Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, March 8, 2023 -- THREE
~ Letters to the Editor ~
Spiritually Speaking
Father Thankachan Joseph
The Heppner Gazette Times will print all letters to the Editor with the
St. Patrick Catholic Church Heppner
following criteria met: letters submitted to the newspaper will need to
have the name of the sender along with a legible signature. We are also
requesting that you provide your address and a phone number where you
can be reached. The address and phone number will only be used for
verification and will not be printed in the newspaper. Letters may not
be libelous. The GT reserves the right to edit. The GT is not responsible
In the first week of Lent, the Gospel reading revealed
for accuracy of statements made in letters. Any letters expressing thanks
the
humanity
of Jesus and human temptations. His desert
will be placed in the classifieds under “Card of Thanks” at a cost of $10.
experience
helps
us leave behind all our comforts and asks
Email to editor@rapidserve.net or upload to Heppner.net.
Jesus reveals Himself to the
Samaritan woman at the well
Of Life and
Legacy
Nobody warned me
what would happen when I
got “this age.” One would
think there should be some
sort of warning system…
“Warning! Memory lapse
ahead!” or “Red alert! Neck
wrinkles approaching!”
And why doesn’t that guy
that keeps bugging me
about my car warranty ever
call and say, “I’m calling
to talk to you about your
knees, which are about to
expire”? As they say, old
age is not for the weak.
What I am learning
about “old age” is that it’s
a relative term. I recently
described a patient as “el-
derly,” and then found we
were the same age. Eye
opener. But then I just met a
woman who thinks she may
have hurt her shoulder haul-
ing in wood. She’s 85…and
my hero.
I remember when I
turned 30. I looked in the
mirror and thought, “Wow.
I don’t look like a teenager
anymore.” Womanhood
found me. Each additional
decade brought its own
enlightenment. Forty was
“Ok, I should have my
act together by now.” At
50, I decided everyone
else should have their act
together. At 60, “How the
heck did this happen?” I
would like to think I have
my act together…some-
where. Would be nice to
find it while I still have my
eyesight. I figure it’s prob-
ably in a Rubbermaid tub
somewhere, maybe with my
skinny clothes or the extra
Tupperware.
Billy Graham was once
asked “What was the big-
gest surprise of your life?”
His answer was “The brevi-
ty of it.” I agree. The longer
I live, the faster the sand
slips through the glass, or so
it seems. Sometimes I feel
like time snuck by while I
was doing dishes. Doesn’t
seem very fair. But then,
the fairness of life has never
been guaranteed.
I recently attended the
Celebration of Life of a very
special lady. I didn’t know
her well, but I got to know
her life as I watched those
who loved her. Her love
and compassion for those
around her was evident in
the way she lived. She was
a doer and a giver of herself.
Her death was untimely and
devastating, but her legacy
is the epitome of the Fruit
of The Spirit of which her
Lord Jesus spoke. I felt
privileged to peek through
the window of her life. Yes,
she was special.
Driving home, I thought
of my life and the legacy I
might leave. The inspiration
of what I had just witnessed
left me changed…and it
left me unsatisfied with
my status quo. She made a
difference in her world. She
did it quietly and without
theatrics. That’s a valuable
legacy.
The sand will run out
on every one of us. If you’re
a believer and follower of
Jesus, you know what He
promised. Wrinkles, bad
knees, and fading eyes and
ears won’t follow us to
heaven. But it’s up to us
what we do in the mean-
time. As the decades pile
up…let’s make them count.
Do I want to be re-
membered? Yes, but much
more than that, I’d like to be
worth remembering.
“Your life will be
brighter than noonday; its
darkness will be like the
morning” (Job 11:17).
Susie Crosby
Heppner, OR
Local jewelry store
honored at Heritage
Museum
YOUR AD
COULD
BE
HERE!
Call
541-676-9228
Or Email
The Morrow County F.A.R.M. Foundation is creating a new
Heritage Museum exhibit for Peterson’s Jewelers, which
will be opened to the public St. Patrick’s weekend. -Photo by
Andrea Di Salvo
The Morrow County
Heritage Museum is putting
together a gem of an exhibit
and will pull back the cur-
tain to the public for the first
time on Friday, March 17.
The new exhibit will
feature a portion of Peter-
son’s Jewelers, the jewelry
store owned and operated
by the Peterson family for
almost 94 years in Heppner.
A mannequin of Randal
Peterson will normally man
the work bench in the ex-
hibit, but Peterson himself
is scheduled to be there in
person for an open house
meet-and-greet from 10
a.m. to 12 p.m. on March
17.
The museum will serve
punch, and a nostalgic bowl
of wrapped cinnamon can-
dies will also be there for
us to take a quiet life during these forty days. Similarly, in
the second week’s Gospel reading, Christ led us to Mount
Tabor to be transformed like Him and to live a divine life.
In this third week, in the Gospel of John, chapter
four, He takes us to Jacob’s well, His gradual revelation
of Himself to the Samaritan woman, and her conversion.
Jesus calls us also to this conversion. The words that
struck me most in going through this passage: “The wom-
an put down her water jar and hurried back to the town
to tell the people, ‘Come and see a man who has told me
everything I have done; could this be the Christ?’ This
brought people out of the town and they all made their
way towards him” (v. 28-30).
Jesus, an observant Jew of that time, was expected to
avoid conversation with women in public. The animos-
ity between the Jews and the Samaritans should have
prevented the conversation as well. The woman herself
mentions the break from tradition: “How can you, a Jew,
ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Yet Jesus not
only converses with the woman, He also asks to share
her drinking vessel, an action that makes Him unclean,
according to Jewish law. The most surprising aspect of the
conversation begins with His words: “Give me something
to drink” (v. 9). Most probably He is repeating this to us
the listeners. “Give....” He is inviting her to give up her
sinfulness, shame, worries, fear, loneliness. What do we
have to leave with Him? It is in giving that we can be
filled with grace of the Lord and with living waters of life.
The conversation between Jesus and the woman
is better understood if we consider the importance of
water, especially in the climate of Israel. At first, the
woman understands Jesus’s promise of “living water” in
a literal sense: “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not
be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
With no running water, the daily trip to the well by the
women of the community was of paramount importance.
The town’s women would have traveled to the well in the
early morning, but this woman came at noon, the hottest
time of day. The timing of her visit is a clear sign that she
is an outcast and doesn’t want to face other women who
may humiliate her for her profession, which is prostitu-
tion. She wants to escape from all their queries. We learn
that she is an outcast because of her “many husbands.”
The term “well” in the Old Testament is “a trusting
place.” Isaac meets his wife Rebecca at the well. Jacob
meets his wife Rachel at the well. Moses meets his wife
Zipporah at the well. Jesus’s meeting the Samaritan
woman at the well, some theologians would describe
as the incarnation of His love towards us. He wants to
marry us (the sinners). “For as a young man marries a
young woman, so shall your builder marry you and as
the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God
rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62: 5).
After the lengthy conversation, the Samaritan wom-
an becomes a disciple of Christ. Even though she is an
outcast and not a Jew, she returns to her town to lead
others to Jesus. The significance of the encounter between
Jesus and the Samaritan woman has many levels. First,
the personal: The woman is herself converted to belief in
Jesus as Messiah because He knows her sin but speaks
with her just the same. Second, the social level: Having
come to know Jesus as the Messiah, the Samaritan woman
becomes an evangelist to her own people. The third level
of the story is educational: Jesus uses His encounter with
the Samaritan woman to teach His disciples that God’s
mercy is without limit. The disciples return quite confused
to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan, and a woman at
that! But the conversion of the Samaritan townspeople is
a foretaste of the kind of open community that will be cre-
ated among those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
the taking. Also free while
supplies last are the remain-
ing copies of the last print-
ing of Peterson’s annual
calendar.
Admission is free. The
museum is located at 444 N
Main St., Heppner.
graphics@rapidserve.net
We also offer
design and
printing services
Heppner Gazette-Times
Sykes Printing
JVB Dairy awarded
FFA Distinguished
Service Award
JVB Dairy and John
and Jana VandenBrink will
be awarded the Oregon
FFA Distinguished Service
Award at the Oregon FFA
State Convention on Satur-
day, March 18, at the De-
schutes County Fairgrounds
in Redmond.
For more than 10 years,
JVB Dairy and John and
Jana VandenBrink have
been a pillar at the Morrow
County Livestock Auction
supporting youth exhibitors
in both 4-H and FFA. Their
support for the FFA dona-
tion animal each year is es-
pecially impressive. One of
the four chapters in Morrow
County—Heppner, Ione,
Irrigon and Riverside—will
raise and contribute a dona-
tion animal that sells at the
very end of the livestock
auction, all proceeds being
split equally amongst the
chapters to help facilitate
the backpack program in
their respective communi-
ties. It is estimated that JVB
Dairy has contributed more
than $120,000 in support
so FFA members can help
fight food insecurity in their
schools.
“Each chapter operates
its program differently, but
the goal is to provide food
for children who need it.
In total, our county pro-
grams support 415 food
bags monthly at last count,”
said Beth Dickenson, Ag
Teacher and FFA advisor in
Heppner. “Their persistent
generosity for the past six
years, especially, is what
allows our backpack pro-
grams to grow and continue
to provide healthy meals to
kids year-round.”
“The contributions that
JVB Dairy, John and Jana
make to help support our
communities are very gen-
erous. Their support is not
just limited to the county
fair and the backpack pro-
gram either,” said Ione FFA
Advisor Erin Heideman.
“The churches in Ione also
benefit from their service.”
The purpose of the dis-
tinguished service award
is to recognize outstand-
ing contributions made to
the Agricultural Educa-
tion-FFA Program. FFA dis-
tricts are asked to nominate
organizations, agencies or
other groups for outstand-
ing contributions made to
the Oregon FFA Associa-
tion and the total program
of agricultural education.
JVB Dairy was nominated
by Ione, Heppner, Irrigon
and Riverside FFA pro-
grams.
Button, button, who’s
got the buttons for sale?
St. Patrick’s buttons are now available for purchase.
The Morrow County Courthouse is being featured this
year, thanks to Julie Proctor Baker for designing them. The
buttons are $3 and can be purchased at Heppner Chamber
of Commerce, Heppner City Hall and Murray’s Drug.
Lunch
& Dinner
Menu
Specials 3/9-3/15
Thursday- Chicken Alfredo, salad, and breadsticks for $9.
Friday- Cinnamon swirl French toast, sausage, eggs, and 2
breakfast bars for $9.
Friday night 630-9pm top sirloin steak dinner with bacon
green beans, roll, choice of baked potato or fries, choice of
salad or vegetable beef soup, and strawberry shortcake for
$20.
Saturday soup will be Chicken dumpling.
Monday- steak nachos for $9
Tuesday- pork fajitas with tortilla chips and pineapple salsa
for $9.
Tuesday night from 6-9pm $2 hard shell tacos.
Wednesday- Sesame Orange Chicken, fried rice and egg roll
for $9.
Katie Murray
Heppner Community Foundation
503-504-8508
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chamber seeking new manager
The Heppner Community Foundation (HCF), in partnership with
the Heppner Chamber of Commerce, is now accepting applications for a
Member Services and Events Manager. Current Events Coordinator, Shelby
Matthews will be stepping down from her position on June 1, 2023. Shelby
is still HCF’s Fitness Center Manager and plans to continue to support
membership and class options for the community. Shelby has been a great
asset and plans to continue to support chamber events and programs as
a volunteer but cannot continue in her chamber role due to other time
commitments at this time.
The Member Services & Events Manager is employed by the Heppner
Community Foundation (HCF) and provides services for the Heppner
Chamber of Commerce. This role serves as the primary point of contact for
both chamber members, and the public seeking information about Heppner
events and services. The manager is responsible for coordinating and
executing a variety of duties associated with member recruitment, retention,
benefit fulfillment, and community events. By summer 2023, the position
will work out of HCF’s new Arts & Business Innovation Center, located in
the old Gazette Times building on Willow Street.
In collaboration with HCF, WCVEDG, and other local and regional
organizations, The Heppner Chamber of Commerce continues to work to
expand its membership benefits and keep its popular events alive and well.
This new manager will be a key collaborator in providing business resources
and events to both chamber members and to the public.
If you or someone you know is interested in applying, email
ksirimurray@gmail.com or visit heppnerchamber.com/careers for a full
job description and application requirements. The position is 32 hours/
week (4 days/week) with some commitment on weekends for events and
conferences. A flexible work environment with employee wellness benefits.
$24-26/hour or DOQ.