​A SENDING BOX is my title for this art object. I was commissioned to create the interior of a kind of small treasure chest to be a farewell gift for Rod, the dearly beloved retiring pastor of my faith community. Over the past 25 years Rod has finished innumerable services with a "SENDING": a benediction that ends the gathering and sends us forth reflective, grateful, inspired. Today was our chance to return the favor and send him off into the next chapter of his life. Jonathan (Jonathan A. Nussbaum - Furniture Maker) milled the wood and Bruce Kuhns (all around great guy) built the box. Everyone else was invited to bring cards to fill the box. The three of us creators then presented it to Rod, a special occasion for which I'm honored to have played a part.

It's very close to the five-year mark since I retired from TriMet. And it's two years since the commission of the "!00 Year Collage", so I felt echoes of these as I worked on the box. Like the big collage two years ago, I recycled old bulletins and stamps, adding other material and lots of colored pencil. The title for that art update was "Fresh Fruit Imagery". For the Sending Box I imagined the "fruits of the spirit" given a physicality of maybe mango, peach and Oregon strawberry (with a hint of milk and honey). Sometimes it helps me to take the word of God/Rod from "pie in the sky" down to a pie with a flakey crust I can actually taste and savor. Or if it's art, let it be something that whets the appetite, stirs a longing and begins to quench an inner thirst. 

Thanks & Cheers to Rod, 
And may the rest of you also be sent forth with all goodness,
Love - Always,
Tim TK Klassen

On June 13th PMC sponsored an evening at Nightstrike under the Burnside Bridge. Night Strike is a community gathering that mobilizes volunteers/services, meets felt needs, and develops relationships that transform lives. It is an opportunity for members of Portland’s homeless community to hang out, enjoy a hot meal, receive a free haircut or shave, have their feet washed and have their old shoes/clothes/sleeping bags replaced. Contact info for future Nightstrike events can be found HERE.

This spring at Portland Mennonite Church, we have been learning from Sarah Augustine and the new book she co-wrote with Sheri Hostetler – So We and Our Children May Live: Following Jesus in Confronting the Climate Crisis.
​
Our Racial Justice and Climate Justice committees hosted an adult Sunday School class that read and discussed this book in February and March. And, then we invited Sarah to join us on February 25 to preach for our Sunday Service, which was followed by a forum where we could learn more from Sarah and ask questions. We also engaged with Sarah’s work through her organization, the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery (CDDD). One piece of the work of the CDDD is the Maya-Mennonite Solidarity Working Group, a group that is working at building relationships with Maya seed savers in southern Mexico and their Mennonite Colony neighbors (read more in the March issue of Anabaptist World). To support this project, PMC hosted a “Seed(ling) Exchange Party & Fundraiser” to raise money for CDDD members to make a trip to visit these groups they are working with in Mexico.

People in the church brought seeds, seedlings, and all kinds of beautiful plants they were willing to donate, and others took them for a suggested donation. Together we celebrated seeds and planting, giving thanks to God for the miracle of growing things.

​PMC folks at the Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage

March 9, 2024

Dear Friends,

It is a quiet, rainy Saturday afternoon here. The cooks are unloading the dishwashers. A crew leader is repairing a skill saw. I could be loading out my truck for work on Monday. Perhaps the rain will stop and I can do that later. Hank, a crew leader from Winnipeg, said to me “Oh I know a person from Oregon. Do you know them? Their names are Clark and Carolyn Yoder”. And as unlikely as it might seem, I do know Carolyn. They are filbert farmers in Canby who live near my sister-in-law.

Everywhere about me, things have begun to bloom. The willow trees have tiny, bright green leaves. Other trees look like big balls of cotton candy, they are covered with pink or white blooms. It smells like spring.

We are finishing the last five houses here. On March 30, when we all leave, MDS will have built 17 houses in 17 months. Seven of the houses are on Hall Street, where nine people died in the tornado. Homeowners choose the interior and exterior colors for their houses, and Hall Street looks like an Easter Egg of cheerful colors. I have been working at the Ladd house. A group of Amish youth came to paint, install doors and flooring with me last week. They sang throughout the day as we all worked. The group that left this morning is from Illinois, along with a few from Ohio and Kansas. At the Ladd house we built window extensions, installed baseboards and window trim, cabinets and countertops. At the other houses there was mudding and taping going on, painting, and final cleanups on two houses. There is to be a house dedication for Norma Russell’s house this coming Friday.

The days and weeks pass very quickly. We have had a productive mix of talented craftsmen and eager learners. Jobs are broken down to bite-size tasks, instruction and support provided, and the work gets done amidst learning and practice. Then, jigsaw puzzles and Rook take over the focus of evening time together.

Most meaningful has been the times we are visited by homeowners: Lila Torres and her children, 87-year-old Ms Russell, Ms Duke (whose 14-year-old grandson comes to help work on her house with us after school and on weekends), The Davis family. Each of them has a story to tell of the storm, and their hopes for a future in Dawson Springs. Andy, whose house was completed last summer, continues to visit MDS houses each Friday, bringing volunteers donuts and colorful stories of life before and after the tornado in Dawson Springs.

Last summer the Presbyterian Church in Princeton, 15 miles away, hosted a week-long day camp for children. This nationally recognized program is called Camp Noah and helps children who have experienced disaster develop resiliency and coping skills. (Three sessions of this camp have been offered in the Eugene area following the Holiday Farm fire of 2020.) In July Camp Noah will offer their services to the children of eastern Kentucky where severe flooding destroyed houses.

The rain has stopped for the moment, and there is even a bit of sunshine, a good opportunity to load my truck.

Joanne