September 7, 2016
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
We live in the 500th year of the Protestant Reformation; there are plans being made for a celebration service with other area Lutheran churches, and at Bethlehem we will acknowledge this historic time throughout the year. We do not do so out of nostalgia and to pat ourselves on the back for being Lutheran but to appreciate what the depth and breadth of the Reformation has meant for the l...
June 1, 2016
It’s an election year and no, we are not going to talk about specific political candidates in our blog. We like to lead people out their comfort zones, but there are limits! We mention it's an election year because of a word we hear on the news a lot during this time: evangelical. We hear "evangelicals" are voting for this or that candidate or we hear evangelicals are staying home this election cycle, etc, etc. We at Bethlehem...
May 14, 2016
Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it. -- Hebrew 13:2 (CEV)
One year ago, volunteers and staff were cleaning out rooms left and right at Bethlehem in preparation to invite strangers into our house of God by becoming the Day Center for Family Promise of Skagit Valley. As a congregation, we made this decision after a few short, prayerful w...
February 29, 2016
During Lent our congregation has been taking an offering at the Mid-Week services for the cause of alleviating hunger here and abroad. It is estimated 800 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. Much closer to home in Skagit County, 15% of households deal with food insecurity, meaning they do not have reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food on a regular basis. Suffice to say even the USA, o...
February 5, 2016
I didn't grow up with Lent as part of my Christian practice. In fact, the church where I was raised did very little even for Holy Week. Lent was very new to me when I started attending a Lutheran College.
At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Kids in the campus ministry program asked one another "what are you giving up?" and I felt confused and uncomfortable. But I decided to give up caffeine to try to fit in.
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