Please join us each Sunday morning for a round of entertaining discussion and coffee as we review lessons from the class leaders. For the month of September 2008, Betty Ashby and Ellen Fox will be doing lessons from Phillippians. Beginning in October, we will start in the book by Charles Stanley, The Spirit Filled Life. (more…)

The sermon that follows is based on a Psalm that was almost undoubtedly a prayer during a time of war. Likewise, I have used an illustration from United States Military History. As Christians, we know that war is never God’s primary will. It may sometimes be the lesser of two evils. Reinhold Niebuhr, a great 20th century Neo-Orthodox theologian, saw that Christians must sometimes accept compromises. He was still a pastor in a small church. One Sunday he told his congregation that a Christian must always do as Jesus commands. When struck on one cheek, we must give our enemies the other. A newsboy in the congregation stuck up his hand and asked, “What about me?” He went on to explain that he was the only support of his widowed mother. He did his best to respect her, as per the 4th commandment, and to provide for her needs. “Each day I pick-up my papers,” he said, “then I have to fight the other boys for a place to sell my papers. If I did not fight, my mother would go hungry.” Niebuhr admitted that Christians must sometimes do things we had rather not, like fight, and go to war. He said that in these cases we must still do all that we can to bring good out of the bad.
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Beginning on Sunday August 31st, and continuing through the 2nd Sunday in Advent, December 7th, I will be preaching a series of sermon on “the Eight Essentials.”

Lots of people say, “Why have doctrine anyway? Why don’t we just go by the Bible?” That is well and good, but who will interpret the Bible for us? It is naive to think that everyone will read it alike. The Moravians of Zinzendorf’s day recognized as many as eight different ways to receive and interpret scripture, including the Reformed, Lutheran, Pietists, Pentecostal, Anglican, etc. They had the wisdom to see that devout Christians who agreed on the authority of scripture could still disagree on the interpretation of scripture. They were so guided by the principle of tolerance that they even designated different bishops to serve different constituencies.
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Sept 28 “More Love to Thee” 11:00
Oct 26 “The Saints of God” 9:00
Nov 23 “You Alone Are Holy” 11:00
Dec 21 “Still, Still, Still” An Austrian Carol, with Harp (Evening Lovefeast)
Dec 24 “The First Noel” & “Still,Still,Still” with keyboard (Both Christmas Lovefeasts)
Jan 25 “Spirit Song” with 9:00
Feb 22 “How Can I Keep From Singing” with singing bell 11:00
Mar 22 “O Master Let Me Walk with Thee” 9:00
April 12 ” Crown Him with Many Crowns” w/keyboard,timpani,ocarina
April 26 “A Morning Prayer” 11:00
quarter,Nancy Hoover, Vicki Hoss, Linda Bryson & Gay Hill
May 24 “Battle Hymn of the Republic” 9:00

There always seems to be plenty of food around this church enriching our fellowship. Both the David Jones Class and the Advent Class recently held class meetings—with food. The Youth Fellowship Kick-Off featured hamburgers, hotdogs and a variety of great salads.

Our next blood drive will be held in the fellowship hall on Monday, September 8th from 2:00 PM - 6:30 PM. Volunteers and donors are requested to contact Kathy Johnson to help or make an appointment.

The beautiful days of Fall will be here soon and we are making plans for our next Senior meeting, which will be September 11, at 10:00 in the Fellowship Hall. Sign up sheets will be available in the Sunday School Class rooms as well as the bulletin board. We are excited to have Archivist C. Daniel Crews of the Moravian Church, Southern Province as our speaker. He is a uniquely qualified scholar who lives in Winston-Salem, N. C. but has studied in Prague, and has served as an ordained minister of the Moravian Church. The Moravian Archives is the repository of the records of the Moravian Church, Southern Province. Our records date back to 1753 and the primary function is to serve the church in collecting, cataloging and safe keeping of its records. The Archives gives a detailed account of life in earlier times as well as family history of church members. Daniel has a new book entitled Faith, Hope, and Love: A History of the Moravian Church. This will be a most interesting meeting to learn more about our Moravian Church.

Our story telling sessions are continuing. Next sessions are October 9 and November 13. This has been an enriching experience as we have traveled down memory lane. If you need help to recall your stories, our teacher, Kay Windsor has prepared a questionnaire to jog your memory. Kay also urges us to bring photos and items that remind us of stories. For Veterans Day in November we would like to have veterans tell us some of their stories. This has proved to be a very rewarding experience, and hope each of you can come to the next session.

We are all invited to the Senior Friends Rally October 14, 12:00pm at Advent Moravian Church. Cost of tickets are $9.00 and payment must be made no later than September 30. Everyone is asked to bring non perishable food for Sunnyside. A love offering will be taken for the “Destination” music group. Tickets are available in the church office.

We are happy to have Dr. David Marcus as our Senior’s Pastor Advisor. Thanks Dr. David, Welcome aboard!- Clendon Newsom