CONGREGATIONAL MILESTONES
Schoeneck celebrates 250 years of worship and mission Sunday, October 14 was a day planned and anticipated for almost a year, as the Schoeneck Moravian Church, just north of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, celebrated its 250th anniversary with a lovefeast, special anthems and a guest bishop. Bishop C. Hopeton Clennon, pastor of Schoeneck from 1994 to 1999, served as the anniversary preacher. He reminisced about being a Caribbean pastor of the Schoeneck congregation (carving a pumpkin, planting a garden and riding a lawn tractor were all new experiences to which he was introduced by Schoeneck members), and then focused on “Preparing for the Next 250 Years,” one of the themes of the day. The Moravian Daily Texts for significant days in the history of the congregation formed a second theme of the service, which opened with Pastor Terry Folk reading the Daily Text for October 3, 1762, the date on which the congregation was founded. During the lovefeast, the choir sang a setting of the text and hymn, “Lord Jesus Christ, be Present Now,” composed for the occasion by Jill Bruckart, Schoeneck’s former organist and choir director. Director of Music Ryan Morrow commissioned composer Brian Henkelmann to write an anthem for the occasion, and the senior 22
choir also sang “Then Shall Your Light Appear as the Morning,” a setting of the Daily Text for the day of the dedication of the present sanctuary in 1889. Henkelmann also provided new words and a setting of the hymn, “Highly Favored Congregation,” which used handbells, brass, choir and congregation. The service closed with the reading of the Daily Text for October 14, 2012. As an anniversary gift to the wider Moravian Church, the congregation also commissioned composer Margaret Sandresky to write organ arrangements of three Moravian chorales, which will be performed for the first time at Schoeneck on Christmas Eve, Good Friday, and Easter. Plans are to make them available to other Moravian congregations in the near future. Organized in 1762 The Schoeneck congregation was officially organized on October 3, 1762, after several families living north of the exclusively Moravian community of Nazareth requested someone to come preach to them. After several years of worshiping in a home, a log building was constructed on land owned by the Nazareth Moravians. The log building, which initially served as church, school and parsonage, was eventually replaced by a The Moravian