The Youth Leader cohort has been busy planning for some in-person youth gatherings this spring. They plan to meet at Normandale Park on Halsey, the same park as in the fall, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. The dates are this coming Sunday, April 25; Sunday, May 16; and Sunday, June 6.
St. Michael’s Advocacy Action team and the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) invites you to support the Equality Act (H.R. 5) by communicating your position as a Christian to our leaders and elected officials before it comes up for a vote in the Senate.
Do you have a devotional practice around what you read in the morning? Would you like to develop one? Many people of prayer have kept books of inspirational texts and poetry nearby to tune their hearts with first thing in the morning.
Padre Beto Arciniega is offering Stations of the Cross/Viacrucis in Lent on Fridays at 7:00 pm. These are in Spanish and on Zoom for a more interactive experience.
This Lent, Rector Chris Craun will be using 40-Day Journey with Howard Thurman as a daily practice of reflection, prayer and writing. If you would like to join her, please order the book or reserve one with the office as a few have been purchased. She will be offering space for mutual sharing and conversation on Wednesdays at noon, starting February 24, throughout the season. Please email her if you would like to receive the Zoom link.
“Uplifting” may not be the first thing you associate with Lent, but we hope it will be by the time Easter comes around this year. We’ve all suffered enough over the past year, but Lent was never about suffering more, anyway. Lent is a time for us to focus as much of our attention as one community as possible on who God is lifting us up to be, right here, right now. There are a range of ways you can help Lift Up Lent this year at St. Michael’s.
On this day of the Feast of the Epiphany, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invited Episcopalians and people of faith to turn and pray on behalf of our nation
Oregon’s statewide eviction and foreclosure moratorium has been one of the most successful remedies for communities bearing the brunt of the pandemic, according to a recent op-ed printed in The Oregonian. It was written by leaders of the Oregon Food Bank, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) and the Oregon Law Center.
Who knew back in the spring that the scourge of COVID-19 would still be with us as we head in to the holidays? Portland is suffering along with the rest of the country. Many members of our parish have been impacted by the loss of jobs or having had their work hours reduced.
In the spring, many St. Michael’s parishioners and friends offered to donate money to help those less fortunate, include some who lost most or all of their income and/or were not eligible for federal funds. At the beginning, volunteers bought and delivered actual groceries to two to four families. Then, as the number of families needing help grew to around 15, the team switched to giving grocery gift cards.
The Outreach & Justice Council has met online every month since the COVID-19 outbreak began and have divided the funds allotted to them from the Operating Fund between many areas of need.
Here’s the latest about the Global Climate Strike as it pertains to St. Michael’s and Portland: EcoFaith Recovery and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon are hosting an interfaith service and gathering
The 1:00 pm Spanish-language Misa, or Mass with Eucharist, began at St. Michael’s 25 years ago, originally organized and supported by Fr. John Scannell and Deacon Marla McGarry-Lawrence. In the
Some of this Sunday’s music dates from the 16th century! The organ prelude at the 9:00 and 11:00 am services is by the Spanish composer Antonio de Cabezón (1510-1566). His piece Diferencias sobre ‘El canto llano del caballero’ is a set of keyboard variations (“diferencias”) on a Renaissance secular song. Like several other famous organists through the centuries, Cabezón was blind, but that didn’t stop him from rising to prominence as an organist and composer for the royal family of Spain, Charles and Isabella.
I’m struggling not to be completely self-absorbed while in exile. Fortunately, it’s the season after the Epiphany, when God reveals themself to us through the Christ. I find the cure for my selfishness to be Evening Prayer, which includes both the Song of Mary, with its radical reordering of the human economic/political sphere, and the Song of Simeon. As a musician, I’m drawn to the multitude of great settings of Simeon’s canticle from the Gospel according to St. Luke, mostly using the old translation from the 1549 Prayer Book.
It has become increasingly clear to me that one of the hidden jobs of being a rector is to encourage the community to be involved in the work of the church by serving on various committees. As Jr. Warden for the People, that job has been delegated to me.
Would you like to grow spiritually in 2022? Would you like to find a way, along with others, to reflect on the Gospel reading each week and discover its deeper meaning for your life? A small group of other community members who meet weekly for one hour to pray and reflect together on the upcoming Gospel reading may be what you are seeking.
On January 9, Outreach & Justice will feature a speaker from the organization WeShine, which seeks to provide transitional micro-housing for the homeless in every Portland neighborhood. Please join us in person in the Nativity Hall at 10:15 am or on Zoom.
Each season of the church year, we change the musical settings, such as the Gloria/Song of Praise/Kyrie, Sanctus, Fraction Anthem, etc. These are the musical parts of the service that remain constant during an entire season, unlike the hymns, choir anthem and keyboard voluntaries that change from week to week.
One of the truly wonderful things about working with technology is that it is possible to count on things going wrong at any point. Recently this happened in several ways.
We have some fabulous music planned for our Christmas Eve services. On December 24, at the 6:00 pm service, the Saints & Singers Choir will lead the festive music, including an anthem called A child is born. At 10:30 pm, join the St. Michael’s Singers in 30 minutes of familiar carols and anthems, followed by our festive 11:00 pm Eucharist.
December can be a difficult month for those who have faced the loss of a loved one or who have experienced hardship associated with this time of year. For some, the Christmas season is one of sadness or loneliness; for others, it is hectic and stressful. If you need an escape from the cheery Christmas tunes and busy atmosphere of the season, you are invited to come to our Longest Night service (also known as Blue Christmas) on Tuesday, December 21 at 7:00 pm.
The Vestry has started its work to find a new rector. We have doubled the number of Vestry meetings and are working on the committee charters and the letters of interest for the applicants. We should have those available for everyone before Christmas.
