May 9, 2021

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St. Andrew to Host Guest Preacher May 9

We at St. Andrew are looking forward to welcoming Pastor Brian Johnson to the pulpit on Sunday, May 9, when he will also offer an Adult Education session on “Transforming Vision, Appreciating Art.”

Pastor Johnson brings 25 years’ experience in Lutheran higher education and fine arts to the Grunewald Guild, where he serves as executive director. A 40-year-old retreat center nestled beside the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth, Washington, the Grunewald Guild is dedicated to the relationship between Art, Faith, and Community. Founded by Rich and Liz Caemmerer in 1980, the center offers summer week-long classes in fabric art, pottery, collage, photography, calligraphy, song writing, poetry, sculpture, and many other media.

“Something as earthbound as fabric and clay and paint
can speak our most wordless longings,
express our delight and grief.
Beauty can connect our hearts to the divine heart.”
Guild Founder Richard Caemmerer

Pastor Susan is a member of the Grunewald Guild’s board, beginning a three-year term this past September. She is the first board member from the state of Oregon. Visit www.GrunewaldGuild.com for more information.

Wednesday Evening Prayer

Midweek Prayer Services continue into the Easter season this Wednesday, May 12, 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.

St. Andrew’s COVID Fund

Thanks to donations from the church community, St. Andrew has been able to continue helping families in dire straits as the COVID pandemic persists in challenging people. Many thanks to Donna Brocker and Diane Reiner for overseeing those resources and sharing them with people in need.

Although all of us are tired and ready to move on, needs continue to mount for many in our area who have lost jobs or housing or loved ones. If you would like to offer your help, St. Andrew welcomes your ongoing support of the COVID Fund. Click on the “Choose a Fund” box online and select COVID-19 DONATION in the drop-down menu if you’d like to give electronically or note COVID FUND on your check. Your gifts are being put to good use.

Bookkeeper Position Open

St. Andrew is currently looking for a part-time bookkeeper to work 10-20 hours a week. Essential functions of the position will include preparing weekly deposit reports, entering disbursements, transferring funds to various accounts, processing payroll, reconciling bank accounts, filing evidence of deposits and disbursements, and preparing financial reports. Five years of bookkeeping experience is required, as well as experience with QuickBooks, working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, and a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.

To learn more about the position and to apply, please e-mail Parish Manager Jennifer Trom.

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.

Heartfelt Thanks

For more than a year now, you have been donating to the COVID-19 Relief Fund. And for more than a year, those donations have kept people in their homes, paid PGE bills, and kept hungry people fed. Several school counselors and local principals have been overjoyed when receiving this help for their families. Many individual families have been overcome with tears of thanksgiving as they ponder the idea of people they don’t even know helping them out. Some have called you angels.

As followers of Jesus, we know that when we serve others, we are serving Christ. It brings us joy to meet Jesus in these people in need. So thank you, thank you for your generosity, love, and care over this past year! You have made a difference.

In Christ,
Donna Brocker

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

Earth Camp 2021: Registration Is Open for St. Andrew Community

We are offering Earth Camp this summer! Camp will be held outdoors with COVID guidelines in place as required by the CDC and Oregon Heath Authority. Earth Camp is for children entering 1^st through 6^th grade 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.

Lydia Circle

After more than a year apart, Lydia Circle will begin meeting in person again at church beginning Tuesday May 11, from 1:00-3:00 pm in the St. Andrew Room. It will be so good to see each other again and share in the Bible study from May’s Gather magazine. We will follow COVID protocols by wearing masks, social distancing and not sharing food. You may bring a beverage for yourself to drink.

This month’s study is entitled “the journey of generations-waiting to be unwrapped.” We’ll be looking at the shared blessings that intergenerational relationships might bring. We’ll be guided by scripture passages from Luke 1: 46-49, 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6, Ephesians 2:19, and Acts: 2: 4-6. You need not have read the study to take part. If you have questions, please contact Mary Brown at 503-439-3917.

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 Carol Harker’s “Weekly News” e-mail on Friday, May 21.

A Reminder for Ministry Leaders

May 9 is fast approaching. Why is that date important? May 9 is the deadline for St. Andrew’s various ministries to submit their annual reports to Parish Manager Jennifer Trom. Here’s your opportunity to share the story of your ministry with the congregation. Despite the pandemic, we know that much important work is being done. Tell your story and share the good news!

Men’s Book Club: Educated

Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable. Her…book, Educated, is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life,” wrote the USA Today reviewer in touting this book. It’s an unforgettable memoir about a young woman who is kept out of school, but then leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University.

The Men’s Book Club meets on the second Monday of the month at 7:00 pm. If you’d like to join the discussion of Educated on Monday, May 10, please contact Eric Luttrell for details.

Growing Our Garden

Faith and Hope received company this past week, when a crew of volunteers joined Eric Luttrell in planting almost four dozen native shrubs in St. Andrew’s Reformation Earth Garden.

Faith and Hope, the two Oregon white oak trees we planted in the garden last fall, survived the winter well, but the native crab apple put in the ground the very same day disappeared completely—probably munched on by a meandering deer. We know the deer also help themselves to plants in the Community Garden, but they take only what they need. Eric has already replaced the crab apple and we’ll see how long this one lasts.

The third step in populating the Reformation Earth Garden will come next fall or spring, when native perennials are added to the landscape.

Gifts that Keep Giving

The Nifty Notters have gotten some lovely presents this year! Some from folks we know, like Susan Reiser and Corky Poppert, and lots of surprises from mystery donors. Yarn, sheets, two bags of lovely fabric from a drive-by lady. and a bolt from the blue—of blue, no less. And we’re still trying to figure out how a lady from Richmond, WA, found us. She gifted us a big box of ten patterned quilt tops, backing fabric, and some squares to be added to make another quilt. The Notters appreciate all these gifts, and I love finding new things in the closet!

Pam Farr

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.

Lutheran World Relief (LWR) Ingathering

After a pandemic pause that lasted more than a year and cancelled two ingatherings in 2020, Lutheran churches from all over Oregon and other parts of the Pacific Northwest, made the trip to St. Andrew again this past Friday and Saturday to share their contributions to LWR’s worldwide relief efforts.

Many thanks to the crew of St. Andrew men and women who loaded the shipping container and handled the paperwork that tracks the quilts, pandemic kits, and other supplies that go where they are needed most.

Lutheran World Relief was founded by US Lutherans at the end of World War II, when about one-fifth of the world’s Lutherans were homeless. It continues to tackle global poverty by helping people adapt to the challenges that threaten their livelihoods and well-being. The organization works with people based on need, regardless of race, religion, or nationality, and it does not evangelize.

The shipping container packed in our parking lot here in Beaverton will be loaded onto a train car and then traverse the US to an LWR warehouse in Baltimore. From there, the supplies are distributed worldwide, offering hope to people when they need it most.

Nifty Notters

The Nifty Notters will meet Saturday, May 15, from 9:00 am-Noon to work on baby quilts for Virginia Garcia Clinic and larger quilts for Lutheran World Relief. We’ll follow COVID protocols, wearing masks and social distancing. Please bring a beverage for yourself. And, if you have questions, contact Mary Brown at 503-439-3917.

MACG May Delegate Assembly

Thursday, May 13, 6:30-8:00 pm, via Zoom

Please join others from MACG’s member organizations at this Delegate Assembly. These gatherings shape the work that MACG does through the tri-county area, and your voice is needed.

Our focus for this assembly is criminal justice reform, in particular, Measure 11—a 1994 ballot measure requiring mandatory minimum sentences—and two key reform bills in Oregon’s current legislative session: House Bill 2002 and Senate Bill 401.

Come to learn more about these bills, hear personal stories, and take action!

To learn more and to register for the event, please got to:

https://www.macg.org/may_da

MACG 2021 Legislative Agenda

One way that MACG strengthens communities is by monitoring proposed legislation, informing our members, and recommending action when it would be helpful. This year’s legislative agenda includes these pending bills:

SB 282 – Extends the grace period for all tenants for repayment of back rent to February 2022.

SB 79 – Promotes homeownership for BIPOC people by providing down payment assistance, grants, loans and technical assistance to organizations.

HB 2475 – Energy Affordability – Decreases utility costs for families already struggling in the economic recession by establishing a Low-Income Utility Rate Class.

HB 2842 – Healthy Homes – Supports home upgrades to help improve the health of families across Oregon.  Establishes a program to provide financial assistance to low-income households and landlords.

HB 2021 – 100% Clean Energy for All – Creates good, well-paying, local jobs in the renewable energy sector that incentivize local projects that are good for communities and reduce pollution by achieving 100% clean energy, as soon as possible.

HB 2002 – An expansive public safety reform bill that includes eliminating mandatory minimum sentencing, reducing unnecessary arrests, and investing in victim services and culturally specific services.

HB 3265 – Sanctuary Promise Act – Strengthens our state’s sanctuary law to reduce the gap between the protection that Oregonians want and the reality in our communities.

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon has also created a handy site to make contacting your elected officials easy. Follow this link to see the issues EMO is supporting, information about how to easily find your elected official, and ideas for making contact (https://emo.good.do/racial-justice/call/).

If you do contact your elected officials, consider joining EMO’s effort to track the contacts by filling out the form on that same site.

The Oregon Legislature maintains a very good website through which you can watch the progress of bills in each session. Find it here: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws.

Please take a few minutes to see what the legislature is working on this year, and add your voice when you feel moved to do so.  Your elected officials want to hear from you.

St. Andrew’s MACG Core Team

Soil Garden Survey

On this weekend when we celebrate mothers, why not spend a little time thinking about Mother Earth? St. Andrew’s Community Carbon Yard Science team has been exploring gardening strategies that many of us can adopt to improve the environment. We want to know if the people of St. Andrew have been developing soil gardens as a means to store carbon in the soil, thus reducing carbon in the atmosphere.

Even if you’ve never before heard the term “soil garden,” you may already have created one. A soil garden requires three essential elements:

· a thick layer of organic material on your bed with consistent regular additions of the organic matter,

· consistent moisture during the warm months, either by regular watering of your soil garden or initially covering your soil garden with at least three inches of compost and/or mulch, and

· organic material in direct contact with the soil. In other words, no landscape cloth or plastic can separate the organic material from the soil. You may use paper or cardboard on top of the soil to reduce weeds.

A soil garden can be established by simply changing how one or more of your existing beds is managed (for example, shrub beds, tree and shrub beds, perennial beds, perennial and shrub beds, etc.) by regularly adding compost and/or mulch to those beds. Perhaps the easiest bed to convert to a soil garden is a perennial flower garden. All that is needed is to add about an inch of compost annually when the flowers are dormant. Your plants will grow up through the compost, which feeds the millions of creatures living in the soil and delivers nutrients to your plants.

If you have any garden beds that meet this definition. we want to know. Please go this link to complete the survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PVPBBNR.

Thank you.

Carol Harker, Eric Luttrell, LuAnn Staul, and
the Community Carbon Yard Science Team

Guild in the City: Portland Japanese Garden

May 8, 2021, 9:45 am-12 pm

Join Grunewald Guild director, Brian Johnson, and Guild board member, Susan Kintner, for a self-directed, socially distanced outdoor art outing at Portland’s Japanese Garden this weekend.

A self-directed walk will include a pamphlet of poems and sacred texts linked with the garden. The self-guided tour is expected to last about two hours, after which participants will gather for a conversation exploring the art and poetry they encountered in the morning.

Register for the event ($10 general/$2 students) today and be certain to also purchase an entrance ticket to the Portland Japanese Garden for Saturday, May 8.

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 Jerry Werner (cousin)	Peace and God’s comfort at his death	Susan Werner Reiser
Family and friends of Roald Kindem (grandfather)	Peace and God’s comfort at his death	Megan Webber
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 (daugter)
Baby Hazel (granddaughter of good friend)	Healing	Bob & Judy Scholz
Luke (13-year-old friend)	Healing and recovery from COVID	Rebecca Fako Uecker
Warren McAlpine	Healing and recovery	Donna McAlpine
Ginny Link	Continued prayers for accurate diagnosis, effective treatment, and healing	Ginny Link
Gary & Gail Grafwallner	Smooth transition	Staff
Corine Shelley Walker	Smooth transition and excellent care	LuAnn Staul
Madeleine (granddaughter)	Thanksgiving for her release from the hospital	Mary Smith
Everyone affected by COVID-19	Strength and support	Staff
Availability of vaccines for COVID-19	Thanksgiving for the people and systems making vaccinations possible	Staff
People of India	Aid and support as COVID ravages the country	Staff
St. Andrew Council Executive Commmittee Staff	Wisdom and discernment	Staff
Karen Klingelhafer, Kyler Vogt, and all seminarians India Jensen Kerr and all theology students	Encouragement and support	Staff
St. Andrew Foundation	Blessings on their ministry	Staff
Luther Memorial Lutheran Church (Portland, OR) St. Mark’s 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 the Week

Thank you, Beloved God, for all the mothers
who watch over their families,
giving themselves to service in your name.
Bless them with hope and joy,
and relieve them of the extra burden
this pandemic has placed on their shoulders.
Amen.

Preparing for Sunday, May 16

Reading: Acts 1:15-17
Gospel: John 17:6-19

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 9

8:30 am	Livestream Worship with Communion	YouTube
9:30 am	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom
10:00 am	NO Sunday School
10:00 am	NO Confirmation
10:00 am	NO High School Youth Group
10:00 am	Education Forum: Transforming Vision, Appreciating Art with Pastor Brian Johnson	via Zoom
11:00 am	Zoom Worship with Communion	Zoom
12:00 pm	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom

Monday, May 10

7:00 pm

Men’s Book Club

Contact Eric Luttrell

Tuesday, May 11

10:00 am	T’ai Chi	former Bales Thriftway on Cornell Rd.
1:00 pm	Lydia Circle	St. Andrew Room
1:30 pm	Service Committee	via Zoom
6:00 pm	HR Meeting	Zoom
7:00 pm	Finance Team Meeting	Zoom

Wednesday, May 12 – Weekly News submissions due by 4:00 pm

10:00 am	Reopening Team 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 Hangout	Zoom
7:30 pm	Centering Prayer	Zoom

Thursday, May 13

12:00 pm

Staff Meeting

Zoom

Friday, May 14

10:00 am

T’ai Chi

former Bales Thriftway on Cornell Rd.

Saturday, May 15

9:00 am

Nifty Notters

Fellowship Hall

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” with Karen Klingelhafer	Zoom
11:00 am	Zoom Worship with Communion	Zoom
12:00 pm	Virtual Coffee Time	Zoom
12:30 pm	Earth Camp Planning Meeting	Zoom

Connecting to Worship

Ways to Give: Thank you for supporting our ministries!