February & March 2015

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1 Be helight A Publication of Bethel Lutheran Church A member congregation of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 7171 Pearl Rd, Middleburg Heights OH (440) And And 1

2 fdlafjkl;fjkf Be helight A Publication of Bethel Lutheran Church Let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matt 5:16 NRSV February & March 2015 In This Issue... Monthly Calendars 3-4 Prayer Concerns Bethel Happenings from Pastor Krebill Chili & Soup Cook-Off.8 Rainbow of Envelopes project..9 Youth Activity Fund Raiser...10 L.i.f.e. Together news..11 February & March Birthdays & Anniversaries BeTheLight Church Office Office Hours Mon - Fri 9 AM 1 PM Fax Number Steven M. Krebill Pastor Erika Haskell Director of Music Kathy Victor Administrative Assistant Bethelstaff@sbcglobal.net Christie Scott M.E.E.C. Director M.E.E.C. Office The Congregation Reporters

3 2015 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Study 10am Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm Faith Explorers 6pm Men s Luncheon 11:30am Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm study 8am Study 8am Council Mtg 7pm Faith Explorers 6pm Ash Wednesday Service 1pm & 7pm Lunch Noon Lenten Service 1pm Choir Rehearsal 7:30pm study 8am Study 8am MEEC Dinner & Live Auction 6pm 3

4 2015 SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY Faith Explorers 6pm Lunch - Noon Lenten worship - 1pm study 8am AM Men s Luncheon 11:30am Lunch - Noon Lenten worship 1pm First Communion Camp Mowana Sunday 9:45am Faith Explorers 6pm Lunch - Noon Lenten worship 1pm First Communion Instruction 6:30pm study 8am 6 th Annual Chili & Soup Cook Off 4-7pm study 8am Lunch Noon Lenten worship 1pm First Communion Instruction 6:30pm study 8am 4

5 Please contact the church office for information on how you can sponsor an upcoming edition of The BeTheLight. Your support is greatly appreciated. *Deadline for the April 2015 BeTheLight is March 15 th * The purpose of BeTheLight is to inform our members, friends and visitors of worship services and to encourage spiritual growth, Christian Education opportunities, missions and outreach, activities, fellowship events and volunteer opportunities. This newsletter is meant to be an information tool of Bethel Lutheran Church where we serve together as a family in Christ. The BeTheLight welcomes contributions and letters. Copyrighted material (including prayers and inspirational verses) cannot be published without written permission from the author. MISSION STATEMENT The people of Bethel Lutheran Church are called by God to be faithful to the word of God and proclaim it to all people. We share Christ's love and forgiveness by being Christ's hands, feet, arms and voice as we gather and as we scatter ONGOING PRAYER CONCERNS PERSONS IN NEED OF HEALING Bob Breska, Carl Burgess, Warren Burgess, Richard Coniglio, Jennifer English, Robert Hintze, Karen Horner, Donnette Ipsaro, Carl Jones, Charlotte Karpinecz, Brigitte Kern, Lynn Kostura, Joyce Larson, Marie Link, Cy Maszczynski, Pamela Misischia, Donald O Dell, Eleanor Olschewsky, Clifford Riedel Jr, Ardane Ross, Mary Sollers, Janet Sopko,John Stefanik, Bob Thompson, Chris Wisbar, Christa Wisbar PERSONS WHO ARE HOMEBOUND Lilo Frey~Norm Heger~Ruth Jeckel~Dorothy Myers~ Alma Schmidt ~Velma Wolff Please keep these friends in your thoughts and prayers 5

6 LENT BEGINS FEBRUARY 18 Ash Wednesday Worship February 18 Our 2015 Lenten journey begins with Ash Wednesday worship on Wednesday, February 18. Services will be held at 1 PM and 7 PM and will include confession, the imposition of ashes, and Holy Communion. Wednesdays During Lent February 25, March 4,11,18,25 NOON - Lunch served in the Gathering Place 1 PM- Mid-week Lenten Worship using the theme The Parables of Lent. Using the parables we will explore different facets of what we receive through the crucified Christ, enriching our own stories of faith as we journey through Lent. Sundays During Lent 8:30 and ll:00 AM "Journeying through the Mystery of Faith" -Sermon series based on the Series B weekly Lessons, highlighting a different word each week. Feb Mar 1- Mar 8 Mar 15 - Mar 22 SAVED FAITH CROSS GIFT SUBMIT Mar 29 Passion Sunday Procession with Palms begins in the Gathering Place and sermon theme concluding The Parables of Lent 6

7 CAMP MOWANA SUNDAY COMING ON MARCH 15 On Sunday, March 11 during LIFE Together time, we will celebrate Camp Mowana Sunday. All who are interested in hearing about this ministry for young people are invited to come to the Gathering Place to hear information, see a video, and talk to Bethel youth who have attended camp before. There might even be a special guest or two. Mark your calendar now to come to Camp Mowana Sunday on March 15. FIRST COMMUNION INSTRUCTION for all young people, grades 1 and above, who have not yet participated is coming in March. The meetings will be held in the Gathering Place conference room at 6:30 PM on the Wednesdays of March 11, 18, and 25. Letters of invitation have been sent to all students on our LIFE Together list. One parent or supporting adult is required to attend the meetings with their student. Please see Pastor Krebill for more information. INTERN UPDATE All of our application materials for an intern for the year have been submitted to Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus. At the end of February, Pastor Krebill will attend a two day meet and greet at the seminary where he will interview and be interviewed by potential candidates. Assignments are made in mid-april and we will share the news as soon as we hear it from the seminary 7

8 Chili & Soup Cook-off gets sweeter! March 14, pm Fellowship Hall It s time to get your recipes ready for your best Chili, Soup and now your best Cookie! We re adding a new category for Best Bethel Cookie. Each cookie competitor will be asked to prepare four dozen cookies, and should be prepared to cut them in half. Each guest will have the ability to taste up to four cookie samples (while supplies last). As always there will be glamorous handmade trophies for top Chili, Soup and now Cookie. Just $6 per person, $20 maximum for family, kids under 10 free. All proceeds from this great night go to the Bethel Youth Fund to support camp scholarship, national youth gathering, and more. If you would like to volunteer your time, sign up to be a competitor, or if you have any questions, please contact Dan Karp (440) See you there!! 8

9 The Rainbow of Envelopes Project - supporting a healthy congregation and successful sabbatical As a congregation we are about to do something special for ourselves and for our Pastor. We are going to have a time of Sabbatical, and during this special time while Pastor is renewing himself we will be renewing ourselves. We will take this time to focus on our goals and ministries, we will invite guest Pastors and speakers to join us, we will gather as a congregation to celebrate, pray and envision our future. The Rainbow of Envelopes Project will help us fund some of our activities. It is really very simple: Starting Jan. 25 you will find 150 colorful envelopes each numbered from 1 to 150. All you do to participate is choose an envelope, and you donate that amount of money. It's that simple. If you choose envelope #5, you donate $5. If you choose envelope #144, you donate $144. What happens if you really want to donate $100, but someone else already took that envelope? Well, choose two envelopes: like #49 and #51 - or just pick any envelope and put $100 in it. It's very simple. If all 150 envelopes are chosen, we will raise over $10,000! We can do it! We can send ourselves these envelopes to do something special for the health of our congregation. Let's complete this project by returning all envelopes by March 1st. 9

10 Mark Your Calendar.for an evening of FUN!! Saturday, April 18 will be the Youth Activity Fund Raiser that will include Dinner an interactive theater experience set in Bethel s own Italian restaurant with sauce made by Mama LoPiccolo silent and Chinese (ticket) auctions with fabulous items to bid on You Can Help We are currently collecting auction items so we can have the best auctions ever! We are putting together theme baskets filling baskets with goodies that all have to do with the same idea such as a golf basket, snack basket, girls basket, boys basket, family game night, stay fit basket, etc. Please watch for tags on the Giving Tree and see if there are any you might take to help fill our auction baskets. You don t have to fill the whole basket, just donate some items that go along with the theme that we can combine with others. Of course, we are taking large item donations and donations from local businesses as well. If you know of a business you are willing to contact, see Jane Salem or George Schuster for a letter you can give to the company to explain about the fundraiser. Any donation items can be given to Jane Salem or left in the church office labeled with Youth Auction THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!! We need cooks, dessert bakers and kitchen clean up! Watch for sign-ups to help in these areas! Watch for tickets to go on sale in March. Seats will be limited. 10

11 Life Together 2014 Fundraiser Recap Our total sales for the 2014 Life Together Celebrating Home Fundraiser were $ We received a profit of $ from the sale. We had donations in the amount of $ for a total fundraiser profit of $ Thank you to Cheryl Snider who donated Christmas pins and trees that she made for us to sell during the workshop. The sale of these items added an additional $147 to our donations. This amount is included in the $509. This money will be put towards the Holiday Craft Workshop in November Thanks to the very generous donations we will be able to have the Holiday Craft Workshop again in November 2015 at no cost to the families that attend. Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraiser by selling the products, purchasing products and for your donations. Jackie Bailey Holiday Craft Workshop 2014 Recap The craft workshop that took place on Saturday, November 15 was enjoyed by 48 children. They made 12 crafts and decorated cookies. We had 28 people who volunteered their time to work at the tables. If it wasn t for those of you that volunteered we couldn t have had this workshop. The overall cost of the workshop was $ This was paid for from the money we raised during the 2013 candle fundraiser and also by Thrivent Financial Action Teams. Thrivent Action Teams donated a $250 gift card to Bethel to use for the holiday craft workshop expenses. Thank you to everyone who donated boxes and lids for each child to put their crafts in. Thank you to Merri Karp who helped prepare crafts for the workshop. Thank you to all of the table helpers: Russ Bailey, Jennifer & Kayla Geraci, Marilyn Sommerfeld, Sue VanStraaten, Georgia Bobrosky, Merri Karp, Maureen Zelina, Lynn & Max Reardon, Maggie Bartlett, Jeanne, Johanna & Emma Whitsel, Carol Krajewski, Lauren Einheit, Judy Bailey, Heather Travalik, Max Ciccarello, Amber Strobel, Gail Gold, Anita Holtz, Kim & Isabella O Brien, Carol, Alex & Collin Pickens. Thanks again to everyone who made this event possible. Jackie Bailey BeTheLight Survey We would like your thoughts about the BeTheLight newsletter. To reply, you you may: (a) send an to bethelstaff@sbcglobal.net, (b) call the church office (440) , (c) mail a letter to Bethel Lutheran Church, Attn: Office, 7171 Pearl Road, Middleburg Hts, OH 44130, or (d) talk with Ray Herzog between services or call To help us write an interesting and informative newsletter, please let us know: (1) What topics do you like to read? (2) Is there anything not in the newsletter that you would you like to see? (3) What topics do you not read? (In other words, what might we delete?) (4) How often should we publish the BeTheLight newsletter? (5) Other comments (newsletter layout, format, too long, too short, etc? Thanks, Kathy and Ray 11

12 February Birthdays and Anniversaries 1 Margaret Gutwein 1 Richard & Victoria Bobey years 3 Helmut Link 4 Robert Pickens Jr 5 Roy & Janice Harmon years 6 Ruth Kuhn 8 Ruth Bemer~Cole Nicholas 10 Mitch Ciccarello 11 Ginny Markus 13 Roy Harmon 15 Thelma Bradnan~Erika Haskell~Lisa Weaver 17 Kathy Maszczynski 22 Ray & Wanda Herzog years 24 Cynthia LoPiccolo 28 Lori English 12

13 March Birthdays and Anniversaries 1 Linda English 2 Kelly & Alex Bartlett years 3 Bryan LaGuardia 7 Gloria Neumann 8 Ray Herzog ~ Bev Riehl 9 Karl & Jeanette Yanuzzi years 10 Emma Whitsel 13 Sandy Sauvey 14 Ken Feuerstein ~ Riley Vata 16 Linda Harshman ~ Anthony English 18 Karen Spiegelberg 19 Dieter Herbert 20 Phillip & Genny Long years 20 Fred Sauvey 25 Ruth Jeckel (Happy 93 rd Birthday!!) 26 Lauren Einheit 28 Holly Nicholas 30 Carol Dershau ~ Debbie Giguere 13