All In-Person Church Actives Have Been Canceled

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Fries Church

Sunday worship for January 16, 2022 has been canceled. If you can read this message on your phone and computer, that is good. If you have a friend who cannot read this message because they don’t have a computer or smartphone–please notify them about our cancelation.  We have not planned online worship because we fear power outages for worship leaders like our pastor and music director.

THE SCHEDULED ZOOM SUNDAY SCHOOL MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE, WEATHER AND POWER PERMITTING. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND, AND ARE NOT ON THE REGULAR MAILING LIST OF THE CLASS, CONTACT SISTER MARGARET COUCH BY PHONE OR EMAIL.

Along with many other local churches, we are canceling early so that people can better plan their day.  We suggest that you take some quiet time to conduct family or individual worship. The Pastor suggests reading from a gospel, or, perhaps the Psalms.  The late Bishop Rondthaler was once asked what he was reading for daily devotions.  He responded, “The life of our Lord, of course.” Billy Graham was in the habit of reading five Psalms and a chapter of the Proverbs daily.  There are 150 Psalms and 31 chapters in Proverbs, meaning this schedule makes for a nice, monthly repeat. Perhaps you could do the same?

Stay safe, stay warm. Blessings.

The Pastor
By Direction of the Board

 

 

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An Antidote for Fear

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Fries Church

Isaiah 43:1-7

Cape Fear River & Bridge at Wilmington, N.C. The fishermen in the boats are unfraid.

What are you most afraid of?  We human beings have dozens, perhaps hundreds of phobias. I want to mention a double-handful of the most popular in no particular order.

First (and it really is first!), we fear social situations. Basically, people are afraid of other people. We are particularly afraid of people who are different from us, whether the difference is racial, sexual, economic, territorial, political, national, or whatever. I am convinced that most of the racial problems in America today stem from the fact that many white people are afraid of any people who are darker than we are, like children who are afraid of the night. Yes, the fear is returned, but history proves it starts with whites more often than not. [Note 1]

Oddly, we fear something called “clusters,” including clusters of small holes, bumps, or patterns. Human beings fear beehives, wasp nests, balls of snakes, and the clusters of Covid that may surround us even now. We also fear human faces that are marked and scarred by diseases like smallpox and leprosy. In the New Testament era, lepers suffered not only the disease, but exile from their families, and friends, and community.  If they met a traveler on the way, they had to call out “Unclean!” Jesus healed and cleansed lepers, returning them to their human relationships. Continue reading →

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View Sunday Services Live and On Demand

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Fries Church

Click here to go to our YouTube channel, Fries Memorial Moravian Church. From the channel select the Live stream.  The service will stream at 11:00 a.m. each Sunday for the foreseeable future.  Use the same link to view past services on demand. 

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Drive In Communion on Sunday, January 2nd

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Fries Church

Due to the surge in Covid cases, we are holding a drive in communion from 11:00 a.m. until Noon on Sunday, January 2nd.  Bring your own bread and cup, or use one of our safe packs.  Watch this space for announcements about our worship on Sunday, January 9th.  Board Members will be installed on the 9th.

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God, the Unlikely, and the Lowly

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Fries Church

Approach to ancient Bethlehem, From 1878 “Pictorial Bible and Commentary,” thanks to Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.

Micah 5:2-5a and Luke 1:46b-55

Most people want leaders to be heroes and heroines, mighty men and capable women who look the part they are called upon to play. Sometimes people get the leaders they want. Saul, the first King of Israel, looked the part. He was not only the most handsome man in Israel, but he was a head taller than any other. But Saul was a colossal failure, for he sinned and transgressed the Word of the Lord.

The next time God chose a king for Israel he rejected the likely for the unlikely. When the prophet Samuel met with Jesse and his sons to anoint a King to succeed Saul, he saw Eliab, Jesse’s eldest son, and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before (me).” But God said:

“Do not look on his appearance, or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

David was the least of Jesse’s four sons, still a boy; but he was God’s choice, for David—though fallible, was a man after God’s own heart. Continue reading →

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