April 2020 newsletter

House-to-House

 Family of Hope House Church                                  April 2020

“It will not always be as it is now”     

Devotional writer James Baer tells about a Russian family he visited years ago who had the words, “It will not always be as it is now” written in large print on a placard on their dining room wall. 

     It turns out that years before the father had spent years in a Soviet prison for refusing to enlist in the Russian army because of his conviction that as a Christian he could take part in war. It was then that the mother had written these words and posted them as a sign of hope for herself and her children, trusting that one day their father would return and things would be better. 

     When the father was finally released and life greatly improved, some friends asked why she had not removed the words from her wall. Her reply was simply, “Because it’s still true that “It will not always be as it is now.’” 

     Just as in times of stress, as in today’s corona virus infection, we need hope, so when things are going well we need to remember that all nations, economies and cultures will eventually face crises and tragedies of one kind or another, and that things can change rapidly, for the better or worse. 

     Meanwhile, we need to have a heart that suffers with those experiencing illness and loss, and do everything we can to offer them help, just as we would have others offer us if we were in similar straits. 

- Harvey Yoder

Notes, Prayers and Praises

• FAMILY OF HOPE WILL BE MEETING ONLINE Sundays from 4-6 on a temporary basis. Here’s the number if you want to dial in on the phone as you would for a conference call (audio only): (646) 876-9923. Enter Meeting ID when prompted: 284 926 9967 (participant number does not matter). If you want to participate via video click this link: https://zoom.us/j/2849269967. Thanks to Kent Palmer for setting this up. Contact him  if you have any problems.
• WE WILL CONTINUE TO POST LECTIONARY TEXTS for each Sunday, likely followed by a series based a book of the Bible. Philippians is a possibility for after Easter, but your suggestions are welcome. 
• PRAY FOR NEAL NELSON who suffered a knee injury from a fall at Envoy of Staunton Nursing Home.

April Lectionary Texts

5  Isaiah 50:4-9a  Psalm 31:9-16  Philippians 2:5-11 Matthew 27:11-54

12  Acts 10:34-43  Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24  Colossians 3:1-4  John 20:1-18

19 Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16   1 Peter 1:3-9   John 20:19-31

26 Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 1 Peter 1:17-23  Luke 24:13-35

April services, 4 pm 

5  Location: on line                             

Worship and Sharing: Elly Nelson (focus on Passover)                           

Bible Study: Roy Hange

12  Easter Sunday location: on line

Worship and sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger

Bible Study: Harvey Yoder                                                                                                       
19 Location:  on line                     

Worship and Sharing: Lewis Overholt                              

Bible Study: Elly Nelson                                           

26 Location:  on line

Worship and sharing: Kent Palmer

Bible Study: Dick Dumas                  

On-Line Church: "Death Is No Match For God's Life-Generating Spirit," Lectionary Reflections For March 29

Since our house church will not be able to meet physically this week, here are some reflections on the scriptures we will be discussing in our on-line session at 4 pm this Sunday: 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Can A Valley Of Decaying Bones See Life Again?

In Genesis 1, God's Spirit storming over a dark and lifeless planet impregnates it with life. In today's text the prophet Ezekiel envisions a massive collection of dried up bones being brought to life by that same life-giving Spirit.

In the prophet's dramatic vision, as bone reconnects with bone, and as all of the other body parts of God's people are reassembled, one thing remains for them to experience life. As with the original forming of Adam from clay, it is when God breathes into divinely formed flesh that Adam becomes a living soul, a full-fledged person. Here Ezekiel says, with divine authority, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live!"

So as God's people today, we urgently pray, "Breathe on us breath of God, fill us with life anew." When God's breath ('ruach'/wind/spirit) becomes a part of our every breath, when we exhale flaw after flaw and regularly inhale all of the life-giving traits of God's Spirit, our lives become dramatically transformed. We become truly alive in the way God intended!

John 11:1-45 Can The Victim Of A Fatal Illness Live Again?

As the death angel is taking its toll all around us, we are sobered by the realization of how fragile and uncertain life can become. We don't know what illness Jesus's good friend Lazarus had, but we do know Jesus was deeply moved when he learned that he had unexpectedly died.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus were like beloved siblings to Jesus, and their house was like his second home. "Jesus wept," while known as the shortest verse in the Bible, speaks volumes about the bond that existed between Jesus and his adopted family in Bethany.

According to the gospel record, Jesus rarely exercised his Abba's power to raise people from the dead, but chose to do so here for God's glory, "so that God's Son  might be glorified through it."

God's glory is what all of life is to be about, and what every death is about, a demonstration of the life-giving, death-crushing power of God's Spirit.

Romans 8:6-11 How Can God's Mind-Blowing 'Breath' Power Our Spirits?

While we often speak of God's Spirit being, metaphorically,  in our "hearts," it is God's work in the very heart of our "minds" that empowers us to live transformed lives that are no longer conformed to the mindset and lifestyle of the rest of the world. 

Our brains are like the computer "hardware" God has given us. But our renewed minds represent the "software" with which God's Spirit has programmed us, in this case minds and spirits that have been made alive with Christ, enabled to think and behave like our Master.

Jesus Christ alive in the control room of our minds. New life for old!

Psalm 130 For Abundant Life Like That, How Can I Keep From Praying?

Let's read, reread and immerse ourselves in this prayer of intercession from the Message: 
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+130&version=MSG

On-Line Church: "Heaven-Sent Light For Spiritual Sight," Lectionary Reflections For March 22, 2020

Are we not all "born blind "?

Whether we meet as a church this weekend in person, on line or simply in spirit, our scripture texts for this Sunday provide us with eye-openers we need for times like these.

Jesus brings sight to one blind from birth. (John 9)

Close your eyes. Picture yourself alone in your community, unable to see all of the people passing by on whom you depend for your survival. 

Some are saying you are the sole cause of your blindness. Others are sure it's your parents' fault. Nevertheless, you have been unable to see from birth.

In fact, each of us has been unable to see what only God can reveal, that it is only in losing our life that we can save it, that it is only what we give away that we can truly keep, and that our trust in financial institutions and political systems for our future security will all be in vain.

Along comes Jesus, heaven-sent Light of the World, who touches our eyes with an ointment made of ordinary dust mixed with ordinary human saliva, offering us the ability to see clearly what we have never seen or realized before. We are finally able to see the world through the lens of God as revealed in Jesus the Anointed one, the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Everything around us is new, illuminated with blazing light. 

"Once blind, now we see!"

Through valleys of dark shadows, we experience safe passage. (Psalm 23)

Picture yourself as a part of God's people, led to places of peace and spiritual plenty, where all of your deepest needs are satisfied. Visualize being led in safe paths, anointed with healing oil, fed and nourished with spiritual abundance. Imagine being reconciled with all your enemies and celebrating with all of your friends and fellow members of God's great household of faith forever.

"Our Shepherd leads us on the right path for the sake of God's name."

We're given the ability to see others as God sees them. (I Samuel 16:1-13)

David was the youngest in his family, lacked the stature and life experience of his older brothers. But when the prophet Samuel, one of God's "seers" (those who "see" what others cannot), comes to Jesse's household to anoint Israel's next king, he sees the youngest, the one out shepherding the family's sheep, as the one God has chosen.

Picture everyday people in your life whose worth you may have discounted, as those with less to contribute to the life of the community than others. Many of them have far greater untapped potential for life and leadership than we have ever realized.

"We look at the outer appearance, but God looks on the heart."

We were once among those who sat in complete darkness, but are now a people bathed in light. (Ephesians 5:8-14)

Picture yourself as those to whom this pastoral letter was first addressed nearly 2000 years ago. Reflect on what it means to receive inner spiritual light to illuminate all of our attitudes and to inform all of our actions. This truly makes a difference as great as night from day, as our being sound asleep to becoming wide awake.

I remember being on a tour of a local caverns once in which our guide turned off all the lights and we experienced a darkness so total we could see absolutely nothing. Nothing. But it wasn't that someone turned on that darkness. Darkness cannot be turned on or off. Only light has physical properties like wavelength, frequency, energy and speed. Darkness has no such power or properties. It is simply the absence of light.

"It is LIGHT that makes everything visible."

On-Line Church: "Wedding Bells At Jacob's Well"--Lectionary Reflections For Sunday, March 15, 2020

There may be more to this story than meets the eye.

Since our house church may not meet Sunday due to concerns about a local case of corona virus, here are some reflections on our scripture texts for this week: 

John 4:5-42 A Wondrous Wedding at a Well
Readers of John's gospel would have certainly associated Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well with the familiar story of the visit of Abraham's servant to a well at which he was seeking a bride for his master's son Isaac. In answer to his prayer in the Genesis story, beautiful Rachel comes to the scene and offers the weary traveler and his entourage refreshing water to drink, and the story continues with Rachel returning to become Isaac's beloved bride.
     Here in this Gospel account Jesus, as God's Servant, is seeking a beloved "bride" in the form of a redeemed community of God-followers, in this case among former outsider Samaritans. The unlikely woman appearing at the well at midday (who was currently without a husband) offers Jesus water, engages in conversation with him and eagerly runs to her village to invite others to hear about the living water the visiting Bridegroom has to offer. 
     The church as Bride represents one of the most intimate metaphors for the relationship between God and God's people. We are invited into a covenant relationship that is based on a union that is joyful, enduring, and celebrative beyond words. 

Romans 5:1-11 A Marriage Proposal And Invitation
In this well known passage the terms of this relationship between God and God's bride are outlined in joyful detail. Through the gracious provision of the Bridegroom, we enter into a relationship of peace with God that assures us of a truly "happily ever after" future. Not that there won't be hardships along the way, but these will all result in even greater experiences of God's love and healing presence.

Matthew 5:21-37 A Wedding Meditation
In this text from Jesus's inaugural "Sermon on the Mount, " we are urged to avoid harboring anger, keep short accounts when there are differences, avoid all forms of marital unfaithfulness, and always speak the truth to one another.

Psalm 95 Wonderful Wedding Music
The joy we feel is infectious and never ending. What a great union between God and God's beloved, to be forever celebrated and to never, ever be severed!

Exodus 17:1-7 A Reception With Abundant Refreshment
Here God's people, weary and thirsty, come together to enjoy a plentiful supply of refreshing, living water from a Rock which is a symbol for the spiritual source of our "water of life," Christ. In the first of his miracles, at a wedding, no less, Jesus turns ordinary water into exotic wine for the enjoyment of everyone at the reception.
     Let the celebration begin!

Here's a beautiful poem one of our members wrote for our on-line church service this Sunday:

Water!

In desert I have wandered long

And chased mirage of sacred pool.

Another day and I shall die

Unless I find that water cool.

Behold!  A Rock and from it pours

Unending stream, a life supply,

Enough, and more, to drink, be cleansed.

I thirst, I drink and shall not die.

And shall I flee the desert now

That God has shown to me the Way?

No, I must be a desert guide.

River of Life now bids me stay.

M. Lois Rivera-Wenger