text: March 21, 2021 – Calvary Moravian Church
  Posted bycalvarymoravianallentown March 16, 2021 Posted inUncategorized
  Invite friends and neighbors – all children 11 and under are welcome to our Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 27th at 1:30 p.m. Please register all children (with their age) by today, Sunday March 21st. The Egg Hunt will be held outside, and we ask that everyone wears a mask and practices social distancing.
  Children's Outside Sunday school today
  This Sunday, March 21st, at 1 p.m. all our kids are invited to an outside gathering to decorate care packages for our shut-ins, and learn more about the Holy Week journey that we are entering. A special Holy Week walk will be set up around the church!
  Easter Cookies and Palms will be available for pick-up on March 28th.
  Mid-Week Lenten Program 2021: Last Wednesday, March 24 at 7 p.m.
  Can we see hope through the ordinary actions like baking bread or the symbols of pretzels? Come learn more about the history of pretzels and its symbolism for hope.
  https://zoom.us/j/96449497731, Meeting ID: 964 4949 7731
  Holy Week (March 29-April 2) – SAME ZOOM ADDRESS for all Worship!
  All virtual this year. If you would like to borrow a Holy Week Readings book, please let the office know and make arrangements to pick one up on the conference room table.
  Good Friday EVENING – Tenebrae, April 2, 7 p.m. ZOOM Meeting ID: 946 4717 6409
  An Outside only Easter Dawn/Sunrise Worship: 6:15 a.m.
  We are blessed to welcome a brass quintet from the Easton Band to share with us the Moravian chorales and hymns of the Easter season. We gather at 6:10 a.m. to begin with special music. Please wear a mask.
  April 11: Virtual Easter Pageant and Celebration of the Good News!
  If you would like to help with our Easter pageant, you can play a part. Simply talk with Pastor Janel ASAP – she will set up a time to record you (and any other characters in your scenes) over Zoom.
  March 21: Fifth Sunday in Lent, Psalm 51:1-12
  Hymn 641. I, the Lord of Sea and Sky.
  I, The Lord Of Wind And Flame I Will Tend The Poor And Lame.
  Scripture. Jeremiah 31:31-34.
  Meditation: A Covenant within our Hearts. Janel Rice
  Scripture Psalm 51:1-12. Lynne Strother, lay reader
  according to your steadfast love;according to your abundant mercy
  Meditation: When we stray from God's Covenant . . . Janel Rice
  Liturgy and Prayers for Psalm 51 (from the Rev. Rick Beck, used with permission).
  Our relationship with God is ever growing. The fullness of God's love calls us, encourages us, corrects us, heals us and guides us.
  Lord, we welcome you to the deepest place in our souls that we might join you in holiness and hear you whisper words of truth.
  (Words about repentance)
  Repentance is not about guilt although it may lead to the desire for change.
  Repentance is about claiming or reclaiming a right relationship with God.
  Repentance is not about feeling bad about yourself but rather feeling blessed by what God created you to be.
  Repentance is about accepting Christ's invitation to walk through the temptation that leads to spiritual death, toward the life that God has in store for us.
  Repentance is how we return to our true self after having been away.
  Psalm 51:1 "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
  according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions"
  Is there a part of your life that is in need of God's mercy? What is Christ's light inviting you to walk through?
  Spirit of God, who dwells within our hearts, renew us to love you as you intended.
  MBW Hymn 490 v 1&4 Tune: MORECAMBRE
  The baptism of the heav'n descended dove;
  My heart an alter and your love the flame.
  TEXT: George Croly (1867), alt.
  TUNE: Frederick Cook Atkinson (1870)
  Psalm 51:6 "You desire truth in the inward being;
  You begin with a divine DNA, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a blueprint tucked away in the cellar of your being that begs to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. As it says in Romans (5:5), "It is the Holy Spirit poured into your heart, and it has been given to you."
  It cannot be hidden by the false messages that we hold about ourselves.
  What are the false messages I impose upon myself? What truth does God wish to gift my life with?
  Come, let us all with gladness raise a joyous song of thanks and praise to God who rules and heavenly host, God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
  MBW Hymn 519 v 4&5 Tune: FREUEN WIR UNS
  Father in Heav'n, fulfill your word;
  grant us the spirit of our Lord
  We may o're ev'ry ill prevail.
  And in your love may we abide
  Estranged from non by wrath or pride,
  And with all else in charity
  TEXT: Matthew of Kunwald (1457) or Gabriel Komarovsky (1467).
  Tr. Michael Weisse (1531); tr. Evelyn Renatus Hasse (1911), alt.
  TUNE: Michael Weisse (1531), alt.
  Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God
  Our minds are so often in charge of our lives that we approach life, as well as God from the perspective of self-affirmation. But there have been moments when our hearts were pure and the spirit within us led us to a time of spiritual growth. This growth was not something we planned on or tried to make happen. In fact, it probably caught us off guard. It was all God's doing because our mind was not in charge and our heart was ready to receive it
  When you consider how you have grown spiritually, what has been your greatest growth?
  Lord, sustain us with a willing spirit.
  MBW p. 79 Tune: CLEAN HEART
  Cast me not away from your presence, take not your Holy Spirit from me.
  Psalm 51:15 "O Lord, open my lips,
  Within each of us is a pearl of great price; a treasure hidden in a field. It is the truth of God within. When we find it we are willing to give up everything in order that it might become part of everything we are; everything we do. It fills us so fully that it overflows into the world around us. We cannot keep it to ourselves.