May 16, 2021

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Table Talk: Corporate Social Responsibility

Thursday, May 27, 7:00-8:00 pm
Gathered around the table in his home, Martin Luther talked freely and openly with his colleagues and students about matters of faith, theology, and varied aspects of daily life. In an effort to cultivate this kind of spirited discussion we have a tradition at St. Andrew of gathering for Table Talks. Though we cannot gather in person, Pastor Brocker invites you to participate in the next Table Talk, held via Zoom on Thursday, May 27, 7:00-8:00 pm.

In the ELCA’s social statement on economic life, “Sufficient, Sustainable Livelihood for All,” Christian vocation in the world is described as seeking “what is good for people and the rest of creation in ways that glorify God and anticipate God’s promised future.” This social statement “recognizes the economic power and political influence of transnational corporations and charges the global community with holding these corporations accountable.” In this Table Talk we will discuss the specific role of the church in holding corporations accountable. We will also addresss a related question: What does it mean for the church to be a socially responsible corporation?

In preparation for this Table Talk, participants are encouraged to go to corporate social responsibility resources on the ELCA website and at least download and read the “Corporate Social Responsibility Overview”:

https://www.elca.org/Resources/Corporate-Responsibility.

Wednesday Evening Prayer

Midweek Prayer Services continue into the Easter season this Wednesday, May 19, with a new service emphasizing creation’s song of praise to God. Drawing on elements from All Creation Sings, our service combines prayer, song, and meditations from the writings of well-known lovers of creation. Look for links to this worship service at mid-day on Wednesdays in Allison’s e-mail.

Earth Camp 2021: Register Now!

We are offering Earth Camp this summer! Camp will be held outdoors with COVID guidelines in place as required by the CDC and Oregon Health Authority. Earth Camp is for children entering first through sixth grades this fall (September 2021) and the purpose is to cultivate a deep love of our Earth home and all its inhabitants. Campers will:

· Discover how interconnected we are with all our fellow creatures
· Learn practical ways we can care for our Earth home; and,
· Have a lot of fun in the process!

Read all about it on the church website under Education > Earth Camp 2021.

Spirituality Book Group

The Spirituality Book Group will meet on Zoom to discuss This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger on Sunday, May 16, at 3:00 pm. Susan Reiser will lead the discussion of what a Minneapolis Star Tribune reviewer called a “picaresque tale of adventure during the Great Depression. Part Grapes of Wrath, part Huckleberry Finn, Krueger’s novel is a journey over inner and outer terrain toward wisdom and freedom.”

The Zoom link for this meeting will be sent to people on the Spirituality Book Group mailing list. If you’d like to attend, please contact Mary Smith to have a link sent to you. At this May meeting, we will also discuss the possibility of meeting in person again.

Future Reading

June 13
Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
Discussion Leader: Barbara Gutzler
Please bring suggestions for future reading to this meeting, as we will be selecting titles for the next six months.

July 18
The Murmur of Bees, by Sofia Segovia
Discussion Leader: Sharon Fako

Audio Technician Needed

Are you a master of audio technology? Do you have experience with sound/mixing boards and microphone placement? Do you understand broadcasting, audio encoding equipment, and live audio delivery systems?

St. Andrew is seeking to employ a part-time Livestream Audio Technician to work four-five hours on Sunday mornings, one-three times per month, and possibly at other times.

This Livestream Audio Tech will work closely with a Video Tech to distribute online worship currently using YouTube livestream and Zoom, as well as amplify sound in the Sanctuary when we are able to worship in person there.

To learn more about the position and to apply, please go to Craigslist.

Special Congregational Meeting

Members of the congregation will meet via Zoom next Sunday, May 23, at 10:00 am to vote on becoming a Sanctuary Congregation. Please review the proposed

Let’s Connect

The St. Andrew MACG Core Team and Caring Ministries Team invite you to join us in our ongoing effort to make contact with as many members of our faith community as we can over the course of the next two weeks.

Over the past two weeks, many of our volunteers made contact or promised to make contact with almost 90 percent of St. Andrew households. That’s terrific! There are more contacts to be made, though. Can you help? You are invited to make a phone call, write a note, or send an e-mail to as many people as you can. Help us reach our goal of spreading a message of connection to most of our congregational roster before summer.

The primary purpose is to check in and let people know we are thinking of them, so a good place to start is, “How are you doing?” From there, your conversations may take different paths. You may want to talk about how you are both feeling about returning to in-person gatherings, or about the social connections that have been difficult this past year, or about what has changed in the past year. The direction your conversation takes is up to you. Pretend that you are chatting with someone in the Narthex.

Jan Smith is coordinating the assignment of names. You can contact her via e-mail at jansmith59@earthlink.net. Once you have completed your calls, please get in touch with one of the pastors if there is something they should know. Also please send an e-mail to Pat Christiansen patchristiansen@comcast.net if anything emerges that seems to be a common question, experience, or concern.

Thanks for being a part of this important ministry. We are a stronger community when we stay in touch.

St. Andrew’s MACG Core Team and Caring Ministries Team

May Movie Night: After the Raid

On Friday, May 21, we will meet to discuss After the Raid, a 2019 documentary that explores the devastating effects that an immigration raid on a meat packing plant in Tennessee has on the community. The film asks more questions than it answers, as it explores the ways that faith-based organizations might address these issues.

The timing of this particular movie night is fortuitous. Two days following our discussion, on Sunday, May 23, the St. Andrew congregation will meet between services to consider and vote on becoming a sanctuary congregation. Seeing this documentary beforehand may help inform your vote.

You’ll find the Zoom link for this movie night in the “Weekly News” e-mail on Friday, May 21.

High School Senior Scholarships

The deadline for graduating high school seniors to submit their scholarship applications to the St. Andrew Foundation is Tuesday, June 1. The award is available to any St. Andrew youth going on to a community college, college, university, or trade school. The application is available on the church website. If you have questions, contact Foundation President Sonja Ackman, foundation@standrewlutheran.com.

Storytelling from Oregon’s First Ordained Women

For most of the history of the church (Roman Catholic and Protestant), only men were permitted to be ordained and to lead a congregation. For Lutherans, that changed in 1970, when the Lutheran Church in America and American Lutheran Church, predecessors of the ELCA, ordained Elizabeth Platz and Barbarra Andrews. Since then, women clergy have steadily broken barriers, but changing the climate has been a decades-long process.

Still, 50 years later, look how far women have come! Today, the ELCA is led by Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, 22 women are synodical bishops (of 65 total), and four are seminary presidents. Almost one-third of all ELCA pastors are women.

To hear what it was like for some of the early women leaders in the Oregon Synod, including our own Pastor Susan Kintner, you are invited to listen in on three storytelling sessions featuring women such as Susan Granata, Joan Beck, and Solveig Nilsen-Goodin:

Saturday, May 15, 7:00 pm
Saturday, June 26, 7:00 pm
Saturday, July 17, 7:00 pm

It’s free and online. Register now.

Filling the Food Barrel

Things are beginning to return to something nearer normal. We learned earlier this week that St. Matthew Lutheran Church is once again accepting packaged and canned food for its food bank. Now that St. Andrew’s doors are unlocked during office hours, feel free to donate non-perishable food to the food barrel in the Narthex. We are resuming deliveries to St. Matt’s and know that there are many hungry people who will benefit from our gifts.

In Need of Prayers…

If you know someone in need of prayers, please contact the church office by phone at 503-646-0629 or email office@standrewlutheran.com Tuesday-Friday, prayerchain@standrewlutheran.com Saturday-Monday.

Family and friends of Gale Roy Williams (brother)	Peace and God’s comfort at his death	Claris & Corky Poppert
Family and friends of Jerry Werner (cousin)	Peace and God’s comfort at his death	Susan Werner Reiser
Carol Grover (sister)	Peaceful passing	Nan Thompson
Deborah Townsend (mother)	Peaceful passing	Holly Bishop-Perdue
Marvel Lund	Peace and comfort in hospice care	Christine Murray and Margie Holcomb (daugters)
Jan Morrell	Successful surgery (May 19)	Amy Harker
Luke (13-year-old friend)	Healing and recovery from COVID	Rebecca Fako Uecker
Ginny Link	Continued prayers for accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and healing	Ginny Link
Gary & Gail Grafwallner	Smooth transition	Staff
Baby Hazel	Thanksgiving for her release from the hospital	Bob & Judy Scholz
Everyone affected by COVID-19	Strength and support	Staff
People of India	Aid and support as COVID ravages the country	Staff
Those confined to their homes	Assurance of God’s presence Mareline Barnes, Dave Bumgardner, Jean Fredrickson, Tara Harper, Douglas Hooke, Betty Horst, Dorothy Moore, Phyllis Morris, Ed Pacey, Helen Rogers, Dave & Sharon Roth, Margie Schindele	Staff
All who are imprisoned	Peace and strength	Staff
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon Holy Trinity Catholic Church	Blessings on their ministry	Staff
St. Paul Lutheran Church (Portland, OR) Good Spirit Mission Lutheran Church (Portland, OR)	Serving with us in the Oregon Synod	Staff
Masjid Abu Bakr (Portland, OR)	Blessings on our interfaith partners	Staff
Individual friends and loved ones in need of prayer	Whatever they most need; say their names in your heart or aloud	Everyone

A Prayer for Sanctuary

Source of life and love, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in this sacred space of community where we are blessed to reflect on the meaning of our faith.
Let our faith heal our brokenness.

In the midst of political turmoil and upheaval, when people are being excluded for the color of their skin, their accent, or their citizenship status, let our faith guide us to solidarity.

As families struggle for better lives for themselves and their children, as they flee violence and war, hunger and the effects of global climate change, let our faith call us to action.

May the Sanctuary that has blessed us be opened to all those who are vulnerable and oppressed.
Let our faith show us the power of Sanctuary for all.
Amen.

Preparing for Sunday, May 23

Reading: Acts 2:1-21
Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Go to the “Preparing for Worship” webpage for the bulletins, the complete Lectionary, and more.

Highlights for the Week

Go to the complete online church calendar for the most up-to-date information.

Sunday, May 16

8:30 am	Livestream Worship with Communion	YouTube
9:30 am	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom
10:00 am	Sunday School	Zoom
10:00 am	Confirmation	Zoom
10:00 am	High School Youth Group	Zoom
10:00 am	Adult Education: Women in the Gospels	Zoom
11:00 am	Zoom Worship with Communion	Zoom
12:00 pm	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom
12:30 pm	Earth Camp Planning Meeting	Zoom

Monday, May 17

6:00 pm

Troop 618 Scout Meeting

East Parking Lot

Tuesday, May 18

10:00 am	T’ai Chi	former Bales Thriftway on Cornell Rd.
10:00 am	Worship Planners Meeting	Zoom

Wednesday, May 19 – Weekly News submissions due by 4:00 pm

1:00 pm	Caring Ministry Meeting	Zoom
6:00 pm	Handbell Ensemble Rehearsal	Zoom
6:30 pm	Informal Gathering Time	Zoom
7:00 pm	Evening Prayer	Zoom
7:00 pm	High School Youth Game Night	Zoom
7:30 pm	Centering Prayer	Zoom

Thursday, May 20

12:00 pm	Virtual Team Ministry Meeting	Zoom
2:30 pm	Communications Team Meeting	Zoom
7:00 pm	Council Meeting	Zoom

Friday, May 21

10:00 am	T’ai Chi	former Bales Thriftway on Cornell Rd.
7:00 pm	Movie Night: After the Raid	Zoom

Sunday, May 23

8:30 am	Livestream Worship with Communion	YouTube
9:30 am	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom
10:00 am	Sunday School	Zoom
10:00 am	Special Congregational Meeting: Declaring St. Andrew a Sanctuary Congregation	Zoom
11:00 am	Zoom Worship with Communion	Zoom
12:00 pm	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom

Connecting to Worship

Ways to Give: Thank you for supporting our ministries!