I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all
men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and
peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. I Timothy 2: 1-2
At the very end of 2021 I wrote a blog post on Grant
County for my series on Praying for Oregon Counties. Grant was #36, the
final county – we have covered them all!
Now what?
While I intended to cover a variety of topics in this
blog, researching the history of the counties soon took up much of my writing
time. At the end of the first post on the first county, Clackamas, I wrote:
One other point: Is knowing our history part of standing in
the gap for Oregon, for praying effectively? It might well be. We looked at
how Daniel prayed for his people a few weeks
ago, repenting for sins he himself did not commit. When we look at Daniel’s
full prayer in Daniel 9, he confesses that God is justly angry: because
for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people
are become a reproach to all that are about us. Daniel 9:16.
Repenting for “our people,” as Daniel did, may require
looking into the “iniquities of our fathers.”
What do we have hidden in the
history of Clackamas county, I wonder?
I don’t think we have exhausted
this topic and, of course, in the months spent writing and researching I have
discovered interesting information that did not make it into the blog posts. It
seems like a good idea to continue this, beginning back at the
beginning with my home county of Clackamas. One change is the order. We’ve
considered a number of options, including alphabetical order, and I plan make
an alphabetical list and map available. However, the research I have done made
me realize that Oregon falls naturally into regions. Online maps vary wildly in
the way those regions are divided, so I combined several maps and came up with nine regions that
seem connected by geography and demographics: Portland Area, North Coast,
South Coast, Columbia River, Willamette
Valley, Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, Oregon Outback, and Northeast.
Nothing is perfect, of course, and regions flow into one another, but I think
this will help get an overall sense of the state.
So, here we are back in Clackamas County in the
region I have dubbed the Portland Area that includes Multnomah and
Washington Counties. Clackamas County is one of the oldest in the state,
established in 1843 with Oregon City made the county seat shortly afterwards. The
town was platted by Dr. John McLoughlin
himself. His house and his grave and that of his wife are about a block from
where I live, and I have learned more about him just by visiting local museums. They
both seem to have been widely admired. He is deservedly called the Father
of Oregon.
My daughter recently had the opportunity to
become more familiar with the county court system when she was selected to be
on a month-long Grand Jury panel. Interestingly, the panel met in a building in
the oldest part of town with deep roots in the past: the Masonic Temple. Built
in 1906, this was built to replace an earlier building by the first Masonic
Lodge to be established in Oregon, in 1846. That first group of about seven men
originally met in a log cabin. This 1906 building was the first Masonic Temple
west of the Mississippi.
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| Masonic Lodge, Oregon City, OR |
One thing that continues to startle me in
reading accounts of missionaries and pioneer ministers, is the division and
sometimes animosity denominations had toward each other. One account described the uneasiness and dismay when Dr.
McLoughlin showed up at a Protestant gathering. He was Roman Catholic. One might expect
distrust between Catholic and Protestant, but there was all-too-frequently competition
and criticism between various Protestant groups.
How do we pray for Clackamas County?
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for
those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they
also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17: 20-21.
Pray over Clackamas County and the rich historical heritage represented here. Repent of the hostility and competition between church groups, past and present. Pray for unity in the Holy Spirit.
The county is governed by a Board of County Commissioners
with chairman Tootie Smith, and commissioners Sonya Fischer, Paul Savas, Martha
Schrader, and Mark Shull. Pray for their wisdom and unity as they deal with setting
county-wide policies, establishing budgets and other business.
We want to pray for County District Attorney
John Wentworth and County Sheriff Angela Brandenberg as they uphold fairness
and order in the county justice system.
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