Thursday Thoughts for January 9, 2014
From Pastor Carrie Smith
Your Bethany Weekly Newsletter is attached!
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Thought for the Day:
Baptism consists of getting dunked or sprinkled. Which technique is used matters about as much as whether you pray kneeling or standing on your head. Dunking is a better symbol, however. Going under symbolizes the end of everything about your life that is less than human. Coming up again symbolizes the beginning in you of something strange and new and hopeful. You can breathe again.
- Frederick Buechner in “Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC”
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Tonight: Theology on Tap! 7:30 – 9 pm at Duke’s Alehouse in Crystal Lake. All are welcome! Beverages are optional. Interesting conversation is mandatory!
Sunday at Bethany: This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus! We also will celebrate the baptisms of Sloane Shasteen and Clara Helms at the 10:30 am service. Thanks be to God!
When we begin worship, we will be sprinkled with water during the first hymn. This is in remembrance of our own baptisms. Some may choose to make the sign of the cross or say a silent prayer of thanks when the water touches them. Do what feels right to you!
The Sonshine Singers will provide music at the 8:30 service, and the Bethany adult choir will be singing for the second service. Kristin Lundine will be our song leader for two hymns: “Wade in the Water” and “Taste and See”. At 10:30 am, we will be joined by ALL of our Sunday School children at the beginning of the service, so they may have the opportunity to witness the baptisms. Let’s welcome the children among us, as Jesus welcomed them!
MLK Breakfast tickets: We have tickets to FaithBridge’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast available in the office. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students). The breakfast is at D’Andrea Banquets on Monday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 a.m. E-mail Pr. Carrie with questions: carrie.smith@Bethanylc.com
Congregational Meeting: The annual meeting is on Sunday, January 26 after the second worship service. Annual Reports will be available to pick up this Sunday, January 12, and will also be available on MemberConnect.
Dedication of the church at the baptismal site of Jesus: Check out these great photos from Bethany’s very own sponsored missionary, Danae Hudson! You might recognize Bethany members Rafael Malpica and Robert Smith in a few of them. http://elcjhl.smugmug.com/Projects/Baptismal-Site/The-Dedication-of-Bethany
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This Week’s Texts: The Baptism of Jesus
Prayer of the Day:
O God our Father,
at the baptism of Jesus you proclaimed him your beloved Son
and anointed him with the Holy Spirit.
Make all who are baptized into Christ
faithful to their calling to be your daughters and sons,
and empower us all with your Spirit,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading Isaiah 42:1–9
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.
5Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
7to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8I am the LORD, that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.
9See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.
Psalm 29 (Message Version)
A David Psalm
29 1-2 Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your best to honor him!
3 God thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming brightness—
God, across the flood waters.
4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.
5 God’s thunder smashes cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.
6 The mountain ranges skip like spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.
7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh shake.
9 God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”
10 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.
11 God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.
Second Reading Acts 10:34–43
34Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ — he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Gospel Matthew 3:13–17
13Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."
Peace,
Pr. Carrie Smith
