November 2006

HYATTSTOWN CHRISTIAN CHURCH NEWS
November 2006 Volume 4 Issue 11
If someone you know
is in need of prayer or
spiritual care please
call the pastor, an elder, or one
of our associate ministers. We
cannot help if we do not know
of a need or concern.
NOVEMBER
Worship Services Sunday 9am & 11am
Sundays at 10 am - Choir Practice
Nov 4 - 8am-2pm CHURCH BAZAAR
WE NEED YOUR STUFF!
What you don’t want is what someone else needs. Also
need food items, craft items, and helpers. We will be
selling lunch, too! We have GREAT soup.
Nov 11 - 8 am -Men’s Breakfast
Nov 14 - 7:30 -Board meets
Nov 18 - 4:30 pm -Feed the Hungry
Thursday Nov 23
Nov 22 - 7:00pm -Thanksgiving Eve Worship
at HCC
THE PASTOR’S PAGE
November 2006 Volume 4 Issue 11
It is my favorite season. The thing about Halloween is that
it ushers in the best time of the year. I am focused on
Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. This is a time
which draws a great many folks back to Church, which is probably why I
love it so.
It is also a great season for MUSIC, and I already know from Phil Day
that we are all in for a treat from now till February. That is when the pipe
organ will be dedicated.
The community Thanksgiving celebration will be celebrated here this
year. Our choir will sing, not sure about other details. I have not heard
from Holy Family Church as yet. I did meet ( twice ) with the new Methodist minister David Graves, who is here only on Sundays and Mondays.
The rest of the time Dave serves as First Officer for American Airlines.
He flies to Central and South America every week. I believe you will like
him.
Advent begins December 3rd. I know the choir will be singing all during Advent, and we will all be blessed. The new pipe organ will grace
Advent as well. I am still in prayer about the ADVENT sermons and
scriptures may do something other than the lectionary this year.
July 21 - 25 is the date for the GENERAL
ASSEMBLY. I would like to go ( Its in Fort
Worth, Texas this time ) Once again I am
praying about it.
The liturgical color for ADVENT is purple. It is supposed to be a solemn color, but
unlike Lent, I love the uplift of ADVENT.
I believe we all need it.
God bless you.
+ Terry
7pm Bible Study
27
26
9 & 11 Worship
Choir Practice 10
7pm Bible Study
20
19
9 & 11 Worship
Choir Practice 10
7pm Bible Study
13
12
9 & 11 Worship
Choir Practice 10
7pm Bible Study
6
Mon
9 & 11 Worship
Choir Practice 10
5
Sun
28
21
7pm Board
Meets
14
7
Tue
November 2006
930-11am Bible
Study
29
Bible Study
7 pm Thanksgiving
Eve Service
22 930-11am
930-11am Bible
Study
15
930-11am Bible
Study
8
930-11am Bible
Study
1
Wed
30
23
16
9
2
Thu
24
17
10
3
Fri
25
4:30pm FEED
the HUNGRY
18
8am Men’s
Breakfast
11
4 8-2
BAZAAR
Sat
Liturgical Schedule — also posted on bulletin board inside front door
9 am Worship
Deaconate
Elders
Nov 5 / 12
M Pierson
R Davis
Nov 19 / 26
T Hearl
G Pierson
Dec 3 / 10
A Blair
D Blair
Single Elders for
Second Service
11 am Worship Deaconate
Elders
Nov 5 / 12
B Yankaskas
L Hunteman
L Seaman
Nov 19 / 26
B Dangler
W Moore
J Wilson
Dec 3 / 10
S Law
M Cooley
C Moore
Liturgist
9 am Worship
11 am Worship
Scripture
Nov 5
Debbie Blair
Pierette McIntire
-Please Ask the Pastor
Nov 12
Frank Roys
Joe Reister
—
Nov 19
Frank Hearl
Beth Sweeney
—
Nov 26
—
—
—
If you have updates
for the address and
birthday database
PLEASE tell Teresa
Hearl. I am missing a
lot of birthdays and
anniversaries. If I
miss yours please let
me know.
November Birthdays
Nov 2 Dawn Brown
Nov 2 Gail Knott
Nov 4 Andy Blair
Nov 6 David Stickerod
Nov 15 Mark Pierson
Nov 19 Ellen Pierson
Please say a special prayer for
these people on their special day!
Nov 19 Magdalen Memmott
Nov 27 Kevin Moore
November Anniversary
Nov 9 Paul & Becky Delameter
Bazaar!
Sat Nov 4
8am—2pm
Bring your old Stuff
Find new stuff
One man’s (or woman’s) trash is
another man’s (or woman’s) treasure
Crafts, Baked goods,
and Soup and Sandwich lunches available.
Don’t forget that our cookbooks are for sale.
Mark off your Christmas list with one big checkmark, the
HCC Cookbook is one easy way.
Useful Information
Pastor Terry Reister:
Office: (301) 831-8184
Home: (301) 831-8679
Spiritual Formation:
Lorenzo York (301) 831-4305
Biblical Studies:
Jim Cole (301) 706-7404
Music:
Philip A. Day (301) 693-3887
Barb Lang (301-)829-2527
Board Chair:
Hugh Howard (301) 831-8643
Vice-Chair: Andy Blair (301) 216-2746
Board Secy:
Debbie Flook ( 301) 695-2678
Trustees Chair:
Eddie Flook (301) 695-2678
Treasurer:
Pierrette McIntire (301) 607-4242
Financial Secy:
Bob Turman (301)620-7570
Christian Service:
Pat Griffith (301) 972-1316
Barb Dangler (301) 668-4194
Education/Celebration:
Chair: Janet Reister (301) 831-8679
Property Chair:
Eddie Flook (301) 695-2678
Outreach/Stewardship:
Doris Horman (301) 662-8740
Newsletter:
Teresa Hearl (301) 682-7360
Tkhearl@adelphia.net SEND NEWS!!
Reminder for the Choir:
Rehearsal is SUNDAY at 10 am
Liturgists Wanted
If you would like to
serve as liturgist please tell Pastor
Reister. You don’t have to be a
member, you only have to want to
read the scripture on Sunday morning.
Ability is what you’re
capable of doing.
Motivation determines
what you do.
Attitude determines
how well you do it.
—Lou Holtz
Romans 5:1-8
Adult Education Opportunities
\Wednesday Morning Bible Study — 9:30-11am Studying Ephesians
Monday Evening Bible Study— The pastor is also leading the Evening Bible
Study from 7:00-8:30pm.
Theology Study Group — Our Bonhoeffer Theology study group is meeting on
alternate Saturdays. Call Janice Seaman for info. 301-831-6231
THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR YOU TO JOIN US.
Choir loft construction is progressing.
Which way to the bananas?
I think we need to talk to Becky.
Holiday Events
If you have pictures of
church activities or
members of our church
family doing exciting
things, please send them
to Teresa Hearl at
TKHearl@adelphia.net
or see her in church.
Damascus Theater Company
presents
The Frederick Camerata
presents
A Holiday Extravaganza
Saturday Dec 9
at 7:30 pm
Damascus Performing Arts
Center.
Christmas Classics
The program includes
dance numbers, a broad
variety of
holiday music, and
an appearance by Santa Claus!
For more information
See or Call
Barb Lang
(301) 8292527
Sunday Dec 10
at 4 pm
Fort Detrick Chapel
(bring picture ID to show at main
gate on 7th St)
Concert selections
include:
Four Poulenc Motets
Select Messiah Choruses
Traditional Carols
You are cordially invited to celebrate
the season with us. For more
information
See or Call Phil Day
(301) 693-3887
NEWS
In the
PEWS
Dear Friends,
We had quite a crowd for our
annual Halloween Party on
Sunday. Some of our members are very creative when
it comes to designing their
costumes. Special kudos to
contest winners Pierrette &
Chuck McIntire (lumberjack
& downed tree) & Sarah
Oluich (Princess Ile -an
anime character). Sarah's
outfit was handcrafted. Another crowd favorite was
Dana Reitman as the pink
flamingo. To quote Angela &
Kayla Howard, "She's so
pretty! She's so pretty!" You
had to see it! Dana looked
gorgeous all in pink complete
with her Dame Edna glasses
& feather boa!
CHOIR NEWS: The Choir
will start singing again this
Sunday. They have been
busily rehearsing for Thanksgiving, Advent & Christmas.
Just wait until you hear them!
They should really consider
making a CD of their music!
Or maybe they could go on
tour!
Good News:
Hugh Howard, Marian
Meyers & Lorenzo & Phyllis
York joined Terry & me at the
Christian Church Capital
Area's Regional Assembly in
Towson. We were excited to see
Hugh elected as treasurer for
the Region. Congratulations
Hugh!
Some of our travelers this
past month:
Sarah Duke attended the Disciple Youth fall retreat.
Robin, Jonathan, Kyle &
Bryce Davis flew to Monterey,
California to attend the wedding of Kyle's best friend. Robin
told us the service was held with
the Pacific Ocean as the backdrop. She was especially proud
that Kyle served as bestman.
Bob & Sharon Turman took a
week long return trip to North
Carolina where they explored
Christmount Christian Assembly & the Black Mountain area.
Barbara Lang made a visit to
Minnesota as a surprise for her
daughter's birthday. Barbara's
trip included an afternoon at a
family reunion.
Teresa Hearl spent some
time with her mother, daughters Heidi & Renee & their
families, splitting her time between West Virginia & North
Carolina.
+Janet
Milestones:
Jerry King celebrated his
75th birthday with family in
Frederick. Alysa Wilson
turned 21 & celebrated with
friends at Virginia Beach.
People to remember in
prayer: Artye Hellner, Norman & Doris Horman, Hannah Matlock, Jerry &
Cherry King, Bob & Joyce
Cook, Goldie Burdette &
Dr. George Schaffer.
Grace & peace,
THE COOKBOOKS
ARE HERE!
Dust off your pots and
pans the cookbook is
here! Place your order
with Teresa Hearl or Barbara Dangler. Price $10,
a great stocking stuffer.
Wake up your taste buds
with Hyattstown Christian
Church Cooks.
POSTPONED—
Die Fledermaus
The show did not go on. . . .
in Sept, but it will, on:
Jan 27-28 & Feb 2-3
And mark your calendars for
the Frederick Camerata’s
Classical Christmas Concert
on Dec 10 at Ft Detrick.
Several of our members sing
in the Camerata, or assist the
group backstage.
Halloween
Getting
ready to
party
Janet’s
singing
toys
Cute couples
Did you know that
the yard flamingo
factory is closing?
Dana did.
Plenty of Food and Fun
And PlayDoh, too.
We had all kinds of costumes. What a creative group!
And the
winner is. .
Beak to Beak
Cute
&
Scary
Enigma
SNAPSHOTS
By
Dana Appleton Reitman
humane than that, but I still cannot get
the image of the children who were
*not* adopted out of my mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The United Nations defines an orphan as
a child who has lost one or both parents.
Some of the criticism I have read from
the First World has included condemnation of a father who would leave his
baby at an orphanage. Poverty-stricken
Yohane Banda has said that he was unable to care for the baby, and that his
two older sons had both died of malaria.
It was his hope that David would have a
better chance of survival in an orphanage. I read that Yohane thought he
would be able to take David back when
he was a bit older.
"Is there someone in the congregation
you would like to know more about?
Is someone you know involved in
something really interesting? Do
*you* want to tell your story?
Please call or email Dana Appleton
Reitman. 301-846-0654
or reitman@adelphia.net"
People weren’t feeling talkative this
month. I was about ready to tell Teresa
that we would have to omit the Snapshots column when last Sunday after
church, Bob Turman and Terry Reister
both asked me separately what I thought
of the rock-star/actress Madonna and her
husband, movie-director Guy Ritchie,
adopting a baby boy from Malawi.
I have spent the better part of a month
reading articles and opinion pieces about
her adoption of David Banda. Many
have been posted to Nyasanet, an on-line
email list I have been a member of since
1997. Nyasa refers to Malawi’s colonial
name, Nyasaland. The list is dedicated to
the discussion of “all things Malawian”,
and anyone can join.
One in five babies die of preventable
and curable diseases before their fifth
birthday in Malawi. I cannot find fault
with Yohane for leaving his last living
child in a place where he thought the
baby would have the best chance of surviving early childhood. It wasn’t so long
ago that people in the U.S took children
they could not properly raise to orphanages. Being an orphan in Malawi is far
different than being an orphan in the U.
S. Yohane Banda is not a bad man for
wanting to save his child.
How and why Madonna chose to go to
Malawi, how and why she decided to
In case you haven’t been catching any of
adopt a baby, and how and why she
the news on this adoption, little David is
ended up with David Banda does not
a Malawian baby whose mother died
interest some of my Malawian friends.
soon after he was born. David was living
As one of them said “It was God’s will.
in a village in an orphanage when
Madonna was destined for David and
Madonna, or her “advance men”, found
David was destined for Madonna.”
him. He was one of twelve children she
was shown and she said that she felt an
One of my concerns is that David will
instant bond with him. Now, the image
not have much contact or feel much afof this process at first sickened me- was
finity for his Malawian heritage or the
it like picking a puppy or kitten from a
culture of his village and tribe. Sure,
litter? Of course it must have been more
Madonna has said that she will take him
Dana with some “babies” in Malawi
back to Malawi every three or four
years. But after talking to Malawian
friends who grew up outside of Malawi,
I do not believe that he will even be able
to communicate with his own father,
who speaks only Chichewa, much less
anyone else from his home village.
He will not have been raised by Malawian parents, he will not have been
taught about cultural mores which, even
after years of study, I sometimes find
hard to understand.
My fear, which I share with some of my
Malawian friends, is that not only will
he feel like an outsider in London and
the U.S, but he will be an outsider in
Malawi as well. Where will he feel most
at home? Where will he feel welcome?
Where will his “mzimu”, his spirit, feel
it needs to be? There are good reasons
why Native Americans do not allow
their children to be adopted by nonNative American parents. They believe
that a child raised in the dominant culture outside of the tribe will not be Native American.
One cannot argue that the vast financial
resources of two famous and wealthy
parents will not smooth the way for
David. And as one of my Malawian
friends from Nyasanet said: “I think the
most important things are the welfare-education, health and rights--of the child
before culture. I am reminded of the philosophy of John S. Mbiti, in his book
entitled "African Religion" where, in
paraphrase, he says that no matter where
an African is born and raised, poor or
wealthy, Christian or traditional, with
him travels a special African religious
spirit that always tell him about his true
identity in the cosmos. Mbiti avers that
even when persuaded to western education or to Christianity, the real identity
as an African does not change completely.”
I believe too much in the power of one’s
surrounding culture to fully accept
Mbiti’s theory, as enticing as it sounds.
Many Malawians believe that Madonna
has done a wonderful thing. Growing up
in a life of poverty is horrible. They say
that she has shown the world a good example. I think about some of the other
the examples she has shown the world,
and wonder: wearing little but underwear on stage; French-kissing Brittany
Spears on stage; hanging herself on a
cross in mock crucifixion on stage; can
anyone forget the coffee-table photo
book she published a few years back, the
one titled “Sex”?
On the other hand, many of us have
skeletons in our closets. I believe that
God is loving and forgiving. Isn’t
Madonna, a self-professed religious
woman, as likely to be forgiven her trespasses as the rest of us? I am just glad I
never published a book about my most
egregious sins.
Another thing my 16 year old son
pointed out is that until now many people had never heard of Malawi. They
were blissfully ignorant of the second
poorest country in the world. Now Malawi has the world’s attention. On
Nyasanet some Malawians said it’s good
that Madonna is “putting Malawi on the
map”. Others argued that it’s been on the
map the whole time, and ask why is it
that the First World has largely ignored
Malawi with all its problems until now?
They wonder: will anything change?
Still others were upset that the media
chose to show the worst of Malawi: the
poor villages, the children with runny
noses, people dressed in tattered clothes,
the mud huts. They want to know why
the luxurious safari-style camp Madonna
stayed in wasn’t shown, or some of the
lovely tourist spots at Lake Malawi.
electricity, fertilizer for everyone’s
crops, maybe even a pledge of food
during years of drought. Rather than
adopting one child, taking him out of
his home environment and providing
him with almost unimaginable wealth,
perhaps she could have made a wiser
choice. What if she had given everything she has spent so far, and will
spend in the future, to Malawi Children’s Village? Think of how many
children she would have helped.
There are some Malawians who think
that David’s celebrity has insured that
some good will come to Malawi in the
future, that you can take the boy out of
Malawi but you can’t take Malawi out
of the boy. I guess we will all have to
wait 20 more years to see if David
Banda Ritchie still has a warm heart
for The Warm Heart of Africa.
Since 80% to 90% of Malawi’s population is rural and lives in poverty, I think
it would have been disingenuous for the
press to show anything but what it did.
I was talking with Barb Dangler and she
pointed out that perhaps Madonna could
have done more good for more people. I
thought of how easy it would be for
someone with her wealth to provide an
entire village with mosquito nets, antimalarial drugs, running water, access to
Brenda, who is 13 years old,
was left an orphan after her
mother died and her father
moved to another village,
abandoning Brenda and her 7
year old sister.
Orphans in Malawi
This is Rose and her children.
These children are considered
orphans even tho they still live
with their mother; their father
was murdered.
Little girl caring for her sibling
This child is standing next to the
"still" where his mother brews corn
liquor. She has no other way to
make money in the village.
Malawian boy
caring for his
brother
Worship with your church family this
Sunday. Our doors are open and you are
always welcome in God’s house.
We look forward to seeing you.
WELCOME!
Rev. Terry Reister
26012 Frederick Rd
Hyattstown MD 20871
Phone: 301-831-8184
Email: wftreister@earthlink.net
Hyattstown Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)
We’re on the web!
www. hyattstownchristianchurch.org