Hope Lutheran Church....serving God and the community since 1881.
Join us each week....
Worship each Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
The Day of Pentecost & Ordinary Time
In the season after Pentecost we explore what it means to live in the eternal day that is ours through baptism into Christ’s deathless and eternal life. In the season after Pentecost we explore what it means to be: to be children of God, to be in Christ, to be on fire with the Spirit. In the Northern Hemisphere we are in the midst of summer: we are no longer eagerly anticipating the sprouting of the seed to green; we are surrounded here by the lush green of the present. Not yet do we expect the dying of the year; for now, the green is with us. It is a bountiful time of being. It is a time of isness, as the Christian medieval mystic Meister Eckhart would say. Like the year, we too are allowed to be during these days. To be here. In this moment. A transformed and empowered people.
While the experience of the first half of the church’s year of grace has been intensely an experience of becoming, the green season after Pentecost is a time to be aware of just who we have become. And the opening festival of this season directs us in remembering how we have become, how we have come to this place, who has guided us, who fills us, who is our being: God revealed to us in the persons of the Holy Trinity. On this festival Wisdom calls us from the ordinary places--the roadside, the crossroads where we have been traveling--and cries out the wonder of God, creator of all from the beginning, whose love has been poured into our hearts by the Spirit of Christ. This is who we have become: people whose hearts are filled with God's burning love. How then, do we live as such people? How are the ordinary lives we lead shaped by this being?
For many Christians, these weeks after Pentecost are called Ordinary Time, "ordinary" meaning in regular rows or ranks undistinguished from one another. Day after day of ordinary days, week after week of ordinary weeks undistinguished from one another, unbroken by major festivals or feasts. Just like life. Day after day of being in ordinary places: home, school, work. This is the character of ordinary time, the days after Pentecost, the largest part of the church year, and of most of life. Not a time of celebration, that draws us into wonder, not a time of crisis, that draws us into change, but ordinary time, a time of being. It is quite a discipline to resist the temptation to manufacture festivals during these weeks, to simply be.
Just what characterizes a life of being, a life as God's enthusiastic people (en=in, theos=God: in God), is taught by the biblical readings that surround and embrace us in these days, especially the Gospel stories and parables. We meet Jesus as a person keenly alive, in tune with his surroundings, aware of people, feelings, sensations; he saw, he felt, he heard, he sensed, we are told. We meet Jesus as a person aware and present in the moment, who, because he feels on his skin the tears of the woman with the jar of ointment, can forgive; who, because he hears the voice of the man tormented by demons, can release; who, because he is aware and present and sees the woman crippled for eighteen years, can heal.
To be is to be aware, and to be aware is to be fully present in the moment; to be present is to value and notice the messages of our senses, which pull us into the present. It is why in worship all the senses are engaged--we see the worship space and the cross; we hear the music of praise and the biblical readings; we touch the hand of a neighbor and trace the cross on our body; we smell the incense and the flowers; we taste the wheat and the grape. And we are pulled thus out of the meandering mind of worry into Here; pulled out of the clinging mind of regret into Now. For it is only here where we are that we can be God's people, to heal and to bless. For it is only now that we can be Christ's body of love, to forgive and release.
God's love has been poured into our hearts, and, according to the season's scripture readings, the ordinary lives lived out of that love will be lives of forgiveness, courage, endurance, mercy, hospitality, prayer, humility, renunciation, trust.
When we live lives intensely aware, in tune with the present, filled with God's love toward all around us, our lives take on the vibrant green of the season, of ordinary life deeply alive.
PAL (Pet Advocate League) Low Cost Feline Neuter Clinics
Six or eight days monthly, PAL's mobile hospital sets up shop in the Hope parking lot for low-cost feline spaying and neutering clinics. Call for dates and costs. We're proud to be the Dayton area's home to this valuable service for God's creatures.
Surgery Dates for the balance of 2009....
November...........6 & 7, 20 & 21
December...........3 & 4, 18 & 19
Volunteers who love animals are always welcome. Call the church office to be connected to the PAL coordinators....
SPIRIT NITE AT THE WAFFLE HOUSE
The fourth Wednesday of every month, members and friends of the Hope Congregation gather at the Waffle House on Colonel Glenn Highway, beginning at 4 p.m. for food, fellowship and a fundraiser benefitting the Congregation. A portion of the restaurant's sales for the night are returned directly to the Community of Hope for general expenses. These funds are matched 2-1 by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans....Call 228-3501 with any questions!
HOPE ARTS! INITIATIVE
Initial planning sessions have begun on a grass roots initiative to incorporate various art classes and opportunities into the Community of Hope's facilities. Hoping to help offset the City of Dayton's decision to close its very successful Riverbend Art Center, one of our neighbors, an instructor at Riverbend, has agreed to begin offering classes in the Hope Parish Hall beginning in mid-January. The first class began on Tuesday, January 13th, and has generated considerable interest. Soon a local potter will fire up her kiln and offer classes in her chosen media. In addition, the Hope! Art! Committee has taken possession of some 3000+ molds, a slip sink and related equipment for a full-scale ceramics operation. An instructor is currently being solicited.
In addition, a covenent with Dayton artist Pedro Rivera has been established, alowing Mr. Rivera access to a series of studios on the Great Hall mezzanine which can be sublet to members of the local arts community, along with a common area and access to the South Park Gallery for occasional shows.
These added opportunitiers will certainly help our South Park Gallery & Co-op's mission of providing a user friendly space for art shows and sales. The contact person for this initiative is Ron Gable, and he may be reached by calling the church office (228-5191)..
HISTORIC SOUTH PARK
The neighborhood improvement organization meets in Hope's Great Hall on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. If you're a South Park resident or homeowner ...or just looking for an Award-winning neighborhood to call home, you're welcome! Visit 'www.historicsouthpark.org'.
for more information....
'www.historicsouthpark.org'.
See more details about the Hope Community Arts Center on the next page!!!
Contact us for more information....