Tag: East Hills Moravian Church

On The Job Training And Continuing Christian Education For Adults

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christian_educationFollowing the “Great Recession” of 2008-2009 many gained new appreciation for the role continuing education plays in making oneself employable. In today’s marketplace, no one can afford to be a “one trick pony.” The value of on the job training and continuing education has long been acknowledged. What’s new in this job market is that what once was required to thrive, is now required just to survive.

Given these developments it is surprising how few realize that a healthy and growing faith also needs to be nourished through continuous learning. Many adults haven’t engaged in serious Bible study since attending Sunday School as a child. Fewer still have had spiritual formation training or the benefit of a Spiritual Director. On the job faith training is readily available through East Hills’ many programs of ministry, and yet, our Board of Christian Education, Emergency Shelter program, choirs and many other church groups are always looking for volunteers.

There may be nothing new under the sun, but there are ways to look at life through the lens of Scripture which, if not completely new, might at least be new to you. You wouldn’t want to negotiate adult life with only the experience and job skills you had at age thirteen would you? Why then, would you expect an adolescent faith to sustain you as you struggle to balance family and career, raise children, care for your aging parents, or deal with the challenges of aging yourself? Worship is a great place to start your continuing education as a disciple of Jesus Christ, but it should not be your only source of spiritual growth. Start a program of home Bible study – or better – attend an adult Sunday School class or evening Bible study or discussion group.

You may feel hesitant to attend if you have not done so in the past, but take heart. Unlike the job market, where only qualified applicants need apply, God accepts all persons regardless of previous experience or training. As has often been said, “God doesn’t call the equipped; God equips those he calls.” Rest assured there is a place for your gifts, experience, and energy in the ministry of East Hills Moravian Church. Take the initiative and let us know what God is calling you to do!

This fall we invite you to gather at East Hills Moravian Church for worship and adult Sunday School. Learn how to live a life transformed, renewed and blessed by God. Connect with fellow believers in worship and join together in following Christ as we serve others and glorify God through the sharing of our time, talents and financial resources.
See you in church

The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Now What?

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One of the cherished memories of my youth is playing trumpet in the Easter dawn service
held on God’s Acre in Winston-Salem, NC. I recall years of glorious sunrises as well as cold
and rainy years, the sound of a five hundred piece Moravian band, and the spectacle of
thousands of Christians gathering to celebrate their Lord’s Resurrection.

One of the repressed memories of my youth is the utter fatigue which overcame me each
year when, with the arrival of dawn and the conclusion of worship, the sustaining power of
Krispy Kreme doughnuts, coffee, and Moravian Sugar Cake no longer sufficed to keep me
awake.

Sometimes we complete Easter feeling a bit like that – fatigued – even if we didn’t get up at
midnight to begin early morning rounds with the band. If we embrace the discipline of Lent,
with its weekly services, the nightly services of Holy Week, and attend the Easter Sunrise
Service, we do so in addition to our other responsibilities to family and career. Then too, we
may have lost loved ones in the past year, faced illness, or loss of a job. Sometimes what we
need most after Easter is rest.

It was that way for the disciples. They had faced the persecution of the state and religious
leaders of their day. They had seen their friend, Lord, and Savior crucified. They had
experienced the depths of despair and a rebirth of hope beyond their wildest imagination.
Now what they needed was time to process all that they had done, experienced, and seen.
Previously Jesus had urged his followers to action on behalf of God towards those who were
most vulnerable in the society of that day. Now Christ tells them to be still – to wait for the
Lord to act.

After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs,
appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While
staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the
promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; or John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts
1: 3-5)

The human soul has seasons just like the year. There are times for vigorous action and times
for contemplation and rest. Without both we cannot fully become what God desires us to
be. Are you getting adequate spiritual, emotional, and physical rest and rejuvenation in your
life? If not, what adjustments do you need to make to return to health and draw closer to your God?

See you in church,

Pastor Derek

Easter and Holy Week Services At East Hills Moravian Church

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We’d like to invite you to worship with us for Easter and Holy Week services, 2013. If you’ve never attended the Good Friday Tenebrae service, we recommend it highly.

(And don’t forget that Breakfast with the Easter Bunny is this Saturday!)

easter services bethlehem

Good Friday at East Hills Moravian

Palm Sunday March 24th

8:30 am & 11:00 am Services

Holy Week Readings March 24th – March 27th

Readings held in Fellowship Hall at 7:00 pm Sunday through Wednesday

Maundy Thursday March 28th

7:00 pm Communion

Good Friday March 29th

7:00 pm Tenebrae Service

Easter Sunday March 31st

6:30 am Easter Dawn service

8:30 am Communion

11:00 am Resurrection service

Easter Sunday and the significance of The Day Of Resurrection

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bethlehem easter service moravianOn Easter morning we gather to hear and respond to familiar affirmations of faith:

“The Lord is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!”

Moravian Easter liturgies speak of a God who so loves humanity so much that he chose to enter a suffering world in the person of Jesus Christ in order to mend our relationship with God, free us from the power of sin, and open the way to eternal life. At the Easter dawn service the congregation responds to such statements of faith with the words: “This we truly believe.”

On Resurrection Sunday, when the band is playing, the choirs are singing, and the church is decked out with daffodils and Easter lilies, it is not hard to affirm Christian faith and attach ourselves to its message of hope. Yet how many of those who gather on Easter Sunday are also willing to walk with Christ through the Garden of Gethsemane, stand with him on the Pavement of Judgment before Pilate, accompany him as he carries the cross on the Via Dolorosa, or stand at the foot of the cross on Good Friday?

In terms of worship, every member of the congregation has the opportunity to experience the last week of Christ’s life prior to his execution by crucifixion during our Holy Week Reading Services. Each night we will take turns reading from the Gospels’ accounts of what Jesus was doing on a particular day or evening. The week comes to a liturgical climax with Maundy Thursday Holy Communion and our Good Friday Tenebrae services.

All evening worship services will be held at 7:00 pm.

In terms of life, every day presents us with many choices to serve God or to serve the world which crucified our Lord. What you decide to do with each day of your life will reveal whether Easter’s affirmation of faith “This we truly believe,” is an accurate expression of personal faith or empty words. Fortunately for all of us, God allows U-turns. No matter how insincere we have been in the past; no matter how unfaithful we may have been in attending worship, in loving our neighbor as ourselves, in keeping God first in our lives, we always have the option of turning towards God.

Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
and all the world go free?
(There’s a cross for everyone
And I know that there’s a cross for me).

No Cross. No Crown.

See you in church,

Pastor Derek

Video of East Hills Moravian’s Putz

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Thanks to David Thompson for sending me a powerpoint with some excellent shots of our Putz. I made a video from it, added a little Messiah music, and uploaded it to YouTube here: 

(sorry about the ads google puts there – we have no control over that. Just click the X when the first one appears and they’ll go away)

Click here to go to our web page dedicated to the Putz

Please tell a friend and share this with everyone you know. 

Merry Christmas!

Todd Heft

http://youtu.be/u52G7moDhRw

Christmas Putz Viewing and Moravian Dinner to Benefit Homeless

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East Hills Moravian Church will host Moravian Dinner Night on Tuesday, December 18th, which includes a viewing of the Christmas Putz. There will also be music during dinner.

All proceeds from this dinner benefit the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter Project Fund

Christmas Putz showings are at 4:30 and 7:00 (before or after dinner), and reservations are suggested, as viewings are limited to 70 at each show.

Dinner and music is 5-7, continuous seating

Adults: $15.00

Children 6-12: $7.00

Kids 5 and under no charge

Menu:

 Roast Beef
 Chicken Piccata
 Lemon Pasta Primavera
 Deluxe Salad & Rolls
 Rustic Mashed Potatoes
 Holiday Rice Pilaf
 Roasted Corn w/ Sun-Dried Tomatoes
 Broccoli & Petite Carrots
 Iced Tea, Hot Coffee & Hot Teas
 Dessert – Moravian Sugar Cake

Reservations: 

Church office: 610 868 6481

Bob Wingrove (chef): 610 867 0537

 

Shepherd’s Journey 2012 is December 16

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On Sunday, December 16, 2012, we invite you to take your children on an exciting journey back in time to the streets of Bethlehem on the night that Jesus was born. And it all happens as part of the season of advent inside East Hills Moravian church!

east hills moravian shepherds journey christmas advent

They will meet the townspeople, bakers, moneychangers, and more, as they wander the streets in search of the newborn Christ child. They may even discover a small stable as the shepherds did long ago!

While walk-ins are welcome, it is preferable to pre-register your child. Please use the form below to register your children and their friends (ages 3 through 3rd grade).
Send check and registration form by Sunday, Dec.9th to: East Hills Moravian Church; Attn: Shepherd’s Journey; 1830 Butztown Rd.; Bethlehem, PA 18017.

Shepherd’s Journey Registration Form

East Hills Moravian Is Seeking A New Treasurer

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Robert Mielnik has faithfully served as treasurer of East Hills Moravian Church for almost ten years.  Effective January 1, 2013, he will be retiring from the position.  He has provided this congregation with countless hours of sound guidance and outstanding leadership in our financial affairs. The congregation has been immensely blessed by his faithful service to the needs of the congregation, many times without recognition for his efforts.  His presence in this role for the congregation will be greatly missed.

As a result, the Finance Committee is announcing the need to fill this position and provides any interested parties with the following profile of responsibilities in the position.

EAST HILLS MORAVIAN CHURCH TREASURER POSITION

Computer files:

  • Assemble and maintain weekly, monthly, quarterly and year end income and expense reports.

Weekly responsibilities:

  • Counter Reconciliation Sheets (20YY Monthly Cash Reconcilation.xls)
  • Maintain ledger of income and payables (reconciliation mmmyy.xls)
  • Record Bi-monthly payroll data
  • Weekly update of various directed fund ledger accounts (20YY DFA and Memorial  Gifts.xls)

Monthly Reports and Responsibilities:

  • Record payroll statements expenses.
  • Record periodic expenses (assessments, loans, bank fees, etc.)
  • Record operating expenses (committee expense, utilities, maintenance, etc.)
  • Obtain past month check register from bookkeeper.
  • Reconcile deposits and checks to bank statement and computer files.
  • Prepare Monthly Trustee’s Report.
  • Contribution update for bulletin.
  • Periodic reports for EHMC Moravian STAR.
  • Report adjustments and corrections to bookkeeper.
  • Reconcile to account reports.
  • Gather payroll data for annual Workman’s Compensation audit (20xx20yyworkman’s comp.xls)
  • Enter contribution data from finance secretary to Give vs Pledge 20YY.xls
  • Transfer Directed Funds, Memorial Funds, Moravian Traveler funds, Men’s Fellowship funds, etc. to and from EHMC checking and MMKT.

Annual Reports and Responsibilities:

  • Report pastor’s and congregation financial affairs to Eastern District and Northern Province.
  • Report employee salary and rate changes to payroll organization.
  • Assist Trustees in budget process for next year.
  • Submit annual report to District and Province.
  • Submit annual report to Church Council.
  • Prepare local services tax exemption forms.
  • Prepare compensation report to insurance for W/C assessment.
  • Prepare calendar of payroll fax, deliver and pay dates.

Anyone interested in serving as treasurer is asked to contact a Finance Committee member:  Bill Matz, Jr., Scott Gross, Dwight Taylor, Steve Cook or Robert Mielnik.  Any interest can be expressed by email to wm.matz2@verizon.net or by writing to the church office in care of the Finance Committee, attention Bill Matz, Jr.  Otherwise, feel free to personally touch base with any of these committee members to discuss the position and/or interest.