The Heart of Mission
February 16, 2021
 
Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day! I know Valentine’s Day has passed and so has the Chinese New Year (Jan.12) but I have to give a shout out to a couple of groups in our congregation who were sharing love on those days! ESL had a congregational/ESL café on Thursday Jan.11. Jeanette Pyne, our ESL Director, shared that for some of our students the Chinese New Year is a very important holiday! And, our Presbyterian Women shared a Happy Valentine’s box lunch and treats with the staff. We are so appreciative! It was such a lift in the middle of the week to have that special treat and see their smiling faces. Isn’t it fun to celebrate with people we love?
 
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. One Great Hour of Sharing is the special offering the PC(USA) collects on Easter Sunday, which ends our Lenten journey, but the whole of Lent is a time to prepare and reflect on the many ways we can help people who are hungry, help care for the earth, empower groups of people to meet a need for their community or assist people in disasters. The One Great Hour of Sharing special offering does all of that. See ALL the places in the world OGHS touches people’s lives: pcusa.org/oghsmap. The picture at the top of our newsletter today shows only a FEW of those many places.
 
In the next 6 weeks, I will give you a scripture lesson and some daily mission tasks from the One Great Hour of Sharing material to help focus you on your Lenten journey. You might want to have a small coin bank (Fish bank, First Pres bank) to collect small coins as you do these activities. If you cannot give coins, think about acts of service you can do for others.
 
Feb. 17, Ash Wednesday: Read Isaiah 58:6-8, 12. What are we asked to do? Who helps meet those same needs for you (v.12)? Say a prayer of gratitude for them. Don’t forget our Ash Wednesday zoom service. Watch the daily mailers for more information.
 
Feb. 18, Thursday: Our Gracie Fish coinboxes will hold many gifts of money this season, but what other kinds of gifts can we give? (We have handed these banks out in worship in the past. If any of you want one, I can find one for you.) What gifts can you give or share?
           
Feb. 19, Friday: Find where you live on the map and identify which OGHS site is closest to you. What problems are being solved there? See Pcusa.org/oghsmap
 
Feb. 20, Saturday: Sunday is Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA)’s Blue Shirt Sunday. What does PDA do to show God’s love? Choose something blue to wear or share with your congregation.
 
Feb. 21, Sunday: After a natural disaster or in a public health crisis, it may be hard to find places to buy basic supplies. Say a prayer of thanksgiving and a give a gift for each time you had toilet paper to use today. Read the lectionary texts: Genesis 9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15.
            Prayer for the week: God, open our eyes to your face in every person. Let us see the ways we are all connected with all of creation. May we as your Church, together, seek love, justice and peace with all. Amen.
 
Feb. 22, Monday: Over 23 million Americans live in a food desert, far from a store where they can buy fresh food. Give a gift for each grocery store nearby (and everyone you can walk to if you don’t have a car!)
 
Feb. 23, Tuesday: Electricity is usually the first utility that is lost in a storm. Give a gift for each light switch in your home. The Heart of Mission will have new activities for the next week.
 
Other mission activities you can do this week:
Make a commitment to join a small group/committee in our congregation like Environmental which met yesterday and every third Monday of the month or World Mission which meets every third Tuesday at 4:30 via zoom. (Be patient just a little longer for in person meetings!)
 
Join Frontera de Cristo on their Coffee, Conversation and Compassion zoom Thursdays.
 

 
Join Farsijanna Adeney-Risakotta (Indonesia) and the World Mission Committee on an evaluation of fair trade products in Indonesia with the microfinancing organization she helps teach and coach. Several of us tested the products for them and our congregation gave them a microfinance grant that is still going. (Yes, you see my smiling face in one of those pictures.)
 

 
Pray with CU at Home and other local mission agencies:
 

• Would you join us in prayer for the leaders and members of our community that we would all remain diligent and strong as we continue to battle COVID-19?
• Please pray for all those who participated in One Winter Night 2021 that they would received a blessing from their commitment and faithfulness but that they would also remain healthy and enter 2021 with a new perspective of just how blessed they are.
• Would you also pray for the grandson of one of our close friends who is suffering with some continued medical issues? We pray for healing and strength for this little guy and his family.

• Praise the Lord for the ability to remain open during these extremely cold temperatures! Because of amazing community support we have been open 24 hours a day since the morning after One Winter Night at the Phoenix and the shelters providing a warm and safe place for our friends! We will continue this service at least for the next several days. 
• Thank you God for bringing SO many different sectors of society together to produce the most successful One Winter Night event we have ever had! When we all come together for one common goal, amazing impact can happen!
• Praise to Jesus for helping us reach our One Winter Night fundraising goal at 8:21pm on the night of the event! To God be the glory!!!