Springtime Blessings
Beloved in Christ,
This week, I bring you a potpourri of happenings.
First, I want to share that our Leadership Board has extended a welcome to Rev. Wongee Joh to list Haller Lake UMC as her Charge Conference for the 2026-27 appointment year. Rev. Wongee participated in a pulpit swap with me last fall and is now on personal leave. Most recently, she served as senior pastor at First UMC in Seattle, leaving that appointment mid-year in January 2026. During her leave, she is required to have a local church where she can go for support, if needed, and where she will report any baptisms or weddings that she performs in her year-end summary. She approached me and explained that she enjoyed and felt good about her time at Haller Lake last fall and wondered if we’d be open to her being associated with us in this way. I replied enthusiastically that I thought we’d love to hold space for her during her leave and the Leadership Board agreed. This association does not come with any expectation of pastoral duties with us, but Wongee has agreed to write a note for our weekly newsletter in July, after the Annual Conference approves her status on leave for this year.
Second, I need to point out my participation in another walk on Aurora Ave. N, this time in the Bitter Lake/Haller Lake section last week. Instead of the mayor and city Council members, who attended the April walk in Fremong, this was mostly for state-level Transportation committee leaders and agency heads. In addition to my comments, several students from Ingraham High School, neighbors, and community leaders spoke about the challenges that this section of Aurora faces. The walk was led by the Aurora Re-imagined Coalition and the Transportation Choices Coalition. You’ll see some pictures of that walk elsewhere in this newsletter. The themes of our walk were about designing the built environment so people’s needs are met for transportation, access to public spaces, and use by utilities. As you may have heard, the walk that I participated in was followed a few days later by a night time walk about safety which was attended by City Council members and focused much more on human trafficking and gun violence. Both walks and the issues they raised are important and there seems to be mounting attention and desire to transform the state highway.
Finally, I want to commend to you the fundraiser that the Church Council of Greater Seattle is holding this weekend, on Sunday evening. The location will be released after registration. The event begins at 5:45 pm and will conclude at 8:00 pm and will include dinner and a Drag show. As you probably remember, the Church Council of Greater Seattle hosted the Faithland Initiative that our congregation participated in several years ago as a way to gain skills and perspective for discerning how our property might change and be developed so our congregation’s mission can be more central to our work in the community. The Church Council also works significantly with immigrants and refugees in the area and offers resources to congregations engaging in that work. Also, the staff work tirelessly to respond and coordinate responses to emerging issues in our city. This was especially true for us when the Ingraham school shooting happened a few years back. It was the Church Council staff who spread the word about the vigil we hosted and arranged for at least 10 other clergy to be present and hold space for grieving students, teachers, parents, and others. This fundraiser is pivotal to the future of the organization and I hope you will join me there. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased here: https://thechurchcouncil.
Many Springtime Blessings,
Pastor Laura