Young Adult Fellowship

We would like to start a monthly fellowship for young adults.  If you or someone you know (under age 40) would be interested in getting together monthly and sharing dinner out, please give your or their contact information (phone and/or e-mail) to Pastor Dee.  Thank you.

To Hope Lutheran Parish,

     Thank you so much for the gifts and money that you gave me this Christmas.  I received gifts directly from individuals, monetary gifts through congregations and a monetary gift from the parish.  I deeply appreciate your signs of love and encouragement.

Pastor Dee

God Works in Mysterious Ways:  A Story of Thanksgiving 

                                                        By Jean Bolinger

     Once upon a time in New Windsor, MD there was a Church of the Brethren school called Blue Ridge College.  When World War II broke out the college lost most of its students to the draft and in 1943 was forced to close.  The church tried to sell the college but to no avail, so it was left vacant. 

      World War II, as we know, was the worst war that humans have ever fought.  Millions of people lost their lives and a great part of Europe was totally destroyed.  The majority of the survivors were left without adequate food, clothing, and shelter.  They were in desperate straits with Germany being the worst place of all.

      Before the war actually ended, church people all over the United States began planning how they could alleviate the suffering of those war victims once the war was over.  It was no secret how bad things were in Europe and Lutheran groups who had, in many cases, relatives still living in Germany, began collecting money, food, clothing and blankets.  The Church of the Brethren was another group who initiated efforts to do the same.  Each denomination had collection points for hard goods and an office to receive monetary donations but the task was overwhelming and the churches struggled to keep up with the needs once our government finally permitted aid to be sent overseas.

      Somehow the Brethren seemed to do the best job of collecting, sorting, and dispensing the hundreds of thousands of relief items that came their way and eventually consolidated most of their efforts at the once vacant Blue Ridge College.  Soon every building on campus was full of canned goods, shoes, and clothing and over time all the other denominations who had become involved in relief efforts contracted for their supplies to be funneled through the New Windsor facility.  Eventually a football field-sized warehouse was added to accommodate the growing need.

      One of the Lutheran projects from the very beginning of the war relief was making blankets out of any worn out clothing.  Over time the blankets turned into quilts or comforters and today over 350,000 of them are sent to victims of war and natural disasters each year.  In the 1980s we started a quilting group at Prince of Peace here in Cortland and since then have probably made 2000 quilts.  These are sent to New Windsor where they are compacted into bundles and eventually shipped out of Baltimore harbor to people in many countries who are the refugees of today.

      The initial step in making a quilt or comforter is cutting the fabric into squares.  Occasionally I have to stand up in church and encourage members to do some cutting so our quilt project can continue.  On one of those Sundays a young man who was visiting the church approached me to indicate he knew of someone who would be willing to cut the fabric and would do a good job.  He took some fabric with him and returned the finished squares a short time later.  This process was repeated a couple of times until this past summer when the person doing the cutting kept asking for more and more fabric.  Soon the back stock of fabric was depleted, so the young man arranged for the worker to sew the squares together into quilt tops.  The tops were perfect and our quilting project moved full speed ahead.

      The assistance this worker was giving the quilt project was almost too good to be true … and it was.  A monkey wrench was thrown into this beautiful relationship between our church and the worker when it was decided to shift various prison populations within the state and relocate all death row inmates to one facility.  You see, the worker is a death row inmate named Elwood who currently resides in Youngstown.  He cut ALL that fabric using blunt end kindergarten scissors!  He is now desperately trying to finish sewing all the remaining squares together for us before he is moved to Chillicothe.

      Although the sad part is that our relationship with this gentleman will soon end, there is a strong similarity to the way God worked in turning a vacant college in Maryland into a wonderful facility for aiding people in need and the way he sent Elwood into the lives of the quilters of Prince of Peace.  He does work in mysterious yet joyful ways.  Our hope this Thanksgiving is that Elwood can somehow find another way to contribute and that he finds peace and comfort in his new “home”.    ~