Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, ELCA Hood River, Oregon

What do you get when you take expired salad fixings from Rosauers, leaves raked by landscaping companies around town, a Pastor’s and Church’s shredded junk mail, coffee grounds from Mt. Hood Meadows, a bunch of worms and the faithful efforts (along with the big right foot of Scott Fitch) of a bunch of Jesus following service workers on a Saturday morning … a healthy and robust garden producing lots and lots (3700 lbs) of vegy’s  for the valued community members using the FISH Food Bank!

This past Saturday (3/3/12) Our Redeemer and Asbury members joined together to engage the first of their annual Service and Cinnamon Roll projects by working to organize, compost, sharpen tools, and various other things for the community garden they organize together.  This garden (almost ½ acre in size) produces potatoes the size of softballs, onions as sweet as can be and squash as large as a beach ball!  (No kidding, we’ve had them as large as 40 lbs!)

This rich opportunity to serve our neighbors and walk with our community is being organized by the Faith In Action group of Our Redeemer and Asbury.  Together these two communities seek to share God’s love through rich and meaningful service while also learning something about what it means to follow the One we call our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Thank you to all who volunteered!  Thank you to all who organized!  Thank you to everyone who contributed to make this past Saturday such a rich success.  If you’d like to join us for our next opportunity to serve either contact Gigi Siekkinen or Debby Chenoweth or join us from 9am to noon at Opportunity Connections (2940 Thomsen Road, Hood River OR 97031) on March 17^th.  (Opportunity Connections is a “community where people with disabilities participate in satisfying lifestyles based on the same aspirations as all citizens.  We will be performing a variety of tasks that morning helping them to do their work just that much better!)

Beginning in January of 2010, Our Redeemer Lutheran and Asbury United Methodist Churches began exploring what it would mean to enter into a formal arrangement to share pastoral services between our congregations.

After almost a year of conversations, meetings, and visioning, a vote solidified the future for the two Hood River churches. On December 19, the congregations of Asbury and Our Redeemer voted for a Joint Ministry Covenant. The initial agreement is for a three year term, during which time reviews and revisions will be conducted as appropriate.

The two churches remain separate in identity but will share one full-time clergy person Continue reading →

The Columbia Gorge Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans has surveyed the need in the Columbia Gorge area for food assistance by members of our population. The need for May was 1814 families for a total of 4336 individuals. We have set aside $500 to $2000 for each of the four counties: Wasco, Hood River, Skamania, and Klickitat.

We would like to challenge the Lutheran Churches in these four counties to match those funds by taking up a freewill offering to help with this important need in our communities. Continue reading →