The Christmas Banquet for Seniors comes this year on Sunday, the 10th of December, at 1:00 PM at the Village Church Fellowship Hall. This year, Village Church is responsible for decorating the tables, the meal, and the program. (Next year it will be PMC's turn.) The cost of the meal is $20 for everyone. However, PMC and Village Church will pay for all attending Senior members of their respective churches. All other Senior members will need to pay at the door. If you have not yet signed up for the Christmas Banquet, please call either the Village SDA Church at 269-471-7795 OR Pioneer Memorial Church at 269-471-3133 OR Cleon White at 269-471-5553 by December 5.
Chasing Hope
From an Empty Tomb
Speaker
Dwight K. NelsonSince 1983, Dwight Nelson has served as lead pastor of the Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University. He preaches on the “New Perceptions” telecast, teaches at the theological seminary and has written some books, including The Chosen. He and his wife, Karen, are blessed with two married children and 2 granddaughters.
Offering
More In This Series
“Chasing Hope: From an Empty Tomb”
- “The Instinct of Hope”
Is there another world for this frail dust
To warm with life and be itself again?
Something about me daily speaks there must,
And why should instinct nourish hopes in vain?
'Tis nature's prophesy that such will be,
And everything seems struggling to explain
The close sealed volume of its mystery.
Time wandering onward keeps its usual pace
As seeming anxious of eternity,
To meet that calm and find a resting place.
E'en the small violet feels a future power
And waits each year renewing blooms to bring,
And surely man is no inferior flower
To die unworthy of a second spring?
—John Clare (1793-1864)
- The Narrative of Hope
- Matthew 28:1-10
- Desire of Ages: “The earth trembles at his approach, the hosts of darkness flee, and as he rolls away the stone, heaven seems to come down to the earth. The soldiers see him removing the stone as he would a pebble, and hear him cry, Son of God, come forth; Thy Father calls Thee. They see Jesus come forth from the grave, and hear Him proclaim over the rent sepulcher, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.’ As He comes forth in majesty and glory, the angel host bow low in adoration before the Redeemer, and welcome Him with songs of praise.” (780)
- The Promise of Hope
- 1 Peter 1:1-3
- 1 Corinthians 15:13-19
- Earnest Becker: “The soberest conclusion that we could make about what has been taking place on the planet for about three billion years is that it is being turned into a vast pit of fertilizer.” (The Denial of Death 283/in Lewis Smede’s How Can It Be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong? 132)
- 1 Peter 1:3-5 The Message: “What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole.”
- Lewis Smedes: “We may as well be very candid: Christian hope is fixed on the last square of our date book. Hope bets that the last square is not that closed closet commonly called a coffin, but a front door into a new world where everything is right, right in all its dimensions. There will be an intermission, of course, between my arrival at my own private last square and the arrival of the new world. But I will not feel as if I need to wait for it to come. In fact, when I find myself in the new earth, I will feel as if I got there at the moment I left the last square of my calendar. It may be light years away, but in the new dimension it will seem like tomorrow.” (How Can It Be All Right, When Everything Is All Wrong? 124)
- Rubem A. Alves: “Hope is hearing the melody of the future. Faith is to dance to it.”
“And the future starts now!”
Join the Berrien Springs Garden Club for a free tour of the spectacular Sawyer Home & Garden Center including their Farm Market! Sample new jams, have a hot chocolate, and take home a fresh holiday wreath! Sunday Dec. 3, 2023 3-5 PM 5865 Sawyer Rd Sawyer MI 49125 Meet us there, or carpool from Berrien Springs at 2:15 PM. Email mariannegardens@gmail.com by Nov 30th if you need a ride.
The Social Sciences and Social Justice club is a department club on campus that is currently running a clothing drive this semester where we are collecting clothes from students, staff, and faculty on campus to create a pop-up thrift store in December for
a fundraiser. This fundraiser's profit will be going towards Phoenicia Finesse, a project in Lebanon that helps fund reusable napkins for women in need, as well as educating them on menstrual cycles. We currently have a drop-off box in the Campus Center as well as in the PMC lobby, so any donations are appreciated! The pop-up will be on December 3rd from 3-6 PM, so if you would like to donate, please come by!
The Series continues each Sabbath through December 16. Come join us in PMC Room 141 each Sabbath morning from 10:30-11:30. Everyone is welcome on Sabbath mornings from 10:30-11:30 AM in Room 141
Have you tried the new elevator yet? It is complete and the glass door is installed. Many seniors and others with a need for transportation between floors are now able to reach the sanctuary and the lower level. What a blessing! Will you help us reach the goal of having it fully paid for by December of this year? We are over ¾ of the way there. See our temperature gauge in the lobby to see the weekly progress on the last quarter. We can make this happen! Please help pray for the completion of our Fundraising goal. As of 9/23/23, there is $770,105 that has been raised with $229,895 to reach our goal!
The Siegfried H. Horn Archaeological Museum is looking for volunteers to help open the museum to the community from 3-5 PM on Sabbath afternoons. If you are interested in Biblical history and how archaeology supports the Scripture, and you would like to share that with others, join our museum docent team. Please call the Assistant Curator at 269-471-6180 or email horncurator@andrews.edu for more information and ask for an application form.
Each Sabbath morning at both 1st and 2nd services, people gather in "The Prayer Room" to pray for the church service, the participants, the congregants (both in-house and online), and for the prayer requests submitted each week on the Connect Cards (anonymously; requestor names are not included). We participate in the congregational prayer and listen to the sermon on a monitor provided in The Prayer Room. We are in need of more volunteers for both services. You can set your own schedule - once a month, one month a quarter, two months a year, whatever works best for you! If you have a heart to pray for others or are simply looking for more information, please contact Deb Montcalm at greengables75@yahoo.com.
Join our Wednesday gathering on Zoom as we share and pray together.