Bethel Lutheran Church

One thing have I desired of the Lord... that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life...Psalm 27:4

Worship for February 17, 2020: Tricking your Brain, Plucking Eyebrows, and Trusting the World Again

February 17, 2021  /  Bethel Lutheran

Place Finders: Readings 6:53 Sermon 18:28 Invitation to Lent 33:48 Prayers 40:41

Sermon Notes: Brene Brown’s interview with Tim Ferris and Dax Shepherd is a treasure trove for preaching. Check it out here for more on why you shouldn’t trust everything you think.

And for more on eyebrows in America during a pandemic, check this out on the Washington Post.

categories / February 2021

Worship for February 7, 2021

February 07, 2021  /  Bethel Lutheran

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

categories / January 2021

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

January 17, 2021  /  Bethel Lutheran

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

Photo Credit: David Mock on Upsplash

categories / January 2021

Worship for December 6, 2020-- In the moment you choose not to react

December 06, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

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

Photo Credit: Grant Whitty on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Grant Whitty on Upsplash

categories / December 2020

Worship for November 29, 2020-- When the Signs Don't Look so Good

November 29, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“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

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categories / November 2020

Worship for November 15, 2020-- The Day After Part II

November 15, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“… 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

Photo Credit: Ronda Darby on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Ronda Darby on Upsplash

Worship for November 8, 2020-- The Day After

November 08, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“…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

Photo Credit: Clay Banks on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Clay Banks on Upsplash

Worship for November 1, 2020-- All Saints Sunday -- Expecting the Worst, Receiving the Best.

November 07, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“…- 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

Photo Credit: Hans Eiskonen on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Hans Eiskonen on Upsplash

Worship for October 25, 2020-- Reformation Sunday -- Standing on the Ground of Grace

October 25, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“…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

Photo Credit: Aline de Nadai on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Aline de Nadai on Upsplash

Worship for October 11, 2020-- Lessons for Hard Times: The Antidote to Alienation

October 11, 2020  /  Bethel Lutheran

“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

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on Upsplash

Photo Credit: Annie Spratt on Upsplash