Dear Fremont Family:
Last Sunday, we heard the story from Luke’s gospel of Jesus’ baptism by John in the River Jordan at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The heart of that story centers on Jesus’ humility in simply getting in line with the crowd and, along with them, passing through the waters for repentance (change of heart and mind) and forgiveness of sins. Ever since then, scholars have argued over whether or not Jesus was in need of repentance and forgiveness of sins or not. To me, that argument has always seemed beside the point. Whether Jesus “needed” to receive baptism seems far less significant to me than the fact that he chose to baptized. Jesus choosing baptism is Jesus choosing fully to enter into our human experience and place himself on equal footing with us. Jesus closes the distance between us in relationship to us and demonstrates his interconnectedness with humankind. What a powerful act of solidarity!
On Sunday, January 26 during worship, we have an incredible opportunity to practice humility and solidarity. We will be hosting our friends from Mending Wings as they offer their gift of dancing their prayers on our behalf. First, our relationship with Mending Wings began in 2023 when through the NE Youth Collective, we participated in S.L.A.M. (Students Learning About Mission) on the Yakama reservation. S.L.A.M. is a beautiful experience of reciprocity where youth from various churches around the PNW spend a week on the reservation learning about Native culture and spirituality while also serving Native elders. Last summer, we returned to S.L.A.M. for a second year and deepened our friendship with Mending Wings. In addition to S.L.A.M., Mending Wings also sponsors a beautiful encounter called, “Dancing Our Prayers.” DOP, as they call it for short, are teams of Native teens who travel locally, regionally and nationally sharing their culture, spirituality and way of life. The youth and staff dance and drum in full regalia, perform drama, give testimony and speak on conciliation issues between Native and non-Native America. For two summers, our youth have traveled to be with them, and on January 26, their youth will travel to be with us.
In order to make this beautiful experience of sharing happen, we need about 8 host houses. The Mending Wings team will consist of approximately 15 youth and 5 adults. They will arrive in Portland from the Yakama reservation in Washington around 5:30pm on Saturday, 1/25. We will gather at the church for a shared dinner together and some community building. Then, after a sound-check in the sanctuary on Saturday evening, the youth and adults will go home to their host homes. Each home must be able to accommodate at least 2 persons (youth or adults). The guests can share a single room with a double bed. Hosts also need to be able to provide breakfast for their guests on Sunday morning before providing them transportation to the church by 9am on Sunday. After worship, we are hoping to host a light meal (sandwiches, chips, veggies) in the Narthex as we share gratitude for Mending Wings before they depart back to Washington.
If you are able to help in any way, we need you! Please email me if you can be a host home. Or, if you are able to help with the Saturday evening dinner or the Sunday after worship light lunch, you can also email me. My email address is [email protected]. I will coordinating and creating some additional smaller planning teams.
Regardless if you can help or not, please come to worship on January 26 with an open heart. This beautiful exchange is an opportunity to stand together on equal footing with our Native siblings and close the distance between us as we demonstrate the interconnectedness between our two communities in the spirit of Jesus.
Thank you in advance for your gracious hospitality and care.
Grace and peace,
Erin
