tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39003442700047984912024-03-27T16:55:13.785-07:00Family of Hope House Churchharvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.comBlogger196125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-55915975731611892972024-03-15T15:55:00.000-07:002024-03-22T05:52:14.031-07:00March FOH Updates<p><b><span style="font-size: large;">How Can A Group So Diverse Be So Unified?</span></b></p><p>In last Sunday's Zoom meeting, Family of Hope members agreed to meet in person on the first and third Sundays a month and to meet via Zoom on the second and third Sundays. On fifth Sundays members will be encouraged to visit other congregations. </p><p>Our house church, which meets in the afternoon, has fewer than a dozen active participants, a number of whom are associate members who still meet with the congregations they are members of on Sunday mornings. One is from a conservative Church of the Brethren congregation that has left the denomination, one is a member of a conservative Calvary Mennonite Church in Dayton, one is a member of a more liberal Park View Mennonite Church, another of the Lindale Mennonite Church and until recently, one a member of a local Friends meeting. </p><p>Five of our regular participants are retired missionaries, one of whom has a daughter in a same sex monogamous relationship he would gladly welcome as a part of our congregation if they lived in our area, (even though a majority of our group would not favor extending that kind of welcome). One of our Bible teachers grew up Catholic, another was Presbyterian, and who encourages us to pay more attention to the Hebrew Bible. Some members are liberal and left leaning, but others will surely vote Republican because they believe the alternative represents a danger to our country. So what keeps such a diverse, aging and ailing group like ours together, a number of whom are in assisted living here at VMRC? </p><p>I believe it's a sense of family based on years of learning to love each other and to trust each other's desire to find and follow Jesus to the best of our ability. It's about believing that God has called and chosen us, and not just about our choosing each other. We are blessed to be a part of God's worldwide beloved community!</p><p style="text-align: right;"><i>- Harvey Yoder</i></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;">March Services</span></b></p><p>We're still waiting for feedback about Easter Sunday, but here are plans for the third and fourth Sundays:</p><div style="text-align: left;"><b>March 17 </b>(in the small event dining room on the first floor of Crestwood)<br />Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible study: Dick Dumas</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>Palm Sunday March 24</b> (via Zoom)<br />Worship and sharing: Lois Wneger<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>Easter Sunday March 31</b> (to be determined)</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-91463825031196594882024-03-06T09:54:00.000-08:002024-03-09T13:29:20.586-08:00March FOH Gatherings<div style="text-align: left;"><b>March 3</b> Meeting at Jim and Ruth Stauffers at VMRC's Crestwood at 2:30.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>March 10</b> 3:30 meeting by Zoom</div><div style="text-align: left;">Opening and Bible Study (Ephesians 4:1-16) Harvey Yoder<br /><b>Discussion of whether to</b>: <br /><b>1) disband <br /></b><b>2) continue as before, or <br /></b><b>3) initiate a modified meeting plan</b> such as the following:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b>First Sunday:</b> An in person service, or see proposal below for another possibility to consider. *<br /><b>Second Sunday:</b> Zoom service 3:30<br /><b>Third Sunday:</b> with the Stauffers, Paul Swarr or some other home bound VMRC resident at 2:30 pm<br /><b>Fourth Sunday:</b> Zoom service 3:30<br /><b>Fifth Sunday: </b>No service, but everyone would be encouraged to visit another church.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />* <b>A first Sunday Proposal</b>: What if Family of Hope were to offer associate memberships for those loyal to Virginia Mennonite Conference and MCUSA but whose congregations are leaving VMC and the Mennonite denomination? If there wee sufficient numbers of such persons interested, they could be invited to a FOH service at Park Village devoted to prayer, worship and Bible study that would meet once a month. <br />Associate members would be encouraged to remain active in their congregations while joining with us to pray with us for the creation of a growing and ever expanding circle of diverse but unified believers who confess Jesus as Lord and who want to be a part of an answer to Jesus's prayer "that they all may be one," and so "that the world may know that you have sent me." <br />The monthly assembled group would choose persons to plan the monthly meetings, attend VMC delegate sessions, etc.<br />Associate member could continue to do their giving through their congregations, but if they wished could also do some of their giving through FOH in support of VMC and MCUSA-related ministries and other local causes, but which would not go toward the maintenance of any church owned real estate or toward any staff salaries.</div><p><br /></p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-83643898105607996822024-02-03T04:41:00.000-08:002024-02-03T04:41:02.721-08:00February Church Gatherings<p>For February there will be no formally scheduled meetings of Family of Hope, but anyone on the email list may initiate a meeting, a social event, or an email conversation at the time of their choosing. For example, I am planning for another meeting at Jim and Ruth's at Crestwood on the first Sunday of February (at 2 pm to avoid a conflict with VMRC's Harmonia Sacra sing at3:30). For anyone wanting to plan for a Bible study or a prayer or fellowship service, I am glad to help publicize and promote these opportunities as needed, and will gladly take part as I am able. Otherwise we are encouraging people to visit other churches and be prepared to get together for further conversation and discernment at the end of the month.</p><p>Harvey</p><p><br /></p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-81814524346058546432024-02-02T15:09:00.000-08:002024-02-02T15:09:27.837-08:00Don't Quit, Keep Playing<p><b> Elly Nelson's message for Family of Hope January 27, 2024</b></p><p>A tale is told of a mother taking her young son to a renowned pianist’s concert to inspire the boy regarding his piano lessons. Arriving early, the mother went to speak with nearby friends, leaving her son at their seats. The boy grew restless and wandered off to explore the concert hall. Soon the lights dimmed. The mother returned to discover her son missing right when the curtains parted. The spotlights focused on the magnificent Steinway piano, and, to her horror, her son seated at it. He began an elementary, two-fingered pluck of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” </p><p>The audience jeered, but the boy tinkered away. Before she could act, the great master appeared from behind the curtain and walked briskly to the keyboard. The crowd fell silent, anticipating a stern admonition. Instead, he leaned over the child’s small frame and was heard whispering, “Don’t quit, keep playing.” His left hand reached down and accompanied him on the bass. His right arm wrapped around the boy, and he added a running obbligato. Together, the great master and young novice mesmerized the crowd with their music. </p><p>Consider that however rudimentary we may feel at times in our spiritual pursuit, this anecdote is a poignant reminder of our Great Master’s arms wrapped around each of us. </p><p>He does not call the equipped, but He does equip the called, augmenting and supplementing to create a masterpiece within those He calls His own. Scripture relates how God personally engages in our development and success. </p><p>There have been times in my life when I denied myself the blessing of recognizing the Great Master working by my side. Instead of focusing on Him when difficulties fogged my view, I agonized over nuances and uncertainties over which I had no control, resulting in little more than anxiety and a floundering, murky perspective. On reflection, the search for equilibrium and clarity has brought several reorienting principles to the forefront. </p><p><b>Find your strength in God </b></p><p>Following God never “just happens.” Being a disciple takes deliberate intention to give up our own will, pick up our cross and follow no matter the cost. There may be times in our discipleship when emotional or physical pain consumes us with such sorrow that it feels as though our innermost parts are unraveling. Or as Job experienced, loneliness, hurt and disappointment run deep when human encouragements seemingly evaporate. For some, pain from the past may linger into the present, or our own thoughts may hold us captive. </p><p>The truth is, our enemy has great power. But let us label him for what he ultimately is—a defeated foe. So why do we listen to the thoughts he puts in our head? Our Great Master is greater, and our strength must come from Him. </p><p>We cannot always control what happens to us, but we can be assured God does not randomly allow trials in our lives just to make us fearful. Nor are our lives simply an exercise in futile anxiety. He does not play with or experiment on our faith. When we love God and have His Spirit dwelling in us, He works to prepare us for His coming Kingdom. Everything we experience is to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ, and nothing is wasted. </p><p>Faith tells us that wherever we’re going, He is already there—so we can find strength and hope by seeing that which is unseen. As His plan for us unfolds, we can trust that He is in control and that He will never leave us. Take time to see the unseen. Make a list of the ways God has actively worked in your life, and thank Him. </p><p>Read 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18, and identify the profoundly personal relationship God has with each of us. From these passages we can draw this hope: </p><p>When I am anxious, He is my Rock. </p><p>When I am defenseless, He is my Fortress. </p><p>When I am distressed, He is my Deliverer. </p><p>When I am weary, He is my Strength. </p><p>When I am encircled with evil, He is my Shield. </p><p>When I am vulnerable, He is my Refuge. </p><p>When I am in despair, He is my Support.</p><p>When I am lost, He is my Lamp. </p><p>Isaiah puts it this way: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31, New International Version). </p><p>Ask yourself: Have I ever been disappointed with someone for not being as supportive as I felt I needed? If so, have I contemplated that perhaps God wants me to find my strength in Him and not from reliance on others? Would I be willing to forgive those I believe failed me and consider what God really wants from me? </p><p><b>Understand the perspective of God’s priorities </b></p><p>Significant difficulties leave us with significant questions. Before the long haul of troubles invaded our lives, perhaps we were content with our understanding of God’s sovereignty and the way He works. However, when the issues are not just theoretical but very real, solace isn’t found in religious platitudes. We want answers as we try to make sense of our infirmities and uncertainties. Sometimes there are no easy answers. Questioning God’s whereabouts when we feel abandoned is a very human response, showing how desperately we need His mercy and grace. </p><p>Often the eternal reasons for our suffering are masked, and the truth is only discoverable as His Spirit illuminates our understanding to see that His utmost desire is for us to grow into the likeness of His Son. There will always be trials unique to us, because they are a part of our preparation. Only when this understanding becomes ingrained in our thinking will we find the peace that transcends, releasing us from anger, disappointment or bitterness toward God. </p><p>In Matthew 6:8-10 Jesus shows us how to pray: “For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” </p><p>We are told our Father already knows exactly what we need even before we ask. So there must be more to prayer than simply presenting our needs. For if He already knows them, then why ask? The prayer begins by recognizing God as our Father and us as His children. Then we are to honor Him and anticipate and welcome His Kingdom on earth, longing for the day when He reigns over the nations and seeking to be aligned with His will. Why? Because to pray in this way allows our mindset to transcend the physical. </p><p>Reflect on this: By praying in this prescribed way, I change how I think. It helps me recognize God’s priorities, keep focused on the higher purpose and modify my outlook to be more aligned with His. </p><p><b>Irritation is a teacher </b></p><p>Consider the only gem produced by the stress and irritation of an undesired intrusion, the pearl. When an outsider intrudes into the home of an oyster, its defensive response is to secrete a blend of minerals creating nacre, encasing the irritant and keeping the oyster safe and comfortable. Nacre has extraordinary strength and resilience, being lighter yet stronger than concrete and as durable as silicone. Layer by layer over time, a gem of great beauty is produced through stress and irritation, without which there would be no pearl. </p><p>A helpful sermon I listened to made this point: “If we love God and are called according to His purpose, everything we experience, good and bad, helps to transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ. When you are a child of God, nothing is wasted. Even painful events and experiences are part of a grand purpose.” </p><p>God’s method of producing spiritual growth involves irritants intruding into our lives. These can include disappointments, relationship difficulties, anxiety, illness or other issues arising from our own imperfections. How we respond to these determines our closeness to God and development of spiritual maturity. Faith tells us God is working something out in our lives. This perspective is crucial to avoiding resentment and becoming disciples with mature character. When we respond to trials in faith, we build resilient endurance (Romans 5:3-4; James 1:2-4). </p><p>Faith does not mean we are kept from trials but that we recognize they serve a spiritual purpose. Whenever I struggle to maintain this outlook, it’s helpful to say aloud to myself, “God’s plan for me is right on schedule.” If we find ourselves losing this perspective, we should, as James 1:5 tells us, ask God in faith for wisdom, and it will be given to us. Stop and ask Him to grant the wisdom and perspective we need to forge ahead. </p><p>Famed Christian author C.S. Lewis borrowed an analogy from author George MacDonald in writing: “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. </p><p>“What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself” (Mere Christianity, 1952, p. 205). </p><p>Consider: There will be heartaches, frustrations, regrets, physical and emotional obstacles that may succeed in sapping our resolve—but a hopeless response to suffering can become an impediment to our faith. So ask yourself: Will I tell my story from the perspective of a victim or as a hero, from despair or hope, woundedness or survival, fear or courage, emotional resentment or forgiveness, a physical mindset or a spiritual mindset? </p><p><b>Accept the challenges God will not remove </b></p><p>A difficult aspect of the human struggle has been in reconciling a loving God who has the ability to eliminate sufferings, injustices and atrocities but chooses not to. How can we believe He shares in our sorrows, cares for us and loves us when He hears our cries yet allows us to endure hardship? </p><p>In this context, Hebrews 5:7-8 is a helpful meditation passage. We see a glimpse into the very personal struggle the human Jesus Christ felt in anticipation of His intense suffering and torturous execution. Three times He petitioned with anxious cries and tears of blood to the One who could deliver Him from what was to unfold. He beseeched God to remove it and perhaps find another way. He wrestled in emotional and mental anguish (Luke 22:42; Matthew 26:38). But then, He showed His faithful acceptance and reverent submission to the perfect plan when it was not removed from before Him. </p><p>Hebrews 12:2-3 says He endured it all “for the joy that was set before Him,” meaning He kept His eyes on the higher purpose. His trial was temporary, but His reward was everlasting. It uniquely qualified Him to be our Advocate. His death bears truth to the fact that our pain, suffering and tears are never dismissed. He understands what it’s like to agonize and wrestle with looming challenges. He understands the sting of injustice, the depths of emotional and physical travail, and when it feels as though our pinnacle of human suffering has climaxed. He understands when we wrestle with God’s plan for our lives as we seek to submit ourselves to it. </p><p>In the midst of Christ’s prayer an angel appeared and attended to Him, providing strength to endure what was to come (Luke 22:43). Likewise, when we lay our fears and anxieties before the throne of God, our petitions enter His ears. He will provide the strength we need to bear what lies ahead. In the words of 2 Samuel 22:7, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears.” </p><p>Some last thoughts to reflect on: Christ’s crucifixion is simultaneously the worst and best of all historical events. That empty tomb bore witness to the most amazing love story of all time. Knowing what awaited all humanity on the other side was a reason for Him to endure. Now we, too, have a reason to endure, knowing what lies ahead. He may not take our distresses away, but He knows our pain must be attended to. He will commune with us in our suffering as we are formed into holy people who depend on Him, knowing who we are and to whom we belong. </p><p>Remember the story of the great master and the young boy and “don’t quit, keep playing.” What we do in this life echoes forward into eternity. Let us keep our eyes on the higher purpose, knowing our Great Master is always with us. </p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-18502170367795865312024-01-20T16:47:00.000-08:002024-01-20T16:49:18.957-08:00January 2024 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Family of Hope House Church __ January 2024</u></span></b></div><p style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A House Church In Name Only?</span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">Family of Hope began as a group of believers who, with the blessing of the overcrowded Zion Mennonite Church near Broadway, began meeting to pray and to discern whether to plant a new church somewhere in the northeastern part of Rockingham County.<br /> The group eventually became involved in working with homeless and needy individuals and families, and a number of visionary seminary students and others joined. The group became the Virginia Mennonite Conference’s first and only house church congregation, and focused on investing primarily in ministry rather than in real estate and paid staff. Members experiencing church in its most basic essence, as an assembly of believers gathering for prayer, study, fellowship and in a mission of serving others at home and around the world. From the first, carry in meals were a regular part of each Sunday afternoon gathering.<br /> The spread of Covid brought about a change to meeting by Zoom rather than in person, and ever since, for a variety of reasons, including becoming a more aged and ailing congregation, the group never resumed regular meetings in person in each others’ homes.<br /> So are we still a “house church,” or has the name of our monthly newsletter, “House to House,” become a misnomer? <br /> Recently we have spent considerable time in prayer and discernment about our future. A survey of members revealed a wide range of views as to whether we should continue as an organized congregation, and if so, whether we would have hybrid, Zoom and/or in-person services. On October 23, in a meeting in the patio of VMRC’s Village, we had only five people arrive in person by 3:30, but eventually had eight present in person and six online, indicative of some of our mixed feelings about where and how to meet.<br /> I do sense, in our aging and ailing congregation, that the “ties that bind” are deep and strong, but we clearly need to discern what God wants for our future. We will have our annual business meeting January 21, and I suggest we meet in person. <br /> - Harvey Yoder</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Notes, Prayers and Praises</span></b><br />LOIS RIVERA WENGER will be leaving to be with her daughter Lorna and family in Kentucky. We will greatly miss her and pray for a good (and temporary?) stay.<br />PRAY FOR MARGIE VLASITS as she continues her measured recovery at the UVA Medical Center.<br />JANUARY BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to James Stauffer 1/8, Susan Campbell 1/17, Becky Morlan 1/28, and Dick Dumas 1/30! <br />WE WILL HAVE OUR ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING at the first floor conference room at VMRC’s Crestwood at 3:30 pm Sunday, January 21. <br />BIBLE STUDY TEXTS for January will be chosen by Bible study leaders.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>January Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </b></span><br />7 Location: online<div>Worship and Sharing: Elly Nelson<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas</div>14 Location: James and Ruth Stauffer’s apartment in Crestwood’s Redbud unit, with worship and Bible study on the Lord’s Prayer led by Harvey Yoder</div><div style="text-align: left;">21 Location: FOH annual business meeting at Crestwood’s first floor conference room. <br />28 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-26337618229122961422023-12-02T08:49:00.000-08:002023-12-02T08:52:57.507-08:00December 2023 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: x-large;">House to House<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><u><span style="font-size: large;">Family of Hope House Church <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></u></b><b style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><u><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>December 2023</span></u></b></div><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas As A Birthday Extravaganza For Jesus </span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><b> </b><i>Harvey Yoder</i><b> </b></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Many of us put a phenomenal amount of thought and effort into selecting just the right gifts for our loved ones, and spend an extraordinary amount of cash every year doing so. Our economy is highly dependent on this kind of year end Christmas sales for its survival.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There’s one side of me that sees this as a kind of positive thing. What isn’t there to like about spreading some holiday cheer and focusing on how to make our loved ones happy, plus maybe singing some carols and being generous with Salvation Army bell ringers. It was Bart Simpson, if I recall, who once exclaimed, “We Christians get to celebrate Jesus’s birthday by getting lots of really cool stuff. Is this a great religion or what?”</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But there’s another side of me that asks how all of the spending we do on each other, all the shopping and gift wrapping and feasting that goes with the season, really has much to do with honoring the one whose birth we are supposed to be celebrating?</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>William Wood, a retired professor of economics at James Madison University and a member of the Beaver Creek Church of the Brethren, wrote a piece some time ago that was published in the Wall Street Journal, lamenting the fact that our national celebration of Christmas has become so pagan and so unChristian that we ought to just call it what it has become, a "Merry Excessmas", and call the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth something else, like "Holy Nativity" (or "Feliz Navidad").</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>There’s an organization called Simple Living Works that promotes a joyful, freeing kind of more with less lifes, which for many years produced an annual collection of alternative ways of doing Christmas under the heading “Whose Birthday is it Anyway?” suggesting that in the spirit of the real Saint Nicolas of Myra, that we make this a time of extravagant giving for the needs of our hungry, homeless and the displaced neighbors around the world.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But maybe we can learn something from the way we have traditionally gone about observing the season and apply that to the way we share God’s lavish gifts with those in the greatest need. In imitating God’s generosity toward God’s own loved ones, can we make our life all about lavishing gifts on Jesus through generous giving to the least of these, thus celebrating Christmas year round.</p><p class="p5" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 17px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></span></b></p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">THE WALKING ROOTS BAND will be presenting a benefit concert at 6:30 pm Sunday, December 10, at the EMHS theater to benefit Mennonite Central Committee and the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale. A freewill offering will be taken.</p><p class="p4" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">DECEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Karen Campbell 12/26/69!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">DECEMBER BIBLE STUDY LEADERS may select passages of their own choosing, preferably on an Advent theme.</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">PRAY FOR MARGIE VLASITS and for success in the treatments she's receiving at UVA.</p><p class="p7" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 11px;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">December Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </span></i></b></p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">3 We will again meet in person with Jim and Ruth Stauffer in the Redbud unit on the second floor of Crestwood for a time of singing, sharing, praying and communion together, led by Harvey Yoder.</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">10 Location: online</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bible Study: Dick Dumas</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">17 Location: </p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera Wenger</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Bible Study: Kent Palmer</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">24 We encourage everyone to visit another church of their choice, in person, this Sunday.</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">31 Location: online</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder</p><p class="p6" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Study: Elly Nelson</p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-18384457006977404012023-11-02T06:49:00.000-07:002023-11-02T06:49:07.900-07:00<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">House to House </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Family of Hope House Church November 2023</u></span></b></div><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">My Sister Maggie Schrock 1936-2023—Graveside Reflections 10/28/23</span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">Today we lay to rest our precious Maggie here beside her husband of so many years in a space shaded by trees, a place inviting to some of Maggie’s favorite things—birds and wildflowers, bees and butterflies and all things beautiful. She loved nature, loved people, loved her family and friends and neighbors far and wide, and above all she loved God. I’ve been so blessed by growing up in the circle of her loving kindness and sweet spirit, blessed by having a next older sister who looked after me, loved me, worked and played with me, had many conversations with me, sang hymns with me and with others as we got older, encouraged me, and sent us wonderful letters and cards laced with her faith and hope and love.<br /> For our wedding she gave us a priceless gift of an oil painting of a nature scene she did as a special gift for Alma Jean and I nearly 70 years ago now. We’ll miss her talents and her many gifts freely shared with family and friends and neighbors and with the students she taught and loved at the Oak Hill School.<br /> Since we grew up just 3 years apart we shared many first things together, our first big train trip to Virginia when our family moved to the Valley from Kansas, our first school bus ride to the Stuarts Draft Elementary school, so big compared to the one room school we attended together in Kansas. Childhood and youth were full of first things, and now we are experiencing last things, last children leaving home, last paying jobs, last years of robust health and energy. Maggie has been just ahead of me in experiencing good hearing, 20-20 eyesight and good heart health for the last time. We are here today for this last farewell because she has drawn her last breath. The days and years between first things and last things have gone by “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,” as Job laments. <br /> As we and her beloved children became more and more aware of Maggie’s failing health and a great heart that finally just gave out, we were becoming prepared to see her go, yet not prepared to see her gone, even though we know she is with God. She has gone ahead of us but she will always be with us, will live on in us through all the ways she has blessed, enriched and influenced our lives for good. May God be forever praised. - Harvey Yoder</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR MARGIE VLASITS improvement after being hospitalized for a serious form of spinal meningitis.</div><div style="text-align: left;">NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Neal Nelson 11/2 (in absentia), Paul Swarr 11/10 and Guy Vlasits 11/21. Neal and Elly Nelson’s anniversary is November 26.</div><div style="text-align: left;">FOR OUR NOVEMBER BIBLE STUDIES leaders may again choose a passage from the book of Acts or one of their own choosing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>November Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </i></b></span><br />5 Location: We will meet in person with Jim and Ruth Stauffer in the Redbud unit on the second floor of Crestwood for a time of singing, sharing, and praying together.<br />12 Location: online<br />Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />19 Location: <br />Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: Ellie Nelson<br />26 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing, Lois Rivera Wenger<br />Study: Harvey Yoder </div><div><br /></div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-4103247042975816592023-09-23T14:16:00.005-07:002023-09-23T16:07:07.972-07:00October 2023 newsletter<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>House to House<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><u>Family of Hope House Church<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>October 2023</u></span></b></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></b></p><p class="p3" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">God’s First, Foremost And Final Focus</span></b></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><i>"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." </i> - Steven Covey</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> After a lifetime of reflecting on the narrative of scripture, I've concluded that its main theme is that of God's love for enemies. In other words, God's ultimate purpose, hinted at in the Bible's beginning but becoming abundantly clear in its conclusion, is that of restoring what is broken in creation and reconciling all that has become divided and alienated.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> God's story begins with the shalom we call Eden, centers on the cross-based, enemy-loving life and resurrection of Jesus, and ends with a new heavens and a restored earth. In Christ, God comes to bring an end to all of the enmity that exists between us and our Creator and between us and our fellow creatures. All alienation is over.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> I used to wonder about the meaning of the phrase in Psalm 23, "You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies." Why not in the presence of my friends? Does God simply invite our enemies so they can look on with envy as we good people enjoy a table spread with abundance?</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> No, God is inviting us to a Eucharist in which former enemies are being transformed into friends of God and friends with one another.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Here's one of my favorite examples of this main theme, found in Paul's letter to the Ephesians (3:14-18), in which he addresses the foremost enmity of his time: </span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">For Christ is our living peace. He has made a unity of the conflicting elements of Jew and Gentile by breaking down the barrier which lay between us. By his sacrifice he removed the hostility of the Law, with all its commandments and rules, and made in himself out of the two, Jew and Gentile, one new humanity, thus producing peace. For he reconciled both to God by the sacrifice of one body on the cross, and by this act made utterly irrelevant the antagonism between them. Then he came and told both you who were far from God and us who were near that the war was over. And it is through him that both of us now can approach the Father in the one Spirit. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>- J.B. Phillips translation</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> This is God's dream. Let's make it ours, praying that every congregation of believers becomes a living demonstration of divided, broken and alienated human beings becoming one, truly a foretaste of the shalom to come.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Notes, Prayers and Praises</span></b></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">ANYONE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE VIRGINIA MENNONITE RELIEF SALE can make a contribution on the Sale website or write a check made out to Virginia Relief Sale (with SOS on the memo line).</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">OCTOBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Joyce Ulrich 10/14 and Elly Nelson 10/28!</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">FOR OUR OCTOBER BIBLE STUDIES leaders may choose a passage from the latter part of the book of Acts or one of their own choosing.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p2" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">October Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">1<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Location: We'll meet in person in James Stauffer’s room at Oak Lea for an informal time of singing, sharing, praying together rather than our having our usual FOH service.</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">8 Location: online</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Dick Dumas</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">15 Location:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Bible Study:Kent Palmer</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">22 Location: online</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing, Ellie Nelson</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Study: Harvey Yoder<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">29 Location: online<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing, Lois Rivera-Wenger</span></p><p class="p4" style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Ellie Nelson</span></p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-1707905852893114562023-08-29T07:24:00.003-07:002023-09-03T15:25:57.290-07:00September 2023 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House to House <br /></b></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Family of Hope House Church September 2023</u></b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">A Spirit-Driven Church Becomes Amazingly Diverse</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><div>The God-movement unleashed on the day of Pentecost was revolutionary in the way it brought diverse and disparate people together. Quoting from the prophet Joel, the apostle Peter noted that young and old, men and women, slave and free were are to be formed together into one living, loving community. </div><div> But that was just a start, the coming together of Jews of different languages and cultures from all over the then known world--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, citizens of Mesopotamia, Judaea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya and Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. From there the circle of inclusiveness continues to expand at a breathtaking rate.</div><div> Philip, one of the Greek speaking Jews appointed to oversee the daily distribution of food among needy followers of the Way in Jerusalem, goes on a preaching mission to despised half-breed Samaritans, baptizing scores of them into the new movement. Immediately afterwards, he is led to speak to a eunuch who is a Jewish court official on the road to his home in Ethiopia from Jerusalem, where he would have been excluded from access to temple worship due to his status as an emasculated male. The eunuch is baptized and "goes on his way rejoicing." </div><div> It is soon thereafter that the most dramatic kind of inclusion imaginable takes place. The apostle Peter is called to visit and to baptize the household of Cornelius, an uncircumcised Roman occupier who is a "God-fearing and upright" Gentile. This represented the crossing of the most fundamental of all barriers, an act which would have been anathema to a devout Jew like Peter. But according to the text, God's Spirit gave him no choice but to fully embrace a hated and uncircumcised oppressor whom God had declared "clean." </div><div> Meanwhile, new believers who were scattered all over the empire after the wave of persecution that took place after the stoning of Stephen, carried the inclusionary message of the Way to places like Antioch of Syria, which became a northern hub of the Christian movement, one that openly incorporated both Jews and Gentiles into the church.</div><div> Soon thereafter, Paul, once a terrorist prosecutor of followers of the Way, with his companion Barnabas, went on a 500 mile preaching tour in which they baptize Jews and Gentiles alike into the movement. This creates major problems on the part of believers in the mother church in Jerusalem, and results in a summit of church leaders being called to resolve the rift created by the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles. </div><div> It is hard to overestimate the gravity of this question among early believers. It could not have been more abundantly clear, in the only Bible Jesus and the early apostles knew, that God had initiated this special rite of inclusion as mandatory, first to Abraham, at age 90, and then 400 years later, to the lawgiver Moses. There were to be no exceptions. </div><div> So for people whose faith was deeply rooted in Judaism, any thought of being a part of God's covenant people without that kind of sacred initiation was nearly unthinkable. Clearly the first century church could have easily divided over this issue, but instead felt led to draw the circle of welcome wider rather than to exclude those being drawn into it. That appears to be the trajectory in which God is forever moving.</div><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Notes, Prayers and Praises</span></b></div><div>THE VIRGINIA MENNONITE RELIEF SALE is set for October 6-7</div><div>SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS Lewis Overholt (9/5) and David Weaver (9/23)!</div><div>THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS for those overcoming Covid!</div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-size: medium;">September Study Theme: “Paul, a master communicator”</span></b></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">3 Paul addressing members of Jewish synagogues Acts 13-14:7</div><div style="text-align: left;">10 Paul shares good news with pagan and mixed audiences Acts14:8-28, 16:11-34</div><div style="text-align: left;">17 Paul adapts his message in addressing Athenian philosophers Acts 17:6-34</div><div style="text-align: left;">24 Paul addresses Governors Felix and Festus and King Agrippa Acts 24:1-26:32</div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>September Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">3 Location: online </div><div style="text-align: left;">Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study: Dick Dumas</div><div style="text-align: left;">10 Location: online</div><div style="text-align: left;">Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study:Kent Palmer</div><div style="text-align: left;">17 Location: online</div><div style="text-align: left;">Worship and Sharing, Ellie Nelson</div><div style="text-align: left;">Study: Harvey Yoder </div><div style="text-align: left;">24 Location: online </div><div style="text-align: left;">Worship and Sharing, Lois Rivera-Wenger</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study: Ellie Nelson</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-26063923315601287382023-08-02T17:43:00.004-07:002023-08-13T15:56:21.045-07:00August 2023 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Family of Hope House Church August 2023</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Three and a Half Decades Of A Lived Dream</span></b><br /><div>This month marks 35 years since Alma Jean and I transitioned from a 20 year period during which I was pastor of the Zion Mennonite Church south of Broadway to the beginning of what became Family of Hope House Church. The Zion congregation had been experiencing significant growth and was in need of either planting another church or expanding its meeting space. </div><div> At this point, some of us, with the blessing of the congregation, began having some prayer and discernment meetings with a few like minded persons who were, like us, more interested in the former than spending nearly a half million on the latter, noting that most of Zion's members commuted there for Sunday services from outside our rural community.</div><div> Over time, after becoming involved in ministry to homeless and transient people in the run down former Star Gables Motel, we evolved into Virginia Mennonite Conference's first and only house church. Some Eastern Mennonite Seminary couples, including Ron and Laurie Czecholinski and Guy and Margie Vlasits helped the congregation grow into two separate but affiliated living room size groups who formed one unified congregation. </div><div> When a significant number from the second group affiliated with the Twelve Tribes movement in the 90's we became just one group again, and have remained so in the years since. </div><div> Our aim has been to provide an alternative kind of New Testament-based church family for those who are less comfortable with traditional forms of church life that require paid staff and the maintenance of real estate used primarily for only a fews hours a week. A house church model utilizing the gifts of its own members was seen as one where participants' spiritual and other needs could receive attention at every gathering, and where all would be focused on being God's people in training to minister to people wherever we live and work, and not simply a group primarily inviting others to well planned inspirational services.</div><div> Judging by our numbers, we haven't been very successful in attracting new people or in recruiting and training new leaders devoted to keeping the dream of that kind of missional church alive. Thus we are at a place where we are are asking whether God will create new wine and raise up new models of church life where existing churches are in decline.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span><br />IN OUR AUGUST 6 SERVICE we will be hearing what the Spirit is saying about our future, and about whatever we may have experienced in our church visits July 23 and 30.</div><div style="text-align: left;">AUGUST BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Kent Palmer, 8/10. Also, Alma Jean and Harvey Yoder’s anniversary is August 8, and James and Ruth Stauffer’s is August 30. Blessings to all!</div><div style="text-align: left;">AUGUST STUDY THEMES (below) are only suggested texts, not a part of the lectionary, and whether or where we meet is up to the group. If we choose to use these texts, each participant should come prepared to respond to the question for that Sunday and reflect on how the passage might apply to us today.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Proposed August Study Questions</i></b></span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />6 <b>"What kind of house does God need?"</b> Stephen affirms a revolutionary, tent-dwelling God in Acts 6:8-53</div><div style="text-align: left;">13 <b>"Who is welcome in God's household?"</b> Philip baptizes former outcasts and outsiders in Acts 8:4-40, 10:1-48<br />20 <b>"What kind of church leaders does God choose?"</b> A former persecutor becomes the church's lead evangelist in Acts 9:1-31<br />27 <b>"What should God's people require of new members?"</b> A summit at Jerusalem comes to a dramatic, Spirit-driven consensus in Acts 15:1-35</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Proposed August Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </i></b></span><br />6 Location: online <br />Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study: c/o Harvey Yoder<br />13 Location: TBD </div><div style="text-align: left;">Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera Wenger</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Bible Study: c/o Dick Dumas<br />20 Location: TBD<br />Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: c/o Elly Nelson<br />27 Location: TBD <br />Worship and Sharing: everyone brings a hymn, a scripture, a word of testimony<br />Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-87575954052765334392023-07-02T12:13:00.002-07:002023-07-18T17:17:24.748-07:00July 2023 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><b><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></div><div><u><span style="font-size: large;">Family of Hope House Church July 2023</span></u></div><div style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></div></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>From Richard Stearns' The Hole In Our Gospel</i></span></b></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"For the past two thousand years, "loving our neighbors as ourselves" has meant exactly that--loving our immediate neighbors, those people we encounter daily in our communities... That one's neighbors might include those living on another continent was ludicrous until recent times. In fact the great disparity between rich nations and poor nations... largely didn't even exist... Prior to 1800, disease and inadequate health care were facts of life that affected all people. Lack of clean water and sanitation would have been virtually universal. Droughts, crop failures, famines and epidemics would have periodically devastated almost all countries. Illiteracy was common everywhere. It was the legacy of colonialism combined with the advances of the Industrial Revolution that ultimately resulted in the rapid development of some economies over another." (p. 100)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"Only about 4% of all U.S. charitable giving goes to international causes of any kind." (p. 102)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">"If your income is $25,000 a year, you are wealthier than approximately 90 percent of the world's population. If you make $50,000 a year, you are wealthier than 99% of the world's people." (p. 215)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span><br />BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO Lois Rivera-Wenger July 30!<br />OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE is planned for July 23.<br />VIRGINIA CONFERENCE ASSEMBLY meets at the Park View Mennonite Church July 14-15. Everyone is welcome to a public Assembly worship service at 7 pm Friday July 14.<br />LEWIS AND MARY ELLEN OVERHOLT will be leaving July 18 for an extended time with family in Germany.</div><div style="text-align: left;">WE ARE ENCOURAGING EVERYONE to visit other churches July 23 and 30, then report back in an August 6 Zoom service.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>July Study Themes</i> </b></span>(or study leaders may choose their own passage)<br />2 2 Peter 1:1-11 (Matt 13:44-46)<br />9 2 Peter 1:16—2:2, 15-19 (Mark 13:5-7)<br />16 2 Peter 3:1-10, 17-18 (Matt 24:42-44)<br />23 Proverbs 1:1-7; 3:1-8 (Matt 13:34-35)<br />30 Proverbs 8:1-11, 22-36 (John 8:56-58)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">July Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</span></b> </i><br />2 Location: online <br />Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson<br />9 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />16 Location: VMRC Village Hall<br />Worship and Sharing at 3:30<br />Jamaican guests Sister Yvonne McDonald and Sister Regina Taylor at 4 pm<br />23 Location: No service, visit another church<br />30 Location: No service, visit another church</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-10408587160502320802023-06-01T15:01:00.000-07:002023-06-01T15:01:11.928-07:00June 2023 newsletter<p> <b><span style="font-family: Big Caslon; font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b></p><div style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><u><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Family of Hope House Church June 2023</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span></u></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><span style="font-size: 25px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><span style="font-size: large;">Some Family of Hope Alumni</span><span style="font-size: 25px;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><span style="font-size: 25px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Here is a list of some past members and active attenders of our House Church:</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Ametsreiter, Sue Morlan, Becky </span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Blackburn, Gail Moyers, John </span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Bontrager, Sherry Nafziger, Dave and Marj</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Brainard, Kate Patterson, Audrey </span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Czecholinski, Laurie and Ron Rossen, Judy</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Dumas, Cande, Josiah See, David, Adela and family</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Glunt, Mark and Donna Soich, Karen</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Good, Dorothy, Ronnie and Jason Sottolano, Chris</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Gottfried, Eric and Rosella Sottolano, Craig and Jenn</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Greenawalt, Ted and Kimberlee Stoltzfus, Rachel</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Gullman, Dave and Debbie Weaver, Karen</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Hairston, Will and Susie Weaver, Shari</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Harrelson, Charles Westfall, Michael and Julie</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Horton, Heather Underwood, Donnie and Jeanine</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Ivanitsky, Serge and Dora Zhou, Jack and Bo, Emily, Elianah</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Johnson, Bruce and Ann, Dylan, Erin</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Kanagy, David</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Kreider, Barry and Erika</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Lenker, Mark and Marie</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Levesque, Trish</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon; font-size: large;"><b>FOH Covenanting Statement:</b></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><i>"I support the goals, vision and faith of Family of Hope, will attend weekly services as regularly as I am able, and will use my gifts and offer my encouragement to this church family to the best of my ability. I invite other members to support me--and to confront me as needed--in being faithful to this commitment." </i></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon; font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO Harvey Yoder 6/30!</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE is tentatively planned for June 18 at Heritage Haven.</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">GUY AND MARGIE VLASITS will be traveling to Budapest, Prague,Vienna and Salzburg June 2-15.</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">KENT PALMER will be taking a well deserved two-week vacation this month.</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon; font-size: large;"><b><i>June Study Themes</i></b></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">4 Isaiah 6:1-8 (Luke 5:8-10)</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">11 Isaiah 9:1-7 (John 8:12)</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">18 Isaiah 55:1-13 (John 4:13-14)</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">25 Isaiah 61:1-11 (Luke 4:16-21)</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon; font-size: large;"><b><i>June Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </i></b></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">4 Location: online </span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Bible Study: Elly Nelson</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">11 Location: online: Kent Palmer</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Worship and Sharing: Bible Study: Lois Rivera Wenger</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">18 Location: Heritage Haven Conference Room?</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Worship and Sharing: Guy Vlasits</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Bible Study: Dick Dumas</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">25 Location: online </span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera Wenger</span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Big Caslon;">Bible Study: Harvey Yoder </span></div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-41735652013862326042023-04-24T07:40:00.001-07:002023-04-30T04:11:56.553-07:00May 2023 newsletter<div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House-to-House</b></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Family of Hope House Church May 2023</u></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Christ Died To Save Us From Our Selfishness </i></b></span> - Harvey Yoder</div><div><br /></div><div>Christians agree that Christ's death saves the repentant from the consequences of their sin and gives them an undeserved pass to Paradise. However, they haven't all agreed on just what that means, or on how that happens. </div><div><br /></div><div>One of the church's oldest theories of atonement was that of Christ's death and resurrection demonstrating God’s victory over the effects of sin and death, a victory and deliverance we can claim and celebrate by faith. Some, including St. Augustine in the fourth century, believed that Jesus's life of complete obedience to God, even to the point of death, was meant to influence us to repent of our sinning and to live that same kind of life by the grace and power of God. </div><div><br /></div><div>Some later theologians believed Christ's death represented a kind of ransom paid, either to the devil or to God, one that paid the debt we owed and the guilt we incurred because of our transgressions, and which granted us our full pardon and deliverance. Or according to other scholars, Jesus became our substitute, taking the just punishment we deserved, suffering and dying on our behalf, so we wouldn't need to bear the eternal consequence of out sins.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm inclined toward a view of Christ's life and death that doesn't have him saving us from a wrathful God, but that the same God who "so loved the world" entered a hostile, God-hating world in order to save us from ourselves and from the consequences of the world's self-centered way of life--and to enable us to live and love in the way Jesus did and the way God does. </div><div><br /></div><div>As an example, here is one of my favorite passages: </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.</i></div><div><i>You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.</i></div><div><i>Though he was God,</i></div><div><i> he did not think of equality with God</i></div><div><i> as something to cling to.</i></div><div><i>Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;</i></div><div><i> he took the humble position of a slave</i></div><div><i> and was born as a human being.</i></div><div><i>When he appeared in human form,</i></div><div><i> he humbled himself in obedience to God</i></div><div><i> and died a criminal’s death on a cross. </i> </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO Margie Vlasits, 5/1, and Alma Jean Yoder 5/15!</div><div>OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE is planned for May 21at Heritage Haven.</div><div>WE WILL HAVE OUR ANNUAL RECOVENANTING SERVICE on Pentecost Sunday, May 28, where we spend some time discerning future direction for Family of Hope as we had agreed to do at our business meeting in January.</div><div>LOIS RIVERA-WENGER is planning a move to Kentucky to live with her daughter Lorna and family. She anticipates continuing to be a part of our Zoom church meetings and being in touch by phone.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>May Study Themes</i></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>7 Fifth Sunday of Easter Romans 1:1-17 Gospel as power of God for salvation to all, both Jews and Greeks (Matt 9:10-13)</div><div>14 Sixth Sunday of Easter Romans 3:28-30 5:1-11 God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit; Christ died for the ungodly (Matt 11:28-30)</div><div>21 Seventh Sunday of Easter Romans 6:1-14 We were buried with him by baptism into death, so that we might walk in newness of life. (Matt 6:24)</div><div>28 Pentecost Acts 2:1-4 Romans 8:14-39 The groaning of creation, Spirit helps us in our weakness, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Matt 28:16-20)</div><div><br /></div><div><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">May Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</span></i></b> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7 Location: online <br />Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson<br />Bible Study: Roy Hange, District Overseer<br />14 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas</div><div style="text-align: left;">21 Location: Heritage Haven Conference Room<br />Worship and Sharing: Guy Vlasits<br />Bible Study: Kent Palmer<br />28 Location: online (Pentecost Sunday)<br />Worship and Sharing, Bible Study and Recovenanting: </div><div style="text-align: left;">c/o Harvey Yoder</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-14095560041177341492023-03-31T06:54:00.003-07:002023-04-04T17:44:54.648-07:00<div style="text-align: left;"> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b><br /> <u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Family of Hope House Church __ April 2023</span></b></u><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>My Lord, What a Morning! </b></i></span>(a reprint from our May 2012 newsletter)<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On Easter Sunday morning (2012), those of us who gathered to celebrate our annual sunrise service met as usual at the entrance of what was once known as Massanutten Caverns, next to the home of Guy and Margie Vlasits. We assembled around the locked steel door of the cave at our usual 8 am time. Since this is right against the west side of Masssanutten Peak, the sun actually just comes up over the ridge at about that time.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In fact, the sun made its appearance right at the moment our speaker Elly Nelson spoke the words “He is risen!” as a part of her Easter homily. Elly inspired us to reflect on what the resurrection story means to all of us, that light is replacing darkness, life is replacing death. That’s what we celebrate. That’s what the Easter story is all about.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It seemed fitting that we had a woman bear this witness, since it was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and other women, not our Lord’s male followers, according to the gospel texts, who first arrived on the scene. It was women who exercised the courage to bring spices to apply to the body of their recently buried loved one. No one knows how they expected to enter a guarded cave with a large stone rolled in front of it, not unlike the barred steel door of our cave, marked with the words, “This Cave is Protected by Virginia Law.” Perhaps they simply trusted God to take care of that detail. Sabbath being over, love must find a way.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the words of the 17th century poet George Herbert:<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Can there be any day but this, <br />Though many suns to shine endeavor? <br />We count three hundred, but we miss: <br />There is but one, and that one ever. </i> - Harvey Yoder </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Notes, Prayers and Praises</span></i></b><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">LEWIS AND MARY ELLEN attended the funeral of a beloved cousin and brother-in-law in South Carolina set for April 2. We continue to offer prayers for those grieving losses and experiencing difficult life challenges.<br />BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO to Mary Ellen Overholt 4/5 and Cathy Atwell 4/19!<br />OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE is planned for April 16 at Heritage Haven.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">April Study Themes</span></i></b><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2 Triumphal Entry Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-17 cleansing the temple crucifixion, Good Friday Matthew 27:27-61 (Psalm 118:25-29)<br />9 Easter Matthew 28:1-10 Resurrection, empty tomb, women encounter the risen Jesus (Psalm 118:19-24)<br />16 Second Sunday of Easter Matthew 28:16-20 Great commission (Psalm 40:9-10)<br />23 Third Sunday of Easter Acts 10:1-48 Peter’s vision (Matt 9:36-37)<br />30 Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 13:1-3; 14:8-18 Beginning of Paul’s mission. Healing at Lystra, gospel to the Gentile world (Matt 10:40-42)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">April Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2 Location: online<br />Sharing and prayer: Elly Nelson<br />Scriptures and songs for Holy Week: c/o Harvey Yoder<br />9 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />16 Location: Heritage Haven Conference Room<br />Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Kent Palmer<br />23 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />30 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-2714442158598009262023-02-26T17:30:00.001-08:002023-02-26T17:30:56.355-08:00Forgiveness Is All About Healed Relationships<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Some of Elly Nelson's reflections in her February 26 Bible Study:</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />The act of forgiveness as biblically stated, involves not holding someone’s sin against them in a way that the relationship is strained, or enmity is created between individuals.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Of course, we may never forget the way someone has wronged us. People do terrible, evil things. Even fellow believers are capable of hurting us in profound ways. The point of forgiveness, however, is that we no longer keep a record or tally of those wrongs that we might use against them in the future.</div><div><br /></div><div>When someone sins against us, if we’ve forgiven them, we don’t bring back previous sin as an added offense. Their debt has been erased, the score has been settled, and they are free from any burden of guilt.</div><div><br /></div><div>We too are freed from bitterness, anger, and the constant need to seek retribution or demand reparation for their wrongs. It’s not easy. When someone hurts us, we often want to hold onto our resentment and sense of indignation, believing we are justified in seeking retribution or vindication.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>The Bible, however, says that we are to “let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one</div><div>another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Forgiveness brings freedom to both parties, whereas unforgiveness only breeds bitterness, resentment, and further division. Jesus had addressed this when He addressed the need for believers to correct a brother or sister who has sinned.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we lovingly confront those who’ve sinned against us, not in malice or vengeance but gentleness and reconciliation, we give the person the opportunity to confess, repent, and seek forgiveness. If they do, praise God. As Jesus says, “you have won your brother” (Matthew 18:15). This, of course, should always be the goal, the restoration of the relationship.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ah, there is the word that I was looking for as I recounted the celestial event of the first of this month and the dog-walking at the last of this month. </div><div><br /></div><div>RELATIONSHIP.</div></div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-24640027819409345142023-02-26T05:07:00.004-08:002023-02-26T05:31:48.933-08:00March 2023 newsletter<span class="im" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #500050;"><p style="color: black; font-family: "Big Caslon"; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">House-to-House</p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> <span style="text-decoration-line: underline;"><b>Family of Hope House Church __ March 2023</b></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><i></i><br /></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 20px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i>Staying Awake Can Be Hard To Do</i></b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i><span style="font-size: medium;">"But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing!” </span></i></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Ken Peterson, Romans 13:11ff THE MESSAGE </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Among the few books we had in our family library at home was one on the April 14, 1912, sinking of the Titanic, billed as the finest and most reliable ocean liner ever. I remember how horrified I was reading about the fate of all the people who wined and dined together in high style on that voyage, oblivious to the disaster that awaited them.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In a similar way we may find ourselves lulled into believing that our ship of state, the now aging republic known as the United States of America, will endure forever. We are promised it will not only manage to avoid any future decline or disaster (of the kind that all empires of the past have experienced) but will gain ever increasing greatness.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Thus in spite of the fact that both scripture and history tell us differently, we continue to trust in our broken economic and political system as though there were no tomorrow, or that our every tomorrow will be just like the present.</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> In his book "Rewilding the Way", Todd Wynward quotes from the Dark Mountain Project, a group of artists and writers who take a contrasting view of where things are headed: </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <i> "Human civilization... is built on little more than belief: belief in the rightness of its values; belief in the strength of its system of law and order; belief in its currency; above all, perhaps, belief in its future. We live in an age in which familiar restraints are being kicked away, and foundations snatched from under us... A similar human story is being played out. It is the story of empire eroding from within us. It is the story of a people who believed, for a long time, that their actions did not have consequences. It is the story of how that people will cope with the crumbling of their own myths. It is our story.” </i> - Harvey Yoder </span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Notes, Prayers and Praises</span></i></b></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>JAMES AND RUTH STAUFFER</b> have moved to rooms 224 and 225 in the Redbud unit at VMRC’s Crestwood.</span></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO </b>RUTH STAUFFER, 3/28!</span></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DONNA AND LEN SACRA </b>suffered extensive loss due to a fire on one of their properties at Cootes Store west of Broadway.</span></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE</b> is planned for March 19 at Heritage Haven.</span></p></span><span class="im" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #500050;"><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b></p><p style="color: #141414; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">March Study Themes</span></i></b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5 Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of laborers in vineyard (Psalm 16:5-8)</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">12 Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of wedding banquet (Psalm 45:6-7)</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">19 Matthew 25:1-30 Parable of the bridesmaids and the talents (Psalm 43:3-4)</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">26 Matthew 25:31-46 The judgment of the nations (Psalm 98:7-9)</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>March Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</i></b><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: 10px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 13px;"><br /></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">5 <b>Location: online</b></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Dick Dumas</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">12 <b>Location: online</b></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Kent Palmer</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">19 <b>Location: Heritage Haven Conference Room</b></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing: Elly Nelson</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">26 Location: online</span></b></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</span></p><p style="color: black; font-family: Times; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Bible Study: Elly Nelson</span></p></span>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-15369067914266772862023-02-26T04:58:00.002-08:002024-01-18T17:37:59.343-08:00Family of Hope Business Meeting<div style="text-align: left;">Family of Hope Annual Income and Spending Review and Discussion of FOH’s Future<br />Location: Zoom online<br />Date: January 29, 2023<br />Time 3:50-5 p.m.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Agenda </div><div style="text-align: left;">1. Presentation and discussion of Income and Expenses (Treasurer’s) Report prepared by Susan Campbell<br />2. Discussion of future meetings of Family of Hope</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Harvey opened the meeting with prayer.<br /><br />The Income and Spending (Treasurer’s) Report was shared on-screen.<br />Harvey thanked Susan for compiling the Report. He noted that our aspirational budget was $16,800, but that we actually took in $11,210 in 2022. He noted that we have not stressed giving and that we still<br />had more than enough to give to targeted agencies. Harvey queried Susan about how incoming funds<br />come in. Susan: It varies. Some give monthly through bank transfer, some may give a single large<br />amount once a year, and some may give a larger amount every few months. Harvey queried Susan<br />regarding her workload in tracking finances and preparing reports. Susan responded that the workload<br />was not that hard except for the end of the year when closing out the year and waiting for final bank<br />statements.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Harvey reviewed expenditures: regarding local expenses, there was more than enough. $500 was<br />distributed for a local need, while $2500 was designated. He advised that Susan could petition for<br />postage costs. Susan disclaimed the need to do so. Harvey questioned a miscellaneous expense. Susan<br />said it was for Daniel Bowman as a guest speaker.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Harvey asked for questions or comments and then moved on to routine expenditures. $2800 was<br />allocated and distributed for routine Mennonite Conference Agencies. $3750 was allocated and<br />distributed to Mennonite USA agencies. Harvey asked for questions or comments.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>David Weaver: David commented on our giving to Our Community Place. He suggested they may be</div><div>drifting away from Christian context. He stated further that Kingsway is doing good work and that perhaps we should shift some funds there. We need to get more information regarding this.</div><div>Harvey questioned an expenditure of $3000. Susan explained that it was a one-time donation to Open</div><div>Doors organization based on funds remaining from the 2021 overage after budgeted expenditures were</div><div>satisfied. This donation had been agreed upon by consensus.</div><div><br /></div><div>Harvey requested reimbursement for Virginia Conference delegate fee and transportation, which would</div><div>be $60 plus the bus fee.</div><div><br /></div><div>Roy Hange commented with admiration that the giving profile of the Family of Hope congregation</div><div>exceed that of many churches within his purview that are two and three times our size. This may be due</div><div>in part to the fact that our pastor accepts no salary.</div><div><br /></div><div>No vote was taken and no revision to budget was determined pending investigation of Our Community</div><div>Place and discussion of maintaining the treasury based on the outcome of desire to continue the Family</div><div>of Hope Congregation as it is currently structured has been determined.</div><div><br /></div><div>We exploring the results of the survey results concerning the continuance of Family of Hope</div><div>Harvey opened the discussion with responses to the questions posed in the survey. The survey results</div><div>were shared on the screen, with the letter M designating covenant members and the letter A designated</div><div>those who fellowship with Family of Hope but who have membership in other congregations that are</div><div>either Mennonite affiliated or of another affiliation. He stated first that he was in no way “burned out”</div><div>and would continue as lead pastor as long as his health allows.</div><div><br /></div><div>He suggested further that we were all to answer the questions in the survey as we were led by The Spirit</div><div>to answer from an individual perspective and to continue to do that during our discussion of the survey</div><div>results. The survey questions were:</div><div>__ I believe it's time for Family of Hope to disband as an official Virginia Mennonite Conference congregation and have its members join other local congregations. (1 means you want FOH to continue just as it has been, 5 that you feel we should disband and have each person transfer their membership. )</div><div> If we were to disband as an official congregation...</div><div>_ I would choose another church to be an active part of (1 means you would probably not choose to join another congregation, 5 that you would become an active member elsewhere, or if unsure, choose 2, 3, or 4)</div><div>__ I would be interested in maintaining ties with FOH folks interested in occasional meetings for prayer and fellowship rather than becoming a part of another church's small group or cell group</div><div><br /></div><div>Elly: Elly admitted to confusion as to why a vote to disband as an official Mennonite Conference congregation would preclude disbanding as a fellowship of believers, why the alternative to remaining as we have been would be to transfer membership to a different congregation. She stated that she would not join another congregation because she has never experienced a fellowship such as this in any other church.</div><div>Susan: It would be sad to see FOH disbanded, but she is okay with whatever the majority decides.</div><div>Lois: She is not likely to join another church due to Covid concerns – for herself and for others-and would keep attending remotely via Zoom.</div><div>David: He chooses to go on as we have been and not go elsewhere, but not necessarily as an official congregation of the Mennonite Conference.</div><div>Harvey asked Roy how small a congregation could be and still be a valid Mennonite congregation. Roy answered that a minimum number was required to plant a church, but that he did not know the numbers required to remain in the Virginia Mennonite Conference.</div><div>Lewis: He feels he is a part of the congregation and loves the people here. He would</div><div>like to continue to be part of the congregation but doesn’t want to stay on Zoom for</div><div>the rest of his life.</div><div>Mary Ellen: She reviewed options available to them at VMRC, including bible studygroups and services at Strite auditorium. She still has a strong bond with theirformer church in Americus, GA, but would not transfer membership from Family ofHope.</div><div>Paul: Stated that he will remain in attendance with this congregation as long aspossible, just as we are.</div><div>Guy: He values the relationships within FOH, but finds it hard this way (through Zoom). He is willing to continue for the time being, but that Zoom is not a long-term option for him because it is too hard to maintain relationships.</div><div>Kent: He is not certain that the congregation is sustainable in the long term. He is not sure if the spirit that drew him to our group exists now, as we have been meeting via Zoom for so long.</div><div>Harvey added that he would prefer meeting face to face, and the topic of hybrid meetings arose.</div><div>Lively discussion ensued, with suggestions of meeting in a room at Park View Church which has a giant screen and wired sound system that makes it seem like everyone is present even if some are via Zoom. He also discussed an excellent ventilation system exists there.</div><div>The possibility of meeting in a room at VMRC was added to the discussion. Pros were listed as close proximity for Lewis and Mary Ellen, Paul and David. Whether the facilities for a large screen and optimum sound quality could be met is in question as well as permissions. Cons are ventilation.</div><div>Harvey asked Dick for his input on the survey.</div><div>Dick: He likes the proposals and would like to continue FOH. He has concerns about meeting in person. Kent asked Dick how he was in hybrid meetings that were outside, and Dick stated that he was fine with a hybrid meeting outside.</div><div>The consensus was that an outdoor venue does not afford those attending remotely to feel like a part of the meeting, or for those physically present to connect with those attending remotely, which is a great disadvantage. If we could find a place for hybrid meetings that would be safe and offer a viable solution, it would keep us connected in the manner that we all desire, while those who have reservations about meeting corporeally would still have the sense of being present.</div><div>Knowing that Kent, who normally does all the technical work to get us connected via Zoom is typically absent one Sunday each month. Elly volunteered to learn whatever is need to fill in for him on that one Sunday.</div><div>Harvey suggested experimenting for a year or two in finding and using a venue that would work well for us. Guy countered with three months.</div><div>Though no action was taken on the budget and consensus was not reached regarding continuation as a Virginia Mennonite Conference congregation, a consensus was reached that we will do all that we can to make it possible for those who wish to attend in person and those who wish to remain remotely connected will be able to convene in the best way possible. To that end, Harvey suggested that he and Kent would explore options at VMRC and at Park View as starting points, and promised for one Sunday in February to be a hybrid service.</div><div><br /></div><div>Roy Hange brought our meeting to a close with kind words and an uplifting blessing</div><div>as benediction.</div><br /></div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-62556849146808499402023-02-01T07:51:00.008-08:002023-02-18T14:26:48.787-08:00February 2023 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Family of Hope House Church February 2023</u></span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Stage IV Malignancies Endangering the Body of Christ?</span></i></b> </div><div style="text-align: left;">At the winter Delegate Assembly Saturday, 2/4, delegates from Virginia Mennonite Conference congregations heard a report and recommendations from an outside consulting and listening group concerning mistrust of Conference structures and leadership in the wake of charges of professional misconduct by the Executive Minister. We also considered at length some bylaw changes regarding the way members of the Conference Congregational Council are chosen. </div><p>These are certainly issues deserving our prayerful attention, but I also wished we had more time for serious discernment and prayer about other pressing issues affecting all of us, like...</p><p><b>A Pandemic of Affluenza:</b> Our members are becoming increasingly affluent, building expansive homes, going on Caribbean cruises and enjoying the finest of fares, while the gap between people of privilege and wealth and the world’s poor and homeless becomes ever wider. </p><p><b>Excommuni-mania</b>. While excommunication of individual members in the pattern of Matthew 18 has become almost unheard of, whole congregations are withdrawing from communication and fellowship with fellow believers in other whole groups of churches they have been a part of for decades. In my own lifetime, we have gone from having three Anabaptist communions in Rockingham County alone to over a dozen today. </p><p><b>Sports Attention Disorder</b>. Super Bowl Sunday, for example, may generate more interest and engagement on the part of many members than do Good Friday, Easter and World Communion Sunday combined.</p><p><b>Fidelity Deficit Disorder</b>. Teens and young adults, gay and straight alike, are increasingly experiencing physical intimacy with multiple partners, then often living together in undocumented marriages before having a church blessed wedding. The use of readily available pornography is also adversely affecting members of our communities at an ever younger age. </p><p><b>MAGA-phoria</b>. Ever more of our members are aligned with election deniers, insurrectionists, gun regulation opponents, climate crisis deniers and advocates for an America-first, nationalist and militaristic agenda that is unwelcoming of refugees and people of other races and ethnic groups. Our members on both the political left and right are increasingly alienated from each other.</p><p>There is so much to praise God for in the family of faith that has been home to me for most of my adult life. May God grant us wisdom to discern a way forward in the spirit of Lord's prayer in John 17, the experience of Jewish and Gentile congregations at odds with each other in Acts 15, and the appeals for unity on the part of missionary Paul in his letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians and others. </p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></span></b></p><p>LEWIS AND MARY ELLEN OVERHOLT celebrated their wedding anniversary January 13. Congratulations!</p><p>DAVID WEAVER GOT THIS RESPONSE to a Christmas card he sent to someone on a list of prisoners often forgotten by the outside world: <i>“I've lost all my family members who cared enough to send cards in the past 23 years, so I only get a few during the holidays. I'm still on a quest to have an Ancestry DNA test done so I can find my biological father, who is unaware of my existence. My mother served in the Navy with him and never told my father about me. She left the service and gave me up to my grandparents who adopted and raised me. The VA Department of Corrections just won't let me use a DNA …It’s an ongoing battle, but I feel that all hope is lost and I will never find my father before he passes away. The passage of time slowly takes away all the joy of life and leaves nothing but sadness, but your card helped a little for that. Merry Christmas.”</i> - Tom Melnyczyn Deerfield Correctional Center</p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">February Study Themes</span></i></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">5 Matthew 7:1-14, 24-29 Speck in the eye, narrow gate, wise man builds house on rock (Psalm 37:16-18)<br />12 Matthew 13:24-43 Parable of wheat and weeds (Psalm 84:1-7)<br />19 Matthew 16:24--17:8 Passion prediction, bearing the cross, Transfiguration (Psalm 41:7-10)<br />26 Matthew 18:15-35 Church discipline, forgiving 70 times 7, parable of unforgiving servant (Psalm 32:1-2)</div><p><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">February Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </span></i></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">5 Location: online<br />Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson<br />Bible Study: Harvey Yoder<br />12 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />19 Location: Heritage Haven conference room<br />Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Kent Palmer<br />26 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson </div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-37194990166231603692022-12-31T08:30:00.005-08:002023-01-29T10:02:55.233-08:00January 2023 newsletter<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House-to-House
</b></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Family of Hope House Church __ January 2023</u></b> </span><div><br /></div><div><b><span style="font-size: large;">Re-Visioning Family of Hope</span></b> <i>- Harvey Yoder</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>Some of us have been part of our now aging house church congregation in this community for many years. We stayed because we found it to be a great (though certainly not perfect) way of being nurtured through all of the basic elements of church--Bible teaching, prayer, mutual care, worship and fellowship, including regular meals together--all without the need for maintaining any real estate or supporting any paid staff. </div><div><br /></div><div>Having gifted people taking turns leading the worship and sharing hour, as well as leading our Bible study time, has done as much for those leading as those led. And being home based and lay-focused (though I’m named as the “pastor") frees our giving for meeting outreach needs we all care about as well as for mutual aid when necessary. </div><div><br /></div><div>As members of Family of Hope we have all been “pastors” for each other and at the same time also the “laos” (Greek word for the body of people made up of God’s ‘laikos”) together, all of us being called together for the ongoing work of Jesus in the world. </div><div><br /></div><div>What we haven’t done well is having our individual households become magnets of hospitality that warmly welcomed neighbors and strangers into our dining and living rooms, and then in turn drawing these friends into our larger house fellowship. That kind of friendship-based, disciple making, mission-focused evangelizing is key to the health and growth of any congregation, but like many other believers, we weren’t very good at it. Nor were we effective in attracting younger members into our church family and preparing them to become future house church leaders. </div><div><br /></div><div>One direction some of us have considered is having each of us transfer our official membership to a nearby congregation, but continue as an informal kind of cell group for mutual care and support. Please pray about that as we discern further direction at our January 23 business meeting. </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div>JANUARY BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to James Stauffer 1/8, Susan Campbell 1/17, Becky Morlan 1/28, and Dick Dumas 1/30!
OUR CONTRIBUTION for Christmas gifts for prisoners was $95, and helped Kingsway Outreach provide gift kits for 6000 inmates in 7 prisons, 2 CCAP facilities and 2 Regional Jails. Each got a notepad, pencil, toothpaste, chapstick and a Christmas card. </div><div>LEWIS AND MARY ELLEN'S anniversary is January 13. Congratulations!</div><div>THE ANNUAL WALKING ROOTS BENEFIT CONCERT at the Eastern Mennonite School raised nearly $28,000 for MCC. </div><div>OUR $500 MISSIONARY SUPPORT FUND for 2022 is being divided between Jonathan and Alethea with Wycliffe Translators and Gracie and Yugo with Servants to the Asian Poor. </div><div>WE WILL DISCUSS WHETHER FOH will continue as an official congregation or as simply a spiritual fellowship and support group in our 1/22 business meeting (see “Revisioning Family of Hope”).</div><div><br /></div><div><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>January Study Themes</b></span> </i></div><div>1 Genealogy of Jesus Matthew 1:1-17 (Psalm 132:11-12) </div><div>8 Jesus' Baptism: Matthew 3:1-17 (Psalm 2:7-8) </div><div>15 Tempted in the Wilderness Matthew 4:1-17 (Psalm 91:9-12) </div><div>22 Beatitudes Matthew 5:1-20 salt of the earth, light of the world (Psalm 1:1-3) </div><div>29 Lord’s Prayer, treasure in heaven Matthew 6:7-34 (Psalm 20:7) </div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>January Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</i></b></span> </div><div>1 Location: online </div><div>Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder </div><div>Bible Study: Dick Dumas </div><div>8 Location: online </div><div>Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger </div><div>Bible Study: Kent Palmer </div><div>15 Location: online </div><div>Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer </div><div>Bible Study: Elly Nelson </div><div>22 Location: online </div><div> Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</div><div>29 Location: online </div><div>Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger </div><div>Annual Business Meeting, ℅ Roy Hange and Harvey Yoder</div></div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-38374825374257982332022-11-29T08:19:00.003-08:002022-11-30T07:11:17.856-08:00December 2022 newsletter<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House-to-House</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Family of Hope House Church December 2022</b></span></u></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Seven Were Together in One Place, and Four In Another </b></i></span> <br />A total of some 30 people attended the untypical Family of Hope Sunday service held at VMRC’s Village Hall Sunday, November 27. Of these, only seven were FOH members (including Jim and Ruth, who arrived in their own vehicle!), with four participating online. Six attendees were members of our biological family. <br /><br />We owe Kent special gratitude for going to great lengths to make a livestream version of the service available, even though the Zoom platform isn’t known for delivering the quality of sound desirable for a satisfactory music program.<br /><br />Alma Jean and I and others who are related to Brad by family and/or by friendship ties were certainly blessed by Sunday’s gathering, but at present the prospects don’t look good for even occasional in person Family of Hope meetings. We vote with our feet, as we have every right, and I can fully understand why many of our group are hesitant to meet in person due to the ever present concern about Covid and other infections. Of course I also understand why many of us see online gatherings as just not offering them the full experience of church that is possible when we can greet each with holy affection, sing together with full throated abandonment and share the bread and cup of he Lord’s supper together in the bond of “common-union.” <br /><br />So what do God’s people do when limitations of health, age and mobility prevent them from breaking bread from “house to house” and engaging in those aspects of church that can’t happen well virtually?<br /><br />We invite your prayers, insights and suggestions.<br /> - Harvey Yoder<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Notes, Prayers and Praises</b></i></span><br />DECEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Karen Campbell 12/26/69! She appreciated the church’s recent gift of a fall arrangement to brighten up her room. Her address is HHRC, 1225 Reservoir St., Harrisonburg, VA 22801.<br />OUR CONTRIBUTION to the Harrisonburg District’s Christmas Gift Kit Fund for prisoners at Coffeewood and Augusta Correctional Centers and for inmates at our local jail was $95.<br />THE ANNUAL WALKING ROOTS BENEFIT CONCERT at the EasternMennonite School auditorium at 7 pm Sunday, December 13 is a part of the Mennonite Relief Sale’s effort to raise money for Mennonite Central Committee. Last year’s concert raised $60,000.<br />OUR $500 MISSIONARY SUPPORT FUND for 2021 went to Jonathan Bylers with Wycliffe Translators and Gracie and Yugo with Servants to the Asian Poor. Is everyone OK with doing the same this year?<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">December Study Themes</span></i></b><br />4 Esther 4:1-17 For such a time as this (Matt 5:13-16, Salt and light)<br />11 Isaiah 42:1-9 A light to the nations. Bringing release to prisoners. (Matt 12:15-21, The ministry of Jesus)<br />18 Matthew 1:18-25 Announcement of Jesus’ birth to Joseph; Jesus as Immanuel (Psalm 23:1-4 )<br />25 Luke 2:1-20 Birth of Jesus (Psalm 96:10-13)<br /><br /><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">December Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </span></i></b><br />4 Location: online<br />Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />11 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Harvey Yoder<br />18 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson<br />25 Christmas Day <br />We will not have a service today. </div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-39403780658819626732022-11-01T07:49:00.003-07:002022-11-06T12:04:04.418-08:00<p> <b><span style="font-size: x-large;">House-to-House</span></b></p><p> <span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Family of Hope House Church November 2022</u></b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>They Were All Together In One Place </b></span> </p><p>We’ve had mixed reviews about our hybrid Zoom and in-person service Sunday October 23. On the one hand it was slightly dispiriting to have only five FOH members present for the opening part at 3:30, fewer than anticipated, but we sang, prayed. laughed and were blessed by having a devout guest with us from Bangladesh who had just moved in next to the Overholts. And with Jesus in our midst, as alway, we had more than a quorum present at the Village Hall patio, and by 4 pm we had a grand total of eight there in person and six online. Participation by everyone in our study (of Solomon’s wisdom and of what we can learn from his lack of it) was spirited and helpful.</p><p> Yet we’re all aware of the limits of virtual church meetings. It’s hard to imagine the 120 gathered in that upstairs room at Pentecost having had quite the same experience of the Spirit’s hurricane force presence had they not been “all together in one place” for their time of waiting and praying together.</p><p> The Acts 2 text doesn’t say whether they sang during that time, but I’m sure they did, and we all greatly miss that part of our worship experience, as much as we have enjoyed hearing some really great recorded music in our virtual services. Paul writes that we are to “Teach and admonish one another with all wisdom… singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.”</p><p> Then there are the missing signs of our common life around the Lord’s table, as in the breaking of bread and partaking of the cup, which can’t happen virtually, nor can the washing of one another’s feet, the laying on of hands for prayer or the anointing of oil for healing. And of course we can only greet one another with a holy kiss, embrace or other warm greeting if we are physically in the same space, though we can of course welcome each other with heartfelt words in either case!</p><p> May God help us as we find a way to again be “together in one place.” That is how it will be in heaven, thank God.</p><p style="text-align: right;"><i>- Harvey Yoder</i></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></span></b></p><p>KAREN CAMPBELL suffered a stroke October 22 and was taken to Sentara/RMH and then to Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville. Thankfully she recovered well and returned to HHRC four days later.</p><p>NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Neal Nelson 11/2 (in absentia), Paul Swarr 11/10 and Guy Vlasits 11/21. Neal and Elly Nelson’s anniversary is November 26.</p><p>BRAD YODER will be with us for a Thanksgiving/Advent music service at Village Hall Sunday, November 27. Following a half hour for our prayer and sharing, we will have an hour of music with Brad from 4-5, with folks from VMRC and elsewhere invited to join us. </p><p>LOCAL CHURCHES ARE ORGANIZING A SPECIAL DRIVE to collect gifts for Virginia prisoners: chapstick, travel size/hotel size bars of soap, full size tubes of toothpaste, #2 unsharpened wooden pencils, and money for the purchase of notepads, thermal socks and toothbrushes. We will collect these at our November 27 meeting.</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i>November Study Themes</i></b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">6 II Kings 5:1-15a Elisha heals Naaman Matt 8:2-3, Jesus heals a leper,<br />13 Micah 1:3-5; 5:2-5a; 6:6-8 God desires justice, kindness, walking humbly with God Matt 9:13, God wants mercy, not sacrifice<br />20 Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; then 2:1-4 Assyria threatens Jerusalem Matt 5:14, light of the world, city on a hill<br />27 Habakkuk 1:1-7; 2:1-4; 3:17-19 The prophet awaits God’s reply. Matt 26:36-38; Jesus is grieved and asks disciples to watch with him</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">November Services, 3:30-5:00 pm <br /></span></i></b>6 Location: online<br />Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Dick Dumas<br />13 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Kent Palmer </div><div style="text-align: left;">20 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: TBD<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson<br />27 Location: VMRC’s Park Village<br />Worship and Sharing Harvey Yoder<br />Music for Thanksgiving and Advent ℅ Brad Yoder</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-14069282670279513112022-09-30T11:20:00.009-07:002022-10-19T13:43:32.868-07:00October 2022 newsletter<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House-to-House</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Family of Hope House Church</b></u></span><u><b> __ <span style="font-size: large;"> October 2022</span></b></u></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>St. Augustine on investing wisely </i></b></span> </div><p>In light of ever more desperate world needs, what does it mean to love God with all we have and to love our world neighbors as we love and look after ourselves?</p><p> Each year multiple donors make cash, check and credit card contributions for refugee relief at the Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale’s “Sharing Our Surplus” (SOS) Giving Table. Last year that effort raised a gratifying $48,000, around 12% of the total raised at the Sale.</p><p> Our love for God and others is most accurately reflected in our actual giving and spending. Whether it's $5 for a donut and coffee, $5000 for a luxury cruise or $500,000 for a new house for our retirement, we are in each case indicating exactly how much we value those assets. In other words, exactly how much we “love” those things. </p><p> None of this spending is necessarily wrong if we are equally committed to having our worldwide neighbors enjoy the very same blessings. Isn’t that what “as ourselves” means?</p><p> A rich man in one of Jesus’s parables decided the best use of his assets was to upgrade his holdings by replacing his existing barns with new ones. He then said to himself, “You have plenty of wealth laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and enjoy yourself.”</p><p style="text-align: left;"> St. Augustine, reflecting on this story, wrote, <i>“This silly fool of a man... was hoarding perishable crops. I repeat, he was hoarding perishable crops, while he was on the point of perishing… How will he know where to look, when at that trial he starts hearing the words "I was hungry and you did not give me to eat" (Matthew 25:42)? He was planning to fill his soul with excessive and unnecessary feasting and was proudly disregarding all those empty bellies of the poor. He did not realize that the bellies of the poor were much safer storerooms than his barns. What he was stowing away in those barns was perhaps even then being stolen away by thieves. But if he stowed it away in the bellies of the poor, it would of course be digested on earth, but in heaven it would be kept all the more safely. 'The redemption of a man's soul is his riches.' ” </i> - Harvey Yoder</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></p><p>OUR OFFERING FOR “<b><u>M</u></b>Y <u><b>C</b></u>OINS <u><b>C</b></u>OUNT,” was $51.39 this year.</p><p>IF YOU WEREN’T ABLE TO ATTEND THE RELIEF SALE you can still make a contribution on the Sale website or write a check made out to Virginia Relief Sale (with SOS on the memo line).</p><p>THANKS FOR YOUR PRAYERS FOR PABLO YODER, Harvey’s nephew, diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, and for MARGARET VARNER, Alma Jean’s niece in Pennsylvania, being treated for blood clots in her lung.</p><p>OCTOBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Joyce Ulrich 10/14 and Elly Nelson 10/28!</p><p><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">October Study Themes</span></i></b></p><p>2 Exodus 14:5-29 The sea parts at the exodus Matthew 2:13-15</p><p>9 Exodus 19:3-7; 20:1-17 God delivers Israel and gives them Ten Words Matthew 5:17</p><p>16 Joshua 24:1-26 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” Matthew 4:8-10 </p><p>23 1 Kings 3:4-28 Solomon prays for wisdom Matthew 6:9-10</p><p>30 II Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9 Nathan’s parable</p><p>Luke 17:3-4</p><p> <b><i><span style="font-size: large;">October Services, 3:30-5:00 pm</span></i></b> </p><p>3 Location: online</p><p>Worship and sharing: Elly Nelson</p><p>Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</p><p>9 Location: online</p><p>Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</p><p>Bible Study: Kent Palmer</p><p>16 Location: online</p><p>Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder </p><p>Bible Study Dick Dumas</p><p>23 Location: VMRC's Park Village patio</p><p>Worship and Sharing Kent Palmer</p><p>Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</p><p>30 Location: online</p><p>Worship and Sharing Lois Rivera-Wenger</p><p>Bible Study: Elly Nelson</p><p><br /></p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-13205206668180999112022-08-29T11:08:00.000-07:002022-08-29T11:08:57.569-07:00September 2022 newsletter<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> House-to-House</b></span></p><p> <u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Family of Hope House Church __September 2022</span></b></u></p><p><i><b style="font-size: x-large;">Let’s Pray for our Teachers </b>- Harvey Yoder</i></p><p>Soon after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a well known news commentators opined, “We ask why there is violence in our schools, but we have systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be surprised that schools become a place of carnage?"</p><p>With all due respect, I couldn’t help wondering how he explained the tragic murders of devout and innocent Amish children in the 2006 Nickel Mine School shooting. Had they removed God from their school? I don’t think so.</p><p>Some observations:</p><p>1. A compassionate God who observes each sparrow’s fall will never allow himself to be removed from any place on the planet. God inhabits all shopping malls, parks, hospitals, prisons, work places, and even places of worship ;-), regardless of what religious activities may (or may not) be going on there.</p><p>2. My experience with the bland prayers and readings I was exposed to in public school (where virtually all students were from Protestant homes) was extremely minimal compared to the influence of my family and congregational family, along with some of the good role models I had in many of my teachers.</p><p>3. Public schools today represent a much more religiously diverse population than when I attended, which means it would be almost impossible to devise prayers today for all that would not be offensive to some, including myself. Our three local grandstudents have been blessed with exceptionally dedicated (some Mennonite) teachers in the dual Spanish/English program they are enrolled in at their first years in public school. God is obviously present in many of these teachers' lives, but we need to pray earnestly for them and for the children they influence every day.</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></p><p>SAVE YOUR CHANGE FOR “MY COINS COUNT,” a Virginia Relief Sale fundraising initiative. The Sale will be held September 30- October 1 this year.</p><p>IF YOU CAN’T ATTEND THE RELIEF SALE IN PERSON you can make a contribution to the Sharing Our Surplus (SOS) fund on the Sale website or write a check made out to Virginia Relief Sale (with SOS on the memo line) and get it to Harvey Yoder. Last year such contributions made up nearly 12% of the total of over $400,000 generated by the Sale.</p><p>PRAY FOR PABLO YODER, 64, Harvey’s nephew and a church planter in rural Nicaragua, who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.</p><p>SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Lewis Overholt (9/5) and David Weaver (9/23)!</p><p>WE CONCLUDE OUR SERIES ON HEALING on September 4 with a study of Romans 8.</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>September Study Themes</i></b></span></p><p>4 Romans 8 God’s love and presence in the midst of suffering</p><p>11 Genesis 6:5-22; 8:6-12; 9:8-17 Noah, the flood, and the promise of the rainbow (Matt 8:24-27, Jesus calms the storm)</p><p>18 Genesis 12:1-9 Call of Abraham, promise of land, descendants, blessing to the nations (Matt 28:19-20, Go therefore and make disciples) </p><p>25 Genesis 39:1-23 Joseph is unjustly put in prison; yet God is present with him there (Matt 5:11-12, Blessed are you when people revile you)</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>September Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </i></b></span></p><p>4 Location: online</p><p>Worship and sharing: Ellie Nelson</p><p>Bible Study: Harvey Yoder</p><p>11 Location: online</p><p>Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger</p><p>Bible Study: Kent Palmer</p><p>18 Location: TBD</p><p>Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder</p><p>Bible Study Dick Dumas</p><p>25 Location: online</p><p>Worship and Sharing Lois Rivera-Wenger</p><p>Bible Study: Elly Nelson</p>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-23068772471597016172022-07-29T06:53:00.003-07:002022-08-08T05:14:36.382-07:00<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <b>House-to-House</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> <u><b>Family of Hope House Church August 2022</b></u></span></p><p><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Jewish Wisdom On Health and Healing</i></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">Honor physicians for their services,<br /> for the Lord created them,<br />for their gift of healing comes from the Most High,<br /> and they are rewarded by the king.<br />The skill of physicians makes them distinguished,<br /> and in the presence of the great they are admired.<br />The Lord created medicines out of the earth,<br /> and the sensible will not despise them…<br />And he gave skill to human beings<br /> that he might be glorified in his marvelous works.<br />By them the physician heals and takes away pain;<br /> the pharmacist makes a mixture from them.<br />God’s works will never be finished,<br /> and from him health spreads over all the earth.<br />My child, when you are ill, do not delay,<br /> but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.<br />Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly,<br /> and cleanse your heart from all sin.<br />Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice and a memorial portion of choice flour,<br /> and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford<br />Then give physicians their place, for the Lord created them;<br /> do not let them leave you, for you need them.<br />There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,<br /> for they, too, pray to the Lord<br />that he grant them success in diagnosis<br /> and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.<br />Those who sin against their Maker<br /> will be defiant toward the physician.<br /><div style="text-align: right;">From the Apocrypha, Sirach 38:1-15 (NRSV)</div></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Notes, Prayers and Praises</i></b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">WE WILL DO BIBLE STUDIES ON HEALTH AND HEALING in the month of August.<br />SPECIAL THANKS TO KENT PALMER for providing us with Willard Swarthy’s book, “Health, Healing and the Church’s Mission for our August study series.<br />SAVE YOUR CHANGE FOR “MY COINS COUNT,” a Virginia Relief Sale fundraising initiative. The Sale will be held September 30- October 1 this year.<br />JIM AND RUTH STAUFFER are settling in to their new home in Room 105 at Crestwood.<br />AUGUST BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Kent Palmer, 8/10! Also, Alma Jean and Harvey Yoder’s anniversary is August 8, and Jim and Ruth Stauffer’s is August 30. Blessings to all!</div><p><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">August Study Themes</span></i></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">7 Chapter 1 of Willard Swartley’s “Health, Healing and the Church’s Mission<br />14 A physician’s perspective<br />21 The Bible on physical healing <br />28 The Bible on spiritual healing</div><p><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">August Services, 3:30-5:00 pm </span></i></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">7 Location: VMRC Village Hall<br />Praises and prayers regarding healing c/o Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study: Kent Palmer<br />14 Location: VMRC Village Hall<br />Sharing healing stories, ℅ Harvey Yoder<br />Healing Grace--My Life Story: Richard Alderfer, MD<br />21 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study Dick Dumas<br />28 Location: online<br />Worship and Sharing Lois Rivera-Wenger</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study: Elly Nelson</div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3900344270004798491.post-71761997719104047202022-06-27T07:09:00.004-07:002022-07-09T15:25:55.659-07:00<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>House-to-House</b></span></p><p><u><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Family of Hope House Church</b></span> <span style="font-size: large;"><b>July 2022</b></span></u></p><p><b><span style="font-size: large;"><i>When Will They Ever Learn?</i></span></b></p><div style="text-align: left;">From July 1 through July 4, 1913, thousands of Civil War veterans returned to rural Adams County, Pennsylvania, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.<br /> At that time, now over a century ago, the New York Herald wrote: <br /> "Today fifty thousand veterans of the great War are moving in to take peaceful possession of the field where in the ardor of youth they strove in such deadly conflict. No better evidence of healing of the nation’s wounds could be offered than the spectacle of men of the Grand Army and of the Confederacy striking hands on the spot where they made history."<br /> During the Commemoration there were many speeches made, wool blankets were handed out to the now aging veterans, and over 650,000 meals were served. The infamous and ill-fated Pickett’s Charge was reenacted by 120 veterans of Pickett’s Division and 180 veterans from the Philadelphia Brigade, reliving the carnage of that awful battle, in which the Union army lost 3,450 men, 20% of their number, and the Confederate side lost 7,000, 38% of their troops.<br /> After the Confederate veterans charged over the last 100 feet of ground to reach the wall held by the Union re-enactors, all of the men who had been sworn enemies broke ranks, shook hands and embraced each other as they recalled and relived the horrors of that July 3 afternoon.<br /> I was moved by that image of former enemies meeting as brothers. If only people everywhere could learn to get together before they engage in disastrous conflicts of this sort, and agree to work things out, shake hands and sit down to a common meal as friends and fellow children of God.<br /> That would truly help make God's dream for humanity come true.<br /> - Harvey Yoder</div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Notes, Prayers and Praises</b></i></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">VIRGINIA CONFERENCE SUMMER DELEGATE ASSEMBLY will be at the Zion Mennonite Church starting at 7 pm Thursday, July 14, and for Friday and Saturday delegate sessions. Friday evening’s service will be at Trissels Mennonite Church, a special celebration marking their 200th anniversary, and the 6:45 am Saturday Mennonite Women’s prayer breakfast will also be held there.<br />PLEASE PRAY FOR DONNA SACRA, who has tested positive for Covid and has also been diagnosed with breast cancer. We are grateful that she is doing better!<br />JIM AND RUTH STAUFFER have moved to Room 105 at Crestwood!<br />SHOULD WE CONSIDER A POSSIBLE VMRC LOCATION for some of our summer meetings, such as the porch/patio at Village Hall?<br />JULY BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to Lois Rivera-Wenger 7/30!</div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>July Lectionary Texts</i></b></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">3 1 Peter 1:3-23 (Matthew 5:11-12) <br />10 1 Peter 2:1-9, 19-25 (Matthew 16:24-26) <br />17 1 Peter 3:13-22 (Matthew 5:3-10) <br />24 1 Peter 4:1-19 (Matthew 5:43-48) <br />31 1 Peter 5:1-14 (Matthew 20:25-28) </div><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>July Services, 4-5:30 pm</i></b></span> </p><div style="text-align: left;">3 Location: on line<br />Worship and Sharing: Kent Palmer<br />Bible Study: Harvey Yoder<br />10 Location: To be determined <br />Worship and Sharing Harvey Yoder<br />Bible Study Kent Palmer<br />17 Location: on line <br />Worship and Sharing Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study Roy Hange<br />24 Location: TBD <br />Worship and Sharing Harvey Yoder</div><div style="text-align: left;">Bible Study Dick Dumas<br />31 Location: on line <br />Worship and Sharing Lois Rivera-Wenger<br />Bible Study: Elly Nelson </div>harvspothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15733381818821830887noreply@blogger.com0