Sunday, February 26, 2023

March 2023 newsletter

House-to-House

 Family of Hope House Church              __       March 2023


Staying Awake Can Be Hard To Do

"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!” 

                                      Ken Peterson, Romans 13:11ff THE MESSAGE 

 

     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.

     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.

     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.

     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: 

     "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.”       - Harvey Yoder             


Notes, Prayers and Praises


JAMES AND RUTH STAUFFER have moved to rooms 224 and 225 in the Redbud unit at VMRC’s Crestwood.

BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS TO RUTH STAUFFER, 3/28!

DONNA AND LEN SACRA suffered extensive loss due to a fire on one of their properties at Cootes Store west of Broadway.

OUR NEXT IN-PERSON SERVICE is planned for March 19 at Heritage Haven.


March Study Themes


5    Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of laborers in vineyard (Psalm 16:5-8)

12  Matthew 22:1-14 Parable of wedding banquet (Psalm 45:6-7)

19  Matthew 25:1-30 Parable of the bridesmaids and the talents (Psalm 43:3-4)

26  Matthew 25:31-46 The judgment of the nations (Psalm 98:7-9)


March Services, 3:30-5:00 pm 


5  Location: online

Worship and sharing: Harvey Yoder

Bible Study: Dick Dumas


12 Location: online

Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger

Bible Study: Kent Palmer


19 Location: Heritage Haven Conference Room

Worship and Sharing: Elly Nelson

Bible Study: Harvey Yoder


26 Location: online

Worship and Sharing: Lois Rivera-Wenger

Bible Study: Elly Nelson

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