A Word from Gary
Greetings to all pastors and board
members from your District Executive Board. We pray that your experience
of Easter Sunday was joy filled as you celebrated the core of our faith -- a
faith that is based on the fact that our Lord stretched his arms wide open
and drew everyone in even while he was being crucified for it. It
seems to me that each one of us, as we experience the message of the
Resurrection, is called to enable the ministry of our Risen Lord through the
living of our faith. The faithful life is one that cares much more about
daily practice than it does about strict doctrine.
It is great to
have Brothers Bill Andrews and Wellesley Ferguson back in the Eastern District
-- Bill serving as the pastor at St. Paul's and Wellesley serving as the
pastor at Fellowship and also as a district staff pastor for all of the New
York City congregations. Please remember both of them and their families
in your prayers this month.
I would remind
all pastors and board leaders about the need to submit your annual reports
within the next week if you have not already submitted them. As I write this,
it saddens (perhaps "frustrates" is the better word) me to report
that only 42 of our 53 congregations have submitted their reports.
We are now six weeks beyond the deadline and 11 of our congregations have
yet to respond. That is somewhat better than last year at this time
but I still find it to be inexcusable. The Provincial and District 2009
Budget Committees will be meeting in the near future and are
simply going to have to prepare 2009 budgets and assessments based, in
these 11 cases, on figures that go all the way back to Dec. 31,
2006. Actually, in a couple of cases since we did not receive 2006
reports from them, all the way back to Dec. 31, 2005.
The District
Board will be meeting at Allentown, Calvary, on April 11-13 and included
will be a meeting with the pastors and Joint Board members from
all of the southern Lehigh Valley congregations at 10 AM on April 12 at
Calvary. Thank you to Calvary for hosting this
gathering. The southern LV congregations are those congregations in
Emmaus, Coopersburg, Center Valley, Hellertown, Allentown, and the three
southern Bethlehem congregations (Central, West Side, and College Hill).
In addition there will be representatives from East Hills in attendance because
of their conflict with the date when we met together as northern Lehigh Valley
congregations.
Pray for our
College and Seminary Trustees who will be meeting in Bethlehem during the week
of April 15-18. Pray for our brothers and sisters in the
Western and Canadian districts as they hold their synods this month (Western
District on April 3-6 and Canadian District on April 25-27). I
will be in attendance at all of these events.
I want to
highlight again our fast approaching District Synod on June
18-21 on the campus of Moravian College. All clergy serving
under call in the district are obligated to be present (Book of Order,
paragraphs 202-e-3 and 904) and each congregation shall have a minimum of one
lay person in attendance. There are some congregations that have not yet
registered their official delegates. Please see to this at once.
I will join
Brother Dave Wickmann and Brother Frank Crouch for a very unique experience on
April 18 as we travel to NYC to join the ecumenical community in meeting with
the Pope. I look forward to this event, especially in light of our recent
decision to withdraw our attendance at Mary Immaculate Center because of their
new policies regarding the lack of unity with non-Roman Catholic Christians.
Please continue
to remember in prayer those congregations currently in the call process
(Lancaster, Gnadenhutten, Reading, and a second pastor at Palmer) as well
as New York First and West Side as they discern the future direction for
pastoral leadership in their congregations. ~ Gary
Prayer Concerns and Joys
Please uphold Brother Leslie McKoy
who is hospitalized.
Also uphold our brothers and sisters who
have recently been hospitalized.
Brother Fred Lehr is rehabilitating at home following hip
replacement surgery. Sister Kay Rohn
and Sister Blair Couch are also recovering from surgery.
We also remember in
prayer John and Naomi Case.
Brother Case in undergoing chemotherapy treatments for terminal cancer.
Please continue
to hold in prayer all our brothers and sisters dealing with health issues as
they move towards strength and healing.
We particularly remember Denny Rohn, Sharon Conn, Sam Propsom, Kathie Nicholas,
Katherina Gordon, John Hoenig, Sandra Thigpen, and Glenn Heintzelman.
- Schedule of Events
April
10, 9:30-2:30 – Zeisberger Lectures on Evangelism, Unbinding the Gospel:
Real-Life Evangelism, presented by Martha Grace Reese at Prosser
Auditorium, Moravian College.
April
18-19 – Ministry with Children and Youth as the Presence of Christ,
a workshop sponsored by the ED Christian Education Commission. Info at www.mcnp.org/youth
April
24, 10:00 am–2:30pm - What Do Muslims Say About Jesus? An Interfaith
Conversation. Dr. Ismail Acar, visiting professor of religion at Bard
College, and Dr. Walter Wagner of MTS will compare and contrast Jesus’ role as
a prophet in Islam with his status as Son of God in Christianity.
Co-sponsored with the Lehigh Dialogue Center.
Bahnson Center, Moravian Theological Seminary.
April
25-26 - Healthy Congregations Workshop to be held in New Philadelphia,
Ohio.
April
25-27 – Confirmation retreat at Hope Center. Contact Chris Giesler at 610-867-7566 or by email at chris@mcnp.org.
May 3, 9:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Annual Penn-Mar Mission Society Meeting - at Graceham
Moravian Church, Graceham MD. Theme for
this year's event is "In It For The Long Haul", and features speaker
Mark Ebert, Director
of Volunteer Ministries for the Board of World Mission.
May
9-10 – North East Moravian Disaster Response Intro to Mission Work at
Hope Conference Center. Come join us in fixing up and preparing Camp Hope for
summer camps and prepare yourself for mission work. Materials, tools, mission
training, food, shelter, and fellowship provided. $15.00 fee for both days or $10.00 for either day. RSVP by April 25. 908-459-4435. (Bulletin insert enclosed for congregations.)
June
18-21, 2008 – Eastern District Synod at Moravian College.
Information can be found on the Eastern
District website at: www.mcnp.org/easterndistrict
Coming Events
August 1, noon – Deadline for submission
of 2008 Eastern District Mission Development Grants.
October
12, 2008 (Sunday) - The 151st Annual Meeting and Vesper of the Moravian
Historical Society will be held at Schoeneck Moravian Church outside of
Nazareth. The annual meeting begins at 2:30 p.m., with the presentation
at 3:30 and the traditional vesper around 4:30. More information on the
speaker, reservation price, etc. will be forthcoming.
February 28, 2009 - cruise sponsored by the Moravian Church of
Downey. For more information visit the
cruise website at www.Moravian552Cruise.com
or phone 562-927-0718 or e-mail moraviancruise@aol.com.
Work at Hope Center this summer
Hope Conference and Renewal Center (Camp
Hope) is in need of a Head Cook from June 15 - August 9, 2008. Responsibilities
include: ordering food and supplies; supervising and assisting summer youth
staff in meal preparation, serving and clean up; contributing to positive staff
morale.
Successful
candidates will have experience in: cooking for groups of 50-100; familiarity
with current food safety practices; ability to relate comfortably to children
and youth.
Housing
available on premises. Should be 21 years or older. For more information
contact Rick at 908-459-4435.
Moravian Historical Society Executive Director opening
The
Moravian Historical Society (http://moravianhistoricalsociety.org)
seeks a full-time Executive Director to administer the activities of the
Society and the Whitefield House Museum (including collections management,
mounting of exhibits, and presentation of historical programs) in Nazareth,
PA. The Director is the Society’s
liaison with public groups and works closely with a volunteer Board of
Mangers. Interested candidates send
resume to Dr. David Schattschneider, Chair, Board of Managers, at schattda@moravian.edu. Position available immediately. Applications accepted until position is
filled.
Confirmation Retreat
The
Eastern District Confirmation Retreat will be held April 25-27 at Hope
Conference and Renewal Center. Marie Couts and Chris Giesler are putting
the program together which will be centered on looking at what it means to be a
faithful member of a congregation by looking at Moravian history, and its
traditions. Information and registration packets were mailed to
congregations in February, if you still need one, please contact Chris Giesler
as soon as possible. All registrations must be mailed in to Hope Center
no later than April 7. Please contact either Marie or Chris if you have
any questions.
Church Women United
The
Church Women United of Bethlehem will hold their annual Interfaith Tea on Sunday,
April 13, 2008 at 2 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church, 2540 Center Street,
Bethlehem. The theme for this celebration
is "God's Wisdom Honors Children".
Diverse youth participants from an array of local churches will
participate in this ecumenical celebration program. There is a registration fee of $3.00 for the program. Reservations are requested and may be made
by calling Celebration Chair, Mrs. Esther Lee at 610.866.2078 or Secretary,
Mollie Santee at 610.746.1000. Church
Women United is a national movement of Christian women working ecumenically to
strengthen families in the 21st century.
Moravian Open Door
The Public
Relations and Development Committee of Moravian Open Door, our Eastern District
ministry in New York City for older adults in transitional living, requests
that congregations with a web page include a link to the MOD web page.
MOD’s web page is www.moravianhouse.org. In your
next newsletter, encourage members to log on to this informative site. It
includes photos and stories about this vital ministry that we help fund through
contributions to our shared and common district ministries.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
April Birthdays
1 The
Rev. James Bruckart
The Rev. Barbara Rich
2 Mrs.
Kathleen Pfeiffer
Mrs. Edna Knight
Mr. Charles Stutzenberger
8 The Rev. Lance Fox
12 The Rev. Vernon Nelson
Mr. Michael Koenig
13 The Rev. Nancy Von Boeckmann
14 Mrs. Connie Bennett
17 The Rev. Kay Ward
18 The Rev. Dr. William Pfeiffer
Mrs. Julia Folk
20 Mrs. Jennifer Grannum
Mrs. Valarie Ferguson
23 The Rev. Dr. Darryl Bell
24 Mrs. Pamela Thierolf
25 Mr. Halfred Smith
26 Mr. Jonathan Borger
27 Mrs. Grace Lindenmuth
Mrs. Catherine Woltjen
The Rev. Allen Bergmann
30 The Rev. Dr. Reed Acheson
April Anniversaries
3 The
Rev. Nancy Von Boeckmann
& Mr. Thomas Von Boeckmann
6 The Rev. Dr. & Mrs. James Hilander
9 The Rev. Dr. & Mrs. Hermann Weinlick
14 Mr.
Ralford Watson &
The Rev. Valrey Watson
25 The
Revs. Tom & Hannelore Nalesnik
Churches
celebrating April anniversaries:
1 - 1888 - First, Easton, PA
10
-1949 - Palmer Twsp., Easton, PA
13
- 1859 - Egg Harbor City, NJ
27 - 1852 - Tremont Terrace, Bronx, NY