This is an exceptional stewardship year, a year when we are living into our faith with hope and love as we go through a time of tumultuous change. As we consider what we will give of our treasure, let us also consider what we will give of our time.
All Saints Sunday, with its evocation of the great cloud of witnesses that are the communion of saints, also brings to mind all those “whom we love, but see no longer.” Baptism is especially appropriate on All Saints, as we celebrate another person being initiated into the body of Christ Team LIFE’s stewardship program, Rooted in our Neighborhood, Branching Out in Love, will conclude with the ingathering of pledges of support for St Michael’s ministries and operations next year on November 13th.
How do you show what is important to you? They say that you can tell what is truly essential in a person’s life by two things: what is on their calendar, and what is in their budget. Stewardship of what is most important to us, where we give our time, talent, and treasure is more than a habit. It’s evidence of our values. What we care for, we give our attention. And what we give our attention to grows.
We will celebrate both the Feast of All Saints and la Fiesta de Todos los Santos over the next two Sundays. On October 30, our Spanish-speaking congregation will commemorate the their faithful departed with special prayers and the decorating of the Altar de los Muertos. Two weeks later, on November 6, the English-language morning services will celebrate the Feast of All Saints.
We are so happy to reopen our Godly Play classroom! Children in pre-K through 5th grade (parents and older siblings, too) are welcome to join the circle. We began last week with “The Story of Creation” and continue this coming Sunday, October 30, with “The Flood and the Ark.”
The window for applications for the position of rector of St. Michael’s closed on Saturday, October 8, with nine applicants. Members of the Search Committee have met to review the applications, and they’ve selected four candidates for interviews.
Youth Group has returned with new energy for the 2022-23 school year! Youth group will meet every other Sunday, with third Sundays spent with the NE Youth Collective, a newly formed collaboration of progressive churches in NE Portland who “are committed to the love of God for young people, through community, service and spiritual growth.” Meetings with the Youth Collective will rotate locations.
Last week, Julia introduced Team LIFE’s 2022 stewardship education plan, with its theme, Rooted in Our Neighborhood, Branching Out in Love. This week we focus on L, for labor. One definition of stewardship is “everything we do with everything we have” – in other words, everything we do with our time, our gifts and our resources, including our work. Psalm 119 refers to the seven times a day that faithful Jews offered praise to God, and those in monastic communities often speak of their work as prayer, intentionally weaving work and spirituality.
What a year! You’ve seen so much in the last twelve months… the beginnings of tentative steps forward in the wake of the pandemic, the hard transition of two dear priests out of our parish, an interim period of reflection and new-knowing as we move toward our new rector, through a long listening season. It’s been a time of big change, big griefs and big hope. In January,
Sunday Services
7:30 – Rite I Traditional language with no music.
9:00 – Rite II Holy Eucharist with choir
11:00 – Inclusive language with choir
1:00 pm – Misa en Español
© 2023 St. Michael & All Angels
