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 17

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Begin with this video: Canticle of Turning (Rory Cooney)

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

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Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? What/who is a winner? What/who is a loser?  Martin Luther wrote in his treatise “Freedom of a Christian” that a Christian is a “perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none” and that a Christian is a “dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”  These paradoxical claims actually perfectly incapsulate what it means to follow Jesus.  We are set “free” to live a life of “service” toward others. How might you consider your a life that is “free to serve”?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, October 10

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Begin with this video: Canticle of Turning (Rory Cooney)

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

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Mark 10:17-31

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? What/who is a winner? What/who is a loser? By what metrics do we determine who is “winning” in life and who is “losing” in life? Because it all comes down to the metrics we use.  The young ruler wants to know the metrics that Jesus is using. When he tells him, it is not a change he is willing to make. As you read the text today, consider what metrics YOU use to calculate whether or not you or someone else is “winning”?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, October 3

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Begin with this video: Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

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

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Mark 10: 2-16

He left that place and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.

2Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

10Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

13People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? This is a tough teaching because we all know people who have been divorced, perhaps even ourselves.  However, as you learn more about this reading, we come to find that Jesus is again offering a more inclusive understanding of a traditional teaching.  By acknowledging the possibility of a woman divorcing her husband, he is expanding the teaching which forbid such action.  Consider for yourselves how the teachings of Jesus are often seeking to expand the kingdom vs. contract the kingdom.

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 26

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Begin with this video: Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

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

READ

Mark 9:38-50

John 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.” But 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. Whoever is not against us is for us. For 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.

“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. If 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. And 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. And 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, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt 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.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? There are a myriad of different Christian denominations.  How can we find unity with each other? What are the “stumbling blocks” to doing so? How can we individually be agents of unity in our own lives?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 19

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Begin with this video: Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

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

READ

Mark 9:30-37

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? Jesus is quite paradoxical in this reading, saying that “greatness” is servanthood.  How do you define greatness? What do you believe Jesus is suggesting when he says today that we are to welcome children as a sign of welcoming Jesus?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 12 (God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday)

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Begin with this video: Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin)

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

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Mark 8:27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? But who do YOU say that I am?  This question to Peter is the same question for us.  But once we answer it, the question is not over. It continues.  Because our understanding of WHO Jesus is and Jesus’ understanding of who HE is may not be same.  It is a lifelong pursuit to be in alignment with Jesus. How have you experienced this in your own life?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, September 5 (Labor Day Weekend)

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Begin with this video: If I Labor (Winans)

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

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Mark 7: 24-37

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 28But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ 29Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? How might your faith be a source of healing for you in the midst of the struggles/concerns/anxieties of your life? When you are having difficulties, do you seek out the presence of God in prayer? Do you seek out the help and support of those who you know are faithful? Why or why not? If not, might that be something you can work to change?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 29

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Begin with this video: The Table (Chris Tomlin)

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

READ

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? Traditions are wonderful. They help us to find meaning amidst familiarity. Still, sometimes traditions need to change so that something new can be expressed; to allow renewal to occur. Think of your favorite traditions. Consider how many of them are “still around” in your life. Have any favorite traditions ended? Did any of them end only for something just as wonderful to occur? When might traditions “get in the way” of a needed change?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 22

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Begin with this video: The Table (Chris Tomlin)

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

READ

John 6:56-69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? After all these weeks of listening to Jesus talk about being the “bread of heaven” the disciples share what we may be feeling too, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”  But as Peter says, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  And at the end of the day this is at the heart of our faith, a commitment to the teaching and vision of Jesus, even if it is hard, even it is uncertain.  Discuss when you have had such an experience.

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

BLESS

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

Sunday, August 15

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Begin with this video: The Table (Chris Tomlin)

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

READ

John 6:51-58

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

What images or words or phrases speak particularly to you in this reading? This reading seems a bit unnerving to our modern ears. Still, what might it mean to so “ingest” the “living bread of Jesus” in our lives that we are fully aware and awake to God’s work in our lives?

PRAY

Special prayer requests:  Pray for our nation and our world during this unprecedented time of Covid-19, especially those who have been affected and who are ill.  

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

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