Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, August 12 – Harvest Sunday

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To get started this week, watch this video: All Good Gifts (Godspell)

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

John 6:35,41-51

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What are the “good gifts” that you have received in life?  What are you being nourished?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, August 5

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To get started this week, watch this video: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Matthew 6: 25-34

25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,* or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?* 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God* and his* righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What are your worries?  What keeps you up at night? Why? Have you offered your cares to the Lord? Why or why not?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, July 22 – Outdoor Worship and Blessing of Animals

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To get started this week, watch this video: All Creatures of our God and King

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Jesus had compassion on the people.  Why is it important to live with compassion?  How does having compassion change us? How does it change the world around us? Where might you live with more compassion?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, July 15 – A Celebration of the 2018 Youth Gathering

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To get started this week, watch this video:  This Changes Everything

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Ephesians 2:8-10

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? The Youth Gathering theme is “This Changes Everything” and this verse from Ephesians is the theme verse.  It reminds us that grace, God’s gift to all of humanity, changes everything.  It allows us to live a life of love and service for others and it allows us to trust and hope in God’s promises no matter what.  As you consider your life, how might you “change” your life so that is lives and loves and trusts and hopes in the promises of God?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, July 8

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To get started this week, watch this video: Shout to the Lord

 

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 6:1-13

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? When have you felt that you were “dissed” by those who you thought cared for you?  How did you respond?

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, July 1

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To get started this week, watch this video: God Bless America (Irving Berlin)

 

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? When and for whom do you pray for healing? From what, perhaps, do you need to be “healed”?  Why would Jesus tell them not to tell anyone?

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, June 24 (Outdoor Worship and Potluck

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To get started this week, watch this video:  He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

 

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 4:35-41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Have you ever felt that Jesus was “asleep” while you were going through a tough and difficult experience?  What might it mean for Jesus to have control over our “storms”?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, June 17

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To get started this week, watch this video: Great is the Lord (Michael W. Smith)

 

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 4:26-34

He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What “small” things have you done (or have been done for you) that made a big difference?  If we are faithful in the “small” things, how might that change the world?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, June 10

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To get started this week, watch this video:  This is the Day

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Mark 3.20-35

Then Jesus went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Doing what matters is a central call for the people of God.  What matters to you? Where is there congruence between what matters to you and what matters to God?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Sunday, June 3 (Camp Sunday)

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To get started this week, watch this video:  This is the Day

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Share your “highs” and your “lows” for the past week with each other.

READ

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ —by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What does grace mean to you? What does grace look like to you? Where do you see grace in the world? in your life? in the lives of others?

PRAY

Pray for one another.

Special prayer requests:  Pray for Christ to open our hearts and open our ears and open our lives to his vision of life and faith and grace and peace and hope!

BLESS

Bless each other by making the sign of the cross on each one’s forehead.

Bethel Lutheran Church

2077 N. Frederick Pike
Winchester, VA 22603
540-662-3245

Upcoming Worship

August 26, 2018
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This Week at Bethel

Worship on August 12 – 17th Annual Harvest Sunday

This Sunday, we gather for worship at 9:30 (it will be inside, not outside). After worship, we will gather in community for a potluck luncheon and also to celebrate and enjoy our 17th Annual Harvest Sunday. This is a wonderful place where you will be able to buy the goods of your neighbors and all the money will go toward World Hunger!

Summer is a wonderful time to invite friends to join you for worship so consider inviting a friend or two at some point this summer. Bethel is such a special community of faith and we are excited to share about who we are and you can help us with this by bringing others to our events and worship.