the star...2020/04/04 · the lord is my shepherd psalm 23:1 april 26 he leads me psalm 23:2 people...
TRANSCRIPT
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Apr i l 2020 volume 10 • number 4
The STAR 2 Sermons
3 School News
4 Youth & Children
6 Servant of the Month
7 How to “InReach” from
home
13 Birthdays/Anniv.
A publication of Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Aloha, OR
Sent Home “Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town all that Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:39 This may not have been the answer the man was expecting to hear from Jesus. After all, Jesus had just healed him from years of demon possession (these words of Jesus appear at the end of the story of the man who tells Jesus their name is “Legion”). He has not been welcome at his home or in his hometown for years. He wants to follow Jesus and go with Him. Jesus sends him back to his home. Luke tells us that the people from the region were stricken with fear because of what Jesus had done. Demons cast out; pigs drowned; the man healed—all of this was too much for folks. They didn’t know what to make of Jesus. So, Jesus sends the healed man into their midst to show them a life Jesus has changed. COVID-19 has certainly changed our routines and turned everything we thought was normal upside-down. Some have compared our experience to the Exile in Babylon—we’re still in
our homes and we still have the same government. Some have compared our experience to a “time-out”—as if we needed a disciplinary reprimand. Why not hear these words of Jesus as something of a commission? Yes, we want to be “doing” something; “going” somewhere. Instead of going where we’d like; we find ourselves home: Home with email. Home with all of the social media that you’ve used previously for
entertainment. Home with telephones. Home with pens/pencils and paper and stamps. Jesus gives us some direction for our home time: “Tell all that God has done for you.”
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What’s INSIDE
Phone: 503.649.3380
BLCfamily.org
Scripture of the Month
“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”
Matthew 28:6 (ESV)
Pastor
Youth & Children
Worship & Music
Preschool Dir.
Rev. Jeff Shearier
Eric Oswald
Kerry Bauer
Laiva Hoffman
Bethlehem Mission Statement
“Building the family of God
through relationship with Jesus
Christ.”
...God has given you something that can’t be shaken—His love
for you in Jesus.
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4/5 Palm Sunday 4/9 Maundy Thursday 4/10 Good Friday 4/12 Easter Sunday!
April 5
Going With/ After Jesus John 20:21-23
April 12
The Way Through is Open! Exodus 14:10-15:1
Do Not Be Afraid Matthew 28:1-10
April 19
The Lord is My Shepherd Psalm 23:1
April 26
He Leads Me Psalm 23:2
People you know are like the people in Luke’s story. They are struggling to figure out what to make of all of this. They are grasping for something that’s not shakable—as everything around them seems to be shaken. Tell them that God has given you something that
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Sent Home
The STAR volume 10 • number 4
can’t be shaken—His love for you in Jesus. Tell them what God has done for you.
Sundays
April 5
Zechariah 9:9-10 Philippians 2:5-11
John 12:12-19
April 12 Sunrise
Ex. 13:10-15:1, 1 Cor. 15:1-11 John 20:1-18
Festival
Acts 10:34-43, Col. 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10
April 19
Psalm 23:1
April 26 Psalm 23:2
Weekdays
April 1
Job 19:25-27 Philippians 3:8-11 Matthew 27:27-31
April 9
Exodus 24:3-11 1 Corinthians 11:23-32
Matthew 26:17-30
April Readings
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BY: Laiva Hoffman
It’s been a little crazy lately with closures and stringent regulations on everyone. The Preschool is closed at this time and we hope to resume April 29th if it’s possible. Some of you may wonder what we are doing now? We have been working on Remote learning for our students so that we can continue to serve our families through the use of YouTube, Google docs, and a video communication app. We are very thankful that our preschool was off to a good start enrolling students for next year prior to the COVID-19 concerns. We still have room but will not be offering tours as the moment. In the meantime, families can call, email or check our website for information about our school. If you know someone with a child who is 3-4 years old? Please refer them to us! We are offering two 3-year-old classes which meet 9-11:30 am Tuesdays and Thursdays; and two 4-year-old classes which meet 9-11:30 am Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. To qualify, students need to be potty-trained and be
3 or 4 by September 1st. Again, for more information people may visit our website at: blpaloha.com, contact Mary at [email protected], or by calling the church office at 503-649-3380. Thank you everyone who ordered plants from the Preschool’s Annual Spring Plant Sale. I have finished collating all the orders and am pleased to tell you that church members and preschool families have purchased over $2,500 worth of plants which translates to over $800 in fundraising monies raised. Thank you for all of your support, plants should arrive on Tuesday, April 21st (unless changed due to government mandates). Thank you again, and I hope you enjoy the beautiful plants you have purchased. God bless, Laiva Hoffman Preschool Director
Preschool News
Bethlehem Lutheran Preschool
503.649.3380
blpaloha.com
Forest Hills Lutheran Christian School 503.359.4853
www.fhls.org
4221 SW Golf Course Rd
Cornelius, OR 97113
The STAR volume 10 • number 4 School News
BY: Mike Schiemann
We are in a time of change! With the uncertainty in the world right now, we see schedules change. Travel has changed. “Normal” has changed. Forest Hills is in no way exempt. School has changed. Since Governor Brown ordered schools to close, Forest Hills has implemented online learning for our students. We are excited to see that in the midst of a face-to-face absence, students are still learning, still reading, and still connecting. Things truly look different right now, but in the midst of everything, one thing has not changed. That is Christ Himself. At Forest Hills, we are called to share the light of Christ with our students, their families, and our communities. We continue to do that each and every day. We have been excited to continue with chapel online. We are moving forward with devotions that families receive, and through RightNow Media, families have yet another tool in order to grow in their faith.
We hope to be back at school soon, but in the meantime, please join us in prayer for all of our students, and all those affected by this virus. We know God is in control, and that He has a plan for each of us. God’s blessings to you from all of us at Forest Hills!
Forest Hills News
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Dear Bethlehem, What a strange year! I’ve been thinking about exactly how best to get through this time together so I thought I’d read and write
through Mark. Why? Because if I just read scripture and don’t process it- it doesn’t touch my soul. So I used to write directly in my Bible and Mark it up but then I lost my Bible that I wrote everything in so I thought I’d mark up the internet instead. You can find my thoughts at www.markingitup.org but here’s the first couple chapters to get started: I realized if I read basically a chapter a day this weekend I would read all the way through Mark and finish on Easter. I also find if I write out my thoughts it helps my devotional life. If it helps you out too great! This seemed like a great way to get prepared for Holy week during our quarantine and a good way to hear God’s voice. So to follow along it’s good if you read the chapter(s) from Mark first before reading my brief thoughts to mark it up! I pray for God’s word to strengthen you and I as we go through this! Mark chapter 1: John the baptist baptizes and tells people to confess- John is put in prison. Jesus calls the first disciples- gets tired and goes away to rest. That’s before he heals a guy with leprosy. That’s all in Mark chapter 1! So much going on! We learn already that Jesus wants us to
confess. But there’s also interesting parallels to Genesis and the books of Moses- God rests on the 7th day, the Israelites wander not for 40 days but 40 years in the dessert with the wild animals. But Jesus does something immediately that stands out to me- he says lets go out preaching to more people. I don’t remember prophets ever willingly do that. “Let’s just go out and tell people what God is up to because I want to.” Generally a prophet went kick and screaming and typically to his own people or kept the good news to himself while running the opposite direction- see Jonah. Already we see a God who heals and cares, who encourages repentance, rest, and that the whole world should know the good news of God! Chapter 2: We see that the crowds are getting excessive already. Jesus has already tried to walk away from them before and in comes the paralyzed man through the roof. And with a crowd comes the naysayers- the early readers would have thought clearly the tax collector is the culprit- but no it’s the pharisees who are the bad guys. They’re throwing shade at Jesus for hanging out with tax collectors and for forgiving sins- how dare he! Then Jesus doesn’t even fast and he allows his disciples to eat on the sabbath! What a terrible guy he must be. And Jesus begins teaching- teaching something new. He doesn’t seem concerned with keeping the law the same way the Pharisees do. He
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Marking It Up Joke Time
I tried to catch fog yesterday...mist. Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. Someone stole my Microsoft Office and they’re going to pay. You have my Word. My wife accused me of being immature...I told her to get out of my fort. I took the shell off of my racing snail thinking it would make him faster. If anything, it made him more sluggish. Why did the poor man sell yeast? -To raise some dough. What did the football coach say to the broken vending machine? -Give me my quarterback! Why did Mozart get rid of his chicken? -Because it kept saying, “Bach, Bach, Bach.”
Youth & Children’s Ministry
The STAR volume 10 • number 4
Youth & Children
Children’s Ministry: Currently Amy Hoffman is sending out a Sunday School idea for our pre-schoolers and kindergartners through facebook Messenger. Eric is sending out a couple of weekly Sunday School lessons you can do at home by e-mail. If you are not on those e-mail or facebook lists please let Eric know at [email protected] Children’s messages will continue to happen in all of our services online! Youth Ministry: Eric is texting the youth almost daily video thoughts and
connecting that way. The Bethlehem youth ministry facebook pages and weekly e-mails are being sent out. After Easter we may try some different ways to connect! Look forward to those things soon! Let Eric know if you’re not getting those updates [email protected]
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The STAR volume 10 • number 4
www.BLCfamily.org/bethlehem-online
Sunday, April 5th
Thursday, April 9th
Friday, April 10th
Sunday, April 12th
Communion will be offered in the Sanctuary from 2 pm to 7 pm.
Please schedule with Pastor Shearier
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Hello Brothers and Sisters in Christ. I wanted to give you my reasons behind wanting to amend the con-stitution and by-laws to add 3 months to the term of the
Treasurer. I believe the incoming Treas-urer would benefit from being involved in the Budgeting process and getting familiar with the books and all the ac-counts involved. This would help them hit the ground running on July 1 when they take over. I know I would have ben-efited from this. So, my proposal is to change it so that there is a special elec-tion on odd years in January for the Treasurer elect position. They would start in March and would work with the outgoing Treasurer until they took over in July. They would not be required to attend Ad council meetings until July and they would not have a vote on coun-cil until July. I also have been asked to provide you with where we stand financially as a church. Please consider this prayerfully, when you are deciding how you donate your time, talents and treasures. Our YTD income is $311,730.31. Our YTD expenses are $361,387.44. For the month of March we received $28,157.39 in offerings, with budgeted expenses of
This month, instead of picking a Servant of the Month, we decided that it would be a good time to add extra focus to Jesus, the ultimate servant. After all, it is Jesus who gives us the perfect example of how to be a servant and what it means to serve. Serving isn’t about how it makes you feel or about anything that you get out of it. Serving is an act of worship in the realization that everything we have, including our time, physical abilities, money, brain power, and wisdom, are all gifts from God and ultimately don’t belong to us. So if our time, money, and talent come from God, we should use them to honor God by doing His work. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Serving is about humility and obedience. Jesus washed His disciples feet, an act that would have been humiliating to someone of even modest stature. But Jesus didn’t care about stature, he cared about loving people.. And since Jesus cared about loving people, we should love people the way He did as an act of obedience to His perfect will. In that way we truly give the honor and glory to Him in the ways that we serve. Thank you Jesus, for your perfect example of servanthood, humility, and obedience. Help us follow your example.
Servant of the Month–
The STAR volume 10 • number 4 News
Love INC Update As we prayed about how Love INC can best help our community during this unique time we were reminded that God typically performs miracles through what we have. Jesus first asked the disciples what they had and then multi-plied their little lunch to feed the 5,000 people. So what do we have at Love INC? Prayer, Encouragement, and Hy-giene items! If someone has a critical need for hy-giene and cleaning products during this time we may be able to help. We are working on a plan for curbside pickup. If someone needs prayer, we have vol-unteers who would love to pray for them. If someone needs encouragement, we want to be here for them. For all of these needs, people should call and leave a voicemail at 503-648-0700. We will do our best to connect with them. Ways You Can Help Join our prayer team!
Sign up by emailing [email protected] Donate hygiene & cleaning products!
Email [email protected] to make arrangements Donate financially! Donate online at: http://www.loveincgreaterhillsboro.org/donate.html
Mail Checks to:
P.O. Box 4131, Hillsboro, OR 97123
$37,581.65. There are 13 Sundays remaining between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. We will need to average $14,454.00 each Sun-day to meet our budget. I am excited to see what God will do for our church as only he can. And finally, during these hard times with Covid 19 I would like to present an opportunity to help those in our own congregation. We are starting a fund at church where those of us with the ability and who feel God is calling us to donate to. This Loving Fund, would be available for those who have been im-pacted by these hard times and are struggling to make ends meet. Let us come together as the body of Christ and help those in need. Please prayer-fully consider this as we continue our mission to bring Christ’s love to the world and each other.
Grace and Peace, Jeff Hoffman
A Message From the Treasurer
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The STAR volume 10 • number 4
FLOWER CROSSES
Our normal flower crosses will be out on Saturday, April 11th.
Please bring cut flowers to fill the crosses on Saturday or Sunday
and exclaim to Aloha,
“ ”
How to “Inreach” from home
1) Watch the online services and participate from home
2) Reach out (text, call, email) your Bethlehem family members, especially those that usually sit near you in church
3) Join our private Bethlehem members Facebook group and be active in it.
4) Continue to tithe—you can give online at www.blcfamily.org/give
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The STAR volume 10 • number 4
Free lunches from Beaverton School Dist.
We are very honored to be one of the sites that Beaverton School District is using to distribute meals while schools are closed.
-Check out Beaverton School District for more information.
-Check out this link to find all the locations: https://bit.ly/2wOwcRs -You can find us at 18865 SW Johnson St Aloha, OR 97003
-Map to Bethlehem https://goo.gl/maps/M3Sv63hjuXKs8Ef26
Do you need help with anything?
(Shopping, etc?)
Contact the office and we will do our best to find help.
Covid 19 Information Click Here
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The STAR volume 10 • number 4
seems adept at using analogies that the pharisees and I don’t seem to get. We also see Jesus clearly reaching out to the marginalized the people society looks at as bad and considering them equals. Yet the picture Mark is making is this- Jesus is a man with a message of repentance and healing who is standing up to religious leaders and talking about God and the faith in a different way than in the past. It’s a lot to take in for two chapters. It was a lot for the pharisees to take in too. I guess the point for now is that Jesus makes you think twice about what’s best. He brings something new to the table. Right now we have a whole lot of new and what we need is something old. We need Jesus. We need Jesus for healing. We need him for hope. We need to repent for ungratefulness for so many things we took for granted before this-like jobs, friends, physical touch, restaurants, playgrounds, school, and worshipping together. And I see Jesus doing something amazing. He’s making us see each other as equals. We’re all sacrificing right now. I have had conversations with neighbors who I’ve lived next to for years but never had time to meet. And regardless of whether they currently have a job or not- somehow this homestay makes us all equals. I
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Marking It Up
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 Your Discipleship Team met recently (at a safe social distance) to consider how we can encourage and build each other up through group study of His word, even in these times that we can’t gather to-gether in person. As an initial step, Sue Temme and Jim Cullen will continue to lead the Red Letter Challenge study in a virtual format. We will prepare a study guide each week, including a link to the Red Letter Challenge video for the week. The study will provide some ques-tions and comments for you to consider in your own personal study and reflec-tion. You can do this on your own or per-haps together within a family, or in anoth-er acceptable group setting, or using oth-er communication means – telephone, texting, email, etc. The first study guide is posted at www.blcfamily.org/bethlehem-online for the lesson on Serv-ing. We’ll continue with a new study guide for the next 2 weeks, taking us into the week after Easter. Future Bible study opportunities will de-pend on measures in place for the con-trol of the spread of COVID-19. We’re researching ways to continue virtual group studies, perhaps through a moder-ated discussion format, or an online class format. Of course, we hope and pray that we can return to live, in-person worship and Bible study at church soon. We’re lining up class topics and leaders to start that as soon as we’re allowed to gather again. We know that God’s word is “sharper than any double-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12) and even more powerful than any microscopic corona-virus! We encourage everyone to contin-ue in His word to receive its blessings – comfort and peace, encouragement, strength and power to live each day. Discipleship Vision Team – Pastor Jeff, Sue Temme, Wayne Moses, Brad Loseke, Jim Cullen
Men’s Bible Study
hope we remember that when times pass. I’m glad Jesus shows us this- that all are loved even when we’re unworthy and we’re in need of the same. I hope you join me on this journey at www.markingitup.org and in the book of Mark. God bless, Eric Oswald DCE
Men’s Bible Study. We are in 1 Thessalonians. In April, we will not meet. Due to the Virus. God’s grace and peace. Ron
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Name:
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The STAR volume 10 • number 4
Apr.
Anniversaries
Birthdays 2 2 3 4 4 6 9 12 12 14 14 14 17 17 17 19
John Buehler Carla McCall Michael Cox Alison Dunham Chris Wegner Harvard Isaak Carolyn Meier Liam Sandeen Jenny Vosseler Ellianna Bauer Brad Loseke Emma Verney Dena Johnson Michael Thomas Clarence Twenhafel Ethan Crisi
21 22 22 24 25 27 27 29
Lisa Krahel Kevin Harding Pamela Schiemann Ellen Moses Sofia Schmidt Carolynn Harding Abygail Hoffman Julia Gehlen
Apr.
3 Jerry & Ouida Steindorf 65 years 7 Dwight & Julie Siewert 36 years 8 Keith & Lil Harn 48 years 11 Ken & Pam Reid 28 years 14 Roger & Marilyn Lindquist 58 years 20 Larry & Vivian Saccareccia 57 years 22 Erik & Kathryn Sandeen 31 years 23 Jim & Shelly Allen 24 years
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Bethlehem Lutheran
Church & Preschool 18865 SW Johnson St. Aloha, OR 97003-3164 www.blcfamily.org
The STAR volume 10 • number 4
We Worship
Online, Sundays at 10 am www.BLCfamily.org/bethlehem-online
www.BLCfamily.org/bethlehem-online