Pie, Fireside Chats, and Grief
The people of First Church are skilled in many things. Until this weekend, I did not know that one of those things was pie. Even with 120 people packed around tables in Collins Hall, we each needed to eat much more to finish the 35 delicious pies you all brought to the party!
Pie Day was just one of the many lively and meaningful moments we’ve had this month: from the yoga retreat to advocacy with our Portland city councilors to Lenten dinner/dancing/disability study. We’ll round out the month with the start of Holy Week as we wave our Palm Sunday branches in both praise and protest (stay tuned or sign up for the FUMC Advocates email tree for more information on Palm Sunday actions).
If you missed out on Pie Day, there are still trivia sheets available for you to take your best guesses (though the mini-pie trivia prizes have long been gobbled). We also shared a few important updates, both from Corey Morris of the Reimagining Space Committee and from myself.
I strongly encourage every member of our church to participate in a small group engagement session with members of the Reimagining Space Committee. If you have not done so, or if you know of another church member to encourage to attend, there are 3 additional sessions on the calendar:
Sunday, March 22 at Noon (in person)
Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30pm (in person)
Tuesday, April 7 at 6:30pm (online)
To ensure everyone can share, space in each session is very limited. You must register ahead of time at this link.
For help registering, contact the Church Office (office@fumcpdx.org) or by phone 9am-Noon, Monday-Friday (503-228-3195).
Fireside Chats
These are such big considerations that it can be easy to feel behind on the goings on.
In parallel to the continued engagement from the Reimagining Space Committee, the Office of the Senior Pastor will hold Fireside Chats on some Sundays after worship to provide an additional avenue for transparency and inclusion in how we lead.
During these chats I’ll share highlights from my vantage point as the senior pastor, looking at the church on the whole (not only the building conversation): the patterns we’re watching, initiatives on the horizon, what’s worrying or exciting, and more. Everything from attendance patterns to immigration to finances. We’ll also have question time.
The first Fireside Chat with the Senior Pastor will be on May 3 at Noon.
Gratitude and Grief
When I first wandered through the building, I was amazed. And by that, I mean, it seemed to be truly a maze.
I had already been at the church a few months when we did the Revelation Pastors Bible Study in-between services. After Bible study ended each week, I had just 5 minutes to get from the Fireside Room, don my robe and affix my microphone in my office, and get to the Sanctuary. There were so many doors, connecting hallways, and unmarked rooms that I had to ask for directions on the way!
This amazing maze of a place is a place I have come to love. Not because it has become any easier to manage, or its idiosyncrasies make any more sense, or it is any simpler to direct newcomers across campus, but because it’s where our congregation gathers. It’s kind of a wild place, yes, but it has been home to people I love.
These days when I walk around the church, I no longer need directions. I do, however, feel both sadness and gratitude.
I’ll often enter a room and leave the lights off for just a moment, taking the space in: recalling the good or hard or weird things that have taken place there, whether from your stories or my own.
I take a moment to give thanks. I give thanks for the way that space has held our community. And I take a moment to grieve. I grieve that we struggle to care for it, or that it might not be our space in the same way, or that it will not be this same space forever (the truth of all our built space, whether sacred or not).
These are like the feelings that arise with the change of a childhood or longtime home: whether you start to share it with another family, or you need to remodel, or you’re moving to a different home that fits your family’s needs.
No matter the decision before us, in addition to getting all our numbers, charts, and partnerships in order, I invite you to honor the gratitude and grief we’ll feel in the process.
As a first step, when you’re in the sanctuary or Collins Hall or out on the sidewalk or the bathroom soap dispenser shoots out at the wrong time, take a moment to notice: notice what feelings this place stirs up in you. What makes you grateful? What makes you sad that eventually (whether sooner or later) it will change?
I also invite you to be present for this process as it unfolds; as Corey Morris emphasized many times on Sunday, this is a conversation with the whole congregation, but you must make the choice to stay engaged. Finally, please hold the Reimagining Space Committee in prayer as this work continues.
We know, theologically, that the church is the people. And, this building has been our people’s home: a literal shelter in some literal storms, and many spiritual ones too.
As a church we’ll continue to work through this process with respect for the space that has blessed us, holding our gratitude, grief, and one another. Thank you for being on the journey.
Holding it all with you,
Pastor Karyn