Wednesday Words for November 12, 2014
From Interim Senior Pastor Len Hoffmann
Please click below to view Bethany Weekly Newsletter
Worship 8:00, 9:00, and 10:30 am
Children’s Church, Sunday School and Adult Education at 9:00 am.
New Coffee and Get Acquainted Hour 10:00 am.
Sunday, November 23 – Our Special Guest will be Pastor Dan Rift,
ELCA Director for World Hunger and Disaster Response
Our next Fanning the Flame event will be tomorrow, November 13.
Soup Supper 5:45 - 6:15 pm
Purpose and Planning Session 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Skills and Competencies of our next Pastoral Leader
Find a new opportunity for supporting God’s Mission. Go to our website and click on “Give on Line.”
A special thanks to all our children and youth for the wonderful worship last Sunday.
Thought for the Day:
Empowered by God — Responding by Grace
“Now as you excel in everything — in faith,
in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness,
and in our love for you — so we want you to
excel also in this generous undertaking” (2 Cor. 8:7).
Sunday at Bethany: In last week’s article as part of this year’s stewardship emphasis, we saw how God is our Source, how all that we have comes from God, how God empowers and enables us, and how we respond by grace through faith. We also saw that like the Macedonian Christians, we are to first give ourselves to the Lord as good stewards of the grace of God.
Sometimes, when stewardship is mentioned, people wrongly conclude that giving money is all that is involved. Not so. Giving does include our financial resources, but it goes far beyond money and actually encompasses three primary resources. These are what might be called “building blocks” in God’s “school of faith” which constitutes “lifestyle stewardship” or “total discipleship.”
This week we focus on the matter of our time. Time is one resource that is given to everyone equally. All of us have twenty-four hours in every day. No more, no less. How we use our time reflects accurately what receives priority in our lives. Some people have made the TV a priority in their lives. They might not admit it, but by totaling the amount of time they spend in front of the set, it would be hard to draw any other conclusion. Others have made sports a priority. How can we tell that’s true? Again, by the amount of time they spend pursuing sports. The key question is this: How much of the 168 hours available to each of us every week is spent in pursuit of God or in service to God’s kingdom, especially here in this ministry?
Is it possible that each of us could give a football game amount of time or a movie amount of time each week? How about at least one hour for worship, one hour for learning and prayer, and one hour for service? Giving God the first fruits of our time honors the one who blesses all of our days and time.
Pastor Len
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Lectionary 33
Proper 28
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost`
Prayer of the Day: Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen
First Reading Zephaniah 1:7,12-18
Zephaniah presents the day of the Lord as one of judgment and wrath. Descriptions of the last day in the New Testament include details taken from Old Testament accounts of the day of the Lord.
7Be silent before the Lord GOD!
For the day of the LORD is at hand;
the LORD has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
12At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
"The LORD will not do good,
nor will he do harm."
13Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them.
14The great day of the LORD is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
15That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
17I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the LORD,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the LORD's wrath;
in the fire of his passion
the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Psalm 90:1-8
1Lord, you have | been our refuge
from one generation | to another.
2Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the | earth were born,
from age to age | you are God.
3You turn us back to the | dust and say,
"Turn back, O child- | ren of earth."
4For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when | it is past
and like a watch | in the night; R
5you sweep them away | like a dream,
they fade away suddenly | like the grass:
6in the morning it is | green and flourishes;
in the evening it is dried | up and withered.
7For we are consumed | by your anger;
we are afraid because | of your wrath.
8Our iniquities you have | set before you,
and our secret sins in the light | of your countenance. R
[9When you are angry, all our | days are gone;
we bring our years to an end | like a sigh.
10The span of our life is seventy years,
perhaps in strength | even eighty;
yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow,
for they pass away quickly and | we are gone.
11Who regards the power | of your wrath?
Who rightly fears your | indignation?]
12So teach us to num- | ber our days
that we may apply our | hearts to wisdom. R
Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Though we do not know and cannot calculate the day of Christ's return, we live faithfully in the here and now as we anticipate the day when we will be given eternal salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Gospel Matthew 25:14-30
Jesus tells a parable about his second coming, indicating that it is not sufficient merely to maintain things as they are. Those who await his return should make good use of the gifts that God has provided them.
14For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.' 21His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, 'Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.' 23His master said to him, 'Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' 24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' 26But his master replied, 'You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
