Hello Friends!

I am beginning to see photos of children standing on their front porches with fresh sneakers and backpacks.

In the coming weeks, many of us will be entering back into our normal routines as we wave goodbye to Summer 2022. I am looking forward to the next few months at West Hills Friends. I made a promise to communicate more as we enter into this new season as a community. My hope is that these letters will keep us all in the loop and moving towards something together.

It feels like I have been away from all of you for a long time. We left for a 10 day trip to Pennsylvania to visit family on August 10th. Three days later, and 3,000 miles away from home I tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time. I had planned to worship with all of you on Zoom on August 14th but I woke up that morning feeling as if I went toe to toe with Mike Tyson for a few minutes. Thankfully, our elders stepped in at the last minute and pulled together a lovely meeting for worship.

We returned from Pennsylvania on August 21st, and I am working all this week before leaving for a brief camping trip on August 27, returning on the evening of August 28th in time for my kids first day of school on the 29th. This means I will have missed three Sundays in a row. That is a long time.

I was worried about this prolonged absence at first. With Klarissa stepping down as one of our released ministers in July, it felt important to have some consistency from “the front.” But as soon as I felt that worry, I was reminded that there really isn’t a “front” at WHF. Our Quaker Meetinghouses reflect the hopes of our leadership structure, we sit in a circle together.

I knew our elders and all of the fine people who help make a Sunday meeting for worship happen were ready and capable to step in and create the space for all of you to worship. This is the beautiful Quaker way, and I am so thrilled to be a part of this way of doing things.

So I hope you will find a moment to extend some gratitude to our elders, our tech/sound folks, our musicians, Holly for holding things down in the office, Susanna and Caryl for continuing to create space for our children, and our nursery care worker Kelly Boylan for being with our babies and little kids. It is one big party of thankfulness.

We have a few big Sundays coming up in September.

On September 11th we will celebrate the start of a new school year with our traditional Sundae Sunday event.

This is our way of ringing the dinner bell, letting everyone know that we are here, and ready for our children and families to join us once again for Godly Play.

We will launch a new year of Godly Play, and celebrate it all with ice cream sundaes following meeting for worship. We will plan to eat our treats outside, no one wants Covid-19 sprinkles on their whipped cream.

The next big Sunday is QVS Sunday, September 25th

We will welcome the new Quaker Voluntary Service fellows to Portland as they visit West Hills for the first time. There are just three fellows this year. Below are some brief introductions to them.

Quaker Voluntary Service (QVS) is an experiment at the intersection of transformational spirituality and activism, a year-long Fellowship program for young adults. The fellows will be living in SE Portland for the coming year, and will worship with one of the Friends meetings in town.

Our hope is to give them a flavor of WHF on the 25th with a special potluck following meeting for worship. Let’s fill our table for them to feast!

Mickey Alford - Portland QVS Fellow

Mickey (he/they) is a recent graduate from St. Olaf College, having completed a double major in Art History and French. Interested in art, social justice, and community organizing, he is excited to be a part of QVS, and to learn as much as he can!

Originally from Austin, TX, Mickey is a fan of sunny days and swimming in any body of water they can find. In their free time, Mickey enjoys dancing with their friends, eating fresh fruit, listening to Beastie Boys, and reading horror novels.

He is also a very enthusiastic hockey fan - ask him about the Philadelphia Flyers! He is over the moon about his placement with QVS, and is honored to be working with Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility this upcoming year.

Elizabeth Zhao - Portland QVS Fellow

Elizabeth (she/her) grew up in Edison, New Jersey. She is a recent graduate of Bryn Mawr College with a major in sociology and a minor in health studies. At Bryn Mawr, Elizabeth developed a passion for social change. Outside of classes, she has volunteered with the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program as a tax preparer and co-coordinator of the BMC program helping students and low-income taxpayers file their taxes and maximize credits and refunds. This coming year, Elizabeth is excited to grow and learn as a QVS Fellow at the Outside In East Clinic.

Jenna Thompson - Portland QVS Fellow

Jenna (she/they) grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and graduated from Duke University in 2020 (on their couch at home). She then spent a little over a year living at Camphill Village Minnesota, a farm and intentional community of around 50 people. Most recently Jenna has been an au pair in Berlin, Germany, and she enjoys swimming in lakes, reading in parks, and going on long walks around the city. Jenna is looking forward to returning to community life, exploring Quaker spirituality, and serving with New Avenues for Youth in Portland this year.

Conversations with Elders...

Lastly, I wanted to give you a glimpse into the conversations happening with elders about how things are functioning now that Klarissa has stepped down. The elders are meeting about twice a month at this point. Our meetings are full, as we try to assess the health of the meeting and make plans for the future. Right now the elders and I are strategizing about how best to meet the logistical needs of our community. We are finding creative ways to invite Friends to offer messages, as I still plan to bring 2-3 a month. We want to be sure that Friends still know that there is spaciousness in the worship calendar for messages, first word, and music!

We are also looking at worship facilitation. We may be experimenting with elders stepping in to facilitate parts of our gatherings to see how that feels. On Sundays I give a message it feels like a lot of Mark Pratt-Russum filling the space, so our hope is to create some diversity in voice on Sunday morning.

Looking back on the months of July and August it seems like a theme has emerged. Perhaps it is helpful to reflect on that. What was God saying to us? We had several messages on Truth, and how it is revealed to us. I wonder why this message came to us when it did? What is it asking us to consider? How might it serve us in the coming months? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I trust they are there for a reason. I adore all of you and I look forward to these next few weeks with each of you.

With Love,
Mark Pratt-Russum
Tuesday, August 23, 2022

A letter from my desk...August 2022