MORAVIAN WOMEN
Moravian Women will meet on Thursday, February 14 at 1:00 p.m. in the lounge with Lucy Severt as hostess.
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INQUIRER'S CLASSAre you, or someone you know interested in joining the congregation? Are looking to refresh your memory on the denomination's history, traditions, theology and structure?
Anyone interested is invited to participate in an Inquirer's class being offered by Pastor Beth following worship on February 17. A lunch will be provided in addition to the snacks at fellowship time. This class is designed to give information and an overview to help those considering joining the congregation in their decision. No commitment to membership is required to attend or participate. Please contact Pastor Beth if you have any questions or are interested in participating. - Pastor Beth |
WALKING IN PAIRS
- Mt. Morris Camp and Conference Center
- February 15th-17th, 2019
A WEEKEND WITH GOD
- Men’s Retreat
- February 22th - 24th, 2019
- Mt. Morris Camp and Conference Center
MORE INFO COMING SOON!
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BELL CHOIR RESUMESAre you interested in ringing a joyful noise before the Lord? Thanks to Pastor Judy we were able to begin a bell choir. Pastor Beth has offered to help it continue. Rehearsals will be on Saturday mornings (not every week) from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. We will begin having rehearsals on February 16 and create a schedule of rehearsals as a part of this gathering. If you
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PREPARING FOR EASTEROur choir has started to prepare for our cantata which will be presented on Sunday, April 7 during our worship service. We are working on “It Was for You” which we sung several years ago. If you would like to join us, please come to our choir rehearsals on Thursday nights at 7:00 p.m.
- Dawn Wesenberg |
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GAME DAYSMonday, February 18th. 11:00am. Potluck.
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ARE YOU READY TO ZUMBA®?Elsa Voight now offers Zumba® classes right here at Wisconsin Rapids Moravian Church! Click HERE to learn more about registration and details. See you there in the disco lights!
Please contact Elsa with further questions: Email: PittsvilleDancePartyFitness@Gmail.com Call or Text: 715-577-8071 |
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PIE AUCTION FUNDRAISER!Moravians in Mission are sponsoring a Pie Auction on Sunday, February 10th after worship to raise funds for a mission trip to Ahuas, Honduras this year. A signup sheet is in the hallway by the offices. The auctioneer will be Virgil Voight.
-Shari Marsden |
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BUILDING COMMITTEE UPDATEThe contract with the architect was signed on October 26th. The architect has since sent a draft timeline for the work. The first few months of 2019 will be involved with field verification, design development and putting together the construction documents. All of this initial work will need approvals by the building committee and boards. Once completed, bids will go out and we will then make final decisions about what can be accomplished within our budget. The projects being considered are: drain tiles along the north side of the building; an elevator where the CEC space is by the pastor’s office; electrical and alarm system upgrades; an ADA bathroom by the church office; remodeled space for the One Note music ministry; and remodeled space for the Cleansing Waters Ministry. The roof is separate from the architect proposal and the Trustees will contract that work. We will keep the congregation aware of the progress.
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ANNUAL CHURCH COUNCIL
Our Annual Church Council is scheduled for Sunday, January 27, 2019 after worship. Reports from Boards and organizations are due by January 4. Please honor this deadline.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR RECEIVING CHARITABLE FUNDS
Many businesses have options that allow participants to designate funds to specific charities. SmileAmazon is one. Since 2010 Thrivent Financial has distributed $300 million of its charitable outreach funds to non-profit organizations. Their Thrivent Choice program allows their members to designate the bonus dollars that they receive to a charity of their choice. For anyone interested, the Wisconsin Rapids Moravian Church is now a recognized charity by Thrivent, and can be named as a recipient of these funds.
UNLEASH YOUR POWER!
The Moravian Women’s Conference will be held June 20-23 in Winston-Salem. Keynote speakers include Rachel Held Evans, a New York Times bestselling author; Rt. Rev. Kay Ward, author and a bishop of the Worldwide Moravian Unity; Rev. Christie Melby- Gibbons, Executive Director of Tricklebee; Rev. Dr. Heather Hartung Vacek, Vice-President and Dean at Pittsburg Theological Seminary and Dena Grillo Fortuzi, church leader in the Moravian Church in Albania.
The early registration deadline has been extended to February 6th. We also have received paper copies of the registration form. They are on the table at the back of the sanctuary.
For further information, go to:
https://moravianwomen.wordpress.com/registration/
Scholarships are available during registration as well as through the Moravian Western Christian Education Commission.
The early registration deadline has been extended to February 6th. We also have received paper copies of the registration form. They are on the table at the back of the sanctuary.
For further information, go to:
https://moravianwomen.wordpress.com/registration/
Scholarships are available during registration as well as through the Moravian Western Christian Education Commission.
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2019 CAMPS THEME:
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CAMP SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMLast fall the Board of Trustees made changes to our camp scholarship program. This year as in past years, we will provide scholarships to cover one-half of the cost of camp. We will continue to do so plus campers can earn points to cover the additional costs. If they earn four points, 100 percent of their cost to attend camp will be covered. Further information, as well as how to earn credits, is available on the table at the back of the sanctuary.
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MORE WORDS OF APPRECIATIONDear Friends,
I was overwhelmed, humbled, speechless Sunday, December 2 when I learned that you had underwritten the publication of an anthem from the archives of the Moravian Music Foundation on my behalf. Thank you for this wonderful gift. So many of you contributed to this effort:
I’d like to tell you “the rest of the story”. When this particular manuscript was chosen by Judy and the choir for publication, no one could have known this. Most of the manuscripts waiting to be published were written by German or Czech pastors for their choirs. This one was composed by a church organist, Georg Hellstrom, who played for a congregation in Denmark. Georg was born in 1825. My great-grandfather was born in Denmark in 1825. Do you think that Georg could have imagined that, almost 200 years later, a congregation in Wisconsin would make it possible for his work to be published and available to choirs in all denominations around the world, and that it would be done to recognize an organist who happened to have his Danish contemporary in her ancestry? I don’t know, but I believe we’ve been given a glimpse into the connections between us that transcend time. As I said that Sunday, “Wow”. Sincerely, Julie Rucks |
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MANY THANKS!Dear friends at WRMC,
This small note does not begin to recognize all of the cards and words of encouragement and prayers and thanks that Charlie and I received from you at the conclusion of my interim ministry with your congregation. Know that each one means a lot and I will treasure the time that I was allowed to walk in ministry with you. And I pray for you that you will hang onto the vision that God has given you and continue to be God’s light in Wisconsin Rapids and beyond. I look forward to those times when our paths will cross again. Wishing you a most blessed 2019! - Judy and Charlie Ganz |
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PRAYER OF SERVANTHOODO God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. We give you thanks for your constant presence.
Through seasons of constancy and change, you are with us, calling us out of ourselves into the world to serve others. Grant that we may be united in love for each other and for those we haven’t yet met. us wisdom, patience, and perseverance as we work through the details and challenges of the ministry you have placed before us. Continue, O Lord, to bless the work of our hands. Bless the work of our hands. Amen. |
FROM THE ECUMENICAL OFFICER
This month I have invited Brother Jeff Coppage to write. Now serving as a pastor in the Southern Province, where he is a member of the Provincial Elders’ Conference, Jeff has also served in the Northern Province. He reports here on a semi-annual meeting of what is, roughly, in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) the equivalent of the Provincial Elders’ Conference. There he represented both Northern and Southern Provinces. Moravian representation there is one result of the full-communion agreement between the Moravian Church and the ELCA.
“It was a great privilege to represent Moravians at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) semi-annual Church Council held in Chicago this past November. Their Church Council is the governing board for the ELCA. It is made up of over 50 representatives and bishops, along with about a dozen non-voting staff. Having been elected to the PEC of the Southern Province for the first time just six months before, it was quite a bit to take in. I was struck by how committed the ELCA is to their ecumenical partnerships and how committed the participants are to their faith. There were also Episcopal and Reformed Church of America ecumenical partners present. All three of us were not just welcomed, but treated as valued participants in committee work as well as selected involvement in the business sessions of the full Council.
“Presiding Bishop Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton has led the ELCA to focus on five denominational-wide goals: 1. A thriving church, 2. An equipping church, 3. A welcoming church, 4. A visible church, and 5. A well-governed, connected, and sustainable church. The various components of the denomination made reference to these goals in their deliberations and reports. One such report pertained to plans to conclude the ELCA’s successful $198 million capital campaign, which generated support for selected high priority mission and ministry endeavors.
“Their requirement to include a given number of Council members who are young adults and persons of color bore fruit in creative discussions rooted in diverse perspectives. One full evening was devoted to an extensive exercise in racial understanding which was greatly enhanced by the diverse ethnicities included.
“I particularly enjoyed the worship over the course of the weekend. The most poignant service was a Veterans Day service held on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, led by a former Air Force chaplain. Throughout the schedule were times when delegates gave reflections about their personal faith journeys. Even though we heard from only 10 percent of the delegates, the effect was to deepen the identity of the Church Council as a community of faith. I was baptized in a Lutheran church outside Baltimore, MD. The spiritual connectedness felt a bit like a homecoming.”
Hermann Weinlick
Ecumenical Officer
Moravian Church, Northern Province
“It was a great privilege to represent Moravians at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) semi-annual Church Council held in Chicago this past November. Their Church Council is the governing board for the ELCA. It is made up of over 50 representatives and bishops, along with about a dozen non-voting staff. Having been elected to the PEC of the Southern Province for the first time just six months before, it was quite a bit to take in. I was struck by how committed the ELCA is to their ecumenical partnerships and how committed the participants are to their faith. There were also Episcopal and Reformed Church of America ecumenical partners present. All three of us were not just welcomed, but treated as valued participants in committee work as well as selected involvement in the business sessions of the full Council.
“Presiding Bishop Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton has led the ELCA to focus on five denominational-wide goals: 1. A thriving church, 2. An equipping church, 3. A welcoming church, 4. A visible church, and 5. A well-governed, connected, and sustainable church. The various components of the denomination made reference to these goals in their deliberations and reports. One such report pertained to plans to conclude the ELCA’s successful $198 million capital campaign, which generated support for selected high priority mission and ministry endeavors.
“Their requirement to include a given number of Council members who are young adults and persons of color bore fruit in creative discussions rooted in diverse perspectives. One full evening was devoted to an extensive exercise in racial understanding which was greatly enhanced by the diverse ethnicities included.
“I particularly enjoyed the worship over the course of the weekend. The most poignant service was a Veterans Day service held on the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, led by a former Air Force chaplain. Throughout the schedule were times when delegates gave reflections about their personal faith journeys. Even though we heard from only 10 percent of the delegates, the effect was to deepen the identity of the Church Council as a community of faith. I was baptized in a Lutheran church outside Baltimore, MD. The spiritual connectedness felt a bit like a homecoming.”
Hermann Weinlick
Ecumenical Officer
Moravian Church, Northern Province
PASTORAL CARE
To reach Rev. Beth Rohn-Habhegger, please call her at 715-213-2362 or send an email to wrmcpastor@gmail.com.