Welcome to the Archive
Below are all the entries posted to this site in the past under the heading of "News." They include messages regarding basic up-keep, in addition to short inspirational pieces and "thank you"s to guest speakers and the like.

Write Around

Putting the New back in News

9/11/11:

Hello again, brothers and sisters in Christ. As you may have already noticed, the web site has undergone some pretty drastic changes in design recently. What it all amounts to, more or less, is what I mentioned before about where this web space will be going in the future, both aesthetically and in terms of the material available on it (by which I mean links to other spiritually enriching sites, more articles, etc). It's all about going forward.

Today is the anniversary of the terrorist attacks, now ten years ago, on the World Trade Centers in New York; and I don't think there's anywhere you can turn today where you won't see memorials in progress. As a Church, it's as important as ever that we pray and remember and encourage others to do the same as we continue to put more distance between ourselves and that day, still we must not forget what both it and our faith mean to us in these times.

Sometimes though, moving forward in Christ means trusting him to lead us, blind, toward an uncertain future. All we can really do is look inward and affirm what we as individuals believe.

God bless you all in the coming week. I will continue to mess around with things here (the design tools available to non-programming types like myself are a bit rigid), but like my own blog I suspect that it may be a work in progress for some time. For now, feel free to browse around and take in the sights.

Until next time.

Matthew

In addition to maintaining the Bethel-Keezletown Church website, Matthew writes a blog at mstatonation.blogspot.com where he expresses his opinions on all things written and beyond. He also has Twitter and Facebook pages and dabbles in professional writing. His personal essay "The Day I Ate the Purple Flowers" was published in the Bridgewater College Philomathean, Spring 2010.

9/7/11:

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while since this site has been updated (in any form really), and it's been even longer since I actually posted any updates here. There's really no excuse for that, but between college and trying to promote my own blog (over at MStatoNation), Web Mastering here has fallen by the wayside. One thing I've discovered while blogging is that getting attention of the good sort on the internet is hard work. I've been working Twitter and multiple Facebook pages to try and promote my writing with little yield over the past few months. It's little surprise then that a church could languish both digitally and literally without a fresh influx of visitors.

Attendance is down across the board in all churches (with equivalent decreases in man/woman-power for projects and in offering for important services like food banks and community outreach). Youth are hard to come by, and although I won't go on ranting about their reluctance to turn out on Sunday-being fairly young myself I can see where they're coming from-I do want to say that this site is on my mind. Now that I've got my blogging affairs in order I want to try and be a more constant presence here.

What comes next?

I'm not sure-possibly some prayer. I'll get the site updated (finally) and continue to write little snippets here and there. It's good practice for me and also gives me a little extra room into which to spread (though in a different direction) writing-wise on the net.

Until next time, God bless and keep you.

Matthew

The Love Feast is an important part of the Church of the Brethren; however, I am sure there are people out there (Maybe even members of the church) who are not sure what the Love Feast actually is. I will do my best to explain (Keep in mind that the views expressed below are my own.)

The Love Feast got its start in the Upper Room (Where Jesus gathered with his disciples for their final evening and meal together before Jesus was to be arrested and killed for "treason.") The meal included bread (What we call "The Body of Christ") and the wine (Which we call "The Blood of Christ.") The bread and the wine are part of Communion, a ritual which signifies our total unity with Christ's body and blood (His essence, living in us.)

During the Love Feast, believers are encouraged to reflect upon their lives (Particularly upon anything they may have done to distance themselves from Christ. The Bible warns against partaking of the bread and "cup" without first cleansing one's soul.) We often meditate on God's word, or some sort of reading, during our Love Feasts.

The most important part of the Love Feast is the act of servitude (The Washing of the Feet.) During his last supper with the disciples, Jesus wrapped a towel around his waist and washed the feet of his followers. We see this as the ultimate act of humility (The Son of God kneeling to wash the dirt from the feet of mortals,) and are honored to re-enact this scene during the Love Feast.

The washing is done in turns (With one person wearing the towel to wash the feet of the person next to him,) then standing, embracing the person, and telling them "Jesus loves you, and I love you.") During the Love Feast, men and women are seated at separate tables (To re-enact the separation of the sexes in the church prior to the modern day.)

The meal eaten at the Love Feast is simple, and consists of a simple sandwich of beef as well as a mixture of beef broth and bread I like to call "sops" (Which is actually quite good.) We drink water with the meal. The Communion that follows the supper features bread with no yeast (Associated with the meal of Passover,) and grape juice (No wine. Sorry.)

Now, hopefully you understand a little more about the tradition known as the Love Feast. I hope you found this information useful. May God bless.

June 16th, 2008: Thank you to everyone who came out and attended or helped with Bible School this past week. Everyone had a great time, and we really appreciate all of you. May God bless each of you in the coming week!

August 8, 2006:  I've updated the calendar of events, as well as the services section.  Also, as we walk through our daily lives we sometimes forget to include God in everything we do.  It's important that we, as Christians, remember to make God a part of our lives every day of our lives.  Let's all do our best to make God the center of our lives this week and every week to come.  May God bless each of you in the coming week!