Our Palm Sunday sign collaboration with Rose City Park Presbyterian Church was so successful that many would like to keep it going. All are invited on the first Sunday of each month—including this Sunday, May 4—to offer Christian witness to our community.

Through a generous grant from our Outreach & Justice Council, St. Michael’s is sponsoring Advocacy Day on April 7. This will be a day of building community, sharing our stories and advocating for values-based legislation in Salem through group meetings with our legislators.

For Week 2, we’re directing your attention to the Oregon Black Pioneers website and, specifically, to their History Maps tool. Please take some time to explore History Maps, following your interests and curiosity wherever they take you. You’ll be glad you did! Because of our work on the St. Michael’s land story, we clicked on the map point closest to St. Michael’s and followed the thread as far as we could (within reason) not knowing what more we might learn about our neighbors and neighborhood history.

Thanks to all the kids who made the Souper Bowl of Caring announcement on February 2nd – you were terrific! So far, we’ve raised over $1,700 for the Northeast Emergency Food Program.

The season of Advent is here, and with it our Advent Giving Tree. The tree is now up and ready for tags to be taken. The tree will remain up through December, and the gift items will be delivered in early January. This year, there are three ways to help those in need.

Arcoíris Latino, or Latin Rainbow, is sponsoring a workshop at 2:15 pm this Sunday, November 10, after the 1:00 service. This workshop will cover substance abuse and prevention, including of alcohol and opioids; the use of Nalozone (Narcan); and resources for mental health.

There are two opportunities next week to gather and pray on either side of Election Day. For all the reasons that he discussed in his powerful eblast note—leaning on our values, sticking together, stirring up faith, and getting out to vote—we’ll hold space together for prayer.