Dark times can bring out the best in humanity and can reveal hidden beauty and strength. That was true of Jesus on Good Friday and it is true of the church in the present pandemic.
Category: Lent
Maundy Thursday Online Worship Service
Blessings to you on this Maundy Thursday.
In a more normal year, we would be gathering for Maundy Thursday Holy Communion. While that is not currently possible, I hope that our recorded services feed you spiritually during this Holy Week.
You should also know that when we are cleared to return to worship in our beautiful sanctuary, we will revisit the Easter Liturgy, anthems, and message – for that will be a day of resurrection for us all as we return to a more normal life personally and as a community of faith.
Blessings, peace, and health to all,
Pastor Derek
March 29th Worship News
East Hills Moravian has canceled all in-person worship and fellowship gatherings, effective immediately, until April 30th or until we receive further guidance from government sources. Please join us online if you are able. The office is closed.
The following events have been canceled as well:
- Bunny Breakfast Buffet – April 4th.
- Northeast Community Center Annual Italian Buffet fundraiser for the Summer Camp Program – April 4th.
- Spring Preschool Lovefeast – April 15th
- Senior Girl Scout Troop Easter Candy Sale (month of March and first week of April)
Missed Sunday Worship?
If you missed this week’s worship service, check out the recording on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/o7sq3_NpNHE. We ran into some technical difficulties streaming it live, so do please, bookmark our YouTube channel as we will post the service there if live streaming is unstable like it was this morning.
Have a Prayer Request or Pastoral Concern?
Have a prayer request? Please email the church office at office@easthillsmc.org. We will not be mentioning persons by other than first name during worship or delving too deeply into individual circumstances since the YouTube broadcast is literally available to the world. We soon will have a new prayer list which will contain the information normally present in the Sunday morning bulletin insert.
For pastoral concerns, contact Pastor Derek via email at pastorfrench@easthillsmc.org, via text message or through Facebook messenger. His personal and cell number are available to members in the East Hills Moravian Church directory. If you do not have one, please contact the office and we will send you a .pdf copy.
TREX Plastic Challenge Update
Our joint TREX Plastics Challenge has taken on a whole new dimension in the past few weeks, as we practice social distancing and worship from home. We encourage you to continue to gather your plastic bags and wrap for the TREX Plastics Challenge, so that, when we can return safely to church services, events, and committee meetings, we can bring in the accumulated plastic and continue toward our goal. By the way, when we suspended collection in mid-March, we had a total of 281 lbs. toward our first 500 lb. goal!! Excellent work! Thanks to all BAM church members for your participation!
Women’s Fellowship Goes Online!
Women’s Fellowship will be meeting virtually (via Zoom) on March 31st at 7:00 pm. All women are invited. To join this meeting you need a computer, a tablet, or a smartphone with a speaker, webcam and internet connectivity. To use Zoom, use this link https://zoom.us/j/608780222 prior to the meeting and download the Zoom app if you do not have it. To sign into the meeting, you click on the link https://zoom.us/j/608780222 and you will be connected. If you have used Zoom before you should not have to download the app again. If you have questions or problems signing in, you can contact Lucy Thompson.
In addition, everyone should have their study book Sitting at Table in the Kingdom of God and a Bible. If you don’t have a study book, don’t worry, we will be reading the lesson together. The lesson is Session 6 “The Table in John’s Upper Room” John 13:1-20. So, make yourself a hot beverage and please join us.
Mid-Week Lenten Program: Encounters with Jesus
This coming Wednesday is the last of our mid-week Lenten series: Encounters with Jesus. On April 1st, join us for “On to Jerusalem.” Resources will be mailed out during the day on Wednesday. These will include scripture references, questions for reflection, and links to online videos. If you wish, you are invited to join us for an online discussion through the Zoom application. SPECIAL THANKS: to Peter Diehl for coming up with the idea for the program.
Book Club
All are invited to join the East Hills Moravian Church book club on Monday, April 27th at 7 pm in the parlor where we will discuss The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. Questions? Contact: Amy Frantz Gross at bartlet4pres@yahoo.com for details about how this will be done if we are still operating remotely.
Ongoing Ministry Opportunities
A Can a Week
Please hold those with food shortages in your thoughts and prayers as changes at both the Northeast Community Center Foodbank and Second Harvest take place. We will not be collecting canned foods at this time, but if you’d like to continue to help with this effort, please mail a check in any amount to the church at 1830 Butztown Rd, Bethlehem, PA 18017. Please note “A Can a Week” on the memo line. Cash cards will be purchased to help meet the needs of the hungry at this time of stress and uncertainty.
Victory House
Interested in helping to feed the hungry? Contact Rob Greenawald at 610-438-2626 or rgreenawald@rcn.com for more information or to volunteer.
Online Giving
Please note that we have online giving established for any donations you wish to make to East Hills Moravian Church. Check out our Online Giving page for more details. Help us to maintain our ministry, our facilities, but most importantly, our mission: “To Know Christ and Make Him Known.”
How are we doing that?
- Through making meals for Moravian House 1 and 2 in downtown Bethlehem
- Through feeding those in the Single Sisters House who can’t get out to purchase groceries and have very limited funds.
- Through our online outreach.
- Through our Freezer Ministry.
- Through our sponsorship of “Jesus Saves” ministry.
- Through our worship and fellowship opportunities.
All Moravian congregations and fellowships in the Northern and Southern Provinces in the United States have online giving enabled through the Giving Portal at https://mmfa.info/givingportal/. The Moravian Ministries Foundation in America is happy to do its part to help Moravians support the ministries of their local churches and worship God with their tithes and offerings from the safety of home. Answers to frequently asked questions are available at: https://files.constantcontact.com/4979844f601/4ee20b1b-d3a0-4f5a-ac32-c1846e2e30f4.pdf
March 22nd Worship Notes
Missed Worship?
If you missed worship this Sunday (or last Sunday for that matter), head over to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/EastHillsMoravian. Derek posted the Sunday worship services there and will do so for the foreseeable future. We realize this is unchartered territory and are doing our best to provide continued continuity despite quarantines, restrictions, and social distancing.
Missed the Mid-Week Lenten Service this Week?
If you missed the Mid-Week Lenten Service this past Wednesday, Derek did his best to bring it to you online over on our East Hills Moravian Group Page here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/109455987443/. If you aren’t a member yet, please consider joining us!
Have a Prayer Request?
Please email the church office: office@easthillsmc.org. We will not be mentioning persons by other than their first name during worship or delving in too deeply into individual circumstances since the YouTube broadcast is literally available to the world. We soon will have a new prayer list which will contain the information normally present in the Sunday morning bulletin.
Need Pastoral Care?
Contact Derek via email at pastorfrench@easthillsmc.org, via text message, or via Facebook messenger. His personal and cell numbers are available to members in the East Hills Moravian Church directory. If you need a directory, please email the church office and we will gladly send you a .pdf copy.
Please Consider Online Giving
Please consider using our Online Giving portal for submitting your tithe or other donations. This is safe and secure and helps provide needed resources not only for our congregation but also for the emergency funds we provide to those in our community. All Moravian congregations and fellowships in the Northern and Southern Provinces in the United States have online giving enabled through the Giving Portal at https://mmfa.info/giving-portal/. The Moravian Ministries Foundation in America is happy to do its part to help Moravians support the ministries of their local churches and worship God with their tithes and offerings from the safety of home. Answers to frequently asked questions are available at https://files.constantcontact.com/4979844f601/4ee20b1b-d3a0-4f5a-ac32-c1846e2e30f4.pdf
Mid-Week Lenten Services
Derek is going to try and post this week’s Mid-Week Lenten Service on our YouTube channel. That said, we are using some external content so we need to make sure copyrights are observed. Please bear with us; this might remain in our East Hills Moravian Facebook Group page instead. Many thanks, again, to Peter Diehl for the idea for this program. This week’s focus will be on the disciples.
Ministry Opportunities
A Can a Week
Please hold those with food shortages in your thoughts and prayers as changes at both the Northeast Community Center Foodbank and Second Harvest take place. We will not be collecting canned foods at this time, but if you’d like to continue to help with this effort, please mail a check in any amount to the church at 1830 Butztown Rd, Bethlehem, PA 18017. Please note “A Can a Week” on the memo line. Cash cards will be purchased to help meet the needs of the hungry at this time of stress and uncertainty. Thank you for your faithfulness to this ministry.
Victory House
Interested in helping to feed the hungry. Contact Rob Greenawald at 610 438 2626 or rgreenawald@rcn.com for more information or to volunteer.
EHMC Preschool Fundraiser
Ongoing fundraiser with Primary.com which sells quality children’s clothing at affordable prices. Please visit our school’s special URL at primary.com/school/easthills and use the code EASTHILLS when checking out after shopping. Information to register for Primary.com is available through the Preschool, and you will also receive an extra 25% off your first order.
Book Club
All are invited to join the East Hills Moravian Church book club on Monday, April 27th at 7 pm in the parlor where we will discuss “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” by Kim Michele Richardson. Questions? Contact: Amy Frantz Gross at bartlet4pres@yahoo.com.
Cancellations
WHY KNOTS, scheduled for March 25, and WOMEN’S FELLOWSHIP, scheduled for April 7, are both canceled. Please hold one another in your thoughts and prayers, and maintain connection by phone, email, or text.
Northeast Community Center 2020 Annual Italian Buffet Fundraiser on Saturday, April 4, that was in the March Newsletter, has been canceled. If anyone would like to send a donation for the 2020 Summer Camp Program, they would be so grateful. Northeast Community Center, P.O. Box 1463, Bethlehem, PA 18016
Preschool Information
Bunny Breakfast (tentatively)
Saturday, April 4th, 9 AM to 10:15 AM. Open to the community. Pictures with the Bunny from 9:15 to 10:15 for a donation (bring your own camera). Egg Hunt at 10:30. Tickets are $5 for anyone over two, two and under are free but need a ticket. For reservation/tickets please email EHMChurch1830@yahoo.com with your name, how many tickets for two and up and how many tickets for under 2 and the best way to contact you. Questions please email EHMChurch1830@yahoo.com or call 610-737-0012. Includes pancakes, sausage, eggs, tater tots, cheese sauce and other condiments, and a juice and coffee bar. Proceeds will benefit the East Hills Moravian preschool marketing budget. The deadline to get tickets is March 27, 2020.
Spring Preschool Lovefeast Service (tentatively)
The Spring Preschool Lovefeast will be tentatively held on Wednesday, April 15th at 9:30 am. This is in celebration of the Week of the Young Child.
Preschool Registration
Registration for East Hills Moravian Preschool is open! Tell your family, friends, and neighbors about our wonderful school. We have a beautiful facility, friendly and knowledgeable teachers, and a new curriculum. We offer the following programs:
- Three-Year-Old, M/W/F; 9:00-11:45 am
- Four-Year-Old, 4 days M/Tu/Thu/Fri; 9:00-11:45 am or 5 days M-F; 9:00-11:45 am. The first Wednesday of the month is 9:00 am-1:00 pm for 5-day Fours only.
If you want to extend the fun, children can bring their lunch and stay 11:45 am-1:00 pm or until 3:00 pm. Please call us at 610-868-6242 and let us know your preschool needs.
Claiming the Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus Christ lies at the heart of Christian faith. According to the Apostle Paul, it was through God’s act of raising Jesus from the dead that God definitively identified Jesus as God’s Son and thus conferred the ultimate stamp of divine approval on Christ’s ministry and message. As Jesus’ followers, we share in the promise of the resurrection and eternal life. The blessings of resurrection are not restricted to the existence after death. God raised Christ from the dead so that our present lives might also be transformed and renewed. To embrace resurrection is to live a life of faith, open to new challenges of discipleship which God places before us.
Resurrection of Christ (Raphael)
As a community of faith, it is important that we are accountable both to and for each other. Writing to the congregation in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Apostle Paul advises believers: “Therefore, encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing. … admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.” (Thess. 5:11, 14-19) This Spring at East Hills Moravian Church, we will be looking for ways to put the Apostle’s timeless advice into practice as we seek to grow into the promise of vibrant new life heralded by the resurrection of Jesus Christ on that first Easter morning.
“The Lord is risen.” “The Lord is risen indeed.”
Welcoming More Light Into Our Lives
“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.” – Jesus (John 9:4}
In our own time, having light on demand at the flick of a switch is the expectation rather than the exception. However, for most of humanity’s existence, seasonal availability of light had a profound impact on activity and quality of life. The lengthening of days in early spring was something to be anticipated and celebrated. It is the origin of both an early English name for Spring, /encten, and the church season of Lent.
This year, as you prepare for Lent, I encourage you to consider new ways to welcome Christ’s light into your life.
We often associate Lent with rituals of self-denial such as fasting. That is especially true here in Eastern Pennsylvania where fasnachts, originally made to empty the pantry of sugars and fats forbidden during Lenten fasts, still are a favorite annual offering. A Biblical basis for this traditional Lenten practice is found in the story of Jesus fasting for forty days in the wilderness while being tempted by Satan. (See Mark 1 :12-13} .
Over the centuries, countless persons have deepened their relationship with Christ through these means. Yet any practice or discipline which draws you closer to God can be a means of Lenten spiritual enlightenment. For instance, you might …
- make a commitment to do one intentional act of kindness for each of Lent’s forty days,
- vow to spend 10 minutes in prayer each morning before work, at lunch, or in the evening before going to sleep,
- commit to setting aside change to give to the church or other charitable cause,
- vow not to make insensitive, cruel, or judgmental comments about persons during the days of Lent, or
- take a step of faith and volunteer for a church activity or mission
Whatever you do, be aware that spiritual enlightenment is much more like the natural, gradual increase of daylight minute by minute each day than it is the sudden flood of artificial light which comes at the flick of a switch. Patience is not only a virtue; it is also a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Following Jesus
In June of last year, the American singer and songwriter Katy Perry became the first person to have over 100 million “followers” on Twitter. Of course, being a follower today is quite a bit less demanding than following someone like Jesus in the 1st century. For Perry’s fans, “following” her need mean no more than clicking a button inside of Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
Titian: Christ Carrying The Cross [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Early Christians were known as “followers of the Way.” They understood that Jesus’ way of life was all-encompassing. It affected how they saw the world, how they understood their relationship to temporal authority and to society, how they lived their lives personally, and how they interacted with and treated others. Though they lived in the 1st century while we live in the 21st, the demands of following Jesus remain the same.
- As followers of Jesus, we believe creation and everything in it belongs to God. Therefore we exercise faithful stewardship on God’s behalf rather than exploiting resources and situations for our own enrichment.
- As followers of Jesus, we, like Peter and the apostles before us, say: “We must obey God rather than any human authority” whenever our society or its leaders conflict with Jesus’ teachings. (Acts 5:29)
- As followers of Jesus, our lives are a gift from God. Therefore we live for God and for others, rather than merely to pursue our own happiness or betterment. “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7-8)
- As followers of Jesus, we treat others the way we wished to be treated. We extend the grace to others that we know we need for ourselves.
Yes, there’s quite a bit more to following Jesus than merely to “like” him or express interest in his teachings and life.
I Heart Lent
As February days gradually lengthen, there is, even in the midst of winter, a hint of the promise of spring with its quickening of life after a winter-long slumber. Lent is a hopeful season of the church year which mirrors the promise of renewal seen in the natural world. During the forty days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, Christians reflect on God’s unconditional, sacrificial love and embrace the promise of eternal life.
From The Life of Our Lord, published by Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, c.1880
The looming shadow of the cross at the end of this liturgical season is a tragic reminder of humanity’s timeless capacity for inhumanity. Yet it is also a triumphant reminder of the victory of life and love over death and hatred. Weekly Lenten scripture lessons remind us how God’s love transformed the cross – a symbol of shame, death, and punishment – into a potent symbol of grace, redemption, and hope. It is fitting that Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine’s Day this year for Lent reminds us of God’s love for us.
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
– 1st Letter of John, chapter 4, verse 10
Lent is also a perfect time to re-order our lives. From time to time all of us need to pause, take stock, and clear out that which is superfluous in order to make way for that which is truly essential. That goes not only for our stuff – our material possessions – but also for our sense of self, our value system, and our priorities. It’s all too easy to base our self-understanding on others’ views of us, our value system on that promoted by the culture around us, while we forget what is most important to our well-being in the face of daily demands on our time and attention.
Lenten spiritual disciplines of self-denial and meditation aim to make space in our hectic modern lives for God. Paradoxically, it is in surrendering ourselves to God and offering up our lives to Christ that we find our true selves. As Jesus once said, “… those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves?”
I invite you to respond to God’s love during these forty days by thinking carefully about your
relationship with Christ.
- What thoughts, words, and actions honor him?
- What in your life is incompatible with being a follower of Jesus?
These questions are intended to promote self-awareness rather than guilt. May the insights you gain in pondering these questions inform your spiritual transformation and promote faithful action on Christ’s behalf.