with all those who refuse to follow the health advice to wear masks, to distance, to stay home when we can, and to wash our hands often. Those mandates are really not that difficult. It’s when we decide they’re political mandates instead of health mandates, or that we don’t need to worry about them because God will protect us and when it’s our time to go we will, or that mask mandates take away our freedom to decide – those are the attitudes that are the most difficult for me. Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 have everything to do with compassionate, careful actions that show sensitivity and loving attention to everyone. The resistance to wearing masks and other safety measures for the reasons named above, seem to me to be more about selfish concern for the assumed right to make personal decisions regardless of how they affect others, than about caring for others, especially in this wretched time of COVID 19. One of the staff at Extended Care told us that she was crying endless tears as she had to call family after family to tell them that their loved one had died. It’s truly heartbreaking.
I remember longing for Ken to be healthy rather than having to suffer with Parkinsons. Now I so wish he could have died the slow and certain death of Parkinsons, a cruel disease but not a terribly painful one, rather than the agony he went through the last week of his life. So may we have Jesus’ words of Matthew 25: 40 on our reading tables to glance at every day, reminding us that though masking and distancing may be inconvenient, they show our community that we care about each other, that we won’t make decisions that put others at risk, and that we will continue like this until we can be assured that everyone is safe. Masks actually save lives. Please wear one.
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Debbie teaching for Bethany Seminary Dec 14-18
I will be teaching a week-intensive course to Nigerian students beginning on Monday of next week, Dec 14-18. One trick of this course is that I was slated to teach it in Nigeria, but because of the corona virus, it will now be a Zoom class with me in Tonasket and the students in Nigeria. Because the time difference between us is 9 hours, and because the students need to end their class session by 6:00 pm each day in order to safely get home in a city that is often not safe at night, and because it is a week-long course so will go about 7 hours each day, I will be compelled to begin the course at 3:00 am each morning to accommodate the time difference. Yikes! So I ask for your prayers and also for your understanding if you try to reach me during the hours I’m teaching (I doubt anyone will call at 3 am!) 3-10 am, or if you call after 9 pm when I will try to be in bed each night! I keep telling myself, “It’s just a week, I can do anything for a week.” It will be a rich experience as we learn from each other’s cultures and especially for me as I am privileged to know these students from other courses and will surely continue to witness their gratitude for life in the midst of their suffering not only from this virus, but also from civil unrest and violence, from food shortages, and from the inner turmoil of uncertainty.
Our Finances
Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we carry on being the church without in-person worship! It’s so important that we keep up our regular giving in this difficult time – serving the church and serving the people. At least now we have a vaccine in sight and then possible in-person worship to look forward to in a few months time! Please mail your gifts to Miriam Caddy, 16 Orchard Loop South, Tonasket, WA, 98855.
Church Keys
The Leadership Team has decided it is now best to lock the church, given some people coming in without permission, sometimes without care for the building, as well as the fact that members and friends do not come and go as was once our usual practice, so the building is not regularly monitored nor looked after as it once was. We will discuss this at our Council Meeting next Sunday. If you would like a key, please let Debbie or John Verbeck know.
Zoom Worship in December
December 13, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship; Debbie and Daniel will share the message. Church Council meeting following worship. Zoom and phone links below.
December 20, 4th Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship and preach.
December 27, Christmas Sunday, Debbie will lead worship and preach.
Church Council Meeting, by Zoom, is set for next Sunday, December 13, immediately after worship at 10:30 am. We hope everyone will be able to join us either by Zoom on your computers or cell phones, or by the phone link shown below. This is our once-a-year time to gather and discern where we are and where we want to go in the next year. So please join us if you can, and bring your coffee, breakfast, comfortable slippers, or whatever else you need to be able to sit at home while joining us for conversation and decision-making about our church.
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/236009838
Phone number: Call 1-301-715-8592, then enter 236 009 838# when prompted, then # again
In our Prayers
-Pat Pyper, her sister Nancy and brother-in-law Joe, as we await word about their conditions after a terrible car accident on Saturday in Yakima. Nancy was air lifted to Harborview Hospital in Seattle, and Joe was taken to the hospital in Yakima.
-Sid Bosch, and Martha, as Sid’s condition continues to weaken after two strokes and various other ailments connected to his strokes.
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 7+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark, as she continues to prepare for her court date, around Dec. 12. Martha asks that we pray for all those who are part of the court system – judges, legal teams, juries, defendants, and all who work in this system or find themselves there. This often overlooked and/or ignored essential system needs are gratitude and our prayers.
–Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need. We have gone from the usual 150 families served each week to well over 200. Last week families numbered 269, and we served close to 300 for the Thanksgiving pick up.
–North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents as many residents and staff have now tested positive for COVID 19 and there have been multiple deaths there. Staff are working almost beyond their capacity and some residents are suffering painful side effects with the virus.
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and masking and the discouragement and even tension among our community that it has brought. May we be wise as we discern how best to celebrate Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.
November 23rd, 2020 Reflection
As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured… I will feed them with justice.
Ezekiel 34
…he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come you that are blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
Matthew 25
This passage in Matthew is a favorite in the church. The emphasis on service and walking one’s talk is rooted in this passage. “…when you do it to the least of these, you do it to me…” I try to live by these verses, and I know you do also. But as many of you know, I get to the words associating goats with eternal damnation, and it always gives me pause. It doesn’t seem quite fair, and yet today I will try not to be so hard on the Matthew passage just because it has a small section where the author doesn’t realize the benefit of goats, and I’m thinking maybe where I don’t realize the full benefit of sheep.
Shepherding is one of the oldest human occupations, and sheep and goats were by far the dominant herd animals in the ancient near east. Shepherds and sheep were so fundamentally part of those ancient cultures that kings were often referred to as ‘shepherds of the people.’ So no wonder we have references in both books of the bible to either God as a shepherd or to religious leaders as shepherds, and to God’s people as sheep. But I’m still niggled by Matthew feeling the need to put goats on the left and sheep on the right. Both of these animals had prominent places in antiquity. For the ritual of blood sacrifice, first unblemished and undomesticated sheep were used, then later goats, and later still, rams, bulls, oxen, and heifers. Both sheep and goats could be considered either clean or unclean, depending on how they were raised and killed. Sheep may have been the Hebrews first sacrificial animal because Israel’s enemy at the time, Egypt, had as their astrological symbol Aries, the Ram, which Egypt worshipped. Thus Egypt abstained from eating, killing and sacrificing sheep, their most precious symbol. Scholars think perhaps this is why sheep were the original animals chosen for Hebrew sacrifice, simply because offering them was what would most repulse their enemy Egypt. None of this information makes sheep more valuable than goats. But there is a clue I think, if we consider who Matthew was writing to and what was at stake when he was writing.
Matthew was addressing Jewish Christians living in Palestine toward the end of the first century. The Jewish community as a whole was encountering tremendous pressure and anxiety because they had set up this major revolt against Rome in Jerusalem, and Rome had found out about it and had squelched it. So Rome was coming down harder than ever against the Jews. In the midst of this, Jewish Christians were trying to figure out who they were both as Jews and as followers of Jesus. The Pharisees were considered the Jewish religious authority of their day. That wasn’t yet true during the time of Jesus, but 40 or 50 years later when Matthew wrote his gospel, the Pharisees had risen as religious leaders among the Jewish community. And here comes this small group of “Christ-following-Jews” who elevate Jesus to the place of religious authority to replace the pharisees, and so there are tensions between those in the Jewish community who want things to remain the way they are, and those in the Jewish community who now call themselves Christians but who are also very much still Jews. The writer of Matthew is one of these Jewish Christians, and he is writing to comfort and especially to guide them through this perilous time.
With goats being more leader-like, and sheep being more follow-like (those of you who live on ranches or farms, have you ever found a neighbor’s goat in your pasture? A neighbor’s sheep? Yes for the former; no for the latter? Bingo!) Goats are inquisitive, playful, and energetic, sometimes annoyingly so. Sheep, on the other hand, are generally more content to stay where they are put without resisting. They are not as inquisitive as goats, nor do they push the boundaries like goats do.
In Matthew’s time, when not only Christian existence but Jewish existence was at stake, the community’s survival depended on towing the line without deviating. So Matthew put together a kind of faith survival kit, teaching them how to be in this world in order for their new faith tradition to survive. And that’s how it is when you’re in survival mode. You walk on tip toes, making sure every i is dotted and every t crossed, because if you don’t, it’s not only you who might be affected, but your whole community. And I’m imagining that’s why Matthew might have divided the sheep from the goats. It was a time when being faithful followers of the Christ meant walking a very narrow path. Sheep do that better than goats. Matthew reminded the community of three things 1. There is a responsibility to care for each other, and 2. There are those who have not cared for them (the Romans? the Jewish authorities who were trying to crush the new Christian Jewish movement?) Therefore 3. Walk the narrow path for the survival of their faith. So I can see why, in this case, they were encouraged to be sheep-like. Sheep are more likely to follow orders and not rock the boat.
However, is sheep the best descriptor of us as a body of faith? In other words, should we always be sheep? Think about Jesus’ life, when he met and spoke to not only a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman at the well; when he pointed out a Samaritan, Israel’s enemy, as exemplifying a good neighbor; when he healed on the Sabbath, work that was against Jewish law. In all these cases his point was more about love and compassion than it was about following a strict religious code. So we can’t say that Jesus didn’t break the rules, that he didn’t live outside the box, that he was more sheep than goat.
I am grateful today for that which gives me pause and makes me consider that maybe there is more to discover than I am at first willing to see. When is it that Jesus calls us to be sheep, and when is it that he calls us to be goats? We know he always calls us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and visit the sick and those in prison, and that whatever we do to the least of these is to do likewise to him. In the midst of being loving and merciful followers, there are times when we are called to be content and submissive, and other times when we are to shake things up with creativity and boldness. Our task is always to love our neighbor as ourselves, but to do so in the way we hear God calling me and you in each moment – perhaps sometimes as sheep and sometimes as goats. If we always respond as sheep, then we might miss new opportunities for creative thinking and new vision. If we always respond as goats, we might tend to destroy more than we mend. When I think of the state of our world, when I think of some of things that are done in the name of religion, when I think of our inability or often refusal to find a civilized and compassionate response to the chaos around us, well we have such a long way to go to living out the love and compassion that Jesus taught us. Let’s not get stuck in the rules, and let’s not live only for rebellion, always in the fast lane. Let’s be grateful and discerning at the same time. How is God calling you, in this moment? How is God calling us to be disciples during this Thanksgiving season?
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Our Finances
Our outside clean-up is done! When you’re driving by the church sometime check out Curt’s work. He cleaned out the hedges, trimmed, raked, and hauled debris. If you are willing to donate $5, $10, $20 on behalf of this effort, please send your checks to the church or to Miriam Caddy with “outside cleanup” written on the memo line. Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we continue to be the church without in-person worship!
In Person Worship postponed, again.
Due to the rapidly rising number of Covid 19 cases in our county and across the U.S., we will postpone resuming in-person worship in December. We wanted to wait to see how the virus is faring in the colder month of November before making a final decision, and it’s not looking good at all. The Leadership Team has made the decision to wait, probably until at least February. This is not news we want to hear, but it is important to stay safe and to be a witness to others in our county that we are listening and heeding advise from science and health professionals. Our own nursing home is a good example that as diligent as we try to be, this virus can sneak in. So let’s be wise and continue to be safe.
Immigration Relief Fund
The WA Immigrant Solidarity Network has received a grant and will offer up to $3000 for immigrant families who have been affected by Covid 19 – illness, loss of work, hardship, etc. Yuri Obeso began her work last week, signing up families in the Tonasket/Oroville area for this award. If you know anyone who could benefit from this grant, Yuri will be in the narthex at the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren weekdays through Dec 6 to help with the application process. Please pass this information on to those you know who could benefit from it. It’s great to have our building used in this way, and there’s not much time to find the applicants who might benefit from this grant!
Church Council Meeting, by Zoom, set for Dec. 13. Keep this date in mind and expect further information about it soon.
Zoom Worship in November/December
Nov. 29 First Sunday of Advent. Daniel will lead worship and preach. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month, Debbie will not send out nor deliver an additional reflection. So next Monday, November 30, there will not be a reflection/check-in sent out by email nor delivered.
December 6, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship and preach.
December 13, 3rd Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship; Debbie and Daniel will share the message.
December 20, 4th Sunday of Advent, Daniel will lead worship and preach.
December 27, Christmas Sunday, Debbie will lead worship and preach.
In our Prayers
-Lucy and Ivan had their baby! Immanuel Rodriguez, born Nov 4, 9lbs! Mother and baby are doing well and we join mom, dad, sister, and extended family in celebrating this wonderful birth!
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 7+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark, as she continues to prepare for her court date, around Dec. 12. Martha asks that we pray for all those who are part of the court system – judges, legal teams, juries, defendants, and all who work in this system or find themselves there. This often overlooked and/or ignored essential system needs are gratitude and our prayers.
Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we continue to juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need. We have gone from the usual 150 families served each week to well over 200. Last week families numbered 269, and we expect close to 300 or more for the Thanksgiving pick up next week.
North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents as many residents and staff have now tested positive for Covid 19.
Two Hispanic churches in Brewster that were arsoned last week, a Baptist church and a Catholic church. These arsons are being investigated as possible hate crimes.
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and the discouragement it sometimes brings, and as we try to figure out how best to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.
November 16th, 2020 Reflection
“Don’t even get me started” is a common phrase we hear and we use, mostly for issues that haven’t gone our way, thus which we feel we have plenty to complain about regarding their outcome. I can’t tell you how many times I have used that phrase, and as recently as last evening I heard it used. I was talking to one of my lane neighbors who had attended a Halloween party where her friends did not wear masks nor were conscious about distancing because “we’re all healthy and have strong immune systems,” she said. I responded with some distress and mentioned that with a new president we might be getting more pressure to comply with health mandates in order to get this virus under control. And that’s where her, “Don’t even get me started!” came from. I fretted about her comment for the remainder of the evening, not just because we voted for different presidential candidates and her’s is a different perspective than mine, but because I don’t know how to talk to her, how to be safe in her company when we’re chatting, how to stop judging her because I feel that her perspective is not what will get us through this virus – that she is simply not willing to consider the research and the facts (“as I, of course, am willing to do,” I say to myself).
In the class I’m teaching through Bethany, many of the Nigerian students are struggling with the ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation when the harm that has been done to them is so extreme. They often ask us in the class, “What comes first, reconciliation, forgiveness, or reparations for the wrongs done to us by our government?” The rest of us in the class are at a loss, partly because we cannot imagine the suffering they have gone through, and partly because we ourselves struggle with forgiveness and reconciliation also with those who will never agree with us and whom we feel have attitudes that harm us and/or others. At the same time we long for a breakthrough in our communication. How do we try to hear each other when we disagree? The stronger are our feelings and emotions, the more difficult it seems to be.
In Daniel’s preaching from James in yesterday’s Zoom service, he mentioned that wisdom can be seen by her fruits, that we can’t do harm to others, even in our hearts, and at the same time be turned toward God (my paraphrase of his words). In Desmond Tutu’s book, No Future Without Forgiveness, he told a story about a woman whose young child was murdered. She wrote to him later, “However justified, our unforgiveness undoes us. Anger, hatred, resentment, bitterness, revenge – they are death-dealing spirits, and they will ‘take our lives’ on some level. I believe the only way we can be whole, healthy persons is to learn to forgive… Though I would not have chosen it so, the first person to receive a gift of life from the death of my daughter…was me.”
But even with her powerful words, forgiveness and reconciliation still cannot be rushed, and they can’t be decided by one person for another person. The person forgiving or willing to be reconciled must carefully consider and prepare in order for their action to be sincere, hopefully received, and sometimes even life changing. Besides James’ New Testament instruction for wisdom to be seen by its outward signs like peacefulness, gentleness, mercy and humility, wisdom is also accompanied by inner preparation and patience, the willingness to wait as well as the well-honed intuition to know when it is time to act. For me, I think I will begin by letting the phrase, “Don’t even get me started,” go. Rather than reacting to my neighbor with frustration, judgement and distance, it might be more helpful to both of us to hear her out, to pray for openness for me as well as for her, to ask Wisdom to guide my thoughts as well as my words, and to ask her if we can talk about these issues that are dear to both of us but which lie on different ends of the spectrum.
I wonder what issues and struggles come up for you in these days that have completely overturned our usual routines and comfort levels.
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Our Finances
Our outside clean-up is done! When you’re driving by the church sometime check out Curt’s work. He cleaned out the hedges, trimmed, raked, and hauled debris. If you are willing to donate $5, $10, $20 on behalf of this effort, please send your checks to the church or to Miriam Caddy with “outside cleanup” written on the memo line.
Thank you for your continued donations for our general fund as we continue to be the church without in-person worship!
In Person Worship likely postponed, again.
Due to the rapidly rising number of Covid 19 cases in our county and across the U.S., we will likely postpone resuming in-person worship in December. We wanted to wait to see how the virus is faring in the colder month of November before making a final decision, and it’s not looking good at all. The Leadership Team has not made a final decision but I fully expect a consensus on waiting until at least February. This is not news we want to hear, but it is important to stay safe and to be a witness to others in our county that we are listening and heeding advise from science and health professionals. I continue to welcome your thoughts about this.
Immigration Relief Fund
The WA Immigrant Solidarity Network has received a grant and will offer up to $3000 for immigrant families who have been affected by Covid 19 – illness, loss of work, hardship, etc. Yuri Obeso began her work last week, signing up families in the Tonasket/Oroville area for this award. If you know anyone who could benefit from this grant, Yuri will be in the narthex at the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren weekdays through Dec 6 to help with the application process. Please pass this information on to those you know who could benefit from it. It’s great to have our building used in this way, and there’s not much time to find the applicants who might benefit from this grant!
Daniel has started a weekly Zoom room for one hour each Friday, from 6:30-7:30pm. Should we at Ellisforde do the same (not at the same time!)? Would you appreciate a time to plug into zoom and know that I will be available for a chat? Let me know if this would be helpful for you!
Our Pacific Northwest District Church of the Brethren is celebrating the hiring of Daniel as our new part-time administrative assistant! We are so pleased to have Daniel’s tech and writing skills formally used on behalf of our churches and our district, as well as his personable manner of relating to all of us. Congratulations, Daniel!
Church Council Meeting, by Zoom, set for Dec. 13. Keep this date in mind and expect further information about it soon.
Zoom Worship for the remainder of November
Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Sunday. Debbie will lead worship and preach. She will send out her reflection Nov. 23 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 29 First Sunday of Advent. Daniel will lead worship and preach. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month, Debbie will not send out nor deliver an additional reflection. So on Monday, November 30, there will not be a reflection/check-in sent out by email nor delivered.
In our Prayers
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 7+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark, as she continues to prepare for another court trial, beginning the first week of December.
Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom and their family, as she waits for the results of a second biopsy on her thyroid.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we continue to juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need.
North Valley Extended Care Staff and Residents as several have now tested positive for Covid 19.
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and the discouragement it sometimes brings, and as we try to figure out how best to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.
November 9th, 2020 Reflection
“Wisdom is radiant and unfading. She is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her…To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding, and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care…”
Wisdom of Solomon 6: 12, 15
The words in the above passage were written to a Hellenistic community in Alexandria two or three generations before the birth of Jesus, at a time when the political and religious worlds were rapidly changing. The author, likely a Jew of Greek descent and influence, was reminding the Jews to open an avenue for reflective discernment, that to get through the changing and often worrisome times, they needed to make space for Wisdom, and that when they did, they would find they could breathe easier. The translation of wisdom in Greek is ‘Sophia,’ a feminine rooted word, as is ‘Chokma,’ the word for wisdom in Hebrew. Sophia/Chokma instructs us throughout the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament to make space for her, to wait before we jump in. This is not necessarily a passive waiting – like simply bearing concern and misfortune along with the lack of clarity and chaos, patiently and without questions or conversations. That’s not what Wisdom-waiting is about. Wisdom-waiting includes perseverance, integrity, and listening for God’s spirit to guide us, to be willing to be instructed by praying with our every breath, by getting ourselves into a spirit where we can listen and take in the guidance of the divine. We can’t listen deeply, we can’t focus on our breathing, we can’t open ourselves to the spirit within us if we are so bogged down with reacting to the chaos and sometimes the violence around us that we are simply paralyzed or critical of that which we don’t approve. And of course there is plenty not to approve of – one of the worst examples of violence I read at the end of last week was a suggestion encouraging the top researcher for the Center for Disease Control, Dr. Anthony Fauci’s head to be severed and put on a pole outside the Whitehouse along with another federal official’s, similar to Roman displays of what could happen with dissent or criticism of Roman authority. That’s a horrific example of inciting violence, and we are surrounded by worrying examples these days.
During Roman occupation with Hellenistic influence, it often felt like everything was in flux. The people couldn’t find solid ground and when that happens in our lives we often lash out at whomever we feel is keeping us off balance. But lashing out is not the way of Sophia. Perhaps especially when we can’t find our feet, maybe that’s the most important time for us in the church to offer another way forward. We must be examples on behalf of Sophia, on behalf of Wisdom. We mustn’t react without reflection over what disturbs us. This doesn’t mean we sit still and assume God is in charge and will take care of us without us lifting a finger, that our thoughts and our input and our energy aren’t important. Afterall, we are God’s hands and God’s feet and God’s heart in this world. So as Sophia calls us to be reflective, and to wait for her wisdom to guide us, we wait with the strength of humility and of self control, and also of generosity and of compassionate love. We read at the end of chapter 6 in Wisdom of Solomon, “the desire for wisdom leads to the kingdom.” In this spirit when we’re ready to act, we do so knowing our actions are filled with Sophia, and that they represent the Christ who is our prime example of New Testament wisdom. Our waiting is more robust than it is passive; it’s more about the opportunity to grow in discernment than it is about giving in or giving up. May we be filled with Sophia in the days ahead, as we anticipate a change in our political process and as we hope for a future that represents God’s call to righteous living, and which also represents God’s very breath in each of us.
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Our Finances
Would you be willing to donate for outside cleanup? Our outside clean-up person is ready to work and we are still hoping to raise most of the funds we need to hire him. We have received some donations and are looking for a little more. Are you willing to donate $5, $10, $20 on behalf of this effort? If so, please send your checks to the church or to Miriam Caddy with “outside cleanup” written on the memo line. Thank you also for your continued donations for our general fund as we continue to be the church without in-person worship!
In Person Worship being Considered
Please weigh in on whether we should resume in-person worship beginning the second Sunday in December. We would like to see how the virus is faring in the colder month of November before making a final decision. (So far it’s not looking good in the U.S.) We have agreed on the safety protocols of sanitizing the sanctuary each week, masking, supplying hand sanitizer, keeping well over the 6ft of distance required in CDC and WA state protocol, and making separate exit and entrance spaces available into and out of the sanctuary. We are still in the discernment phase of this and would like to have your input. Please email or call Debbie if you have an opinion about this.
Immigration Relief Fund
The WA Immigrant Solidarity Network has received a grant and will offer up to $3000 for immigrant families who have been affected by Covid 19 – illness, loss of work, hardship, etc. This info was passed on to me and we have contacted a woman who worked on the Census in our county, Yuri Obeso, who has now been hired by the network to solicit applicants in the Tonasket/Oroville area. If you know anyone who could benefit from this grant, Yuri will be at the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren weekdays through Dec 6 to help with the application process. Please pass this information on to those you know who could benefit from it. It’s great to have our building used in this way, and there’s not much time to find the applicants who might benefit from this grant!
The Upper Room print weekly reflections have arrived. If you have not received your copy and would like to, please let Debbie know. There are plenty to go around (for Whitestone folks also).
Daniel has started a weekly Zoom room for one hour each Friday, from 6:30-7:30pm. Should we at Ellisforde do the same (not at the same time!)? Would you appreciate a time to plug into zoom and know that I will be available for a chat? Let me know if this would be helpful for you!
Church Council Meeting, possibly by Zoom, set for Dec. 13. Keep this date in mind and expect further information about it soon.
Zoom Worship for the remainder of November
Nov. 15 Daniel will lead worship and preach. Debbie will send out her reflection Nov. 16 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Sunday. Debbie will lead worship and preach. She will send out her reflection Nov. 23 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 29 First Sunday of Advent. Daniel will lead worship and preach. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month, Debbie will not send out nor deliver an additional reflection. So on Monday, November 30, there will not be a reflection/check-in sent out by email nor delivered.
Our zoom link and phone number for Worship: https://zoom.us/j/236009838
by Phone: Call 1-301-715-8592, then enter 236 009 838# when prompted, then # again
In our Prayers
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with swelling and pain, 7+months and medical opinions after knee replacement surgery.
-Martha Meadowlark, as she continues to prepare for her court dates, which looks like it will now be the first week of December.
-Miriam Caddy, who had the procedure last week to implant a stimulator permanently. This is proving to be a great relief for her pain, for which we are grateful. Our prayers continue for her.
–Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom, as doctor’s have discovered in an X-ray a spot on her thyroid. The initial results of the biopsy were inconclusive so she continues to wait for the results of another biopsy. Our prayers continue with her and Daniel’s dad, and their family, as well as with medical staff if treatment is necessary.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we continue to juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and the discouragement it sometimes brings, and as we try to figure out how best to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.
November 2nd, 2020 Reflection
Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel,
Micah 3: 9-12
who abhor justice and pervert all equity, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! 11 Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, “Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us.” 12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
Tomorrow we await the presidential election result in the U.S., as well as myriad state election results. It’s been a hard year in all kinds of ways, including a difficult political year. So I thought I’d share this passage from Micah about leadership and the reminder to be mindful about the way we follow leaders, as well as the way we are leaders ourselves. Micah was one of four 8th century prophets who was a member of the laboring class and came from a small village just south of Jerusalem. Like Amos before him, Micah was concerned about socioeconomic injustice. Following religious protocol – going to the temple, offering tithes, bowing before God – worship without social justice was meaningless, and he publicly defended shepherds and poor farmers whose lands were being expropriated by the rich.
Micah lists four characteristics that identify bad leaders:
1. They lie- they insist that all is well as long as they are well, even when the majority are not.
2. They alter or modify equity, which means they are not ignorant of what they’re doing; they know that altering equity means they’re prospering at the expense of those who aren’t because in their view there isn’t enough for everyone.
3. They build their cities and nations with the blood, sweat and tears of the people they claim to lead.
4. They declare, “the Lord is with us,” which has always been a tactic used to control and confuse religious people.
These four characteristics are also how we today test whether our leaders are just or unjust. Do they lie? Do they manipulate equity? Do they govern by the blood, sweat and tears of those they have power over? Do they insist God is on their side?
These four characteristics happen so often in our history of both political and even religious leadership that I often wonder how in the world we stop this pattern. We ourselves make the same mistakes, with our own hubris, our putting ourselves before others, our need to make sure our ways are the ones that become everyone’s ways. We often have this idea, sometimes a bit unconsciously, that, ‘well, this is the way we do things here,’ and that’s the end of it. So Micah leaves us with some guidelines in not doing what is usually done, because the norm is often not helpful for everyone. Micah’s God, and our God, calls us to look out for each other always.
A close colleague of mine reminded his church last week that tomorrow our nation will do something that no nation ever did in biblical times, that is, elect the leaders who govern us. In Micah’s time, and before and after, Israel was ruled by those who often claimed the throne by violence or hereditary succession. The people didn’t have an opportunity to choose their own kings, though they did evaluate their kings. My friend gave examples of various passages where the king was evaluated with the same criteria Mycah evaluated leadership, namely doing good or evil “in the sight of the Lord” – good actions exemplified by acting on behalf of the people, being generous, resisting decrees which would benefit the elite at the expense of the people, ruling with wisdom.
In our time, as we choose the leaders who govern us, may we choose those whose qualities represent good leadership. And then may we pray that they govern accordingly.
In community with you, peacefully, simply, together,
Debbie
Special Financial Request
Would you be willing to donate $10-20 for outside cleanup? The Leadership Team has agreed to hire an outside person to work 10 hours on outside clean-up in November, and a person has been found who is willing to do the work. If you are willing to donate to this effort, please send your checks to the church or to Miriam Caddy with “outside cleanup” written on the memo line. We have a promise of $120 so far! We’re looking for another $60.
In Person Worship being Considered
Please weigh in on whether we should resume in-person worship beginning the second Sunday in December. We would like to see how the virus is faring in the colder month of November before making a final decision. We have agreed on the safety protocols of sanitizing the sanctuary each week, masking, supplying hand sanitizer, keeping well over the 6ft of distance required in CDC and WA state protocol, and making separate exit and entrance spaces available into and out of the sanctuary. We are still in the discernment phase of this and would like to have your input. Please email or call Debbie if you have an opinion about this.
Immigration Relief Fund
The WA Immigrant Solidarity Network has received a grant and will offer up to $3000 for immigrant families who have been affected by Covid 19 – illness, loss of work, hardship, etc. This info was passed on to me and we have contacted a woman who worked on the Census in our county, Yuri Obeso, who has now been hired by the network to solicit applicants in the Tonasket/Oroville area. If you know anyone who could benefit from this grant, Yuri will be at the Ellisforde Church of the Brethren weekdays to help with the application process. Please pass this information on to those you know who could benefit from it. It’s great to have our building used in this way!
The Upper Room print weekly reflections have arrived. If you have not received your copy and would like to, please let Debbie know. There are plenty to go around (for Whitestone folks also).
Daniel has started a weekly Zoom room for one hour each Wednesday, from 5-6pm. Should we at Ellisforde do the same (not at the same time!)? Would you appreciate a time to plug into zoom and know that I will be available for a chat? Let me know if this would be helpful for you!
Zoom Worship in November
Nov 8 Daniel will leader worship and Debbie and Daniel will share the message. We will also offer a Zoom-type communion service during Worship, in place of our usual Love Feast in November. Debbie will send out her reflection Nov. 9 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 15 Daniel will lead worship and preach. Debbie will send out her reflection Nov. 16 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 22 Thanksgiving Sunday. Debbie will lead worship and preach. She will send out her reflection Nov. 23 and deliver it to those who do not have email access.
Nov. 29 First Sunday of Advent. Daniel will lead worship and preach. When there is a 5th Sunday in the month, Debbie will not send out nor deliver an additional reflection.
In our Prayers
-Dale Swedberg, as he continues to deal with the pain accompanying his knee replacement surgery.
-Miriam Caddy, who will have the procedure this week to implant a stimulator permanently. The stimulator proved to be a great relief for her pain, for which we are grateful, but as it was temporary and she has waited for the permanent implant, she is again in pain. Our prayers continue for her.
Cecile Klayton, Daniel’s mom, as doctor’s have discovered in an X-ray a spot on her thyroid. The initial results of the biopsy were inconclusive so she continues to wait for the results of another biopsy. Our prayers continue with her and Daniel’s dad, and their family, as well as with medical staff if treatment is necessary.
-The Tonasket Food Bank, as we continue to juggle volunteers during this pandemic, and as clients are in more need
–All of us, as we grapple with the need for distancing and the discouragement it sometimes brings, and as we try to figure out how best to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas while staying safe.
Others? Please let Debbie know.