Kindred in Christ,

I feel as though I have come back to life. I am beyond grateful for this community that has been supportive, generous, and understanding as my wife, Kim, and myself have been out of commission for the last couple weeks after contracting Covid. Thankfully, at this point, we have both tested negative and are regaining strength. In the midst of taking it easy, I have been very excited for a collaboration that is emerging with University Gathering UMC and Michelle Lang-Raymond and Sam Townsend from Acts on Stage (pictured meeting with our worship team above).

After a fruitful conversation with Rev. Dr. Leroy Barber on Church Innovation in March during Enrichment Hour, Leroy connected me with Michelle to begin exploring what a collaboration around worship and change would look like in our setting. One of the things Leroy heard that arose from the conversation in our Enrichment Hour session was the need to expand worship to include new elements to better match the time and context we live in and the folks we are presently trying to reach—a struggle for many mainline protestant churches.

Thus, we have been dreaming and planning with Michelle and Sam about ways that they could help us begin to infuse new elements into our Sunday morning worship gatherings. While Acts on Stage has worked and coached other UMC congregations seeking renewal in worship before, this will be the most elaborate partnership they have ever had. In fact, our vision is to record segments of the worship sessions, interview participants and congregants, and create a video resource for our conference and any church seeking renewal. Indeed, other local churches in our conference already look to us as an example for church renewal in the urban setting, because of the moves we have made with our building renovation, updating our name, and our vision to reach and include more diverse people. We view this collaboration with Acts on Stage not only as bringing innovation to our single congregation, but as a process that could be adapted and hosted by other churches.

The worship partnership will kick off during the four weeks of June. Throughout each Sunday morning in June, you can expect to see some of the Acts on Stage folks alongside our worship team working to mix new ingredients into our familiar worship experience. We are still working on promotional materials and an official description for social media, newsletter, and other outlets. We will share more info here and in other spaces, including what our partnership will look life after the four weeks. I am very excited for this collaboration and move of the Spirit! I hope you will join us during the weeks in June and into the future we are collectively being empowered into.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

I am still running off the high of how good it felt to gather in-person, worship, and host our egg hunt last Easter Sunday! A BIG thank you to all who worked hard to help make these community events happen. We had over 80 folks attend worship and over 20 folks join us on the playground of U Heights for egg hunt, chalking, and photo opportunity with one very special Easter bunny! It was fun to see long time members as well as new folks and new families at all our Easter events!

We hope you will join us in continuing this momentum as we begin gathering for worship once per month, on the first Sunday of the month (sign up / RSVP information below). We will observe closely trends regarding the pandemic and will explore adding more monthly gatherings soon. We also have more intergenerational community events with U Heights in the works.

And to help us continue in the Easter season of regathering and renewal, this Sunday we will start a new worship series titled Made New. Join us on Sundays as we explore Biblical stories of renewal and the ways that God is making us new as individuals and as a collective today.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

Last Sunday we began our Lenten sermon series, Unraveling Racism, and I shared the above quote by activist and leading scholar on discriminatory policies in America, Ibram X. Kendi. While not a theologian, Kendi, raised in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, points us to a logic that is central to the Lenten season: denial of sin leads to further pain and oppression while confession of sin leads to change and our collective liberation.

Join us this week as we continue exploring what it means to follow Jesus in the face of systemic racism and work together to repent and seek change in our city and in ourselves.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

This past Ash Wednesday, a group from our church offered ashes and blessings to morning commuters outside of the U District Light Rail Station. Holding a sign that proclaimed, “Ashes for All,” we waved and wished folks passing by “good morning” and asked, “Would you like to receive a blessing and ashes for Ash Wednesday?” Some people ignored us, some told us they were not Catholic, and some stopped to receive.

One by one, we placed ashes on their foreheads and blessed them saying, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return—in the frailty of life, God loves you!” The first person to receive was so moved that she offered to give a hug and thanked us. And while we assumed that most people that stopped by had some former involvement with or knowledge of Christianity and Lent, there was one person that did not. He asked us many questions, and in the end decided to receive the imposition of ashes for the first time. We handed each person a flyer, inviting them to stay connected to our church.

Offering ashes on the street with teams of lay people is one of my all-time favorite pastoral “tasks” I get to share in each year. I know that there are some fellow clergy – good, super-smart, faithful people, including my former United Methodist Worship professor – who feel that practicing Ash Wednesday in such a fashion is liturgically and/or theologically incomplete, and that’s a fair critique. But in an age when many churches (and, perhaps, particularly “progressive” churches) suffer from an epidemic reluctance to public/verbal discipleship and evangelism, I think it’s worth risking “liturgical incorrectness” for the chance to meet people right where they are to remind them/us that we are all at once bearers of the image of God and frail humans in need of grace. At the U District Light Rail Station, on the sidewalk, across from the Ugly Mug café: that hopeful truth is no less true in that space than it is in a sanctuary. Perhaps it is even more true amid public invitation and bold communal witness.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

“The Path” by Erin Hanson

Kindred in Christ,

Our faith community has been on a long and fruitful journey of discerning who we are being called to be in the next chapter of ministry in the U District of Seattle. And after many small group discussions, an all church gathering, and a Name Point Team comprised of both long-time members and new folks, we have decided upon a new church name, which will be revealed this Sunday, 2/27 during worship!

But more than a new name, I am excited about our vision of being a relevant church in the U District, of continuing our work for God’s loving justice and inclusion in our city. And I look forward to the ways this name will empower us to minister in new ways to our existing congregants, as well as welcome and bless new people and young families.

I hope you will join us this Sunday as we conclude our series, Kin-dom Vision, and continue to live into the path that God has set before us.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz