We hope this note finds you well and enjoying nothing but blue skies inside and out. It's been another action-packed week here in Ecclsiaville. That includes good stuff at Our House (more on that next week) . . . over to the left, you'll find a note about our friend Miguel who stopped by for a visit and right below that note, you'll find a Song of the Week link to a new take on a very old tune. Back over here to this main column you'll find some photos and a note about how the Hope Center became a movie set and, further on down, a brief reflection on next Sunday's gospel reading. Thanks to all those who've acted on our request that you forward this epistle to a friend and "like" us on Facebook (The links are over there to your left). If you haven't done that, please do . . .
|
Hope Center goes Hollywood
 |
Crew members from Mi America set up lighting and other equipment at Hope Center's frame building on Saturday. At lower right, a crew member sets up a gurney to be used by paramedics sent to retrieve the body of a man shot to death in his studio apartment.
|
 |
The Hope Center's foyer became an ad hoc office/wardrobe room.
|
The makeup artist took over the front parlor, the foyer became an office and wardrobe hub, while over in the frame building, one of the rooms had been set up as a studio apartment. The cast and crew of Mi America took over the Hope Center on Saturday to shoot two or three scenes. The film is written and directed by Robert Fontaine Jr. who has made Newburgh his home. It's described
 |
Writer/Director Robert Fontaine Jr. watches a scene as it's being shot in the next room.
|
as a character-driven film about hate crimes in America. Filming began in late spring. Scenes have been shot mostly in Newburgh 's east end including City Hall and The Wherehouse, a popular East End eatery.
|
Abundance amidst scarcity
Our generous and supportive friends at the Milton-Marlboro United Methodist Church delivered a couple of dozen pairs of sneakers to Our House last Thursday. St. Ruth was immediately surrounded by a crowd of guests, each one anxious for some new footwear. "I need size twelve," said one. "Got any size nines?" asked another. "How 'bout a ten-and-a-half?" "Just a minute, just a minute," said Ruth as she studied the list of sizes. "Hold your horses. Hold your horses. Let me see what we've got." No one wanted to miss out; each person wanted to be the first to land a fresh pair of footwear that might actually be the right size for them. It wasn't quite like the line up outside Walmart waiting for the doors to open on Black Friday, but you get the idea - when we think scarcity, we scramble to be first whether its the first to get some new sneakers or a new gizmo or a place at the table. But, next Sunday's gospel reading - Luke 14:7-14 - tells us to see things differently and, in that seeing, to respond in a new way. We're reminded that in G od's world, there's more than enough for everyone, that we can relax at the back of the line, that every seat is a seat of honor. We're told to ditch the scarcity thinking, the thinking that keeps us asking, "What's in it for me?" Instead, we're told to think abundance, the kind of thinking that opens the doors to a banquet hall where all are welcome. We are reminded that Jesus never turned anyone away . . . We are reminded to ask ourselves - "If the rich, the poor, the healthy, the sick, the lame, the blind, the righteous and the sinner are welcome at Jesus' table, who are we to turn anyone away?"
|