Our Greeter today was Bob Gordon, and he did a fabulous job.
President Mike Gschwendtner rang the bell at 7:30 A.M. to open the meeting. Our speaker, Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit, gave a very nice invocation.
Pres. Mike began the meeting having the members recite the Five-way Test with the fifth question, “Is it Fun?” We recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S.
GUESTS:
David Haight, friend of Al Lewis; Ala, our Y.E. student from Poland; and Lily Hu, guest of Bob Gordon.
Pres. Mike showed pictures of Jeanne Shipe’s experience at the Pres.-Elect Training (PETS) last weekend that was very interesting. Then we saw a pic of last Thursday’s Dining Out, and the Northwestern Snack Packing.
.LOWHILL FOOD PANTRY:
Please remember that the Collection jar is at the registration desk for cash and check contributions.
FOUNDATION GALA MARCH 17TH:
AWRC is supporting the annual Foundation Gala fundraiser with a basket of cheer. Members are asked to donate a bottle or two as we have in the past. Pres. Mike will take custody of bottles starting Feb. 14th here at the meeting.
KRISPY KREME SALE:
Ala has the sign-up sheet to order KK eats to support he Northwestern HS Interact Club.
TELL HALYNA:
Halyna Stegura reminds us that she is the AW member who sees that cards are sent to members and their families when appropriate. Please tell her when there is a need.
KINGDOM LIFE THIS FRIDAY:
Jean Masiko needs volunteers to help stock shelves starting at 6:15 PM.
DINING OUT in MARCH:
Ronnee Klotz announced that Thursday March 22nd at 8:00 PM is the next Dining Out. It will be at the Mediterranean Cafe & Grill0, 7720 Main St #6a, Fogelsville, PA 18051. And it is BYOB.
RACK CARD REPORT:
Herb Klotz said that the crisis has passed, the inventory has been found. These Rack Cards tell who we are and what AW Rotarians do. Please use them when you speak to non-members about Rotary.
SCHEDULE:
President Mike announces upcoming events at our meetings and a list of them appears on our website. A list of the appropriate contact information appears each week in the A-W bulletin.
THURSDAY EVENING MEETING:
March 8th at the Holiday Inn in Breinigsville at 5:30 P.M.
TT 4 MEETING:
The next TT4 project meeting will be at the Holiday Inn on Friday, April 6th starting at 7:30 AM. Gwenn said that Stony Run Inn will have their famous reuben sliders at TT4.
TT4 AUCTION REVIEW PARTY -- APRIL 8th:
Gwenn and Gary are having a party at their home on Sunday, April 8th from 4 to 7 PM. The admission fee is one or more items to be auctioned off at TT4. Snacks will be served.
NEXT WEEK:
Our Greeter will be Gail Micca and the program is Gail Micca giving her Classification Talk.
Pres. Mike introduced S-A-A Mitch Huston who conducted the drawings and collected some “Guilty” dollars.
The Door Prize donated by Bob Gordon was won by David Haight -- who donated it to the Lowhill Township Food Pantry.
The $66 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Gail Micca’s ticket. Six marbles remain.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Dan Crane reported something about a fish hitting a concrete wall…
Geoff Legg attended a Parkland HS talent competition where his Grandson came in 3rd place out of 12 competitors with song and dance.
Joe and Peggy Goll spent last week at their home on Key West, FL with t temperatures in the eighties.
Halyna Stegura reports that Dawn Costello is doing well and looks forward to being back with us soon.
Al Lewis is celebrating somebody’s birthday.
Don Davis wants a 25% discount on his attendance fee when he arrives before the Sergeant-at-Arms. No vote on this was held.
Herb Klotz is most happy that Ronnee and he are going on their TT3 cruise tomorrow.
VP Amir Famili said his wife gave him a great retirement party. And they are going away for 3 weeks -- then his retirement is official. Her gift to him is a special hat to rival those of Ron Coleman.
Gail Micca celebrates her 22 year old son’s birthday today.
Gail said the last Parkland snack packing work saved $700 by working with Second Harvest.
PROGRAM:
Dr. Bob Gordon introduced his friend with high praise. He is Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit of Muhlenberg College's Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding , Dr. Pettit asks Which Came First, the Holiday or the Egg?
Dr. Pettit did his undergraduate years at Princeton University, met his wife in NYC, and attended the Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia. Then he went to California and the doctoral program at Claremont Graduate University. He became a specialist in Jewish-Christian relations, and has been leading an international interfaith theology seminar in Jerusalem for nearly 35 years.
Dr. Pettit thanked Rotary for having him back. He was an active Rotarian some years back. And way back he was a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Dr. Pettit explained that the spring holidays of Passover (Pesach) and Easter, in Judaism and Christianity, have a number of common symbols associated with them. He asked “What can we learn about those holidays, and about ourselves, by the relationships between the symbols?”
With several decades of work in Jewish-Christian relations in his professional resume, Dr. Pettit explored the intricacies of paired and related holidays in different religions, and the use of symbols from one to make meaning in another. As many ways as there are to cook an egg, there may be just as many ways to engage with people in another faith tradition.
With great humor he discussed the brown (roasted) egg as a symbol when celebrating Passover, to the decorated egg at Easter for Christians. There is a debate about which religion used the egg first. The Jews can refer to the early 16th century records. And Christians can refer to early 15th century records.
And then there is the Apostle, Paul, who could have adopted the egg when he converted to Christianity. Nobody really knows when the egg symbol was stolen or from whom. But these symbols are important and build up our identity.
CLOSING:
We closed the meeting by reciting the saying “One profits most who serves best.”
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