Worship for January 3, 2020: Guest Preacher -- Rev. Russ Gordon
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Christmas Eve Worship 2020
Two services to choose from plus some bonus caroling from our singers from years past and present. Traditional worship or a rerun of our popular Children’s Play adapted for tonight. Merry Christmas!
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Worship for December 13, 2020 -- Making the Path Straight in this Oh So Crooked World
It is not the work of people who have been wronged to learn to communicate in order to be heard; it is the work of those who have power to learn to listen.
Place Finders
Readings 15:20
Sermon 23:07
Prayers 42:03
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Worship for December 6, 2020-- In the moment you choose not to react
SERMON WARNING: You might think after the first couple sentences the message is about politics. It is not. It’s about character. It’s about our kids. It’s not about anyone but who we are. I mention a Gavin Newsom bumper-sticker. But he’s a side note to the point of it all. Bethel is not partisan, nor does it endorse politicians. Politics is intruding on our wellbeing. Every so often, we do talk about how we are handling it all. Again, it’s about character and anything in our lives that calls upon us to live differently and more responsibly.
“I’m lifting up the vital and urgent question we all need to be asking of ourselves many times throughout the day: what kind of person do I want to be as I wait for God? What am I putting into the world as I wait for God? Is this God’s dream?”
Place Finders
Readings 13:06
Sermon 19:19
Prayers 33:03
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Worship for November 29, 2020-- When the Signs Don't Look so Good
“We often think of doubt as doubt that God exists. But actually, there are all kinds of ways to doubt in God: doubt in God’s goodness, doubt in God’s presence in our midst, doubt in human community and its capacity to be redeemed, doubt in the ultimate justice of our cosmos…. This is a season where we can name these…”
Place Finders
Readings 16:06
Sermon 23:58
Prayers 33:44
Worship for November 22, 2020-- Annual Thanksgiving Celebration Worship
Place Finders
Readings 10:39
Reflections 17:32
Prayers 40:30
Worship for November 15, 2020-- The Day After Part II
“… Christ the King is a massive corrective on the focus of our emotional, relational, and everyday attention. Of course government policies impact our lives, some of us in more dire ways than others. But we can’t lose sight of who our king is or we will be constantly disappointed and overinvested in winning. For the Christian, any investment in winning is too much.”
Sermon Notes
Read David Von Drehle’s article of the American psyche HERE. I’m not as anti-federal government as he is, but his point is well taken nonetheless.
Watch the gorgeous videos of our sermon song Be Thou My Vision and We Bow Before the One. Thank you The Work of the People!!
Place Finders
Readings 13:45
Sermon 21:19
Prayers 35:49
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Worship for November 8, 2020-- The Day After
“…We didn’t need the election to tell us how different we are. We have been heartbroken because of our differences. We have mourned lost relationships, cleansed our social media friend lists, dreaded family conversation, hesitated to reach out, despised our institutions and our leaders, suspected the worse of each other, hidden our votes from our spouses -- the election didn’t need to tell us what we already knew.”
Sermon Notes
David Brooks talks about waking up to the reality that we have to learn to live with each other on this episode of the PBS News Hour.
Place Finders
Readings 14:00
Sermon 18:12
Prayers 32:20
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Worship for November 1, 2020-- All Saints Sunday -- Expecting the Worst, Receiving the Best.
“…- we go into our encounters with God so often expecting judgment and Jesus says no...mercy. We go in expecting to be turned away and God says no...you have arrived. You belong.”
This sermon relies heavily on the scholarship and theology presented on The Bible Project website in their Church at Home series. This episode was on Holiness.
Place Finders
Litany of Names 7::25
Readings 26:24
Sermon 35:00
Prayers 48:41
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Worship for October 25, 2020-- Reformation Sunday -- Standing on the Ground of Grace
“…All of us have the potential to believe we are more free than we really are (because we are locating our freedom in the wrong place). All of us, most of the time, think we are more loyal to God than we really are. All of us at one time or another, imagine that the rest of the world has the problem, not us. ”
Bishop’s prayer commendation today comes from his weekly letter. Read it HERE.
The quote and commentary about the heart comes from Dr. Anathea Portier-Young on Workingpreacher.org.
Place Finders
Readings 15:37 Sermon 19:39 Prayers 35:44
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Worship for October 11, 2020-- Lessons for Hard Times: The Antidote to Alienation
“It’s more than isolation. Are we witnessing a sense of alienation descend upon our lives? Alienation is what happens when we start to actively reject loved ones or the society of friends….It’s about shunning offers of connection and love and human contact. It’s the experience of feelings like distance and estrangement, even from people we trust and even from our own emotional selves.”
We are indebted to The Work of the People for their incredible visual art offerings including the audio recording of today’s Prayers of Intercession. The video is worth watching: Earth as the Original Liturgy.
I leaned on Luke Timothy Johnson’s write up in Philippians for my summary. He offers fantastic theology of of the New Testament.
Place Finders
Readings 14:04
Sermon 19:53
Prayers 38:46
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Worship for October 4, 2020-- Blessing of the Animals
“I asked my daughter, what do you think? God’s judgment condemning us for crucifying his son or Jesus telling us to come to him and take his yoke so he can carry us when we are weary and heavy laden with burdens. ‘I’m not really sure that’s a choice, Mom,’ she said.”
We are indebted to The Work of the People for their incredible visual art offerings including the audio recording of today’s Prayers of Intercession. The video is worth watching: Earth as the Original Saints.
Place Finders
Readings - 15:20
Sermon - 19:37
Prayers - 31:05
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Worship for September 27, 2020 -- Lessons for Hard Times: Better is not Good Enough
“So this is a lesson about authenticity and integrity, AND it’s a lesson about how the authentic life… a life without hypocrisy, and a life with the humility to show and say, ‘I made a mistake and I’ll go make it right.’ That kind of life takes courage. “
Thank you to the scholarship of Brian Stroffregen for providing the exegesis that informed this sermon. Here is the full text — honor/shame culture Mark Allen Powell’s story.
This Changes Everything by Jaquelle Crowe
We are indebted to The Work of the People for their incredible visual art offerings including the audio recording of today’s Prayers of Intercession. The video is worth watching: Earth as the Original Scriptures.
Place Finders
Readings 12:36
Sermon 19:31
Prayers 34:06
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Worship for September 20, 2020 -- Lessons for Hard Times: The Words you can't say to God
“Here is your choice: rage and death, or mercy and life. We might not have a choice in how we feel in any given moment, but God seems to say consistently, we have a choice in what we do with the anger, in where we take it, in how we use it to harm or to make justice, and even how we self-examine in the midst of it. Those are choices even if the feelings are not.”
We are indebted to The Work of the People for their incredible visual art offerings including the audio recording of today’s Prayers of Intercession. The video is worth watching: Earth as the Original Cathedral.
Place Finders
Readings 14:54
Sermon 22:47
Prayers 44:34
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Worship for September 13, 2020 -- Lessons for Hard Times: Forgiving without Expectation
“ …any decent apology begins with acknowledging this reality: that what has been taken away can’t be given back. Now that doesn’t mean wounds can’t be transformed – that’s why we follow Christ in the first place, but first there is this. The debt can’t be repaid.”
Here are some of my favorite resources on forgiveness that have helped inform my understanding over the years: Beyond Revenge, a book my Michael McCullough, and not to be missed, The Forgiveness Project.
The film I referenced was Smoke Signals from 1998. And the poem at the end of the film comes from the book Ghost Radio by Dick Lourie.
We are indebted to The Work of the People for their incredible visual art offerings including the audio recording of today’s Prayers of Intercession. The video is worth watching: Earth as the Original Sacrament.
Place Finders
Readings 15:49 Sermon 23:35 Prayers 39:10
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Worship for September 6, 2020 -- Lessons for Hard Times: The Promise of God is not a Consolation Prize
This verse about two or three gathering in the name of God…it’s not a Bible passage meant to convince us that any small crowd will do in place of a larger one; it’s a verse about how much we need God in our most personal and communal face-to-face relationships because those are the places where we struggle.
Totally indebted to this amazing commentary on Workingpreacher.com by Audrey West. You’ll hear the resonant themes on listening and reconciliation as well as her view-changing insight.
Here is the beautiful blessing by Diann Neu, Blessed be the Work of your Hands.
Place Finders
Readings 15:42 Sermon 19:30 Prayers 33:06
Photo Credit: Taylor Hernandez on Upsplash
Worship for August 30, 2020: Back-to School...sort-of....Youth-Led Worship
Place Finders
Readings: 14:09
Messages: 18:12
Prayers: 37:13
A huge thank you to all our students for taking a risk to put themselves out there and taking the time, especially in such an overwhelming transition!
Worship for August 23, 2020: Bishop Erwin's Good-bye Worship Service
Bishop Guy Erwin led his final synod worship service on July 26th before departing for a new post as president of United Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia. His sermon covers the familiar territory of Romans and will not sound new if you have been following along each Sunday or in Bible Study. But it’s a lovely address nonetheless and a service full of sweet farewells and lovely music. Enjoy a little uplift in the midst of these distressing days! And pray for him as he settles into a vibrant new ministry. And pray for our transition as we welcome a new interim bishop.
Worship for August 16, 2020: Jesus, stop that woman from shouting!
Just as Isaiah spoke in his own time centuries before, the days of Canaanite genocide are over. It’s time to be a house of prayer for all peoples. And how do the disciples react? Tell her to go away, they say.
Place Finders
Readings 12:12
Sermon 15:50
Prayers 33:26
Some helpful links to explore some of the social science studies and some of the historical context. In addition, everyone should know about he Doctrine of Discovery and how this Christian edict shaped global history.
For some Bible background on the Canaanite woman, check out this ARTICLE — it reminded me of Jesus’ blood line.
Bloomberg News Op-Ed on the orchestra integration history
For some modern applications of this Gospel story, check out an LA Times Op-Ed written by Hal Printup, father of one of our members about the Doctrine of Discovery and its shaping of our global history and where we begin redressing the wrongs done in its name against indigenous peoples
A testy explanation of a series of 500 year old papal bulls establishing the Doctrine of Discovery — the author is not religious (she lets you know it) but don’t let that detract from the history she lays out
Worship for August 9, 2020: It's not your lack of faith that's the problem.
“ The boat is an incredibly sturdy and reliable and holy place. Only missing church as much as I or any of us do…helped me hear these words anew: when they got into the boat, the winds ceased. That’s what it says. And boy, do we know the power of the ship right now.”
Place Finders
Readings 16:04
Sermon 20:13
Prayers 38:35
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