October 18, 2020.
Thank you for worshipping with us at Calvary Moravian Church. To support our ministries, you can mail the office a check (948 N. 21st St. Allentown 18104). An online giving portal is at: https://mmfa.info/calvary-moravian-church-pa-donation-form/.
Worship with us on Sundays:
9:30- 10:15 a.m. Zoom Sunday school/Community Check-in. (Zoom into to chat and see our church family anytime between 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)
10:45 a.m. Inside, limited capacity seating (physically distancing, masks required)
Also at 10:45 a.m. Livestream service found at Calvary Moravian Church Allentown’s YouTube Channel. Email us for the address.
Announcements:
Remember – Our sanctuary is open for Prayers every Wednesday from 12 – 2 p.m.
Moravian Women/Nitschmann Circle Meeting – Monday, October 19th
Nitschmann Circle Women’s group is enjoying a study of Queen Esther this year. Our next meeting is on Oct. 19th – note the date change at 12 p.m. or 7 p.m. Usually we will meet on the 2nd Monday.
12 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19th
Meeting ID: 990 4795 3822
Call 19292056099, (enter code 99047953822# )
7 p.m. Monday Oct. 19th
Meeting ID: 999 4279 6871
Call +19292056099, (enter code. 99942796871#)
Dining with Friends goes Virtual – Tuesday, October 27, 7 p.m.
The fourth Tuesday in September, October 27 at 7 p.m., we’ll encourage you to pick up (or make) some dinner (and maybe grab a drink too) and join us via Zoom to share in conversation. Dining with Friends ZOOM: https://zoom.us/j/99357268475
Meeting ID: 993 5726 8475
Call +19292056099 (enter 99357268475#)
Pre-worship Community Check-in and Sunday school on Zoom!
9:30 – 10:15 A.M. – Jeff Diehl will lead us in check-ins and conversations.
https://zoom.us/j/96115430870?pwd=YndUa0dOREhuL0wvc0tLMzZUSkZBUT09
Meeting ID: 961 1543 0870
Passcode: 749341
Call +19292056099, enter Meeting ID and Passcode above.
Sunday, Nov. 1: All Saints Day Remembrance.
As we remember all who have gone before us – and with the lighting memorial candles, we hold a testimony to their witness and service. If you are not attending the live (in-person) worship service, you can email us the name (and relation) of the person(s) you would like a candle lit for, and someone at the service will light a candle and read the name(s).
Christmas Eve Worship Update!
Our board leadership has made the decision to hold one Christmas Eve in-person worship service at 4:30 p.m. This Christmas Eve Worship service will also be live-streamed on our Calvary Moravian Church Allentown Youtube Channel and recorded for later access as well.
To attend the in-person Christmas Eve service, please RSVP to the church office (churchcalvarymoravian@gmail.com, 610-435-6881) with your group number and address (or return the form below). Tickets will be mailed to you. Masks will be required, and non-related groups will be seated at least 6 feet from each other. Maximum capacity of about 40 individuals (depending upon family units that can sit together).
While we will not have congregational singing, we will have this service uphold Christmas Eve traditions in a safe manner. Instead of lit beeswax candles and lovefeast, we will offer
“Lovefeast to Go” packages (a piece of sugarcake, trimmed beeswax candle, bulletin, and mug). If you would like to preorder a Christmas Eve “Lovefeast to Go” you can do so with your RSVP. We would ask for a “free-will offering” for your “Lovefeast to Go” packages.
We will also be offering a limited amount of pre-ordered 8in. Sugarcake squares to pick-up before Christmas Eve (yes, curbside sugarcake … does it get any better?). For all Christmas Eve in-person 4:30 p.m. Worship, Lovefeast to Go packages and sugarcake squares, we are asking for pre-orders as soon as possible.
(All reservations for in-person Christmas Eve will be first-come, first serve. Subject to change, pending the state’s crowd restrictions and current phase of the pandemic. )
October 18, 2020
Liturgy for Thanksgiving
Reprinted or adapted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship with the permission of the Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America. © 1995 IBOC. www.moravian.org; e-mail: pubs@mcnp.org. All rights reserved
(Standing)
Almighty and gracious God, you have made yourself known to us in a multitude of ways, and each of those ways invites us to respond to you with grateful hearts.
You have been present with us even before our thoughts and words and feelings ever turned toward you.
You created us in your own image, redeemed us with your love, and have always sustained us with your grace.
When we think of you, gracious God, we think of your compassion and tender mercies toward us all, and we are humbled with gratitude.
TUNE: DUKE STREET (22 Q)
Lord of all being, throned afar, your glory flames from sun and star;
center and soul of every sphere, yet to each loving heart how near!
(Sitting)
We thank you, everpresent God, for coming to us in your Son, Jesus Christ, for entering into our human flesh and taking the form of a servant.
We thank you for reaching the least of us while we were yet sinners and for doing all things necessary for our salvation through the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We praise and honor you with our hearts and our lives, because we know that we could not help ourselves or earn our own salvation.
You continue to rush out to meet us and embrace us while we are yet far off. We marvel at the depth of your forgiving love which always comes to us through the working of your Spirit. We thank you for each new experience and each new reminder of your very constant care.
You have not left us to live alone in this world, but have called us to be members of your Body, the church. We thank you for all those in the past who shared their faith with us and for those in the present who help to shape our response to your love.
We are grateful for the nurture we receive and the mission we have been given to manifest the good news of Jesus Christ to the world around us.
You have not left us without written and living testimony to your involvement in human history. We thank you for the Holy Scriptures and the insights they provide for us in our mission and ministry.
We are grateful for the words and stories of judgment and justice, comfort and renewal, salvation and peace that come to us from the Bible and from the ongoing inspiration of your Holy Spirit.
For the creation itself and the nourishment we receive from its resources,
For seedtime and harvest, sunshine and rain, oceans and forests,
For the wondrous way in which we are woven into the environment,
We give you thanks, Creator God.
For all the creative things we are enabled to do through the gifts and talents you have given to us,
For the good health within our bodies, minds, and spirits,
For the courage and healing that you provide when we are broken and discouraged in the
midst of our earthly pilgrimage,
We acknowledge with thanks your leadership in our journey.
For the gift of time and the guidance you give for the redemptive use of our days,
For the satisfaction and renewal that come from our labor and leisure,
For directing us to do justice and to love mercy,
For the chance to begin again whenever we falter and fail,
We are grateful, our Savior, whose faithfulness endures through all
generations.
(Standing)
TUNE: WIR PFLÜGEN
We thank you then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
the seedtime and the harvest, our life, our health, our food;
help us to show thanksgiving for all you freely give,
to love you in our neighbor, and by the way we live.
Refrain: All good gifts around us, are sent from heaven above;
then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all his love.
Prayers of the People
Silent Prayer
Hear now, gracious God, our words of contrition that we pray in the light of your manifold blessings:
We confess that we have failed to perceive your glory as it is revealed in creation. We have taken the gifts of this world for granted and have not stopped to marvel at what you have provided for us. Forgive us for rushing through life with reckless abandon. Forgive us for trampling upon other persons, places, and things, and for not understanding how dependent we are upon one another and the earth itself. And make us compassionate in our concern for the needs of others. Amen.
God hears our prayers, blots out our transgressions, and creates a new and right spirit within us. Go in peace and joyful service.
Special Music “Ring Them Bells” Bob Dylan (performed by Bob Kahle)
Ring them bells, ye heathen, From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries, ’Cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide, And the world’s on its side
And time is running backwards, And so is the bride
Ring them bells St. Peter, Where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand, So the people will know
Oh it’s rush hour now, On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down, Upon the sacred cow
Ring them bells Sweet Martha, For the poor man’s son
Ring them bells so the world will know, That God is one
Oh the shepherd is asleep, Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled With lost sheep
Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf, Ring them bells for all of us who are left
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through
Ring them bells, for the time that flies
For the child that cries, When innocence dies
Ring them bells St. Catherine, From the top of the room
Ring them from the fortress, For the lilies that bloom
Oh the lines are long, And the fighting is strong
And they’re breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong
Copyright © 1989 by Special Rider Music
Scripture Exodus 33:12-23, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5. Karen Kahle
Message “Finding Gratitude, Finding God: Role of Stewardship”. Janel Rice
“Words of Gratitude” Jeff Diehl
Hymn 593. All People on do Dwell
Benediction
Calvary Moravian Church 