Spiritual Side: Risse is guest minister

By Margie Dykes
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Jan 12, 2013 - 8:18:53am

Risse is guest minister

Dr. Joseph Risse will be the guest minister for First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of DeLand during the month of January.

The sermon topic for the 8:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. services Sunday, Jan. 13, is “The Heart of the Gospel.”

Youth-group activities are resuming 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the Fellowship Hall, with dinner served first.

The Disciple Men will have a breakfast meeting at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 12. Paul Ashton, president of the Florida Disciple Men and local chairman of the church board, will be leading the group.

Kathy Porr and Gwen Masur will lead a deacons’ meeting Sunday, Jan. 13, after the worship service. Lunch will be provided.

The Disciple Women have started making plans for the Trash and Treasures Sale 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Feb. 1-2, in the Fellowship Hall area.

The church office is open 8 a.m.-noon, with Valorie Smith, secretary, on duty. Call 386-734-0677 with any concerns.

New York-style breakfast

The Volusia and Flagler Counties Jewish War Veterans Post 300 will host their first regular meeting of the new year at 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, at the Aberdeen Club House, 55 Allwood Blvd. in Ormond Beach.

A New York-style breakfast of bagels, lox, assorted cream cheeses, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, herring, sweets, coffee and tea, will be served from 9:30 a.m.

Following a brief business meeting, Dr. Sy Weinberg will speak to the attendees about Jewish prisoners of war in World War I, and a brief question-and-answer period will follow.

Military veterans of the Jewish faith of all allied military forces, their spouses and other guests are invited to attend both the meeting and the breakfast. Post members will pay $5; all guests and spouses can attend at no cost.

More information may be obtained by calling Stan Kates at 386-446-0678.

Church changes name

Church of the Holy Presence in DeLand has changed its name to Episcopal Church of the Holy Presence.

Also, the church this month will open the Lifetree Café, a safe place to explore life and faith, which is open to the public. Attendees can expect 60 minutes of stories and talk to feed the soul and discover God’s presence, while casually sitting around small tables for four each Thursday.

The first café night will be at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24. The topic will be “My Angel Saved Me.” A 15-minute DVD will be viewed, in which a woman claims her life was saved by an angel encounter. Discussion will follow.

On Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7:15 p.m., the subject will be “Schindler’s Youngest Survivor Speaks.” The program begins with a DVD interview with Leon Leyson, who was 10 years old when Oskar Schindler put him to work in his enamelware factory near Krakow, Poland. Schindler had pulled the boy from a line of Jewish families entering a concentration camp outside Krakow in 1939 after the German invasion of Poland. A discussion will follow the DVD.

Dynamics of life

Mosaic Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Orange City welcomes Dr. Don Musser to the pulpit at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13.

Dr. Musser will, in his own words, “ponder the dynamics of life” in his sermon titled “Beginnings and Endings: Wrestling With the Rhythms of Life.”

Programming for children is offered during the service.

Visit the church website at www.mosaicuuc.org.

The First Unitarian

The Rev. Robert P. Tucker will speak at the 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, service at First Unitarian Universalist Church of West Volusia in DeLand.

In his sermon “Jesus: The First Unitarian,” the Rev. Tucker will explore how the Christ of faith differs from the historical Jesus, and how the latter really was the first Unitarian.

Religious education for children of all ages is provided during the service.

For more information about the church, visit www.uudeland.org or call 386-734-6499. To learn more about Unitarian Universalism, visit www.uua.org.

New church summarizes

As 2012 has come to an end, Christ United Fellowship, a new church in the DeLand area, looks at its accomplishments since its founding in September. This is a Bible-based, independent family of faith pastored by the Rev. Dr. Austin Brinkerhoff that worships at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday at the Clarion Hotel in DeLand.

The Angel Tree Project, a ministry of Prison Fellowship, brought gifts to children of incarcerated parents.

More than 20 boxes were filled with useful gifts and delivered to the local collection center of Operation Christmas Shoeboxes for distribution worldwide.

Food bags filled with nonperishables were taken to The Neighborhood Center.

Newspapers and blankets went to a West Volusia animal shelter.

Personal gifts were made to two families in need.

A group of members brought a program called Sweet Christmas to residents of Savannah Court Assisted Living facility. The program included singing, praise, prayers and refreshments.

Members and friends rang bells for the Salvation Army outside the Northgate Publix for two days.

Now Christ United Fellowship invites others to join them and continue the work that has begun. For more information, call 386-523-6317.

— We value your religious group’s news items. Please submit information one week before the publication date by fax at 386-734-4641 or by email at margie@beacononlinenews.com.

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