Wednesday Words for September 12, 2012
from Pastor Carrie Smith
Thought for the Day:
“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you... There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”
-Frederick Buechner, “The Alphabet of Grace”
In our prayers: Wendy Stefan, Jean Cima, Gary Summers, Fred Becker, Betty Klehfoth
Tonight at Bethany: It’s fall, and the place is hopping once again!
4:45 pm Confirmation session 1
5 pm: Sonshine Singers
5:45 pm Confirmation meal
6 pm: Drum ministry
6:30 pm: MIDWEEK WORSHIP in Luther Hall (come check out this new casual worship opportunity!)
7:30 pm Confirmation Session 2
7:30 pm Bethany Choir
This weekend at Bethany:
Saturday morning: Youth room clean-up! 8 am-noon
Sunday: With the return of fall, we return to a more formal musical setting for worship (setting 9). This week we are also blessed with a musical offering from Bell Canto, Bethany’s handbell choir. Sue Gavle will present the children’s sermon, and will distribute Bibles to the 3rd graders at the 9 am worship service. We’ll hear an update from our fantastic teens who “pounded the pavement” this summer to end malaria! Finally, we will install our sacristans at the conclusion of the 9 am service.
Sunday, 4-6 pm: New Member Class is in Luther Hall (there’s still room for you!) and the Youth Group Kick-Off is in the Youth Room.
What is a sacristan? “Sacristan” is the formal term for a person who cares for the “sacred things” in the church. They care for the communion vessels, the altar paraments, candles, and baptismal font. On Sundays, they watch carefully, as a host would at a dinner, to be sure there is enough to eat and all are being served. At Bethany, we are lifting up the “altar care team leaders” and conferring this new title in recognition of their ministry. Thank you, sacristans!
Visit the Bethany Preschool Team in Luther Hall Sunday between services and show your support for our Preschool! The Preschool Fundraiser this year is flower bulbs. 50% of the proceeds will go to our Preschool program. Please come see what Nature in Bloom and Bethany Preschool have to offer!
Did you know: You can be a “mystery reader” at Bethany Preschool! It only takes 10 minutes of your time, and the children love it. Sign up to read a story just outside the preschool room doors.
2012 Women’s Event: It’s not too late to RSVP! Women, please send an email to sandi.teiken@bethanylc.com to reserve your seat today. Do you have a friend who would like to join you? Please invite her!
Did you know? You can read sermons online at www.bethanylc.com. There is a link to the Bethany Sermon Blog on the church homepage. You can “like” it, post it to your Facebook page, and subscribe to new posts. Check it out!
This Week’s Texts: 16th Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 50:4-9
4The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. 5The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. 6I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. 7The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; 8he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. 9It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Psalm 116:1-9 (Message Version)
I love God because he listened to me, listened as I begged for mercy.
He listened so intently as I laid out my case before him.
Death stared me in the face, hell was hard on my heels.
Up against it, I didn’t know which way to turn; then I called out to God for help:
“Please, God!” I cried out. “Save my life!”
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right, our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless; when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
I said to myself, “Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death; Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
I’m striding in the presence of God, alive in the land of the living!
James 3:1-12
3Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
Mark 8:27-38
27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Peace,
+Pastor Carrie Smith
carrie.smith@bethanylc.com
