A Word From The Pastor

We received our AT&T bill the other day, and we were a bit surprised. AT&T is our cell phone carrier. The bill was in excess of $300.

Examining the items line by line, it didn’t take long to figure out the problem. We had recently taken a cruise to Alaska. We knew better than to make any cell phone calls when we were in Canadian waters since the roaming charges up there are astronomical. However, once we arrived in Alaska, we assumed we were on good old US of A soil, and our phones indicated that we had AT&T reception. We also have national free long distance, so we assumed Alaska was still part of the United States. Therefore we made our calls and took business whenever we had a signal.

Apparently Alaska is no longer part of the same nation, because our free national calling plan wasn’t in play. We were hit with roaming charges which approached the interest rates of a Money Tree loan.

Well, you live and learn. We’ll file that one under painful lessons and we’ll remember it next time we visit the 49th state.

Painful lessons are a part of life. We learn early on that you will fall off your bike many times before you learn to ride. We find that dads and moms aren’t infallible and can’t solve every problem. Puppy love ends with the first broken heart. Too much partying in college leads to severe headaches and failing grades.

Painful lessons continue throughout life. The good news is that we might grow wiser as a result of our mistakes. The bad news is, we will still pay the consequences for our missteps.

The apostle Paul sums up the most painful lesson of all: the wages of sin is death. Life is terminal. It is finite and it is limited. The rich man of Jesus’ parable has filled his barns. He is successful in the eyes of the world. He has insured himself against bad times. But his painful lesson allows no recourse. His soul is required of him. Life ends in death, and that negates wealth, accomplishments and merits.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of one who takes all our painful lessons upon himself. On the wood of the cross Jesus enters our folly, our failures, our fate.

Life’s experiences can sometimes be an annoyance. At other times they can be devastating. Jesus meets us at the negating and painful point of death, and frees us for life now. That’s the most gracious lesson of all.

Walt



Church Office Hours

Mon: Closed

Tue: 12:00-5:00 p.m.

Wed: 12:00-5:00 p.m.

Fri: 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

11:00-12:00 -Closed for Lunch

For other times, please call the office to make an appointment.




Men’s Breakfast

Saturday, August 7

8:00 a.m.






Adult Bible Study


This next Fall, Bethlehem will be offering two new classes.


Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. we will be studying Making Sense of Scripture by David Lose. Classes will begin September 12th. It will be necessary to order the books, so please sign up in advance if you wish to participate in this (approximately) eight week course.


Secondly, we will start a five week Thursday evening class entitled: The Writings: A Study of the Last Old Testament Writings from Another Perspective, beginning September 30th.


Sign up sheets for both these classes are available in the Fireside Room. There will be no cost for the Thursday evening class. The Sunday Class will require the purchase of a book.




100 YEARS – 100 STORIES

Even if you have only been a member of Bethlehem a short while, we are sure you have a story to tell. If you are a long-established member, you may have more than one story to tell! Please write down your short story and submit it for inclusion in our Centennial Program. To get you thinking of ideas -- maybe you remember a special youth event, lock-in or confirmation high-jinx. You may remember a pastor that presided at a baptism or wedding. Or it could be a special outing we took as a church group. Write them all down and turn into the church office before the end of summer. If you are on Facebook, you can submit your story and become a fan of the very new Facebook page – Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Sedro-Woolley – Centennial (write this phrase in the search space.)

We have scheduled several prior pastors to return for a visit during the summer. Look for more information in the church newsletter and on Facebook.

Teri Bever and Becky Bunke, Centennial Co-Chairs




HUNDREDS FOR THE HUNDRETH


On this 100th Anniversary of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, we are giving an anniversary gift to the congregation. Please join us in giving hundreds for the hundredth.


We are asking members and friends of Bethlehem to consider providing a hundred quarters, a hundred fifty cent pieces, a hundred dollars or even a hundred five-dollars or a hundred ten-dollars for the ongoing ministries of this congregation. Bethlehem has always been a generous church. Through vision and generosity, it’s ministries have continued for a century. Now, as we look to the next century, we present this little challenge to provide a little boost of resources as we enter into the future God has given us.


Can you give a hundred quarters ($25) over and above your regular giving? Maybe you’d like to give three gifts of a hundred quarters ($75). Or maybe you’d like to consider two gifts of a hundred dollars ($200). Whatever your means, whatever your situation, we join together in a thank offering for the legacy of 100 years.


A basket is available in the Fireside room for you gift. Please write Hundreds on the memo line of your check or use the envelope provided on the display table.


Watch the 100’s chart in the fireside room to see how our gift to Bethlehem is growing.




Adult Bible Study


This next Fall, Bethlehem will be offering two new classes.


Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. we will be studying Making Sense of Scripture by David Lose. Classes will begin September 12th. It will be necessary to order the books, so please sign up in advance if you wish to participate in this (approximately) eight week course.


Secondly, we will start a five week Thursday evening class entitled: The Writings: A Study of the Last Old Testament Writings from Another Perspective, beginning September 30th.


Sign up sheets for both these classes are available in the Fireside Room. There will be no cost for the Thursday evening class. The Sunday Class will require the purchase of a book.


To Our Church Family at Bethlehem—

Words cannot truly express our gratitude for all you have done for Bob and our family. Your prayers for Bob during his illness and for our family after his death have upheld and strengthened us. The meal you prepared for us and all the food at the reception were much appreciated! The quilt Pastor Rice brought to him was a special gift —adding warmth to his body as he often was so cold.

God bless you all! —Agnes Harrison and family




Rebekah Circle Summer Book Study

We are reading "A Thread of Grace" by Mary Doria Russell. We will have the summer to read and will have one discussion /meeting towards the end of August: day, time and location to be announced. The Book can be found on Amazon.com in paperback or other bookstore sites. Any questions ask Katherine Stiles.

There is a sign up sheet for any woman participating the summer book study in the Fireside room or you can email Katherine Stiles at: Katherine@stileslaw.com




Statistics for July

Date Offering Attendance

7/4 $ 1,595.00 30

7/11 $ 2,931.00 71

7/18 $ 1,770.00 68

7/25 $ 1,825.00 70

Total $11,052.00


Weekly Offering Needed for Budget: $3,190.00

Average Weekly Offering for July.: $2,030.25


Designated Giving for July

El Camino $ 100.00

Helping Hands Food Bank $ 50.00

Summer Kick off Auction Item $ 120.00

Nets Fund $ 43.00

Roof Fund $ 100.00

Hundreds for Hundreth $1,100.00




E-Mail Address Change

The email address for the Bethlehem Lutheran Church has been changed. The verizon.net address is no longer active. The new addresses are:

Office blc.secretary@frontier.com.

Pastor Walt blc.pastor@frontier.com


Please use this address for all future communications. Thank you!

Office Help Needed!

Jill Bumgarner will be away August 10th -20th. Pastor Walt will need help in the office during this time. People to answer phones, print & staple the bulletins, pick up mail from the Post Office, greet visitor and other basic office duties will be needed. If you wish to help for a few hours or all day, please let the office know or sign up in the Fireside Room.


Help is especially needed in the area of printing, folding and stapling the bulletin.




If you wish to help in the following areas, please sign up in the Fireside Room.

Communion Assistant Flowers for the Worship Service Special Music

Lector Open Door Community Kitchen Greeters

Ushers




BETHLEHEM’S WISH LIST

Each week the newsletter will have a list of things that are currently on the wish list. If you see something you are willing to contribute, use the sign up sheet in the Fireside Room so that others know it’s been addressed, and then bring it in within seven days.


Light bulbs—60 watt fluorescent bulbs,




Close Out Sale

Check out the Fair Trade table in the Fireside Room. By buying Fair Trade products, farmers build a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.

We have chocolate bars and coffee for sale which need to be sold before buying more in the fall.

Coffee is $4.50

Chocolate is half price: Large $1.00

Small $ .50




Open Door Community Kitchen

(Central United Methodist Church on Polte Road)


Wednesday, August 25, 2010


If you wish to help, please sign-up in the Fireside Room.










4th Annual Salmon BBQ Fundraiser for Josephine Home

Sponsored by Fir-Conway Lutheran Church

Friday, August 20

5:00 — 7:30 p.m.

At Harvey Wolden Farm

21162 Mann Road, Conway

(just down the road from Fir-Conway Lutheran


Children under 5 -free

Youth (5-11 yrs) -$8.00

Adults -$15.00


BBQ Salmon

Baked Potato

Coleslaw

Corn-on-the-cob

Beverages

Dessert


For Tickets contact Nora Shuler





Lutheran Music Program

Lutheran Music Program, home of the Lutheran Summer Music Program, will partner with Camp Lutherwood in Bellingham this summer, to offer a Choral Camp for youth in grades 5-9 from August 15-20.


Norma Aamodt-Nelson will serve as the conductor for the camp. She currently serves as the Minister of Music at Trinity Lynnwood where she administers a multi-faceted, lay-led music program and serves as primary organist/choirmaster.


This unique camp offers participants an opportunity to build vocal and choral skills, learn music theory and about the foundational composers of the Church while enjoying the camp setting with their counselor and camp friends.


Lutheran Music Program provides high quality staff and musical instruction while the Lutherwood staff provides Bible Study, recreational programming and a meaningful, safe and fun week at camp. A culminating concert is planned for 1 p.m. on Friday, August 20, in the Lutherwood Chapel.


For more information about the Lutheran Music Program visit www.lutheransummermusic.org. To register for the camp visit www.camplutherwood.org.



A Word From The Acting Bishop —Reverend Jan Nesse

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”

Deuteronomy 6: 4-7


As I have visited the congregations in our synod over the past nine years, I have discovered a crisis in our churches. No, it has nothing to do with resolutions of the 2009 churchwide assembly. And it doesn’t have to do with the economy, either, at least not directly. The crisis in our synod is in youth ministry.

It really caught my attention in this past month as I witnessed the resignations and lay-offs of four more Youth Ministers. Some were moving on to other things partly because of low pay and lack of support for their work, some were “terminated” because of budget cuts. When congregations identify youth ministry as a priority in their self understanding but make it the lowest priority in the budget, there is an inconsistency. Maybe you have observed that inconsistency.

If your church has a healthy, effective ministry to families, children and youth, you have some things to teach the rest of us. You are “bucking a trend” in mainline congregations which have experienced a decline in youth attendance, and concomitantly, in youth ministry.

Even as early as 1996 George Barna, in his Index of Leading Spiritual Indicators, recorded what congregational members believe are the things they do best and worst. “Creating programs for teenagers” was listed as the worst. This is a problem. I believe it is a crisis.

Some might like to lay this all at the feet of youth ministers, but I believe it belongs to all of us. Youth ministers are seldom in a position to set the congregation’s policy for youth ministry and usually work with various images of what the congregation member expects. Part of the crisis in youth ministry is the expectation that youth ministers can “handle youth ministry.” But youth ministry is a task, a calling for all of us.

A synod wide vision for youth ministry is a place to start. What that requires is that all people who care about the future of the church, the faith of our young people and life in the northwest come together to describe a vision, chart a course and commit to make the priority of youth ministry more than a wistful longing or an immobilizing challenge.

So a Youth Ministry Summit will be held at Holy Spirit in Kirkland from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20, with lunch served. Registration information will be sent to your congregation inviting pastors and other decision makers and vision bearers to participate. Watch for it and be there!




Prayers for strength and healing for:



Prayers for our members and friends in the military:

Crystal Kloth, Michael Bolyard (grandson of Steve & Elsie Summers), Dustin Morgan (friend of Chelsea Seidel), Brian Burnett, Toby Shope, Christopher Kloth, Darryl Hornbeck (Judy Rantschler’s cousin), Juan Sanchez (Morgan’s uncle), Russell Allen, and Donald Parker.


(Please contact the church office if you would like a name added or removed from the prayer



August Birthdays & Anniversaries


1 - Jillian Tingley

- Jon DeBoer

6 - Jodi Hulst

7 - Belinda Brue

- Jill Bumgarner

9 - Betty Stiles

- Helen Crookshank

- Neil & Dee McIlrath

11 - Chuck & Jill Bumgarner

13 - Rich & Betta Weyrich

15 - Joshua Smith

16 – Chloe Boggs

17 - Kortnee Davidson

20 - Kenneth & Marquay Petersen

21 - Greg Kloth

22 - Joni Parker

- Dave & Roxie Griffith

23 - Scott Wakeman

26 - Gerda Eastman

- Becky Taft

- Alex Hulst

27 - Sharon Bever

28 - Jalen Rantschler

29 - Dave Griffith

30 - Bertha Schiefelbein

- Rick & Cheri Tesarik






Daily Readings


Week of Aug 1-7

S Eccl 1:2, 12-14

2:18-23

Ps. 49:1-12

Col 3:1-11

Luke 12:12-21

M Gen. 18:1-8

T Exod. 24:1-11

W Mark 6:35-44

Th Isa. 25:6-10

F Eph. 3:1-13

S Ps. 145

Week of Aug 8-14

S Gen. 15:1-6

Ps. 33:12-22

Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16

Luke 12:32-40

M Num. 11:4-9

T Deut. 8:1-10

W Mark 8:1-10

Th Isa. 55:1-9

F Eph. 4:17-24

S Ps. 78:1-31



Week of Aug 15-21

S Jer. 23:23-29

Ps. 82

Heb. 11:29-12:2

Luke 12:49-56

M 1 Kings 17:1-16

T Ruth 2:1-23

W John 6:35-40

Th Jer. 31:1-6

F Eph. 5:3-14

S Ps. 78:32-72



Week of Aug 22-28

S Isa. 58:9b-14

Ps. 103:1-8

Heb. 12:18-29

Luke 13:10-17

M Gen. 43:1-15

T Gen. 45:1-15

W Mark 8:14-21

Th Hosea 10:13 -11:4

F Acts 6:1-7

S Ps. 34



Week of Aug 29-31

S Pro. 25:6-7

Ps. 112

Heb. 13:1-8, 15-16

Luke 14:1, 7-14

M Neh. 9:1-15

T Neh. 9:16-31