WITH GOD’S HELP, WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS! · the challenges associated with traveling during this extended season of COVID, the NALC decided earlier this summer to move its annual

BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH BELIEVE * BELONG * BECOME

20650 CUMBERLAND ROAD, NOBLESVILLE, IN 46062 317.773.4315 BETHELLUTHERANCHURCH .COM

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BETHEL BELIEVES... WITH GOD’S HELP, WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS!

THIS SERMON SERIES

July 11/12 Joyful Living in a Grumpy World

July 18/19

Joyful Living with Perspective:

Thriving in Life’s Storms

July 25/26

Joyful Living in Unity: The

Downward Path to Greatness

Aug 1/2 Joyful Living Toward

Maturity

Aug 8/9 Joyful Living in Serenity: The

Great Exchange

Aug 15/16

Joyful Living with Purpose: Eye

on the Prize

Aug 22/23

Joyful Living in Harmony:

Breaking the Anxiety Habit

JOYFUL LIVING -

Joyful Living in Unity: The Downward Path to Greatness

Paul is nothing if not counter-cultural in his perspective. Today’s

passage with its classic Christological hymn (vv 5-11) pokes a

hole in our 21st century attitude of self-importance. There is no

real life without community, and there is no real community

without humility and self-denial. The structure of this passage

places the cross at the very center of our path to real

community. The key to community in our lives is not just getting

along, being nice, staying in the room, etc., but experiencing

the transforming work of the Cross of Jesus, as we die with Him

there.

WEEKEND OF July 25/26

When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, he was languishing in prison – talk about

a tough setting! Nevertheless, he told them (among other things) to “rejoice in the

Lord, always!” (4:4) and about how he had learned to be content in all circumstances

(4:11). Are his words little more than a first century version of Bobby McFerrin’s 1988

jingle “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”? True, we may not be facing jail time, but we certainly

have more than our fair share of trials these days: coronavirus, community social

unrest, family stresses, economic uncertainties, international squabbles to name a few.

What can we learn from Paul’s letter about the joy-filled living he describes? What

difference might this type of life make for us and for the community God has called us

to serve? While our focus will be on Paul’s letter, our additional readings each week

will compliment Paul’s teachings and help us apply them in our faith journey.

Philippians 2:1-11

Deuteronomy 8:1-10

Matthew 20:20-28

http://www.bethellutheranchurch.com/



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Thank you for joining us for

In-Person worship

PAGE – 1-4

This Sermon Series

Welcome Pastor Greg

Finke

Blessing of the Backpacks

Columbarium Project

PAGE – 5-6

4th Saturday Fellowship!

Bethel Olympics/ VBS

Updated 2020

Kroger Rewards

Bethel Backpack Mission

PAGE – 6-8

NALC Virtual Convocation

Updated Council

Assinments

Kroger Rewards

Food Pantry Needs Help!

Resources

Bethel Updates

Finances/Stewardship

In This Edition:

Our Vision is to be a dynamic, life-

changing church of fully devoted

disciples of Jesus Christ.

Our Mission is to engage the

curious, encourage the convicted,

and empower the committed to be

fully devoted disciples of Jesus

Christ.

We invite you to join us no matter

where you are on your faith journey!




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Joining Jesus in Mission

Welcome Pastor Greg Finke!

The weekend of

September 18-

20, we will

host Rev.

Greg Finke,

author of

Joining Jesus on His Mission: How

to be an Everyday Missionary for a “Kick the

Tires” Mission weekend. We studied his book

last fall, and this weekend will be the next

step in our application of those learnings.

Bethel is blessed with a heart for mission

outreach, and the ministry approach of joining

Jesus on his mission we explored is a natural

complement to what we are already doing.

Our “Kick-the-Tires” Mission Weekend begins

on Friday evening when Pastor Finke meets

with our planning team and Church Council.

The conference will take place on Saturday,

from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The whole

congregation is invited, and we will open it to

interested churches of our Mission District and

beyond! The weekend will culminate with Greg

preaching in our three weekend services and

leading an Adult

Forum during the

Discipleship Hour.

Currently, we plan

for this event to

take place in our

Fellowship Hall and

Sanctuary. Our

plans are flexible,

however, and if

circumstances

warrant, we will

move to a “hybrid”

in person and

online experience

or an online-only presentation. Registration

information will be available in early August.

This weekend will give us a thorough way to

“kick the tires” on how Jesus is leading each of

us on a life of mission. Come and see!

Blessing of the Backpacks:

Bethel is collecting school supplies to fill backpacks for White River Elementary and Hamilton Heights Elementary schools.

We will be having our Blessing of the Backpacks this weekend

at all services!

Thank You!!!




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Columbarium Project

A video and a brochure about the project are available

online by clicking here.

Brochures are available in the narthex.

Here is the actual link if you need to copy/paste:

https://bethellutheranchurch.com/end_of_life_care

We have begun the installation of the peace trail leading to the new columbarium area

from the front of the church.






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Save the date…September 13th!

The Olympics are coming to Bethel this fall!

What: Bethel Rally Day – Olympics Style! Come join the fun as we kick off the Sunday school year with an All-Church Picnic and Family Games! When: Sunday, September 13, 2020 (times to be

announced)

Who: Everyone is invited! Bring a friend! We would love

to have all Bethel members be able to join us for this

fun-filled church gathering.

Where: Outside at the Picnic shelter

Food: In an effort to make hold the picnic within safety

guideline, we are planning to have pizza, pre-packaged

chips and water to enjoy.

Volunteers: We will need volunteers to help run this

fun event! If you would like to volunteer to help plan

the Bethel Olympics, or to help on the day of the

event, please email Kris Lingenfelter at [email protected] . We also will need

volunteers to grill for the picnic.

Events: Games Events include Hula Hoop Contest,

Balloon Toss, Sack Race, Egg/Spoon Race, and Scooter

Races. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals will be awarded

to the top 3 teams/partners in these events.

Additional Games - Corn hole, Volleyball, Frisbee, Soccer, and more!

Donations and Loans Needed: We will be sharing an Amazon Wish-List soon! Please keep an eye out for this, as we would love help in gathering supplies for this event! Outdoor Games (borrowed - Volleyball net, Frisbees, corn hole, Can Jam, Spike Ball, soccer balls....anything you'd like to let us borrow for the event!)

Sign Up - In an effort to get a good count of how many people might attend and how many pizzas we will need, we will be opening sign-ups the first weekend in August.

Look for many more details coming soon!

We will be meeting for the service at the shelter on

THIS Saturday July 25th. Members are

encouraged to bring their own sandwiches or food

and drinks for their own family. We will not be

providing any napkins, utensils or cups. There will be

no pitch in whatsoever, and social distancing will be

in place. Attendees are recommended to bring their

own chairs or sit at the picnic tables at the shelter.

This will be a 1st time to try and bring together people

again at a Fellowship Event. Hoping it is well

attended but also being sure we are taking extra

precaution.


mailto:[email protected]



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We encourage you to link your Kroger rewards

card to our organization, Bethel Lutheran

Church. Community Rewards is easy to use

and the more our supporters shop at Kroger,

the more money Bethel will earn!

Link to sign up or register Kroger Plus card for

Bethel:

https://www.kroger.com/i/community/communit

y-rewards. Bethel’s code is HW844, or we can be

found in an alphabetical search.

Donations for

Bethel Lutheran Church!

Thank you!!!

Here is the help we still need:

Wednesday volunteers:

We need 3 people to run the pantry each Wednesday and Saturday while we are open.

We ask that you prayerfully consider helping to keep our

pantry open

NALC Virtual Convocation

Because of restrictions on mass gatherings and

the challenges associated with traveling during

this extended season of COVID, the NALC decided

earlier this summer to move its annual

convocation to an “online-only” format. Instead

of a four-day event August 4-7 in Pittsburgh, we

will gather for two sessions – one on Friday night

August 7, the other on Saturday afternoon August

8 – for inspirational speakers, worship, and some

short business items. The good news with this

change is it will be easy to participate if you

missed last year’s convocation in Indianapolis and

would like to attend some or all the activities.

Bethel will register two voting delegates plus the

pastors, but an unlimited number of our members

and regular attenders are welcome to participate

as (non-voting) guests. Please register through

the convocation website

https://lutheranweek.com where you’ll also

find more information on the schedule.

Updated Council Assignments

At our congregation meeting in June we elected

new members to our Church Council. What a

blessing they are to us and to the continuing

group of servant-leaders that is your Council in

2020-2021:

President Gay

Hanson Secretary Rochelle

Lemieux

Vice President Linc Schneider

Treasurer Jessica Foreman

Care Ministry Kris Byerley

Mission Maddie King

Communications Gay Hanson

Property Jeff Reising

Education Marci Burrows

Small Groups

Erin Eckert

Evangelism Ashley Mandery

Stewardship Tom Foreman

Fellowship Rochelle Lemieux

Worship / Music

Kim Forster

Finance Linc Schneider

Youth Gary Kitko

*FOOD PANTRY HELP NEEDED*

Contact the church office if you would like

to help! 317-773-4315


https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards

https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards



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RESOURCES

ALTAR FLOWERS

This week’s Altar F lowers were donated by

John and Taryn Johns in

celebration of their

21 s t Wedding

Anniversary!!

PRAYER

We are a praying community... we pray with expectation! Send your prayer requests to our prayer warriors (who actively pray for each and every submitted request) at [email protected].

If you would like to receive emails with current prayer requests from the community, simply send your request to Trudy at the same address. We also post the prayer requests on the Bethel Facebook private group each week.

Stuff the Truck

The Stuff the Truck event is August 2nd. We will be having the Bethel youth put together the kits on July 29th. The truck event will be after the 2nd service and Mary Bates (NALC Disaster Response Coordinator) will be there to collect.

DAN’S FISH AND CHICKEN DINNER

Save the date Friday, September 11th , 2020

4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for Dan’s Annual Fish

and Chicken Dinner! Proceeds from the F i sh

Fry support the 30 missions of Bethel — local,

national and international.

ADULT CLASSES RESUME (In Person and Online through Zoom video conference platform)

Sundays at 10a

A companion study to the weekend sermon series:

“JOYFUL LIVING” taught by the pastors. We will offer this class in a “hybrid” fashion: those who wish may attend in person in the Fellowship Hall, while those who prefer may connect online through Zoom.

*To register, call or email Pastor Al, who will get you connected into the Zoom platform either by computer, phone, tablet, or phone. We are also meeting in person if you feel comfortable

CHURCH OFFICE: The church office is now operating with normal

business hours Tuesday through Friday but the

office is still not open. Staff comes and goes

throughout the week so visitors will need to

make arrangements and deliveries and drop offs

will have to be arranged with the staff. If

things are left unattended at the doors they

may be put into the dumpster.

ONLINE WEEKEND SERVICE VIDEOS: Our Online Weekend Services are posted on the website and on Facebook.

CALLING AND RESPONSE TEAM: Our Calling Team is reaching out to members and

regular attenders every 14-20 days; expect your

call soon. Feel free to share with that caller any

prayer concerns you might have or any hands-on

needs with which our Response Team might assist.

Click here for current worship service videos

including this week’s Healing Service… CHURCH

SERMON VIDEOS

CARE TEAM: The Care Team, Pastor Doug, and Pastor Al will continue to be available for pastoral care, either in person or by phone.

VIRTUAL GROUP MEETINGS: Small groups who wish to continue to meet may use online group collaboration tools (Google Hangouts, Zoom, Skype, etc.) to meet “virtually”.

BETHEL UPDATES




https://www.bethellutheranchurch.com/sermons1

https://www.bethellutheranchurch.com/sermons1

BETHEL LUTHERAN CHURCH BELIEVE † BELONG † BECOME


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The Lord Will Provide, Beverly Wright Miller

Based on Genesis 22:1-14

“So Abraham called that place

The Lord Will Provide” (NIV).

Can you even IMAGINE being in

Abraham’s shoes? I can feel terror

welling up in me just reading about

it. “Please, God, don’t make me do

this! Anything but this! Anything!” I

have no doubt Abraham thought

something similar. But, he felt the

fear and acted anyway to obey

God’s clear directive.

But the angel said, “Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not

withheld your son, your only son,

from me” (ESV, emphasis added).

It’s one thing to SAY we fear and

trust God, but quite another to act in

accordance with that statement when

faced with the loss of all we hold

dear. But, if we truly acknowledge

that everything we have comes from

Him, who are we to hold anything

back?

My own personal awakening in this

regard came a number of years ago

in the loss of a career that I had

placed my identity and security in

(something far less important than a

beloved son). I learned that I can

hold onto God’s blessings with a

clenched fist to keep from losing

them, or I can hold them with an

open hand. With an open hand, it’s

easy to take something away from

me, but with a clenched fist, it’s

impossible to give more blessings to

me.

And I learned the hard way that God

will rip open that clenched fist if he

has to, and it will hurt! Better to

open it willingly, to allow His

blessings to flow freely not just into

my hand but back out again to

others. When I did, He replaced

what I lost with a much better

calling that allows me to serve

others like never before.

I write this as we are coming out of

a near total economic shutdown due

to COVID-19. The worse

epidemic, though, has been the

widespread panic at the thought of

losing either our lives or our

livelihoods, which is ripping our

relationships apart.

But rather than being overcome by

fear, ask yourself … what are

you really being asked to offer up?

Certainly not your only son. No,

God already did that for you. How

great a love to actually carry that

out! Can’t even imagine. Everything

else pales in comparison. So, find a

way to serve others, even in the

midst of your fear. The Lord Will

Provide for you, and for others

through you.

Written by Beverly Wright Miller, a

member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church,

Sarver, Pennsylvania. Ms. Miller works as

a Financial Coach and serves on the

NALC Living & Giving Stewardship Team.

BETHEL January February March April May June 2020 year-to-date

Giving 70,668 75,500 47,959 58,779 83,304 63,425 399,635

Expenses 59,915 60,212 62,287 67,127 55,473 60,117 365,130

Net Total (loss) 10,753 15,288 ( 14,328 ) ( 8,348 ) 27,831 3,308 34,505

FINANCE UPDATE…

STEWARDS - in all Seasons


https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Gen%2022.1-14

Documents

WITH GOD’S HELP, WE’LL GET THROUGH THIS! · the challenges associated with traveling during this extended season of COVID, the NALC decided earlier this summer to move its annual