Wednesday Words for September 26, 2012
from Pastor Carrie B. Smith
Thought for the Day:
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
- Psalm 139
Today, in my hometown of Stillwater, Oklahoma, a 13 year old boy shot himself in front of his classmates, as they gathered before classes at Stillwater Junior High. I’ve been thinking all day about this boy, his family, and the students who witnessed the tragedy. As the mother of a 13 year old, I grieve the fact that young people can be in so much pain, and can see no way out.
As a Christian community, I pray we can be a safe and accepting place for all young people, so they would not see suicide as the only answer. Tonight, I take comfort in the words of Psalm 139, which assure me that even the darkness cannot hide us from God. The light of God shines in the darkest places. Rest in peace, Cade. I know that God was with you even in that terrible moment, and I’m sorry you couldn’t see the light of God’s love before you made that decision this morning. Lord, have mercy on us.
***
Holy WELCA, Batman! 130 women gathered for fellowship, food, and an inspiring speaker on Sunday. What an amazing time. Thank you to all who helped make it possible, including Sandi, the planning committee, and the Bethany Mission Endowment Fund. It’s a new day for Women’s Ministry at Bethany!
This Sunday: Join us for worship at 7:45 am, 9 am, and 10:45 am. The Bethany Drumming ministry will be enlivening our worship! We will bless the PADS ministry, which is celebrating 25 years of housing the homeless in this place. Pastor Paul will be preaching.
Sunday is also the CROP Walk in Crystal Lake! There’s still time to support our walkers—or just show up and walk! The kick-off is at Living Waters Lutheran Church, 1808 Miller Road, Crystal Lake, at 1:30 pm. This community fundraiser – sponsored by Church World Service, an international relief, development and refugee resettlement agency – provides food, medical care, disaster relief and self-help development for people throughout the world. A portion of funds from the Crystal Lake CROP Walk will go to the Crystal Lake Food Pantry and McHenry County PADS. This year’s fundraising goal is $20,000. Support for the CROP Walk comes from Colonial Cafe, which will host a fundraiser at its Crystal Lake restaurant Thursday. Colonial Cafe also donates a free ice cream sundae to all walkers and donates $1 a walker to fight hunger. The Colonial Café Kitchen Sink Truck is scheduled to visit Living Waters on the day of the walk from 12:45 to 2 p.m.
Last year, Bethany Lutheran won the “Golden Sneaker Award” for the most money raised by an organization for the CROP Walk. Help us meet that goal this year, too!
Sunday at 7 pm: It’s time to welcome the African Children’s Choir! There is no admission for this concert featuring the world-renowned choir from Uganda. There will be a freewill offering to benefit the Music for Life Foundation, which runs schools for children in Africa. Please come—but come early to get a good seat!
Read more about the choir here: http://africanchildrenschoir.com/
And you can watch a preview video here: African Children's Choir
This concert is sponsored by the Leahy family, in loving memory of Bethany member Jody Leahy.
Blessing of the Animals! On Sunday, October 7th at 4 pm, bring your pet to Bethany for a special blessing in honor of St. Francis Day. We will meet on the lawn in front of the church. (by the way, if your pet is a tarantula, Pastor Paul will be handling the blessing.)
Mark your calendars! Sunday, October 28th is a huge day for Bethany. We will celebrate the Reformation of the Church, singing our beloved “A Mighty Fortress” at all services. And then we will witness the Affirmation of Baptism (Confirmation) of more than 20 ninth graders! And then—take a nap—because later in the afternoon I want to pack the pews at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Rockford for Pastor Paul’s ordination at 4 pm. Watch for more details to come!
This Week’s Texts: September 30, 2012
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
4The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” 10Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. 11So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. 15If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favor in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.” 16So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. 24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. 26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”
Psalm 19, selected verses (Message Version)
The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.
God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.
God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.
There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
James 5:13-20
13Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. 19My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, 20you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Mark 9:38-50
38John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40Whoever is not against us is for us. 41For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49“For everyone will be salted with fire. 50Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Peace,
+ Pastor Carrie Smith
carrie.smith@bethanylc.com
