April 1 (Sun) April 2 (Mon) April 3 (Tue) April 7 (Sat) April 8 (Sun) April 11 (Wed) April 14 (Sat) April 15 (Sun) April 19 (Thu) April 21 (Sat) April 28 (Sat) Easter Sunday @ 11:00am Easter Egg Hunt after Easter Service Staff Meeting @ 11:00 am Community Garden Meeting @ 7:00 pm God s Grace Church Raffle and Food Fundraiser @ 4:00pm Table Tennis Demonstration @ 1:00 pm UMW Circle @ 12:00 pm Serving Saturday @ 11:00 am Potluck after Service, Easter-themed Sr Fellowship, Rhododendron Garden @ 9:30 am PTA Rummage Sale @ 9:00 am 3:00 pm African Violet Society Flower Sale @ 8:00 am 4:00 pm INSIDE: Monthly Highlights Pg. 2 What s Happening Pg. 3 Joyful Moments Pg. 4 People s Journal Jim Douglass Pg. 5 Game Night Pg. 6 Book Review God Is Not A Laughing Matter Pg. 7 Class Review Disciples Fast Track Pg. 8 Weekly Events: Mondays: Walking group @ Thursdays: Men s Group @ 10:00am Choir Practice @ 7:00pm For details, contact the church office Mon-Thurs 9am to 2pm by phone or email From Your Lay Leader Joanne Dobrinski Pg. 9 Notes, Articles, and Updates to The Messenger: 503.232.8500 www.taborheightschurch.org Email to church@taborheightschurch.org 6161 SE STARK ST. PORTLAND OREGON 97215
St. Patrick s Potato Fest!! Big Thank You to the Morrell Family for spearheading the wonderful night we had on St. Patrick s! It was FUN with GREAT FOOD!! Community Garden A church and community effort! Thanks to Anna Courneyor from Multnomah ARC for leading our first garden meeting, March 06. We had several church members from Tabor Heights UMC and God s Grace Church attend and thankfully several community members attend as well. Subcommittees were created: Guidelines and Procedures, Composting, and Raised Beds/Irrigation. To start, we have already designated a compost area equipped with a compost container and we are already collecting food scraps. The compost container is located in the fellowship kitchen. Our next meeting is on April 3rd, Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Come and join us! Let s make this vision a reality for our community! 2
This should be our new mantra! Research tells us that we need to move ALL DAY LONG! Even though we ve taken our morning walks, runs, or swims for at least 30 minutes, the rest of the day is open for frequent movement (suggest every 30-60 minutes). More articles on the benefit of movement, visit www.whish.org. Love, Care Team Community Garden Meeting, April 3rd at 7:00 pm. Come and help us plan and prepare for our community garden. It will be an amazing effort with the help and participation of our community! God s Grace Church, April 7 GGC will be holding their monthly fundraising effort for their mission trip coming up in October. Raffle drawing for prizes and food sale ongoing. Time will be announced! Table Tennis, April 8 1-3pm Join Jim B and his buddies for a live demonstration of Table Tennis and get in a game or two with them! The Table Tennis Robot will also be there! Potluck, Sunday April 15th Our theme for that potluck is Easter or Spring, whichever gets your cooking engine going!! Bring what springs to mind! Art Class for Kids, April 7 & 14 Trisha Dawson will be holding an art class for kids this month, 1:00 3:00 pm. If you think your kids would be interested, contact Trisha by email: twinskippy@gmail.com Remember, the ART WALK is just around the corner!! Serving Saturday, April 14 Come and join us once again as we clean this sacred place of Our Lord God. Garden Roses, APRIL 15 We will be accepting orders for Roses up until April 15th. There are no more lilies available. Please submit your order forms to the office. Mt Tabor Middle School PTA Rummage Sale, April 21 9-3pm We will hold the rummage sale for the PTA of Mt. Tabor Middle School in our Annex. Please come and support our kids and teachers! 3
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again rejoice! Philippians 4:4 Your Celebrations are important for us to recognize with our family in Christ. Please do not be reluctant to let us know if yours is missing on the monthly edition of Messenger by sending a note to: church@taborheightschurch.org 2018 Directory is now available. Pick up your copy in the office. Birthdays In April Evelyn Long, 1 Barbara Carpenter, 2 Meryl Hoverkamp, 4 Samantha Tinio, 4 Allisyn Bridges, 9 Jim Douglass, 13 Cassi Petrus, 16 Gloria Go, 17 Dorothy Glynn, 22 Linda Bridges, 30 Joyce Peterson-Doering, 30 Wedding Anniversaries: Arthur and Catherine Benedetti White 4
Happy Birthday, Jim!! In April of 1934 there was quite a commotion at Emanuel Hospital! On Friday the 13th, James Douglass entered our world. Oh my! He was the oldest of two boys. I ll bet that was a lively house! The family moved around for several years. Schneider Prairie, Washington, Hermiston, Oregon. But by the middle of second grade, they moved back to Southeast Portland. In 1952, Jim graduated from Franklin High School. After graduation, he went to work at Iron Fireman in the burring department. Then he worked at Pendleton Woolen Mills in the shipping department. He also worked in the office. Then while at Mail Row Enterprises, he got his first taste of the coming computer world. At American Data, he got an even better understanding of computers; he eventually programmed a big mainframe. In 1978, he and the family moved to the coast to join his brother in Douglass Brothers Construction. He enjoyed that until 1985 when the economy tanked and there was no work. They moved back to Portland where he went to work for the school district. His computer career was meant to be and he was there until retirement. I guess I forgot to say that on February 19, 1955, Jim married Carolyn Fredrickson. They started their family of six. Diane, Nancy, Greg, and Susan were born in the late 50 s and early 60 s. They now have eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren. In 1972, the sailboat bug bit Jim. They had several different boats and enjoyed many hours sailing. They became members of Rose City Yacht Club, where he was eventually elected Commodore. We are so glad that we have Jim and Carolyn. Where would we be without Jim to entertain us?! 5
by Gloria Lambert Since the time I moved to Portland and started attending Tabor Heights United Methodist church, there has been Game Night on the 4th Saturday of each month. My understanding is that it was intended as an outreach activity and open to friends, family, and neighbors. The only thing that has changed is the facilitators. It is now led by Joanne Buck, with my help. Let me digress for a moment and talk about events that led up to the handoff for leading this activity. In the fall of 2016, Joanne Buck and I started a Meetup group for Christian Singles of a Certain Age. We wanted it to be for Christian singles who were middle aged and up for a couple of reasons. First - that is the demographic that we belong to :-). Second - we wanted the emphasis to be fellowship and friendship through sharing meals and activities with like minded people. We felt called to this mission because, although almost 50% of the adult population in the US is single, there is very little outreach to these folks in the traditional church. We didn t know if anyone else would be interested, but we have almost 200 people on our meetup list now. We started out with monthly potlucks where we got to know each other and talked about activities people were interested in. The activities that drew the most interest were board games and cards games. We talked about venues. Places mentioned included restaurants and bars - with the drawbacks of such venues. Joanne and I approached Linda Bridges to ask if the group would be welcome to join in with the Tabor Height s already established Game Night. She was receptive and we announced the opportunity to the meetup group. Shortly after the above events, Linda had to stop facilitating and it was left to us to continue. Sadly, other church members stopped coming, but the Christian Singles Meetup group has continued to have Game Night. It is enjoyed by those who come. There is a diversity of people who come and we enjoy hearing all of their stories. The group tries to give encouragement where it is needed and celebrates the good things in each other s lives. It is a family event and all ages are welcome. We invite you to come join us, enjoy a simple potluck fellowship dinner, play games and meet some new interesting people. Game Night is the 4th Saturday of each month (except during holiday season). Potluck dinner starts at 6 PM, followed by games starting around 7. 6
A Book of the Month Review Linda Bridges Some people say...god IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER An Artist s Observations and Objections on the Spiritual Path By Julie Cameron Are you looking for a book that is easy to read, will make you think about your spiritual life, and has suggestions to deepen your faith? Check out this book written by Julie Cameron. Julie Cameron is an artist who originally wrote about how spirituality affects an artist s creations. From there she was drawn into writing more books focusing on spirituality and giving talks to encourage people to expand their spiritual focus. Her book, GOD IS NOT A LAUGHING MATTER, is written in short, easy to read chapters. Her style is light with many touches of humor. She covers a wide variety of topics from believing to humor to grief to family and many topics in between. Many of her views are of the practical variety and not heavily rooted in scripture. At the end of each chapter, Julie includes questions or experiments to expand your spiritual awareness. For example, when she discussed prayer, she suggested adding an activity to your daily schedule. While you do this activity, you also pray. Julie actually uses a bike ride to pray every day. The book club to which I belong is reading this book and it has sparked some our best discussions in years. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a book that offers practical suggestions to expand your personal spiritual life. Tabor Heights United Methodist Church 6161 SE Stark St. Portland OR 503. 232.8500 www.taborheightschurch.org 7
A Class Review Disciples Fast Track Exodus Transformed by Scripture to change the world This 6-week study of Exodus will immerse you in the life of Moses as he takes his people, the Israelites, from slavery to the Promised Land. Pastor D.J. del Rosario, a United Methodist pastor in the Seattle area, will share insights related to each week s session and help the group think about what they ve learned and how it applies to their lives through the medium of a DVD presentation that lasts 4-6 minutes. The class is structured in a simple, yet profound, way. Anyone, regardless of Bible knowledge, will be able to gain something and contribute to enriching our lives. We will be looking for ways to apply the lesson to our daily lives and recognize hidden opportunities available to us. The aim is to engage beyond Sunday morning. If you are not already in a Sunday School class, come and join us each Sunday morning at 9:30 in the Conference Room, which is off the Fellowship area. This session on Exodus will begin April 8, 2018. Tabor Heights United Methodist Church 6161 SE Stark St. Portland OR 503. 232.8500 www.taborheightschurch.org 8
From Your Lay Leader Joanne Dobrinski I don t know how many of us keep up with what is going on in the district, conference, and national body of the United Methodist Church; but at the 2016 General Conference which was held here in Portland, the Council of Bishops proposed forming a Commission on a Way Forward to look at how we as a church body will continue to minister to and include LGBTQ people in the leadership of this denomination. Also, a special General Conference was called for to be held in February 2019 to look at this issue. Every annual conference in the denomination is having some sort of conversation about human sexuality. Our Bishop Elaine Stanovsky is asking us to do this around Table Talks in the coming weeks. This might not be a conversation you want to have or are tired of having, but we do need to talk. We need to talk with respect for one another and with a heart that reflects the love Jesus showed us. This will be a safe place to share and learn from one another, a process for respectful dialog. According to Bishop Stanovsky, Table Talks aren't an attempt to make everyone think or believe alike. But they are an opportunity to ask if our differences need to drive us apart. Or is there a way that we can honor one another, stay together, and continue at one table, in one conversation as we continue to seek to understand God s will? Table Talks in our area are: April 15, 2:30 5:30, at Portland First UMC, 1838 SW Jefferson, Portland April 22, 3:00 6:00, at Gresham UMC, 620 NW 8, Gresham May 6, 2:00 5:00, at Hillsboro First UMC, 168 NE8, Hillsboro I, like the Bishop, hope you will make time in your life to be a part of this important conversation, because the Church needs us all to be present in conversation and prayer, showing our most gracious love for one another. I know that I plan to participate. If you would like to do so as well or have questions, please talk to me. 9
APRIL2018 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY 1 WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sunday School 9:30 am Worship 11am Easter Egg Hunt Walking group Staff meeting 11am Parents prayer 9:15am Mens coffee 10am Young Women 12:00pm Children Art Class 1pm GGC Fundraiser 2pm Community Garden meeting, 7pm Choir practice 7:30pm 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Sunday School Walking group Parents prayer 9:15am Mens coffee 10am WEEK Worship 11am Table Tennis Demo 1pm UMW Circle 12pm Serving Sat. 11am Children Art Choir practice 7:30pm 3 WEEK 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Sunday School Worship 11am Potluck Walking group Parents prayer 11am Mens coffee 10am Young Women 12:00pm Sr Fellowship Choir practice 7:30pm PTA Rummage Sale 9am 3pm 4 WEEK 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Sunday School Walking group Parents prayer 9:15am Mens coffee 10am Choir practice 7:30pm 5 WEEK 29 30 Sunday School Worship 11am SITE Commit tee Meeting 12:20pm Walking group 10