Join us as we gather at 6:30 every Friday evening for prayer, music, readings and silence in the parlor at Hope, 85 Grand Street here in Newburgh. Come if you can and stay for a bowl of soup, some crusty bread and conversation. During Lent, we'll be studying the Beatitudes using Erik Kolbell's book What Jesus Meant. You do not need the book to be a part of this conversation. Join us. |
 Here's a short list of items we could really use: 1. Winter boots - the exact same size as that extra pair you've got in the closet. 2. Gloves3. White socks. The Dollar Store kind are fine 4. Lip Balm5. Disposable razors6. Deodorant
Bring them by, send them over, drop us a note and we'll pick them up if we can.
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Spread the Word
Help us spread the word about our work in the Burgh. In addition to telling your family and friends about us over lunch or dinner, you can also
Then go to
 where you can "like" us.
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On the Agenda
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Every Day
4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Our House is open
85 Grand Street
M & W at Noon and
Thursdays at 6:00 p.m.
Meditation
85 Grand Street
Sundays
1:30 p.m.
Weekly worship
85 Grand Street
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Isn't it great? Less than three weeks left until spring. . . we've reached the beginning of the end of a really tough winter. Phew!  And, if that isn't enough - Lent starts this week. Ash Wednesday is just a few days away. We'll mark the occasion with a service Wednesday evening at 7:00 in the parlors here at the Hope Center, 85 Grand Street in the Burgh. Join us if you can. In addition to that service, our Friday evening gathering we'll begin our "study" of the Beatitudes [see note at left]. Below, you'll read that we made our funding goal for the year thanks to a whole passel of people and organizations. And, further below, you'll find Steve's reflection on next Sunday's gospel reading about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. Enjoy. . . and please share us with a friend. |
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Our House campaign is over the top
 Incredible. Last year when we were staring at our budget trying to figure out how to raise the money we needed to help fund Our House, your one-of-a-kind drop-in center serving homeless folks we knew nothing about "crowd funding." Now, we're believers. You and other friends helped us raise nearly $17,500 in nine months. Together with other contributions and a $62,000 HUD grant, we managed to raise the $103,000 we need to run the center on an annual basis. If you don't know about Our House, click here to read up on this seven-days-a-week center that welcomes the stranger who has no where else to turn.
In addition to financial support, this year a number of churches and individuals have stepped in to lend a hand. They've included members of Cornwall Presbyterian Church, St. John's Episcopal Church, Holy Cross Monastery, St. George's Episcopal Church, Rock Tavern Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Hudson Valley Christian Church, Calvary Presbyterian Church, North Congregational UCC, First Congregational UCC, United Church of Christ Women, Moulton Memorial Baptist Church, Union Presbyterian Church, Hudson-Mohawk Association of the United Church of Christ, Overlook United Methodist Church, Marist Brothers, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Christ the King Lutheran Church, Newburgh Tabernacle Seventh Day Adventist Church, Milton United Methodist Church, the Fox Hill Community, Habitat for Humanity . . . and you!
With your help, we've taken a huge step toward sustainability. Of course that means it's time to begin raising funds for next year and the year after and to begin to develop our own long term funding programs like micro-businesses that can employ a couple of
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The Mug
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folks, pay them a living wage and spin off profits to our not-for-profit.Ifthat's something you'd be interested in working on, please drop us a line at Sower@ecclesia-newburgh.org.
By the way, you can still make a contribution by clicking here . . . And, yes, if you make a contribution of $25 or more, we'll be happy to mug you.
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Arrest and development
"Did you ever Google 'Assessor Arrested,'" I asked the 40 students in the one-day Ethics for the Assessor class I taught last Wednesday. Everyone laughed, of course. That's a good thing when you've got a room full of people who are mandated to take the 7-hour class every few years and would rather
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If it were only that easy.
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watch paint dry than be in a windowless room listening to me.
So, I showed this video clip about a Tennessee assessor who made the news back in January. If you watch the story, you'll learn about the history of one particular public office in which people like you and me gave in to greed, the desire to have stuff, money and power. Sweet Honey in the Rock has a great song about the insidiousness of greed and the way in which it infects us all. The song's called, well, Greed.
Next Sunday's gospel reading - Matthew 4:1-11 - is as much about greed and its partner hubris as it is about Jesus' interaction with the devil and superhuman feats like going without food and water for 40 days. Each time he is tempted, Jesus quotes from or refers to Deuteronomy, a book written at a time when the people of Israel were struggling with modernity and coming to terms with the covenantal relationship that they had with God. He reminds a nation struggling under the weight of the Roman Empire that, in their own wilderness experience, they depended on God for their very lives, that it was and is God in whom they live and move and have their being.
That's something we're likely to forget in a world obsessed with stuff, wealth and influence. That's what makes getting ashes a powerful experience. There's no escaping the truth when another person takes ashes and makes the sign of the cross on your forehead saying, "Remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return." It is perhaps the one minute of the more than half a million minutes of the year when the truth of our mortality really hits home, the moment when all that we've been chasing is put in perspective. It is the moment when a seed is planted in ground prepared for a new season, a season that runs the 46 days of our journey to Easter . . . resurrection . . . hope.
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