SERVE
You are blessed to be a blessing. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. He went on to say that the second commandment is just as important – to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the heart behind everything we do with local outreach and our global outreach.
As believers we have the distinct pleasure of seeing needs and stepping up to serve those around us. We continue to find opportunities to get involved and serve in practical and meaningful ways. Join us as we serve our community and the world.
NEW HORIZONS DINNERS ON “FIFTH FRIDAYS”
In the coming year, we will be providing dinner for around 35 youth at New Horizons Ministries in every month where there is a “fifth Friday.”
Dates for 2024 are: March 29, May 31, August 30, November 29
Please consider providing a dish (main course, vegetable, bread, dessert, other). Please let Jim Margard know if you can help out, or contact the church office!
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
Our involvement with Lutheran World Relief permeates our Men’s and Women’s Ministries: producing quilts, assembling school, baby, and personal care kits, and leading the semiannual regional Ingatherings where all such donations are gathered for shipping around the world. Go here for the latest LWR updates on activities and donations needed—and consider joining us in our efforts.
Support Action for Refugees:
Please consider supporting a project to help Afghan LGBTQ+ individuals who are in limbo in the UAE and Pakistan and are at high risk
of being deported back to Afghanistan—a potential death sentence. This project, called the New Life Fund, is sponsored by Seattle-based 501-C3 non-profit SCM Medical Missions (Its Executive Director Rita Zaweideh presented here at forum a few years ago.) Please refer to the SCM website (scmmedicalmissions.org) and your June Quill for details. Time is critical and we hope to forward funds for this project in late June.Jim notes: “This project’s genesis came from discussions with Jenny Porter about being Reconciling in Christ. At issue was how to pursue ways we could tangibly take action to support LGBTQ+ people and BIPOC, rather than follow the gravitational pull of inertia and just paying lip service to the designation. This project meets at the intersection of Social Action, BIPOC support, and being Reconciling in Christ.In addition, time is of the essence. I am aware that things often take time to get moving. But this one requires action soon, or it may be too late to make any difference.”
—Jim Margard, Social Action Committee
Contributions may also be made directly online or checks may be made to “Queen Anne Lutheran” with memo lines as noted below:
SCM Medical Missions: “New Life Fund”
Lutheran World Relief for Ukraine: “LWR/Ukraine”
ELCA Disaster Relief—Ukraine: “Lutheran Disaster Response”
Lutheran Community Services for Afghan Refugees— “LCSNW—Afghan Refugees”
Our Turn To Help Welcome Refugees
Many of us watched the recent air evacuation from Afghanistan of American citizens and many of those who helped us in the last 20 years of conflict. My son and his family in Germany helped gather supplies to care for those flown to that country en route to their new homes. Now, many of these families are taking the next step to new lives in the United States and it’s our turn to help.
You may have seen the Seattle Times article providing information and contacts for area organizations. One of them is Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS). For 80 years, LIRS has offered a welcome to our country, hope, and support to more than half a million refugees. They’ve pulled together support and goodwill from thousands of people to do this and they need our help now. For information about their efforts and how you can help, see https://lirsconnect.org/get_involved/action_center/siv
Close to home, LIRS is a part of Lutheran Community Services Northwest. They have already started receiving Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders and their families. Their first priority is the safety and well-being of the new arrivals. Staff are working quickly to surround each arriving family with basic needs like housing, food, clothing, transportation and monetary assistance. They very much need our help in terms of donations and hands-on help welcoming and settling the new arrivals. Check out “Stay Up To Date” on their homepage https://lcsnw.org/
Right now, the best way to extend a welcome is with a donation. Your gift will help address the most immediate and basic needs of our new neighbors. For online donations, select DONATE on their homepage at https://lcsnw.org/By mail, direct them to:
LCSNW – Donations Lockbox #1034
PO Box 35146
Seattle, WA 98124-5146
Please write “Refugee Services” in the memo line.
After having to cut way back on their program in recent years, they are now ramping up to help the large numbers of refugees coming to Washington and Oregon. To find out about volunteer opportunities, and to volunteer, contact siv@lcsnw.org. They also have a list of items for putting together Refugee Starter Kits, like shower gifts for folks’ new homes. Check it out at “How You Can Help” on their homepage https://lcsnw.org/. Right now, plans for where to deliver these kits are still being formed, so you can contact siv@lcsnw.org or me, Jacqui Darroch, at jedarroch@yahoo.com for updates and questions.
PEACE POLE INSTALLATION
After worship on November 28, 2021, we gathered outside by our newly installed Peace Poles to dedicate and bless them together. Sophie Pritchard, the artist, and Jim Margard, who installed them, were present to receive our thanks, and we all hope they will be a beacon to both our congregation and to our neighborhood in their call for social justice and care for creation—God’s love expressed in our lives.
