Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church

Church Where You Are

Welcome to the weekly devotional ministry of Bethel Lutheran Church!

We offer this devotional tool as a place to help you be "Church where you are" during any given week. Whether you are out-of-town on the weekend, looking for a format for family devotions, or needing something to help you personally prepare for Sunday morning, these devotions are meant for you.

Sunday, October 6

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

1 Peter 2: 4-5, 9-10

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and

5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Do you feel special?  Do you feel chosen?  Do you feel as if you are valued?  If not, please know that you are.  Why?  Because you are chosen and valued by Christ as a unique and special person and part of His Kingdom.  If you could come to believe this, how would it change your life? Your actions? Your witness in the world?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 29

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5Let the same mind be in you that was* in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7 but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8   he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What does it say about God that in Jesus God was “emptying” himself in solidarity with you? Why is sacrificial love such a powerful force in our world?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 22

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

SHARE

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

READ

I Thessalonians 5: 9-18

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.
12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters,* to respect those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14And we urge you, beloved,* to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. 15See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. 16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? How can this serve as a way for us to live our lives together as the body of Christ? What seems easy?  What seems hard?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 15 – Rally Day

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

Psalm 150


1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament!*
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!

3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Psalms are written to be used in worship as songs.  Psalm 150 is one that speaks to the wonderful musical instruments used to bring joy to worship.  What is your favorite kind of “church music”? What brings joy to your soul?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 8 – God’s Work Our Hands Sunday

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

Luke 14:25-33

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Jesus hyperbole here, but it is still quite unnerving isn’t it? “Whoever doesn’t hate their family cannot be my disciple?”  Quite a statement.  Perhaps considering the text from the perspective of “urgency” will help us.  For Jesus, building discipleship for his kingdom was of paramount importance.  Talk about when you have felt such an urgency.  How might this speak to your lives of faith.

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 1 (Labor Day Weekend)

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

Luke 14:1, 7-14

1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. 7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading?  Who do you invite into your home? Who invites you to theirs? Where and with whom do you share meals outside of your home? As you think and consider these answers, consider what this reading may be saying to you about them.

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 25

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To get started this week, watch this video: New Day (Avalon)

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

READ

Luke 13:10-17

10 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? Jesus challenges “religious rules” in this reading.  Why does he do this? Is there a time when it is OK to “break the rules”? What “religious rules” need to be “broken” in your opinion? Why?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 11

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To get started this week, watch this video: You Are Mine

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

READ

Luke 12:32-40

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 35 “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36 be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. 39 “But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading? What makes you afraid or what is a cause of fear for you?  How can your faith and trust in Jesus help you overcome or live through your fear?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 4

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To get started this week, watch this video: Lay Up Your Treasures in Heaven

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

READ

Luke 12:13-21

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

TALK 

What surprises you or engages you in this reading?  Gordon Gekko, in the famous 80’s film Wall Street, said, “Greed is Good.”  Is it? Why would he say that? Why does Jesus say what he says?  Discuss the difference between the two.

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for those on the margins, those children in difficult and desperate situations, and for compassion to reign in all ways.

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

October 13, 2019
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This Week at Bethel

Sunday, October 13 – Ministry Celebration Sunday

Join us on Sunday at 9:30 for our Ministry Celebration Sunday worship! Immediately following worship we will gather in Discipleship Hall for our celebration of ministry. We will also be unveiling our new Bethe Logo along with Bethel “swag” that you can purchase to help spread the word about our ministry here. We hope ALL Bethelonians will join us for this amazing celebration!