SASDAC This Week

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Best Friends

June 8, 2022
Today, June 8, is celebrated as National Best Friends Day in the United States. On this day, you can express your love for your biggest support system, your best friend. When you hear the words “best friend” who comes to your mind? Is it an old classmate, a family member, a colleague, or a neighbor?
His name was Tyler. It was my first day of kindergarten although it was already a month into the school year. I was in a new school in a new country without any friends. Before the teacher asked all of us to line up for recess, she asked for a volunteer to be my friend at recess. Tyler’s hand shot up and he stood next to me in line and introduced me to our other classmates. Over the rest of the week, Tyler took it upon himself to be my friend during all the recesses, lunch breaks, and classes. Over the years I’ve lost touch with him, but he remains my favorite best friend because he just wanted to be my friend.
After I began working in Bangalore, I picked up another group of friends who continue to be my core support after fourteen years. When I moved away from Bangalore, we thought that would be the last that we would see each other, but even across the distance, we keep in touch; celebrating each other’s successes and sharing in each other’s struggles. A few months ago, when I was sick with a high fever, and all the other things that goes with that, this group of friends took turns staying on a group call with me for over sixteen hours. Sometimes they talked to me, sometimes they talked to each other, but they wanted me to know that they were there with me even if I couldn’t see them or touch them.
So, as you celebrate National Best Friends Day let your best friend(s) know how much they mean to you. Pick up the phone, call them, send a text, or send them an email.
In John 15:15,16 Jesus says “I no longer call you servants…Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you.” The best of our earthly friendship are mere reflections of the friendship that Jesus offers us. He has also promised that He will be with us ‘even to the ends of the earth.’ Take advantage of that friendship. He loves you and me without limits and has shared that love to us making it possible for us to live our lives in love and friendship.
Gerald Christo
Pastor, Young Adults
“For I am convinced that…’nothing’…can separate from the love of God.” Romans 8:38, 39


SASDACINFO

SASDACINFO – November 18, 2020
 
VESPERS: Mr. Stanley Benjamin
Vespers – Fridays @7:30 p.m.
(50 family units limit)
 
DIVINE SERVICE SPEAKER: Pastor Franklin David
 
TWO WORSHIP SERVICES: Please join us for worship either in the first or second service. As per county regulations, we are allowed ONLY 50 FAMILY UNITS/INDIVIDUALS. A family unit consist of father, mother, children or individuals staying in the same house. Families please sit together in one pew and as far as possible from another family.
First Service @ 9 a.m.
(50 family units limit)
Sabbath School: 10:00 a.m.
(50 family units limit)
Second Service: 11:00 a.m.
(50 family units limit)
Please follow the safety guidelines mandated by Federal, State and County authorities. The Guidelines are:
1. It is mandatory to wear a mask at all times for safety of others and yourself. If you have forgotten your mask, a new one will be provided. If you cannot wear a mask or refuse to wear one, we request you to worship online as deacons will not permit you to come in. Gloves also will be provided if needed. Sanitizers are placed at different stations, please use them.
2. As per regulations, only 50 family units will be allowed into the sanctuary for each service. You are requested to sit in every other pew.
3. We will be using only upper level. The basement door will remain closed.
4. The main entrance will be used for entry only. Please note there will be only one entrance.
5. There will be two exits.
-Through the exterior door next to prayer chapel
– Through the exterior door next to the coat closet area
6. Please Maintain a minimum of six feet of physical distance from one another and follow the posted signs.
7. Members are requested to leave the building right after the service is over. Please do not remain in the sanctuary or congregate in the narthex.
8. If you are sick, have any health conditions, have come in contact with Covid-19 patients or anyone in your house has come in contact with Covid-19 patients, we request that you stay home and worship with us online at 11:00 a.m.
 
ZOOM SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON STUDY @10:00 A.M.- 10:55 A. M.
Beginners & Kindergarten – Zoom ID: 544-906-348, Password: 034417
Primary I & II – Zoom ID: 578-824-5309,
Juniors Zoom ID: 630-715-4157, Password: 235754
Earliteens Zoom ID: 845-0717-1914, Passcode: 11234
Youth – Zoom ID: 225-024-8896,
Password: Waiting room
Collegiate – Zoom ID: 914-794-261,
password: 984935v
Young Adults – Zoom ID: 742-503-651
HERNDON CAMPUS CHURCH: Dr. Paulasir Abraham will be the speaker this Sabbath, November 21, 2020.
 
BERNADETTE AND WINSTON CHARLES ACCOMPANIED BY DOUGLAS LIRA AND ETHAN VINODH will be in concert on Friday, December 11 at 7:30 p.m. Join us in worship concert and be blessed!
 
ORCHESTRA practice is held every Saturday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Location: Sanctuary and narthex
 
BAPTISMAL CLASS VIA ZOOM is held on Mondays from 6pm to 7pm and Fridays after vespers 8:30 pm to 9:30 p.m.
 
HOUR OF POWER is held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. via zoom. Zoom ID: 240-954-4859. Let us make prayer a pandemic to end Covid-19.


Caroling



Freedom of Religion

Our President, last year on this day, made this statement: “Our forefathers, seeking refuge from religious persecution, believed in the eternal truth that freedom is not a gift from the government, but a sacred right from the Almighty God. On the coattails of the American Revolution, on January 16, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom.” Every year on this day, the sitting President makes a proclamation. I have not been able to read today’s as yet but in last year’s statement, the President said: “Our Constitution and laws guarantee Americans the right not just to believe as they see fit, but to freely exercise their religion.” One need not go too far from our church and we can find a Sikh Gurudwaras, Muslim mosques, Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries. My reading reveals that the Byron Union School District in California has instituted a mandatory three-week course on Islam as part of the seventh-grade history class. Students in the class not only receive handouts on Islam and the life of Mohammed, they must also:
1. Chant praise to “Allah, Lord of Creation.” 2. Pray “in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” 3. Stage their own Jihad! 4. Dress up as Muslims and choose new Muslim names. If one of us goes into a public school to talk about the Beatitudes and pray in the name of Jesus, we will be taken to task. We struck down religious instruction in our schools in 1948. We said the recitation of prayer in public schools is unconstitutional in 1962, took down the Ten Commandments from public schools in 1980 and in 1992, a pastor was forbidden to offer a Christian prayer in a public school graduation. So, while I am deeply grateful for the religious freedom I enjoy, I am also deeply confused to note that we are not even allowed a Christian prayer in public in a nation that was built on the Holy Bible.
Shalom, Shalom!
Franklin G. David
“See the invisible, hear the inaudible, believe the incredible, and think the unthinkable.”


UR: Youth Vespers

UR:Youth Vespers will meet this friday in the Fellowship Hall at 7:30pm
Ebenesar and Selena Thomas will be talking to us about Heaven
 


Sticky Business

PASTOR’S BLOG
 
When I mentioned at home that my trip would be through Singapore, my son-in-law immediately said:  “Ma-ma (uncle), you are not supposed to chew gum in Singapore, and if found you will be fined heavily.”  I chew gum, especially when I get off the plane and have to face the immigration officer to answer questions.  But this time, the officer just had to put up with my airplane breath.  And to my surprise, I never saw a single person chew gum in Singapore nor did I chew any till I stepped back onto this soil.  But it got me to think as to what a great policy that would be if enforced in our House of Worship.  When you get to church this Sabbath and every Sabbath, just put your hand under the pew and try if you can to pull out the chewing gum that your lovely Christian brothers and sisters have deposited.  How could we stop such a dirty practice of our dear loved ones in the House of God?  It reminds me of a story.  The janitor of a girls’ high school bathroom was having great difficulty removing the lipstick marks on the mirror.  Girls would put on their lipstick and kiss the mirror.  Just to take out the extra or just for the feeling of kissing, I am not sure for I don’t use lipstick.  The school Principal constantly kept announcing and requesting the girls not to do so but it only fell on deaf ears.  One day, he took the girls to the rest room along with the janitor and asked the janitor to show these girls not only how difficult it was to clean the mirrors but as to how the janitor did this job.  The janitor put his brush into the toilet to wet it and then scrubbed the mirror and kept repeating the process.  The girls felt like throwing up and thus ended the lipstick kisses on the mirror.  How shall we show respect and reverence in the House of God?  One way could be by stopping this habit of sticking chewing gum under the pews.  Why not, when you come to church, put the chewed gum under your car seat and come into the House of God?  Just a thought, not a sermon!  
 
Shalom, Shalom!
 
Franklin David
 


SAYC2017 Program

Schedule

September 1, Friday
5:00 pm Registration
6:00 pm Dinner
7:30 pm Keynote I
John Daniel, Associate Pastor, Southern Asian Church
 7:00pm Presentation I
Terry Ford, President, Adventist HealthCare
*The hall will be open till 10:00pm for anyone who wishes to stay back and socialise
 
September 2, Saturday
9:00 am Devotion
Bill Miller, President, Potomac Conference of Seventh-day ADventists
10:00 am Bible Study
11:00 am Keynote II
Bill Miller, President, Potomac Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
1:00 pm Lunch
3:00 pm  Presentation II
Weymouth Spence, President Washington Adventist University
5:00 pm Musical Meditations
6:30 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Devotion
 
8:30 pm Social Night
*The hall will be open till 10:00pm for anyone who wishes to stay back and socialise
 
September 3, Sunday
8:00 am Devotion
8:30 am 5k Fun Run / Health Awareness
9:00 am Habitat for Humanity I
12:00 pm Lunch
1:00 pm Habitat for Humanity II
6:00 pm Dinner
7:00 pm Devotion
 
September 4, Monday
 
 
8:45 am SmarTrip® cards and sack lunch can be picked up from the Church.
9:00 am Shuttle to Silver Spring Metro Station
 

Self Guided Tour of Washington DC


Street Children’s Day

Today happens to be International Street Children’s Day(and some countries and organizations celebrate this on January 31) just to make some of us aware that there are millions of children around the globe that live and survive on the streets. The country of our origin, India has over half a million children living on the streets. That is according to the statistics, but I am of the opinion that there may be much more.  In my recent visit to Mumbai, a mother testified in a house church as to how her speech-impaired child was kidnapped from her home and put on the streets of Mumbai to beg for food.  Fortunately, one of the friends of the mother spotted him in a different part of Mumbai and reported it to the mother and she along with friends and members of their house church went and brought him back and the boy was present as the member testified to God’s goodness in saving her child.  In my travels around India and Nepal, from Kerala to Kathmandu, Mizoram to Mumbai and all over, I see thousands of them on the streets.  They are also God’s lovely creation and deserve our love. Why doesn’t someone who is reading this blog start a campaign or a non-profit:  “Street to School.”  Or at least make a difference in one child.  I know organizations like my daughter’s, Christalis, continues to pick up children from the streets of Uganda and send them to school.  Well, I don’t want to just promote my daughter’s organization. You can pick anyone of the many that are around and make a difference in one or many as God has blessed you.  I have my own trust to educate children in memory of my only grandson, James Nair, who did not make it to this beautiful world.  One of my members told me that when he was visiting India, he along with his relative were in a restaurant when he noticed a lot of young people walking towards him.  He became very nervous and wondered if they would attack him and told his relatives that he was scared about the bunch of young people coming towards him.  His relative who manages his funds in India told him “These young people are the ones you have educated in India and they are all coming to just say thank you.”  This church member told me that this was one of the best moments of his life as he had never seen the hundreds he had already helped gain an education.  There is a similar story from another member of our church who always liberally gives towards education in Adventist schools.   Last week, Pastor John Daniel came to me with a list of ten names that need sponsorship in one of our schools.  I am praying and asking.   As you are aware, Pastor John does not like to ask.  I am beginning to make him like me, so that he will be shameless in asking.  May God move in our hearts to make a difference in one or in many or to even start a foundation: “Streets to School.”  
 
Shalom, Shalom! 
Pastor Franklin David
 
“See the invisible, hear the inaudible, believe the incredible, and think the unthinkable.” 


More Blessed to Give

Many years ago, when our church was in its infancy stage, we raised funds to build churches in India even though we did not have a church building of our own.  One day when I went to give the money that our church members had contributed to Dr. D. R. Watts who was then the president of Southern Asia Division, he told me “Franklin, why don’t you bring some of your members for a mission project in the Southern Asia Division.”  I told him that I don’t believe in doing so because there were good preachers there who could preach in their own language and be much more effective than any one of us coming. I only believe in raising funds here and sending it there to the Southern Asia Division.” He looked me straight in the eyes and made this statement that I have never forgotten.  He said, “Franklin, you people who live in America need us more than we need you.  Bring your members for one mission trip and you will find how rewarding it is for all those who come.”  That thought has stayed in my mind and now I have gone on several such mission trips to India and been blessed.  This last time, my wife came along with me and she says that she was truly blessed and wants to come along the next time.  I invite all those who are interested to come next year and experience the transformation that can take place in your spiritual life. 
 
And on the domestic front, our youth and collegiates have been going on mission trips almost every summer.  After they return, they share how richly blessed they were from the experience. This evening between 5-8 p.m., our youth are raising funds for their mission trip at Chick-Fil-A, 12289 Tech Road, Silver Spring, MD 20904. Chick-Fil-A will be donating 20% of all those orders between 5-8 p.m. today, April 5, 2017.  Please mention “SASDAC Youth Mission Trip Fundraiser” when you order.  Thank you for supporting our young people.
 
Shalom, Shalom! 
Pastor Franklin David
 
“See the invisible, hear the inaudible, believe the incredible, and think the unthinkable.”