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Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

We offer this prayer of thanks to God for all of the good people who are working to keep us safe from COVID-19 during this long and difficult year. Inspired by Philippians 4:6-7, this prayer was read by United Methodists from across the Greater Northwest Area.

Click here to download this prayer to use in worship before or after Thanksgiving, or for sharing a new post on social media. A print version is also available to download.

Special thanks to our readers: John B., Pete B., Turner C., Soteria Galo, Rev. Taylor Gould, Kirk G., Rev. April Hall, Carol Hatch, Rev. Karen Hernandez, Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos, Rev. Ric Shewell, Nica Sy, Rachel Tobey, and John Townsend. Additional thanks to Meredith Browand.

Writing and video editing: Patrick Scriven. Additional video editing and sound design: Rev. David Valera. Production Assistants: Kristen C Caldwell, Rev. Jim Doepken, and Teri Tobey.


GNW AREA NEWS

'Liberating Advent' resources available now

Editor's note: Our sincerest apologies to our church leaders who have been patiently awaiting these resources. We ran into technical difficulties getting all of the videos produced, edited, uploaded and shared by our original deadline. Please note, that as of today, only Week 1 of the Liberating Advent Resources is available. Within the next two days, we hope to have all of the Advent resources linked at the website listed below.

This Advent, churches are invited to use these “Liberating Advent: A journey of hope, peace, joy and love” resources each week, when advent starts on Nov. 29. The resources include prayers, reflective readings, and reflections from church innovators and planters of color in Portland as part of the Greater Northwest Area Innovation Vitality team.

Under the direction of Rev. Dr. Leroy Barber, director of innovation for an engaged church, these resources were created as an offering to local churches who may be looking to supplement or supplant their current Advent plans.

Feel free to use one or all of the videos* for each Sunday during Advent.

*Recorded in October, these videos were created following strict safety and sanitation protocols from the Greater Northwest Area of the UMC’s “Reimagining Life Together” guidelines for ministry settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

GNW Area extends Zoom support through 2021, Regional Media Center offers free membership to churches

In March, the Greater Northwest Area offered its local churches and ministries a Zoom hosting license at a reduced and subsidized rate. Understanding that the tool has become essential for many ministries throughout this protracted time of pandemic, leaders are eager to renew this offer for 2021.

“When we first launched this initiative, no one understood how long COVID-19 would be with us,” said Pacific Northwest Conference Director of Connectional Ministries Rev. David Valera. “We’ve seen Zoom adopted by several hundred churches across the Greater Northwest, providing a needed tool allowing ministry to continue through committee meetings, Bible studies, social gatherings and even worship!”

United Methodist churches in the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and Pacific Northwest Conferences will be able to renew their hosting license for $50 for the entirety of 2021. One hosting license is available per church at this discounted and subsidized rate. Additional hosting licenses are available for a discounted 124.99 + tax. This is still $25 less than the cheapest paid Zoom plan while including more features. Each license is set at what Zoom refers to as the “Enterprise Level” with the ability to host large meetings and webinars with up to 500 participants, and unlimited cloud storage and transcription services in addition to the basic Zoom features.

Local churches that did not sign up previously, or those which desire to add an additional hosting license, can use this online form to sign up.

Read more about this and the Regional Media Center free membership on the Greater NW Area news site.

Inspiring Generosity: Steal this letter! Christmas edition

After designing a COVID-19 sample letter of appeal churches could use to help support their ministries during the pandemic, Cesie Delve Scheuermann is back with a new opportunity for you to steal her work: A Christmas appeal letter.

She offers a template for churches to use this season along with a few tips on what should be included in the letter that are specific to each ministry setting. 

"Your Christmas letter can be uplifting even as you outline the needs of your congregation or organization. You know why? Because you are in the business of transforming lives through the power of faith. Not many people can say that. It’s something to celebrate, especially as we honor the One whose birth we remember. Joy to the World!"

Read more of Cesie's blog on the Oregon-Idaho Conference website.

Abundant Health recommendations for #givingTuesday

As has been the tradition in years past, the Abundant Health team of the Oregon-Idaho Conference is offering recommendations on a wide variety of United Methodist global, missional organizations which could use support on Giving Tuesday – Dec. 1.

Emilie Kroen, Abundant Health team leader for the Conference, said each of the nine organizations recommended below have some connection to the Conference and the ongoing work of The United Methodist Church across the globe.

Read the recommendation on the Greater Northwest News site.


WESTERN JURISDICTION

Love Lives Here for and by People with Disabilities

In Genesis 1:27a, we read, “God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them….” There is no separate category for “disability” in the Creation Story. Humanity is not divided into “us” and “them” by our differences on any basis. No one is more valuable or better or more human than anyone else. This is the scriptural foundation we begin with when we say that “Love Lives Here.”

As we move through scripture, we read that Moses is “slow of tongue” and that David welcomes Mephibosheth, who lost the use of his legs in a childhood accident, at his table permanently. Jacob becomes Israel when his hip is put out of joint by a being whom he wrestles all night long, a new name to go along with his apparently permanent disability.

Read more of this Where Loves Lives reflection by Deaconess Sharon McCart, chairperson, California-Pacific Conference DisAbility Ministries Task Force, and Vice Chair, DisAbility Ministries Committee of The United Methodist Church.

Where Love Lives: Why we welcome immigrants

In the Western Jurisdiction, we see the Bible as an authority when it comes to forming our views toward immigrants and immigration. While the Scriptures do not prescribe a specific immigration policy, they are filled with Old Testament stories of immigrants with specific instructions from God about how to treat foreigners. Also, there are principles for how followers of Jesus the Christ interact with immigrants in the New Testament.

Let’s start with the Biblical figures who migrate for different reasons: Abraham and his family leave Canaan (their homeland) at God’s instruction; later he and his family crossed borders again on multiple occasions in search of food during times of famine. Isaac and Jacob move because of famine as well. Naomi and her family were motivated by hunger to migrate from the land of Judah, then eventually reports of adequate food led Naomi to return, now accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth who was an immigrant in the eyes of the people of Judah.

Read more of this reflection from Rev. Dr. Joel Hortiales, director of Hispanic/Latino Ministries and Border Concerns for the Cal-Pac Conference.


GLOBAL NEWS

Churches care for Deaf amid the pandemic

The United Methodist Church has ensured that Deaf members in Zimbabwe and Liberia have adequate resources and information to fight the coronavirus.

A $5,000 Sheltering in Love grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief enabled Hilltop United Methodist Church in Mutare, Zimbabwe, to provide protective materials such as washable face masks, handwashing buckets and liquid soap to more than 60 households with Deaf members. Over 200 people benefitted from the donation.

UMCOR’s Sheltering in Love Rapid Response program for COVID-19 relief has provided over $2.3 million in grants in 54 episcopal areas, 43 countries and 43 U.S. states and territories.

Read more of this story from United Methodist News Service.

Protocol legislation tops the agenda of top court

The United Methodist Judicial Council expects to decide soon whether it has the jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality of legislation for a proposed plan for separating the denomination.

A March 11 request from the Council of Bishops for a ruling on the Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation has been added to the docket for the top court’s first judicial session since the coronavirus pandemic began. The court will also revisit a request concerning improper voting at the 2019 General Conference.

Both requests are now part of a revised docket held over from last spring. The pandemic and subsequent postponement of the 2020 United Methodist General Conference forced the cancellation of the court’s April 29-May 2 meeting in Minneapolis. General Conference is the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly.

Read more of this story from UM News Service.

Planning for a more inclusive church

The United Methodist Church stands to lose more members and churches because of the issue of race than debate over LGBTQ inclusion, said Bishop LaTrelle Easterling.

Nevertheless, she said, United Methodists should not back down from the denomination’s commitment to dismantle racism.

“We don’t have time to wait,” the Baltimore-Washington Conference bishop said. “People can’t breathe.”

Easterling was among 18 United Methodist leaders who spoke with urgency about the issues confronting the church during the fourth annual Inclusiveness Conference, organized by the United Methodist Association of Retired Clergy.

Read more of this story from UM News Service.

For UMCOR, 2020 is one long emergency

In a year when one disaster seemed to follow another, the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s longtime investment into the training and support of church members who respond — both in the U.S. and globally — is paying off.

As directors of UMCOR and its parent agency, the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, learned during their annual meetings, UMCOR currently is working 38 active grants of $19 million in the U.S. and has supported responses to 99 unique emergencies so far in 2020.

“If that sounds like a large number, it is,” said Lara Martin, interim director of U.S. disaster response for UMCOR.

Read more of this story from UM News Service.

 
The Greater Northwest Episcopal Area provides leadership for the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho, and the Pacific Northwest Conferences of The United Methodist Church.
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