C
HURCH OF THE
R
EDEEMER
Christ's hands and heart in the world
Volume 1, Issue 3, April 2010
BY
S
USAN
A
YRES
IHN’s mission has been expressed in many ways, but the bottom line is one of hope and a commitment to help temporarily homeless families find a better life for themselves and their families. It provides a support system that offers food, shelter and access to social services; allowing families to stay together while parents complete their education, seek permanent employment and obtain housing. The goal is that each family re-establish a productive life in the community.
corners of the world, where our time and dollars can do so much in a short period of time. The needs of those in our own neighborhoods or communities need to be recognized and IHN gives us the opportunity to reach out locally to people here who also need our loving kindness.
It is not always comfortable to come face to face with our “neighbors” who are struggling and there are definitely challenges involved in recognizing and being helpful to them.
page of the Redeemer website.
There are 5 other networks in
Southeastern PA and approximately 150 throughout the US—all under the umbrella of NJ based, Family Promise.
We owe our involvement over the past decade to the hard work and determination of Lucetta Alderfer and
Barbara Hobbs and to the blessing of the Vestry and our clergy over the past decade.
Redeemer is one of 12 host congregations in the Main Line network and we provide shelter, an evening meal and security for families 5 times a year, or about every 12 weeks. This is very much a “hands on ministry” that can involve you as an individual, you and a friend or you and your family.
There are answers to “frequently asked questions,” a history of IHN at The
Redeemer and much more on the
Outreach page of the Redeemer website. Updates also appear in the weekly News from The Redeemer.
With the recent earthquakes in Haiti and
Chile, the upcoming youth group trip to the Dominican Republic and the stories and photos from the many Malawi travel teams, our eyes and hearts are often drawn to the needs of the impoverished
While we are all experienced volunteers, there are special sensitivities that we need to be aware of as we embrace families whose lives are at their most broken point. To address these sensitivities, to learn more about homelessness, the network, the role of the volunteer in the network and to ask questions IHN’s Executive Director offers a workshop, monthly (except during the summer), on Saturday mornings. Please take advantage of this, especially if you are a new volunteer.
Watch for details in the weekly News from The Redeemer and on the Outreach
I have had the honor to serve as our parish’s coordinator now for just over 6 years, during which time we have been able to anchor and grow this ministry at
The Redeemer. It is now time for me to allow another parishioner the opportunity to enrich and grow it even further. It is my hope that the next coordinator and leadership team will enjoy this opportunity to make a difference locally.
C
OMING UP THIS MONTH
:
Food for Friends: Cooking on Wednesdays, April 7 & 21 1-3pm.
Come to the Kitchen!
Remember the Collection Center in the Parish House hallway for: canned goods, eyeglasses, cell phones, cleaning supplies, children's books and school supplies.

S
Stephen Webb
Listen to the bells, listen to the bells with your heart.
God is everywhere and with us always.
He calls you with the bells to worship in community and to worship in peace. It is our privilege to have this sacred place; it is my privilege to support financially
“...most of us pay attention to the wrong things. Most people vastly overestimate the extent to which more money would improve our lives.
Most schools and colleges spend too much time preparing students for careers and not enough preparing them to make social decisions. Most governments release a ton of data on economic trends but not enough on trust and other social conditions. In short, modern societies have developed vast institutions oriented around the things that are easy to count, not around the things that matter most. They have an affinity for material concerns and a primordial fear of moral and social ones...
Governments keep initiating policies they think will produce prosperity, only to get sacked, time and again, from their spiritual blind side.”
David Brooks, “The Sandra Bullock Trade”
The New York Times, March 30, 2010
D
M
L
’
G
J
BY
P
ETER
V
ANDERVEEN
Nowhere in the Bible is it said that God recognizes the gift that is given over and above the act of the giver.
Quite to the contrary, God repeatedly insists that it is the giving itself that is important, and that what is given—in value, in size, in sacrifice—is of less significance.
In the Old Testament, the prophets continually declared that God does not want or need or ask for the blood of animals. God seeks, instead, persons with contrite hearts; people who see the world clearly enough to understand that giving expresses the very heart of life.
In the Epistles, Paul states that
God loves those who find joy—hilarity, in fact—in offering to others not only what they have but who they are. He says nothing at all about calculations of worth or measures of efficiency or sets of metrics by which to evaluate the productivity of a gift. The ends are not nearly as critical as the intentions.
Or, as David Brooks so keenly observed, what can be counted diverts us from what is most essential to our happiness and well-being.
What matters most is intangible, incalculable, and marvelously mysterious: offering gifts freely, as if without cost—or, in the model of God, producing something as if out of nothing. For giving, properly understood, is a form of creating. And creating is the very essence of living.
Stewardship, then, is not just a form of repayment, throwing back to God a token of appreciation. Stewardship is choosing to live vigorously and with a glad spirit. It’s literally participating in the creation of life. Similarly, philanthropy means the love of others, most of whom have yet to be. It’s a supreme form of hope, which, if it were tied to strict measurement, would be demeaned.
A stewardship pledge to the
Church of the Redeemer is, in truth, our invitation and your opportunity to discover and multiply life’s greatest joys— the things that matter most.
Join us in this.
all that is here and all that has been given to me. I am eternally grateful.
Anne Barnett
parishioner
Please accept this pledge for 2010.
Please add $________________ total
I/we pledge $________________ total to be paid weekly monthly one payment to my pledge already made for 2010.
Name:______________________________ Phone:_____________________________
Address:____________________________
___________________________________
Email:______________________________
Remember, you have until December 31, 2010 to satisfy the payments to your 2010 pledge.
You can give on line at: www.TheRedeemer.org.
Church of the Redeemer 230 Pennswood Road Bryn Mawr PA 19010 610-525-2486 www.TheRedeemer.org