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TENS 2013 Flourish in Faith Narrative Series The Diocese of Oregon is a member of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS). A primary benefit of membership is that all congregations throughout the diocese have access to the 2013 Stewardship Narrative Series, a program designed to complement and support the fall annual giving program. The series is available in English now and in late June will be available in Spanish, Chinese and Korean. This year seven contributing writers plant the seeds of stewardship and faithful giving in connection with Luke’s Gospel in the lectionary, beginning Sunday, October 6th and continuing through November 10th.   Materials include reflections, discussion questions, bulletin inserts, email and letter samples, prayers of the people, and more. To access the materials, go to the TENS website at http://www.tens.org, go to the members-only section and log in Username: Generous Password: Giving. Tweet

2013 TENS Flourish in Faith Stewardship Conference is July 12-13 Are you ready to blossom in stewardship?  Are you looking to plant the seeds of faithful giving in your congregation? Do you want to network with others passionate about generosity and discipleship? Come to Flourish in Faith in person in Salt Lake City or via webcast in the comfort of your own church or home!  Keynote speakers, author Clif Christopher and Bishop of Wyoming, Bruce Caldwell will inspire and encourage you.  Workshop leaders will teach key aspects of stewardship to utilize in your setting. In Person registration fee is only $300, because our diocese is a TENS member. Registration includes hotel, materials and meals, worship, plenary sessions and choice of sixteen workshops on four tracks. Webcast registration fee is $75.  This includes access to opening worship, plenary sessions and four workshops. Access will be emailed to registrants 24 prior to the start of the conference.  Webcast is streamed live from the conference July 12 – 12:00 noon to 4:30 PM and July 13 – 7:45-11:45 and 1:15-3:15 PDT.  It is not available for download or re-broadcast at any other time. Register  at http://www.ecww.org/civicrm/event/info More information at http://www.tens.org/2013-conference or [...]

Retreat series starts this fall November 6-8, 2013 Wednesday at 5pm through Friday at 1pm When we approach our lives and our work with genuine passion and integrity, we are able to serve others with courage and commitment. These programs foster personal and professional renewal by offering the time and space to reflect on life and work.  Participants journey through four retreats over one year. In large groups, small groups, and solitary settings, participants use personal stories, reflections on professional practice, time in nature, and insights from poets, storytellers, and various wisdom traditions to explore the relationship between the inner life of mind and spirit and the outer life of work and service in the world.  For more information visit our website at www.couragecircleoftrust.org. Subsequent retreats Winter retreat: January 30-February 1, 2014 Thursday at 5pm through Saturday at 1pm Spring retreat: April 10-12, 2014 Thursday at 5pm through Saturday at 1pm Summer retreat: July 10-12, 2014 Thursday at 5pm through Saturday at 1pm Tweet

Dates: March 17-March 29, 2014 A Journey to the Holy Land is a pilgrimage into the ancient world of Jesus and an introduction to Christianity in this sacred land in 2014. Prayer is an integral part of this pilgrimage as is some knowledge of the present cultural context in which our Christian sisters and brothers live their commitment to Christ. Bring yourself closer to Christ through being part of this community of sojourners. Make this journey a part of your personal Lenten practice. Guide: Canon Iyad Qumri July 1 is the deadline for committing to the journey, so contact us now. Contact information: The Rev. Dennis j. Parker 503-226-1160 The Rev. Kathleen Galvin 971-241-5872 At the link below is an 11 x 17 poster for printing. palastine_israel_pilgrimage_poster Tweet

Richard H.Wheeler passed away March 19 of complications of Lymphoma.  There will be a memorial service on June 8 at 2 pm at St. Aiden in Gresham.  Richard was an active participant in the ministries of the Dioceses of Oregon for many decades. He served on Diocesan Council, was active in Hispanic ministries, Metro East Convocation, served as a delegate to countless Conventions, as well as innumerable other activities at Holy Cross, Boring. He will be greatly missed by all. Donations in his name to be made to Holy Cross Episcopal Church or Snowcap. Tweet

Invites other congregations to join The vestry of St. Michael & All Angels, Portland, unanimously approved a declaration that it is an Immigrant Welcoming Congregation (IWC). St. Michael’s became an IWC as part of a journey that began in December 2011 when two events intersected. The first was an invitation to the congregation from the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (formerly the Oregon New Sanctuary Movement) to join six other faith communities in Portland in becoming an Immigrant Welcoming Congregation. The process took one year. The second occurred when an immigrant family, well known at St. Michael’s, revealed to the congregation that they were facing their final appeal hearing of deportation orders. Overcoming fear and embarrassment, the family decided to openly discuss their situation rather than silently disappear from their worship community. Made aware of this situation, many members of St. Michael’s turned out in support of this family, and they filled the federal courtroom at the next hearing. The deportation orders were rescinded. The St. Michael’s community was overjoyed by this outcome, but at the same time the experience left many of them saddened to think that an immigrant family in their own community had felt so alone, strangers [...]

Feel like your relationships aren’t working? Do you want to be a more effective communicator? William Temple House is offering an Interpersonal Effectiveness Skills group to help women build stronger relationships. The group begins May 23 and will meet Thursdays from 6 to 7pm through July 25. There is no charge but space is limited and pre-registration is required. The group will help participants develop boundaries in their relationships, build healthy relationships, and develop skills for handling difficult situations. Women must be 18 years or older to participate. For more information or to register, please call Kelly at (503) 226-3021 ext. 272 or Jennifer at (503) 226-3021 ext. 247. The group will meet at William Temple House, 2023 NW Hoyt Street, Portland. Tweet

Trinity Iconography Institute will again hold day-time summer iconography classes as previously scheduled; the new instructor is Father Jon Buffington, a Chaldean Catholic priest in Ministry and residing in Portland however, BOTH the August 5-9 and August 19-25 classes are filled but a wait-list has been established for them in case of any cancellations. If you are interested in being added to the wait-list, please contact Christopher Armstrong-Stevenson at trinityiconographers@hotmail.com. Additional classes are scheduled for Fall 2013 and several more during 2014. For a full class schedule, go to www.trinityiconographers.org. Tweet

Location: Trinity Cathedral 147 NW 19th Avenue Portland, Oregon Exhibit hours: Cathedral Hours At the conclusion of the May 17-19 Artists Among Us exhibit and sale, a new show goes up featuring the art work of Trinity parishioners – talented local visual artists exhibiting their oils, watercolors, drawings, pastels, sculptures, prints, calligraphy, photography, ceramics, glass and fiber art. The 2013 Trinity artists are Rebecca Akporiaye, Linda Barnes, Chris Baskin, Barbara Darling Bracken, Claudia Breese, Danny Bronson, Jilli Bronson, Gerrie Congdon, Inga Dubay, Bonnie Garrett, Earlene Holstrom, Rosemary Karr, Michael Manwaring, Allan Oliver, Diane Pinney, Bob Shepps, Ruth Ann Skodacek, William Stevens, Randall Vemer, Celia Scher Wagner and Elta Wilson. Tweet

The diocesan-wide effort to help our churches get their message online is well under way. Starting immediately, the diocesan website server is available for very low-cost hosting. There will be no monthly charge for this service, but there will be yearly charges for the cost of domain registration fees. So while we can’t say there is no cost, yearly registrations with our hosting company are $9.95 and can be purchased for up to five years at a time. If you would like to know more, please email us at oecnonline@episcopaldioceseoregon.org and we will respond. There is no charge and the workshops will be held no matter what level of interest there is, but we would like to get an idea of how many will be attending. There is link to a document below that will explain some things you can do to get ready to begin the process. Download: Diocesan Website Initiative Tweet

Love kids? Need latte money? St. David of Wales, Portland is seeking a nursery care provider to staff our nursery on Sunday mornings, occasional weekday evenings, and extra services around Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter. The qualified candidate will be flexible, energetic, engaging with kids and adults, able to pass the necessary background checks, willing to take the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon SAFE training, and able to make a long-term Sunday commitment. St. David of Wales is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination in employment and opportunity because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or age. A full job description can be found at www.saintdavidpdx.org. To apply contact office@saintdavidpdx.org with “Child Care” in the Subject Line Tweet

HB 3194, the Public Safety Package, is at a critical stage in our legislature.  Your support is needed now.  The measure makes modest but critical changes to our sentencing system to free up $600 million to return to communities to fund the very services and supports that prevent crime in the first place and help victims.  Our current sentencing system is very much out of balance.  The State of Oregon is spending increasing amounts on prisons, while laying of teachers and cutting funding for victim services and addiction and mental health treatment. We need to get our priorities straight and use our tax dollars more effectively by preventing crime, not building more prisons. HB 3194 can take Oregon in the right direction. In Micah we are told to “Do Justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”  Christian of conscious can no longer ignore this issue. Contact your house members and senators today.  The Prison Ministries Commission supports this legislation.  For more information about this measure or interest in joining the Commission contact Deacon Tom English (english@riousa.com). Tweet

The Annual Grace Parish Art Invitational is featured during the months of April and May in the Grace Art Gallery. The theme of this year’s invitational is “Blessing and Being Blessed”. A talk with some of the featured parish artists will be held during the coffee hour after the 10am service this Sunday, April 28. The invitational and talk are open to the public. The “Blessed and Being Blessed” theme is inspired by a passage from the Book of Numbers, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace” (Numbers 6: 24 – 26). Parish artists include: Jeffrey Baker, Charis Barasch, Philip Barasch, Gale Beagle, Jo Bronson, Kristin Koop, Mariann Koop-McMahon, Bill Kramer, and Nina Kramer. The exhibit will be on display in the Grace Art Gallery through the end of May. Visiting hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 11am to 2pm and Sundays, 8am to 12pm Tweet

The new magazine for the diocese, In Conversation, began mailing out last week. Most of those on our mailing list have received their copy by now. If you have not, or are not on our mailing list, please contact your church office as we sent extra copies for distribution. If your church office is out of copies, please have them contact us by email – oecnonline@episcopaldioceseoregon.org – or by phone at 503.636.5613/888.346.2373 as we have extra copies available. We are purging the old mailing list with this issue and starting fresh. To do that, we have included an envelope with a form to send in for a subscription. There is no cost for a subscription, but we are asking for donations to help defray the cost of printing and mailing. You can send a check or send us your credit card number. We made an error when setting up the form and left off the card expiration date area, so if you are planning to send in the envelope, please add that to the card number line. If you have already sent your envelope with a card number you can call us at the numbers above and give [...]

Trinity Music concludes the 25th anniversary season of the cathedral’s Rosales pipe organ with two stirring events: Friday, May 3 – Free Organ Concert, 7:30pm, with Guest Organist Bruce Neswick. His program will include Symphony No. 3 by Louis Vierne with improvisations on themes submitted by the audience. Sunday, May 5 – Free Festival Evensong, 5pm, with the Trinity Cathedral Choir, PYC Chamber Choir and guest conductor, Bruce Neswick. Featured works will include “Rejoice in the Lamb” by Benjamin Britten, and the Magnificat & Nunc dimittis in A major by Charles Villiers Stanford. Michael Kleinschmidt, Trinity’s Canon for Cathedral Music, will play the virtuosic and colorful organ parts in these works, and Bruce Neswick will conduct the 80-voice choir. Bruce Neswick is Associate Professor of Music in Organ and Sacred Music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and previously was director of music at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. Active in the field of church music, Mr. Neswick holds the Fellowship degree from the Royal School of Church Music, for whom he has conducted several courses for boy and girl choristers. As a recitalist, Mr. Neswick has performed extensively throughout [...]

The Bishop’s Close has recently replaced one of their networkable printers and will be giving away their previous Brother HL-404CN printer and five toner cartridges to any church, commission, or ministry that wants it. Please send an e-mail to tracye@diocese-oregon.org for inquiries and questions. Note: You must be able to come pick up the printer from our office directly. Tweet

St. Michael & All Angels, Portland is pleased to announced that they are the first house of worship in Oregon to be accepted into the GreenFaith Certification Program, an ecumenical, two-year environmental leadership program endorsed by the Episcopal Church. The program is intended to be transformational. It will involve environmental education, worship that includes creation care and other environmental themes, green facilities management, and environmental advocacy and justice. In its Pastoral Teaching on the Environment, the House of Bishops has rightly declared: “This is the appointed time for all God’s children to work for the common goal of renewing the earth as a hospitable abode for the flourishing of all life. We are called to speak and act on behalf of God’s good creation.” For more information about GreenFaith visit www.greenfaith.org. Tweet

St. Paul, Oregon City is expanding its ministry to children and families. With this in mind, we are looking to hire a part time (7 hours a week) children’s minister. This position is unique in the sense that the primary focus for this position will be outreach and development of a community project. The secondary focus for this position will be developing a first rate Sunday-School program for St. Paul. Could this position be perfect you? Are you a self-starter? A dreamer? Full of hope? Then, please apply and/or call Fr. Dan Morrow at (971) 258-4258. You can also email questions, applications, etc. to Fr. Dan at revdanmorrow@gmail.com. St. Paul is a growing and dynamic church that welcomes everyone regardless of race, social status, gender or sexual orientation. (p.s. you don’t have to be Episcopalian to apply, just a lover of Jesus, progressive in your theology, and called to help disciple children.) Read more about St. Paul, Oregon City at www.stpaulsoregoncity.org. Tweet

The Diocesan Commission on Jail and Prison Ministries (formerly the Prison Ministries Commission) testified Salem in support of HB 3294 before the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Public Safety on April 5. HB 3194 removes mandatory minimums from three Measure 11 offenses; modifies Measure 57 offenses; expands youth eligibility for earned review (“Second Look”) hearings; and expands earned time eligibility. If HB 3194 passes, Oregon won’t need an additional 2,300 prison beds over the next decade and will save $600 million, which will be reinvested into what works to create safe, healthy communities: mental health and addictions treatment, victim services, drug courts, and community corrections.  In addition, HB 3194 provides grants for re-entry services. Jail & Prison Ministries Chair, the Rev. Deacon Tom English told the committee, “Clerics and churches are often viewed as idealistic, unrealistic or even soft on crime.  However, I want you to know that the Christian Church has historically always taken public safety, crime and punishment very seriously and continues to do so today.  Without order, the Church cannot function and it is in the Church’s concern for order that we have become complicit in the distortions of justice that cause so much harm today. English [...]

The conversation continues. Last summer, clergy, lay leaders, and other interested folk participated in a “Metro-East Summit” to explore our common concerns and opportunities. Lay leaders and clergy from Metro-East congregations are invited to continue the conversation on Saturday, April 20, from 9am to 12pm. Broad-based input is need to make some decisions about creative and radical collaboration. Please bring your ideas and your voice. Tweet