From our President

Hello Ladies,

Just a reminder that we are counting last year as well as this year (up to August 31st) for the 5 star program, reading program and Mission Today certificates. 

 As you can see below, Mission u will be a virtual meeting this year, there will be more information coming out soon.  Well Spring is finally here, so enjoy the great weather we have are having.

Susan Chamberlain

C2C District President

Mission u

July 29-31

So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without [God's] unfolding grace.  [...]  There's far more here than meets the eye.  The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.  But the things we can't see now will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, The Message (MSG)

Our 2021 Mission u in the Pacific Northwest Conference is 

Thursday through Saturday, July 29-31, online via Zoom. 

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Registration is now open, deadline is July 24, 2021!

“There is no cost”

To register, send the information below to Susan Chamberlain 

Via email at susancchamberlain@yahoo.com.

NAME (Please use this name when you are attending the zoom meeting)

EMAIL ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER

WHETHER YOU ARE AN ADULT, YOUTH OR CHILD

CHURCH, DISTRICT AND CONFERENCE

We will be taking donations for “Pledge to Mission”.

Make checks payable to Mission u and mail it to:

Susan Chamberlain, 5404 NE 121st Ave, #25, Vancouver, WA 98682

For any questions, please call me at 360-859-3740

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We have known and felt what it is like when “things are falling apart on us.” We have experienced   a great unraveling that has shifted, quite literally, everything.

Could there be, as 2 Corinthians put it, “far more here than meets the eye”?

Mission u, like many activities in our lives, has moved online. While virtual, we are still creating spaces for spiritual community, lifelong friendships, lessons that change us and our communities, and spiritual practices that arrive when we need them most. In a time when it looks like things are falling apart on us, God’s grace is still unfolding and life is being made new.

Indeed: There’s far more here than meets the eye. Will you join us?

At our upcoming Mission u, we will examine anxiety, the culture of violence that impacts children in and out of schools, and how we as God’s people can deepen our moral witness and respond faithfully.

Our 2021 Mission u in the Pacific Northwest Conference will offer the following studies Thursday through Saturday, July 29-31, online via Zoom:

• Spirituality Study:  Finding Peace in an Anxious World, edited by Erin James-Brown, 

Taught by Rev. Joanne Coleman Campbell

• Issues Study:  Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique Morris

Taught by Donna Farrell, Nica Sy and Angela Reed

• Youth Study:  Becoming Peacemakers in a Culture of Violence: A Curriculum for Youth Leaders by Jay Godfrey

Taught by Abby Niehaus

• Children’s Study:  Responding to Violence: A Curriculum for Children’s Facilitators by Sue Raymond

Taught by Rudilyn Rush

MISSION U 2021

Tentative Schedule (March 22, 2021)

• Thursday July 29 (4 hours)
  •   9:30-10:00 am Welcome, Introductions, Singing and Opening Worship
  • 10:00 -11:00 am Plenary plus Announcements and Introductions
  • 11:00-12:00 Anxiety Study
  • 12:00 noon Lunch Break
  •   1:00-1:30 pm Singing and Video
  •   1:30-2:30 pm Pushout Study Classes
•  Friday July 30 (3.5 hours)
  •   9:30-10:00 am Singing and Announcements
  • 10:00-11:00 am Anxiety Study
  • 11:00 noon Break
  •   1:00-1:30  pm Singing and Video
  •   1:30-2:30 pm Pushout Study Classes
  •   2:30-3:00 pm Healing Service
• Saturday July 31 (4 hours)
  •   9:30-10:00 am Singing, Announcements, Video
  • 10:00-11:00 am Pushout Classes
  • 11:00-11:15 am Break
  • 11:15-12:15  Anxiety Study
  • 1:30-2:00 pm Pushout Classes
  • 2:00-2:30 pm Anxiety Study
  • 2:30-3:00 pm Closing Communion Service

A Vision of Justice: Without Women?

In "The Summons" we hear Jesus calling us to follow in the way of life and "never be the same."  When we follow Jesus' call to be part of bringing in God's vision of shalom for all creation, it means that we will be changed.  Learning is an essential way that we are changed because when we learn to see the world as God sees it, we can never go back to the way things were.

The prophet Amos has a message for the people of Israel, who really liked things the way they were.  Amos insists on naming injustice and structural sin, proclaiming it loudly and drawing people's attention to their complacency and complicity. Despite how much the people offer praise to God through worship and song, Amos declares that they must show justice and righteousness through their lives.  To understand this justice and righteousness, he tells them to seek the Lord and live.

Seeking the Lord is Amos's way of telling the people that they must pay attention to where justice and righteousness are not present in their society.  Where are the marginalized? Amos identifies them when he says that the needy are pushed aside at the city gates.  The city gates were the place for public activity in Israel.  Elders would gather there and people could ask them to judge fairly in disputes.  Elders would share their wisdom with those who had a complaint.  elders knew the law of Yahweh demanded fair treatment of all people, not just those with privilege and money.  Yet, those who did not have money or privilege were being pushed aside at the city gates, and those who should have given out justice were taking bribes.

Seeking God's Shalom

The prophet's call in our day can be heard when we put ourselves to the work of learning.  Through reading and study, we can find where justice and righteousness are being pushed aside and where people are being pushed to the margins.  To be faithful means learning what is oppressive and unjust in our day, which means we must always work to reveal the societal sins we may have been blind to and then work toward justice. 

The vision of life that Amos exhorts us to seek is God's shalom. In God's shalom there is harmony and fellowship.  The two key words Amos uses that describe God's shalom are justice and righteousness.  These words describe our social and relational work -  not individual beliefs.  Justice means a seeking after the flourishing of all creation.  Righteousness describes a quality of relationship with others in community, a relationship that works toward justice.  God's people are to be working together as kin toward God's shalom.

When we become aware of injustice and oppression in our communities, we are to put that knowledge into action.  In 5:15, Amos tells Israel to hate evil, love good and establish justice.  The verbs "hate" and "love" refer to decisions to act, not feelings.  To love means that we choose to act for justice.  To hate means that we reject what is wrong, as we state in our baptismal vows.  Each time someone is baptized in our church, the congregation renews their vow to "accept the freedom and power God gives [us] to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves."  Resisting evil requires that we learn to see the world with God's vision. Resisting injustice and oppression requires that we uncover our complicity in whatever forms oppression is taking in our community and our world.  Resisting evil requires that when we learn about our complicity we repent and take action for justice.

The Rev. Dr. Wilda Gafney, professor of the Hebrew Bible, notes that the term "elders" was an inclusive term for a broad group of people which could (and often did) include women. Women's leadership and wisdom played an important role in Israel's earlier history, but by the time of Amos the leadership model had shifted to male leadership, kings instead of judges.  It is possible that some of the elders were unnamed women, and certainly some of the people who brought disputes were women.

If you would like books that help to uncover social injustice in our modern society, you can check out the past UMW reading program books.  If you want me to send you a list (with or without library availability) send me an email and I will get the list to you as soon as possible.

Resources from the program book

United Methodist Women has a strong commitment to spiritual growth and study.  Women, Children and youth are offered a variety of opportunities to be active participants in learning that leads to personal transformation and inspires people to work for the transformation of the world.

A few of the resources are:

• The United Methodist Women Reading Program
• Mission u - see above for information on this year's event.
• Faith Talks - Watch them live and participate or watch the recordings of older ones.
• Assembly - Coming in 2022 - See below and watch for more information!

Book of the Month

2021 Social Action book.

WOMEN RISE UP: Sacred Stories of Resistance for Today's Revolution  By Katey Zeh

Hannah struggled with depression over her infertility. Mary Magdalene witnessed the execution of her friend. Ruth was an undocumented migrant worker at risk of sexual violence. And yet, these
women discovered powerful ways to resist by claiming the power
of their innate sacred worth. What can we learn from these foremothers of our faith that will help guide us in our collective struggle
for gender justice today?

Assembly 2022 - Orlando Florida!

TURN IT UP! for spiritual healing and renewal

TURN IT UP! for rebirth in a new time

TURN IT UP! for women leaders

TURN IT UP! for justice for women, children and youth

Assembly is a great value with early registration of just $330! 

Start saving now! - Early registration starts September 1st and goes until November 30, 2021 This includes lunch on Friday and Saturday.

Hotel expenses - $158-203 per night for up to 4 people (double/double room)

Travel expenses - flight, train, bus, shuttle, car rental, drive?  You decide.

Other Meals - Breakfast (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), Dinner (Friday & Saturday) 

Go to the web page and watch the video, read the material, learn how much you can get from the experience!

Date Reminders

CALENDAR 2020 - these are tentative and subject to change as circumstances change.

These are the dates from the Conference Calendar:

2021 PNW UMW Conference Calendar

• June 10-13, 2021 UMC Annual Conference TBD
• July 28-29, 2021 Summer Conf. UMW Exec Meeting Selah UMC, WA
• July 29-31, 2021 Mission u Wesley UMC via ZOOM
• September 2021 Crest to Coast Missional District Annual Meeting TBD
• October 14-15, 2021 Fall Conf. UMW Exec Meeting TBD
• October 15-16, 2021 Conf. UMW Annual Meeting, Bothell UMC, Bothell , WA
• May 20-22, 2022 Assembly Orlando, FL
• 2024 Western Jurisdiction Quadrennial Mtg. TBD

If you have any other information that you want me to put here, please let me know by calling (360) 609-0503 or emailing me at lmilner2016@gmail.com .

Keep working on your "knit together" project, whatever you (or your group) chose to work on.

Have you ever seen a light pole or tree trunk wrapped in a collar of colorful knitting or crochet?  This is what is called "yarn graffiti." It began in 2005, when two young women in Houston decided to knit a door-handle cozy on the entrance to their store.  Soon people were stopping to take photos, so they knit a collar for the stop sign on their block.  Then they noticed others were also knitting "graffiti" pieces on fence posts, car antennas and parking meters, leaving beauty in unanticipated places.  One act of unexpected beauty drew people's attention and inspired them to make their own contribution of beauty.  Learning is like this, too.  When we are inspired by our learning, we can share it in a way that inspires others, and then they can also share their learning.