Worship for February 7, 2021

Greetings, Bethel friends: Every six weeks or so, the worship team takes a Sunday off. So that means, you all are stuck with your dear pastor for Zoom church. Join us live online at 10:30am. Click this link when it’s time: SUNDAY CHURCH ONLINE.

I have prepared some short studies on our readings which include sharing three short films from The Work of the People. Always inspiring. Jim will have his guitar, communion will be ready. So bring your bread and wine and open hearts and we’ll be waiting. In peace, Pr. Amy

Worship for January 31, 2020: The Outsiders

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Readings 12:06 Sermon 18:45 Prayers 42:06

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Worship for January 24, 2020: Leaving. And returning.

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Readings 12:21
Sermon 15:46
Prayers 28:16

Photo Credit: Dave Herring on Upsplash

Worship for January 17, 2020: When the Cost of Winning is too High

Sermon Notes

For best practices, the marriage and family therapists who guide from an IMAGO approach recommend this book: Getting the Love you Want by Harville Hendrix.

Peace is not the absence of conflict is a quote by President Ronald Regan. But I’m pretty sure he must have gotten his idea from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Bible before him.

The words about the cost of winning first came from Andrea Kamm, MFT, but then I heard them again in this podcast with Brene Brown, Tim Ferriss, and Dax Shepherd. Ferriss is pretty invested in the IMAGO model of dialogue to solve conflict. HERE is the episode. The whole episode is pretty amazing.

I first heard that explanation of Jacob’s Ladder from one of my favorite Jewish preachers, Rabbi David Wolpe. But I don’t have a clue which sermon it was. Sorry, Rabbi!

Photo Credit: David Mock on Upsplash

Worship for January 10, 2020: The Family Treasure with Guest Preacher -- Rev. Russ Gordon

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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!

Photo Credit: Caroline Hernandez on Upsplash

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.

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Readings 15:20
Sermon 23:07
Prayers 42:03

Photo Credit: Jeremy Bishop on Upsplash

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?”

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Readings 13:06
Sermon 19:19
Prayers 33:03

Photo Credit: Grant Whitty on Upsplash

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…”

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Readings 16:06
Sermon 23:58
Prayers 33:44

Worship for November 22, 2020-- Annual Thanksgiving Celebration Worship

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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!!

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Readings 13:45
Sermon 21:19
Prayers 35:49

Photo Credit: Ronda Darby on Upsplash

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Readings 14:04
Sermon 19:53
Prayers 38:46

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on Upsplash

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.

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Readings - 15:20

Sermon - 19:37

Prayers - 31:05

Photo Credit: Grant Witty on Upsplash

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.

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Readings 12:36
Sermon 19:31
Prayers 34:06

Photo Credit: Lassater Winery on Upsplash

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.

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Readings 14:54
Sermon 22:47
Prayers 44:34

Photo Credit: Kat Love on Upsplash

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.

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Readings 15:49 Sermon 23:35 Prayers 39:10

Photo Credit: Ahna Ziegler on Upsplash