Bethlehem. LUTHERAN CHURCH BETHLEHEM STAR January 2018 LUTHERAN CHURCH BETHLEHEM. WEBSITE

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1 Bethlehem LUTHERAN CHURCH BETHLEHEM STAR January 2018 January 2018 AN IMPORTANT INFORMATIONAL MEETING Dear Friends, BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN CHURCH 490 Fourth Street North Bayport, MN A new year brings with it a sense of hope and new expectations. It is a time to renew commitments and restart goals will be a year of hope for each of us and for our church. We must enter into the future knowing that everything is in God s hands. God is love. God is grace. God is forgiveness. Therefore the future looks bright for all of us no matter our circumstances. Having said this we must also be smart and prepared for the reality of evil in the world. Tragically there are some very disturbed people out there who, in a fit of rage and blind vengeance, want to do harm to innocent people in public. And, equally tragic, some of these people have chosen to come into places of worship to do harm to those who are living out the practices of their faith. Our church council has decided to take some kind of action to better prepare ourselves in the event of an active shooter situation, or a case in which we need to de-escalate a situation in order to avoid a violent confrontation of some sort. There are a number of ways to do this. We could bring in experts to train a small group of people. We could do a full congregational seminar on a Sunday morning. We could go together with other churches. We could publish helpful information. Or we could assume that it would never happen to us and do nothing. WEBSITE Before doing something specific, we want to talk about it. So please reserve Sunday, January 21, during the adult forum time, about 10:30 a.m., for a discussion on the subject. What do you think we should do? What would be the most helpful for our congregation? Our main goal is to make people feel more comfortable coming to church, and to feel safer in public. We do not want to increase fear or paranoia. We simply want to be practical, helpful, and smart. CHURCH OFFICE Monday - Friday 9am-1pm churchoffice@bethlehemstar.org DECEMBER

2 January 2017 AN IMPORTANT INFORMATIONAL MEETING Con t So, we enter into the future with our lives in God s hands. But we also take measures to make our lives on this planet safer and more secure, for ourselves, and for our families. I hope you will join me and the church council for this conversation and information session. Peace and Blessings for a New Year! Thank You, Thank You Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, WE CANNOT SAY THANK YOU ENOUGH!! Thank you to the men who rebuilt the covers of the basement window wells, and who replaced all the ceiling lights in the Connection and the Sanctuary with LED bulbs. all those who organized and participated in the Bethlehem Christmas Giving Tree program. all those who baked cookies for the many cookie trays that were sold to make money for church ministries. all those who organized, participated, and supported the annual BLC Christmas Boutique which made over $5,000 for BLC Ministry Projects. all those who helped to decorate the church for Christmas, lights, wreathes, trees. It all looks so beautiful. all those who organized the visits to our Bethlehem Seniors and brought them Christmas goodies and poinsettia plants. the choirs of Bethlehem who practice hard and often, and bring such joyful and meaningful music to our worship experience. the actors, youth, and stage hands who participated in the Advent/Christmas program, December 17. the BLC quilters who faithfully meet every month to make beautiful quilts to give out as gifts and also to sell for Bethlehem ministry projects. the volunteers, bakers, servers, and boy scouts who serve the Second Sunday Supper as a free community meal to the public. They consistently serve people who come for a delicious, nutritious, home-made meal, and for a great social connection. AND TO ALL THOSE WHOM WE FORGOT, We appreciate your love and commitment to our church. GOD BLESS YOU for your service! Thank You, Thank You Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, DECEMBER

3 A Big Thank You to Constance Nelson; for organizing the visitors and gifts for the Visitation Ministry. To our Bethlehem Visitation Ministry Volunteers: Thank you for sharing the gift of your time and energy to support our Bethlehem Visitation Ministry! Your personal delivery of poinsettias, cards and cookies during the Christmas season to our less mobile Bethlehem family & friends is an important ministry A Big Thank You to the 2017 Boy Scouts & volunteers that continue to help our guests enjoy this community meal and social time together. Please join us in 2018 on the Second Sunday of each month. -Thanks! 2017 Thank you to everyone who helped make 2017 Giving Tree another big success! We were able to bring Christmas love and joy to eight families through your generosity. We appreciate all of our gift givers, grocery money donors, delivery drivers, and BLCW helpers; we couldn't have done it without you! -Peace and blessings in this New Year! To everyone who participated in picture day. We received a check for $ to go toward ministry here at BLC as a give back for your purchases! BLCW... A HUGE THANK YOU to all who participated in any way with the Bethlehem Boutique! We raised almost $5000! Share your ideas with any member of BLCW regarding needs you would like to see addressed here at Bethlehem and projects we can support in the greater community. Items not sold made excellent additions to Giving Tree gifts. A HUGE Thank You to everyone for making the Bethlehem Boutique a success; the combined bake sale, cookie boxes, coffee shoppe, silent auction and craft sale brought many people from the community through Bethlehem's doors. All remaining items will then be distributed to our giving tree families and the ministry of Pastor Chris Berthelsen at First Lutheran Church in St. Paul. The total raised from the Boutique is $5, The BLCW will continue to use all funds to support projects here at Bethlehem and in the greater community. -Ginny Peulen A Huge Thank You to all the generous women and men who baked cookies and made candies and pretzels for our cookie boxes this year. Once again, all the boxes sold, they are a big hit. Your time and generosity is greatly appreciated. Thank you again. Judy Smith, Helen Strong and Ginny and Dan Peulen. Our BLCW January meeting will be in the forum room on Thursday, January 11 th at 1 p.m. with Mary Trenda as hostess. All are welcomed, come join with us.. In January we begin a new bible study Multiple Meanings: Learning from Other Interpretations How do other people understand and interpret the scriptures of the Bible people of a different gender, ethnicity or nationality? Copies of the study can be found on the BLCW table in the corner near the entry to sanctuary. Pick one up to review before our meeting. We will do session one. DECEMBER

4 VALLEY OUTREACH We are scheduled for the weeks of February 19, May 7, July 23, October 8 and December 24, This is an increase in the number of weeks we are to cover and would love some additional volunteers. Please Contact Ginny Peulen at or dgpeulen2@comcast.net Quilters and anyone interested, we will be meeting the 4th Thursday of January (the 25th) in the Fellowship Hall from 9A.M. until about noon. Please come help. No expertise needed as we can teach you! PICTURES are ready to be picked up. They will be in the Connection on Sunday December 31 and January 7 and in the office. RECEPTION OF NEW MEMBERS Interested in formally joining Bethlehem Lutheran Church? We will have a reception of new members on Sunday, January 28, at 9:00 a.m. Please contact the church office or speak with Pastor Rich if interested. WORSHIP WORKSHOP Saturday, January 6 You are invited to a Worship Workshop with Jonathan Rundman on Saturday, January 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Jonathan will lead us in learning some new ways to do contemporary worship in our churches along with seeing our traditional worship in a new light. Jonathan is guaranteed to be fun, energetic and insightful. Cost is $5. Bring your own lunch or go out with friends. The cost for the event is co-sponsored by Redeemer Lutheran, White Bear Lake, Grace Lutheran, St. Paul, and Bethlehem, Bayport, along with other grants. Sign up with Pastor Rich or call the church office soon. LOOKING AHEAD! Bethlehem Ski Trip, March During spring break our church is planning to go on a ski trip to Lutsen Mountain on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The dates will be Sunday, March 18 through Wednesday, March 21. Please see Pastor Rich or Bob Johnson if you are interested. And watch the announcements for more specific details. Tanzania Trip, August, 2018 It is time to make another trip to Iringa, Tanzania to visit our partner congregation, in the village of Image. Every two years we have made some sort of trip to visit our friends and re-connect. If you would like to travel again or for the first time for this wonderful experience please speak with Pastor Rich. A trip would take about two weeks in the first part of August and would include a visit to many of our ministry sites in and around the city of Iringa, a 2-3 day visit to our partner village, and a 3 day trip to the Ruaha Game Park for a safari. Some trips have also included a visit to the beautiful island of Zanzibar. Trip cost has historically been $3,000-$3,500. DECEMBER

5 New Our Bethlehem Lutheran Church Directory! Please submit any changes to your contact information from the 2014 Directory, to the BLC Office no later than Monday January 8 for our new directory-otherwise your old information will be used. Postal address and dates applicable if you travel Phone address There is still time to submit your photo! If you were not able to attend a sitting, provide a good quality digital, (.jpeg format, horizontal preferred) of a non-copyright photo to the BLC Office at churchoffice@bethlehemstar.org. and then add your name to the wait list in The Connection and A $10.00 fee may apply. Contact Lori in the office with any questions. *photos may also be brought into the office: originals will be returned First Reading Psalm Second Reading Gospel Jan 7 Baptism of our Lord Jan 14 Second Sunday after Epiphany Jan 28 Third Sunday after Epiphany Jan 24 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 Acts 19:1-7 Mark 1: Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20] 139:1-6, Corinthians 6:12-20 John 1:43-51 Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62: Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20 Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Psalm Corinthians 8:1-13 Mark 1:21-28 DECEMBER

6 January Mary Trenda Leader: Julie Grams Phone: Treats Ushers Readers Worship Asst. AV ACOLYTE Jan 7 Baptism of our Lord Tim & Shelly White Brad Anderson Jenny Schoolman Jan 14 Second Sunday after Epiphany Mike Knox Sharon Knox Geri Hope Pederson Hope Pederson Jan 28 Youth Sunday Third Sunday after Epipahny BLC Youth BLC Youth Amy Peterson BLC Youth Jan 24 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Tim & Shelly White-Drop off Norm Grams Mary Pilquist Choir Rehearsals resume on Wednesday December 10 6pm Bell Choir 7pm Chapel Choir 8pm Bridge of Harmony If you have questions about choir or music ministries at Bethlehem, contact David Lim at davidm.lim32@gmail.com. Ministry resumes Wednesday, December 3 3:15 BCM 6pm Confirmation Youth Sunday January 21 First Hunger Games January Contact Amy for information! If you have questions about Children Youth and Family Ministries at Bethlehem, contact Amy Peterson at amyellamatthew@gmail.com DECEMBER

7 The secret to a great life is Gratitude CROIXDALE BIBLE STUDY Tuesday Morning Bible Study will start up again on Tuesday, January 9. We gather with coffee and treats, prayers, and bible studies each Tuesday morning at 10:00 am. in the Club Room of the Croixdale Residence on Hwy. 95 N., on the north side of Bayport. We will open up this new year with a study of the Proverbs, along with a review of the Wisdom Literature of the bible. This group is made up of Bethlehem members, Croixdale residents, and a number of friends from other churches. It is a wonderful mix of faith perspectives and personal views. We always have a lively and meaningful conversation, while learning and praying together. The coffee and treats are pretty good as well. No previous experience or knowledge is required. Simply bring your bible, come and learn and participate. Handouts are often provided for guidance. Contact Pastor Rich if you have any questions. On one of the Tuesdays in January, date yet to be determined, the bible study group will take a field trip to the Stillwater Public Library to see and experience their new exhibit on peace. Watch for details. Anyone can join us at any time. DECEMBER

8 Sundays Worship, 9am Growing Together in Faith, 10:20am Education, 10:30am Wednesdays CYF Resumes January 3 Music Resumes January 10 Bethlehem Children s Ministry, 3:15pm Confirmation, 6pm Handbell Choir, 6pm Chapel Choir, 7pm Bridge of Harmony, 8pm January Birthdays Dates to Remember Jan 1 Jan 3 Jan 7 Jan 9 Jan 11 Jan 14 Jan 15 Jan 16 Jan 18 Jan 19 Jan 20 Jan 21 Jan 23 Jan 25 Jan 28 Jan 30 Office Closed BCM Resumes Confirmation Resumes Worship with Holy Communion Croixdale Bible Study Resumes BLCW Worship with Bridge of Harmony Croixdale Worship Second Sunday Supper Newsletter Deadline Croixdale Worship Church Council First Annual Hunger Games Worship with Holy Communion Youth Sunday Croixdale Bible Study Quilting Worship with Bridge of Harmony Croixdale Bible Study 1/1 Sally Carlson 1/5 Shannon Beberg Jacob Vindal 1/6 Jean Dahlin 1/7 James Montgomery Millie Dombrock 1/10 Kristine Jelberg 1/13 Don Oseland John See 1/14 Nora Tahtinen 1/16 Jessica Vindal 1/18 Kristine Reier 1/19 Wilma Mc Gowan 1/21 Brian Gleason 1/22 James Mahnke 1/23 Kirk Hogberg 1/28 Wayne Beyer Jordan Wohlers Kaya Croft 1/30 Tippie Beberg 1/31 Mark Melville Raya-Lily Aubin DECEMBER

9 Calendar updates available at DECEMBER

10 In Partnership with God, with each Other, with the World! Bethlehem Lutheran Church 490 N 4th Street Bayport, MN Pastor Rich Larson rich.larson@bethlehemstar.org Cell: Amy Peterson C.Y.F. Director amyellamatthew@gmail.com Cell: David Lim Music Director davidm.lim32@gmail.com Office: ext. 11 Office churchoffice@bethlehemstar.org Main: Fax: Hours: 9:00am to 1:00pm Monday-Friday DECEMBER