Food Bank needs Volunteer Drivers and Loaders

Dee, Pam and Jane help unload the truck

We need help driving for Shepherd’s Table as Ben is beginning his seminary studies in the fall and will not be able to continue. The driver must have a full drivers license and must bring it into the Church Office to have a copy made for the file.

Ben, currently, drives and loads but there is no need for anyone to go on their own unless they are happy doing that. The truck only has 2 seats. For safeguarding reasons the second person needs to be over 18 unless they are related to the driver. You can offer to help either as a driver or as a loader or as both. We do have relief drivers for emergencies. Tell us what you would like to do and how often you could do it.

Every week:

Tuesday Morning

Time varies based on what time we can make appointments. We try for an 8:30-10:00 am time frame. Helen makes appointments on the 1st of each month. Drive to 2nd harvest in Charlotte (500 Spratt St B, Charlotte, NC 28206) to get shelf stable food and occasional meat. Must be trained by 2nd harvest to shop. Able to lift 40-50lbs is recommended or take a 2nd person. Unload truck at church with help. There is training to shop at Second Harvest.

Wednesday 11:30am-1pm

Pick up food distribution from Washington outreach ministry in Waco (2015 Capernium Rd, Cherryville, NC). Ability to lift 40 lbs is recommended. Stack food boxes on pallets to be wrapped and loaded on the truck by forklift. Unload boxes by hand upon return to Redeemer with help. A second volunteer is helpful but can be done solo.

Every other week:

Friday 11:30am-1pm: pick up food distribution from Washington outreach ministry in Waco. Ability to lift 40 lbs is recommended. Stack food boxes on pallets to be wrapped and loaded on the truck by forklift. Unload boxes by hand upon return to Redeemer with help. A second volunteer is helpful but can be done solo.

If you think you can help please get in touch

Thank you.

Belize and Why Belize?

Sometimes when I tell people about my taking a trip to Belize for work and service at Holy Cross Anglican Primary School, they ask me why I go to Belize. Why go to a foreign country, when there is a need here at home? It is a good question, but often I find that it is really more of an attempt to deflect rather than to engage. There is, of course, great need for service close to home, here in Cleveland County and Shelby. As a church, and as individuals, many of us who have gone to Belize from Redeemer spend much of our time volunteering and some of our working lives serving our neighbors here, close to home. So why then have the option to go to Belize?

Ben Hopkins in Belize

For me, there are two primary reasons, or motivations, for traveling to serve neighbors in far away places. First is friendship. I believe that it is important to make and foster friendships with Christians throughout the world, especially Christians whose lives and cultures are different from our own experiences. I believe that seeing Christianity lived and experienced in places other than the United States helps build knowledge and unlocks new understandings in the lives of American Christians. Finding the common ground and understanding the differences of faith journeys in contexts different from our own helps us to separate our faith from our culture and politics. It also expands our sphere of “neighbor” and gives greater weight to the idea that all of God’s creation is wonderfully made and that all of God’s people are our brothers and sisters in Christ. In Belize, the culture is different, but the language barrier is lessened because English is the primary and official language.

Gwen pauses for a photo

The second, but equally important reason that I promote travel is the idea of humble service itself. Jesus makes it clear that the path to discipleship is to give up power and to become one who is willing to serve the least among us. One way to do this is to go to places where the least of these live and to serve them, thereby raising them up, and modeling for the world the upside down nature of God’s Kingdom. Holy Cross School in San Pedro, Belize serves children from some of the poorest families in Belize, some who have fled from worse places in search of safety and a better life, and is built at the entrance to the poorest neighborhood on the island, San Mateo. The presence of the school, built entirely by volunteer teams from the US and Canada, working together with Belizeans from the community, has been a catalyst for positive change. The community has built roads where once a swamp stood, turning garbage into soil and forcing the city government to install electricity and plumbing.

Walkways are raised above a swamp and were in desperate need of repair

This year, a small team from Redeemer returned for the second year in a row to replace aging and rusted roof panels to stop leaks into classrooms. Team members repainted the wooden classrooms to help preserve and make fre

sh the spaces where children will sit and learn important lessons to better their futures. The school is built over water in a mangrove swamp, so the buildings are all connected by elevated decking. Several areas of deck had to be removed and the joists replaced before new deck boards could be returned.

Rebekah Hopkins working on a classroom door

One classroom had its wooden door replaced and painted, and a second classroom received all new wooden window shutters, which are closed during rain and at night to prevent trespassing and theft of materials. The work was hot, but the team of Rebekah Hopkins, Judy Hopkins, Gwen Gadaire, Donna Logan and I worked hard to make sure that as much work was completed as we could. Our team is the last volunteers of the year before classes resume in September. We deeply appreciate the prayers and encouragement from our Redeemer family, and hope that we can share more stories with you in person. If you are interested in serving God and serving God’s Children at Holy Cross School, Redeemer plans to return again in July 2024 for another week of service.

The team: Ben, Rebekah, Gwen, Judy and Donna

Please contact Ben or Judy Hopkins for more details.

By Ben Hopkins

Ben Hopkins is a long-time member of Redeemer and is due to begin training for the priesthood in the Fall. He will still be with us as he is doing a distance course at General Theological Seminary in New York whilst he continues to work on his farm.

What do you think about Mission Trips? Head over to our Forum to join in the discussion. You will have to register to post in the forums.

What is yoga?

As many of you know we have a yoga program at Redeemer. Why? This post gives you a basic answer.

The word “yog” literally means “yoke” or “discipline”. It comes from ancient traditions in the country which is now India, dating back as far as 5000 BCE. The first documents which were written about yoga are in a language called Sanskrit. Like many ancient languages it is difficult to translate to mean exactly one thing but a good translation of what yoga is might be that it is the stilling of the mind, it is an exploration of being in the present moment.

This might surprise you. If you Google yoga you will probably find a lot of pictures of people in difficult looking poses. The truth is that what most people think of as yoga is a version which is fairly recent and is a mixture of gymnastics and more ancient postures, this version is only about 150 years old and concentrates on the physical side of things.

Traditional yoga is about the whole person. It is about learning to control your body and steady your breath - not as an end in itself, but as a way of beginning to still all those things which churn around inside us all the time and making space to connect with the Divine.

This might surprise you. Some people worry that the quiet and meditative side of yoga practice is un-Christian but, in fact, one of the most popular texts for yogis does not give a name to any deity. Patanjali, who wrote the Yoga Sutra, uses the word “Ishwara” - but that is not the name of a specific god - it is just the word for what we would call god or God.

The Bible talks a lot about prayer and meditation - it does not talk so much about exercise. For that, we have to look to some of the writer’s in our faith tradition. A good example would be St. Benedict, who understood the importance of a balanced life and physical labor. He began a monastic order which is now named after him, the Benedictines. The rule of life which he writes for his monks stipulates prayer, study, meditation and physical work as necessary to healthy living - he was writing 1500 years ago

Yoga is a system for health and spiritual well-being which covers physical, mental and spiritual aspects of our being. IPatanjali saysbthere are 8 parts to yoga. The first two are sets of moral behaviors. Then there is physical movement - the asana or posture, then there is breathing (pranayama). Then we cross into the more spiritually oriented parts. Pratyahara or the withdrawal of the senses - simply put, learning not to be distracted by things around us. Then focused concentration - once we have let go of our busy-ness we can begin to concentrate on God - Dharana. Dhyana is a similar word and, in Christian terms, means the moments when we get really close to God, those moments where we are only aware of God and nothing else. Finally, Samadhi is the final part - the moment of union with God - in our tradition this is the experience of the mystic.

This is a very brief introduction to some very big ideas. This system of living has mostly been used in India and within the Hindu religion. Hinduism itself is very diverse and has many branches but, despite the fact that this is where Yoga has mostly been taught and learned about, Yoga is not tied down tight into a specific religious tradition.

Some might be cautious about cultural appropriation. That is, of course, a danger. But this holistic approach to yoga, even within the Christian tradition, might well be seen to be truer to yoga’s roots than an exercise class with no connection to any sort of Divine Principle. Cultural appropriation happens when we take without understanding, choosing the pieces which work for us and discarding the pieces which do not and then claiming authenticity.

The reason we have yoga at Redeemer is that it is a holistic practice which even extends to diet and lifestyle. Whilst we have classes which teach movement, ideally this would be a step into a wider practice which includes prayer and making space for God in a quiet mind. This making space for God, time spent deep with God, union with God is the center of Christian life. That is our life blood - but it is not an academic, cerebral exercise. Time with God involves everything that we are here and now, including our bodies. Stewardship involves our physical being as well as our spiritual and mental selves.

Yoga is simply a system to live holistically. It is far from the only one, but it is also a highly flexible system, one in which we can find ourselves with compassion.