House-to-House
Family of Hope House Church September 2015
How Our “Needs” May Destroy Us - Harvey Yoder
I recently accompanied some of my grandchildren to the Frontier Culture Museum at Staunton for a first hand look at what average families lived like long ago. We were impressed with how hard life was for most people then, how small and cramped their homes, and how limited their food and clothing choices.
The contrast to our current lifestyle was stark. We came from expansive (and “expensive”?) homes with year-round climate controlled comfort and wardrobes full of clothes produced by underpaid workers around the world. We arrived in a fully equipped Toyota van and enjoyed a tasty lunch at a McDonalds afterwards, all covered with the swipe of a Visa card. Ours was lifestyle with far more ease, comfort and entertainment than would have been available even to the most privileged royalty in centuries past.
In short, we have come to identify as needs things that our ancestors would have never dreamed of having access to, such as air conditioning, smart phones, flat screen TV's with multiple channels, clothes dryers, motor powered transportation--the list could go on and on. We have become spoiled and lazy by our wealth, and have come to demand ever more of the fruits of it, mindless of the consequences of our choices.
In Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical on the care of the earth, he says it “now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters. Nothing in this world is indifferent to us.”
Notes, prayers and praises
SEPTEMBER BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS to David Weaver (9/23), and to Billy and Karla May on their anniversary (9/3).
OUR SYMPATHIES TO JOYCE ULRICH, whose 87-year-old mother, Mary Ida Wenger, died August 19 at her home in Versailles, Missouri.
WE ARE INVITED to worship with The Table Fellowship at 4 pm on Sunday, September 27, in the Dean House at the corner of Water Street and Old South High Street, across from the Community Mennonite Church. Bring food!
THE ANNUAL MCC RELIEF SALE is being held at the Rockingham Fairgrounds October 3 and 4.
September Lectionary readings
6 Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Isaiah 35:4-7a Psalm 146 James 2:1-17 Mark 7:24-37
13 Proverbs 1:20-33 Isaiah 50:4-9a Psalm 116:1-9 James 3:1-12 Mark 8:27-38
20 Proverbs 31:10-31 Psalm 1 James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a Mark 9:30-37
27 Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 Psalm 124 Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50
September services worship at 4, meal at 6
6 Location: James & Ruth Stauffer 1250 Parkway Dr 22802 574-6141
Worship and Sharing: Harvey Yoder
Bible Study: Paul Swarr Carry-in Meal
13 Location: Family Life Resource Center, 273 Newman Ave 432-0531
Worship and Sharing: Elly Nelson
Bible Study: Lois Wenger Finger foods meal
20 Location: Guy & Margie Vlasits 3448 Caverns Dr. K’town 908-0391
Worship and Sharing: Guy and Margie Vlasits
Bible Study: Harvey Yoder Carry-in Meal
27 Location: We will be meeting with the Table congregation this Sunday (see above announcement) in the house across Water Street from the Community Mennonite Church.
