Bethlehem Area Moravian Freezer Ministry adds a Garden Gathering Program

In January of this year discussions began about expanding our vegetable and fruit table offerings.

Currently there was a once-a-month June to October table setup at the Bethlehem Emergency Sheltering Weekend Lunch program, where 80-120 homeless or food insecure neighbors gather on Saturday or Sunday for lunch.

There were also connections to a new pantry at the Bethlehem – Fountain Hill Elementary School.  Here we wanted to place our frozen meals on location for families in need.  The need for fresh vegetables and fruit became the obvious need.  If we were going to do it for one school, why not all 8 Community Schools in Bethlehem.  This program was launched at the Freezer Ministry Gathering late February, with over 100 attendees representing 17 churches or organizations.

How would we do this?

There is a Gathering program where churches can gather on Sundays and bring the vegetable and fruits to East Hills Moravian Church by 10 AM on Tuesday of distribution weeks.  Connections have been established with local farms, local gardens and Second Harvest – part of Feed America for many items.  To fill the gaps, we purchase wholesale. The future holds new connections and gardens to be planted.

On Tuesday of distribution week, a band of willing volunteers along with trucks or SUVs meet at Second Harvest to pick-up approximately 2,500 lbs. of product, return to East Hills to load the dropped off or purchased balance.  The 3 tons, soon to be 4 tons, of vegetable and fruits that have been loaded, now begin their journey to 7 community school locations for unloading, in preparation for them to hand out on Wednesdays.  By November, there will be over 60,000 lbs. or 30 tons of vegetable and fruits distributed. The goal is to keep the program’s cost below $ .20 – $ .25 per lb.

The BAM Freezer Ministry is able to do this because of the support received from BAM Ministry, Moravian Ministries Foundation Grants, area churches, individual donors and several fund raisers.  If you would like to be part of this, send a check to East Hills Moravian Church, with a note for the Freezer Ministry and mail to 1830 Butztown Rd., Bethlehem, PA  18017.  Thanks

This is a much longer story with so many thank yous and examples of the Spirit leading us.

Following is the perspective from the Community Schools

When looking to expand a ministry, the schools are always a great option.  The Bethlehem Area School District is a big district and knowing where to begin can be difficult.  However, we are fortunate to have several schools that are designated as Community Schools by the United Way.  Those schools have a coordinator that already works closely with families and helps them as needed.  This coupled with the fact that some of these schools already contain food pantries that provide food for the families and the community made these schools perfect to help expand the ministry.

Many schools already provide breakfast, lunch, and snacks for students.  In addition, most community schools send food home to families weekly as well.  A lot of the food given to families is processed or nonperishable items.  Being able to provide families with fresh fruits and vegetables thrilled the community school coordinators.  Some of the coordinators were even able to accept the offer of a refrigerator to hold the perishable food.  In addition, each school received a large rolling shelf, bins, and bags to complete their distribution set up. 

As the many trucks and volunteers delivered the fruits and vegetables, the coordinators were overly thankful and grateful.  They knew that the impact that this food had on the families and communities would be great.  Each site received approximately 1000 lbs. of fresh fruits and vegetables to distribute.  The coordinators were excited to put the fresh food into bins and allow families, neighbors, and community members to take broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, plantains, blueberries, and more for their families to eat and enjoy.

As excited as the coordinators were, no one could have predicted what would happen.  There was concern over what to do with any leftovers so that the food did not spoil.  After the first distribution day, this would no longer be a problem.  Most schools were wiped out of fruits and vegetables within thirty minutes.  The families and community members were more than grateful for the fresh fruits and vegetables.  Some of the kids ate some of them on the spot, people talked about how fresh and delicious everything was, and others told stories about what they were going to make with the food that they got that day.

Sometimes a small idea grows and grows.  Although no one can tell how big this one will grow, it is clear that its impact has been great so far.  Providing fresh fruits and vegetables to families, at a time when the cost of food is rising, is invaluable.  Pantries and other organizations often provide food, but it is not always the healthiest or the freshest due to the constraints that they may have.  This ministry has filled a void in the community and has been a blessing to all involved, especially the volunteers.

Mandi Ortwein

Bethlehem Area School District Teacher

East Hills Moravian Church Elder

Robert Wingrove

BAM Freezer Ministry and Garden Gatherers Coordinator

East Hills Moravian Church Elder

Letter from Bishops of the Moravian Unity

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Jesus Christ,

During these challenging times the church, both locally and globally, continues its mission of proclaiming the Gospel and caring for its members and neighbors.

Attached please find the pastoral letter of the Bishops of the Moravian Unity living in the Northern and Southern Provinces of the Moravian Church in America.

Blessings and prayer for good health for you and your loved ones,
Pastor Derek

Come In & Go Out

Last summer, Bishop Sam Gray led a program at Camp Tar Hollow called “Come In & Go Out,” focused on preparing ourselves for the mission field. The key takeaway of the week was that we must have a strong relationship with Christ before we are ready to go out into the world and be advocates for him. This program really stuck with me as I entered my junior year of college and faced my final summer before graduation. Although the Moravian church has always been a huge part of my life, I felt that I could grow my relationship with Christ and get more involved in the community. I reached out to mentors that I had connected with through years of camps, youth groups, and Sunday schools, asking about possible opportunities to get further involved in the church. This led to a mission trip to Haiti as well as the Try-Ministry Internship at East Hills.

I started my summer in Haiti to extend the love of Christ to two orphanages in the region. Imagine Missions is a home to nearly 80 kids and hosts a school for many more. We spent our time there installing a dozen ceiling fans in the church so they could get some air movement in the constant heat. Although the church service was in French, it was definitely exciting to see how involved and energetic they get about worship.

While Imagine Missions has been around for many years and is well financed through a network of churches in the United States, the second orphanage we worked at is not so fortunate. Grace for Orphans Ministry was started by an orphan who aged out of the system and, because of his caring nature, has had 18 children dropped off at his door. He preaches the word of God through his actions and was an example for our team on how we should treat one another. We were fortunate enough to have the funds to build a chicken coop and some shelves for the orphanage. When we weren’t fixing up the house, we were spending time with the kids showing them the kind of individual love that orphans don’t always get being in a large group.

After returning from Haiti, I made my way to Bethlehem, and, while I haven’t spent any time here before this summer, I have been welcomed by the community and shown genuine hospitality. This opportunity has allowed me to nurture my spiritual life and walk the path of ministry first-hand. Through meetings, visitations, and worship, I am able to see what the life of a pastor entails and I am extremely thankful for this enlightening and enjoyable experience.

Through my travels both to Haiti and East Hills, I am reminded of the dual responsibility I have as a Christian to be prepared and secure in my relationship with Christ before I go out into the mission field. I am so thankful for the opportunities that God has allowed me to be a part of this summer, and, while I have not committed to a life of ordained ministry yet, I have booked my next flight to Haiti. This December I will take my experiences from East Hills and “Go Out,” to Grace for Orphans Ministry and continue to show God’s love through word and action.

Matthew Spies

Built Together With Christ

“What brought us together, what joined our hearts? The pardon which Jesus, our
High Priest, imparts; ‘tis this which cements the Disciples of Christ, who are into
one by the Spirit baptized.” Hymn # 675

Jesus as Good Shepherd

The Home Moravian Church sanctuary is illuminated by 10 stained glass windows.

Christ calls us into covenant relationship with God and each other. It is he who builds us together into his church. Those who are faithful to the Lord shape their lives and world-view in response to God’s grace. It is a response characterized by faith, love, and hope.

Two years ago, while spending Thanksgiving with my family in Winston-Salem, NC, I encountered tangible expressions of Moravian faith, love, and hope in the bell tower and attic of Home Moravian Church. We were there with my cousin, the congregation’s administrative assistant, to lift weights powering the church’s clock and chimes back to the top of the tower. While engaged in that task, she disclosed that recently one of the supporting ropes had parted and allowed the suspended weight to fall several stories onto the ceiling of the narthex. The 18th century Moravians had anticipated this eventuality and placed hay and other shock absorbing materials under the weights.

When the rope failed, as they knew it eventually might, no damage was done. Similar foresight by early 20th century Moravians was demonstrated when the sanctuary’s stained-glass windows had to be repaired. Present day members found carefully packed replacement panes of glass in the church’s attic where they had been since the windows’ installation in 1913.

The depth of these Moravians’ faith in God, hope for the future, and the love demonstrated by such foresight touched me emotionally and spiritually. Generations ago they had anticipated the presence of those who would follow them and prepared a place for them to join hearts together in worship of the Savior. As I descended from the clock and bell tower I passed through the sanctuary where I paused to enjoy the late afternoon sun warmly illuminating the interior.

As I contemplated a window depicting Christ as the Good Shepherd, it occurred to me that what we build together with Christ often lasts far longer and is more satisfying than any purely personal achievement. Those who came before us built worship spaces which continue to express eloquently their faith in God, hope for the future, and love for fellow believers. As we express gratitude for the faithful actions of those who preceded us, may we resolve to bless others by “paying it forward.”

Vacation Bible School 2017 Information (with video)

East Hills Moravian Church will be teaming up with two other area Moravian congregations, Advent and Central, to present Cokesbury’s Vacation Bible School program: Hero Central: Discover Your Strength in God! This program is intended for children from the ages of four years old to those entering sixth grade.

Vacation Bible School will be held at Advent Moravian Church from June 12 -16, 2017; 9:00 am – 12:30 pm.  Click here for the 2017 registration form. For further information, please contact the Advent Moravian church office at 610-866-1402 or office@adventmoravianbethlehem.org.

Salutary Coincidence: Ash Wednesday & the Anniversary of the Moravian Church

This year Ash Wednesday, a movable holy day which marks the beginning of Lent, falls on March 1st (2017) , which is the 560th anniversary of the organization of the Moravian Church. Both observances embody themes of repentance and personal recommitment to Jesus Christ.

ash wednesday

Ashes on our forehead remind us to turn away from behavior and patterns of thought which separate us from God or others. There is an element of urgency to our repentance for none of us know our length of life. As a token of mortality, ashes can also prompt us to consider our life as a whole. What will be our legacy? Will our presence on earth have made the world a better place for others or have amounted to little more than an extended exercise in self-gratification?

It seems to me that the founding of the Moravian Church in 1457 can also be interpreted as a collective act of repentance and recommitment by a group of believers who earnestly believed that Christ’s example and God’s grace made it possible for them to break free from the tangle of sinful behavior, injustice and oppression which characterized the society in which they lived. According to Gregory, an early Moravian leader:

“What made a Christian was not doctrine or what he or she believed, but that a person lived his or her life according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. He described these first Moravians as “people who have decided once and for all to be guided only by the gospel and example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles in gentleness, humility, patience, and love for our enemies.“ (Source)

The apostle Paul notes that offering our lives up to God “as a living sacrifice” is “true and proper worship.” Faith is more a matter of knowing God and following Jesus than it is knowing about God and Jesus.

The calendrical coincidence of Ash Wednesday and the anniversary of the Moravian Church is a timely reminder that there will always be a pressing need for repentance and recommitment to our Lord, Jesus Christ. The world, our nation, our communities and our congregation desperately need those who decide “to be guided only by the gospel and example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his holy apostles in gentleness, humility, patience, and love for our enemies.”

March 1st is an invitation to recommit ourselves to being “Jesus people” as we reach out in the name of Christ to all persons but especially to those the Moravian Church has always felt called to seek – the world-weary, impoverished masses overlooked or rejected by others whether overseas or here in America. The Moravian Church’s history of mission is reflected in its current demographics with 39,150 of us in North America, 204,980 in the Caribbean and Latin America and 907,830 in Africa.

  • Pastor Derek French

The Church As Clay Jar

“But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”  – 2 Corinthians 4:7

treasure in clay jars

In this age of plastic I seldom think of clay jars, bottles or pots. On the rare occasions when I do, what normally springs to mind is the contents of the vessel – a flowering plant in a terra-cotta pot, port wine cheese in an earthenware crock or good Belgian ale made by Trappist monks in a ceramic bottle. The container adds a nice rustic note to the total experience but it is what is inside that really counts.

We may think of the institutional church as a clay jar into which God pours extraordinary gifts. Our congregation is a place for persons to grow in faith and to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Building, ministry programs, and events add nice details to the total experience but members’ encounter with the Holy One who moves within and among believers wherever two or more gather in Jesus’ name is what really matters.

Pottery is generally durable but will break under the right circumstances. The church is a gathering of potentially fragile, sometimes broken, often fallible persons each carrying some life burden or facing some challenge. The frailty of members and the institution as a whole should serve to remind us that power and glory belong to God and not humans.

When we contribute financially to provide for the upkeep of the church building, staffing and programs, or set aside time to attend worship on a Sunday morning, we help insure the continued existence of the container – the clay jar – in which the sacred encounter with God can take place.

I hope you share my conviction about how important this is and will join me on Consecration Sunday, November 6th as we recommit ourselves individually and collectively to Christ’s work of forgiveness, reconciliation, and transformation.

Remember: Daylight Savings Time ends on November 6; turn your clocks back so you don’t miss worship or the celebration brunch!

  • Pastor Derek French