Quilting, Fellowship Hall Evening, 6:15 Soup, 7:00 Holden Vespers. Quilting, Fellowship Hall

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1 Bethel Beacon 1 Sat. 5 Sunday 6 Wed. 9 Sunday 13 Tue. 15 Wed. 16 Sat. 19 Sunday 20 Tue. 22 Wed. 23 Thur. 24 Fri.25 Sat. 26 Sunday 27 Neighborhood Hygiene Services Community Breakfast 9am Sunday School 9:10-9:50 Worship 10am Quilting, Fellowship Hall Evening, 6:15 Soup, 7:00 Holden Vespers Community Breakfast 9am Sunday School 9:10-9:50 Worship 10am Council 7 pm Fireside Room Evening, 6:15 Soup, 7:00 Vespers Neighborhood Hygiene Services Community Breakfast 9am Sunday School 9:10-9:50 Worship 10am YDIC Board Meeting Quilting, Fellowship Hall Maundy Thursday, Seder Meal, 6:30 Fellowship Hall MACG Walk of the Cross, Noon, start at Luther Memorial Good Friday Tenebrae Service, 7pm Outdoor clean-up 9-11 Easter Vigil, 7pm Continental Breakfast 8:45 am - 9:45 am Easter Worship 10 am Easter Egg Hunt for the children at the Parsonage, after Worship March Birthdays! 5 Kristi Mowe 6 Jack Wiersma 7 Miles Bard 9 Jared Burdick 14 Brendan Dunnigan 16 Barb Keys 18 Nancy Wiersma 24 Sue Ruth 28 Isabel Wiersma 29 Jim Beck 30 Harry Griffin Saturday March 26 let s spruce up the property for Easter 9-11 am Come with your gardening gloves and a few flowering color spots. Let s freshen our garden as we get ready for Easter!

2 From the Pasture: 2 Transitions in Life and Lent Lent holds many images for me personally. Lots of transitions in my life happened during this season. I left seminary (my first time) during Lent. This year, Barbara (spouse), John (brother), Matt (son), Laura and Kaylee (grandkids) all have birthdays during Lent. My father passed away in Lent 1991which made Holy Week and especially Good Friday difficult. Lent is also my time to turn over the leaves, grass, and dirt that have become compost. Peas are in (I even cheated by planting the homegrown potatoes starts). Flowers are up, raspberries budding, roses cut back, grape vine pruned and vegetable starts in the window upstairs. My 6:50 drive to Columbia pool each morning has more light daily. You can almost feel the earth waking up. Lent is supposed to do that. It does stop at Good Friday with the death of Jesus. It is a time of new life waking up. We hear it from Jesus as he approaches Jerusalem. He is a little cranky, a little on edge, as if the waiting is almost over and he is ready get on with it. The tension of Good Friday and the waiting. The sorrow and silence sitting shiva as we mourn for the one lost on the cross. The waiting in that upper room; the fear, sorrow and guilt thick in the air. So what was it like to be woken up to the news: He is gone, He is not there. Doubt, wonder, hope and remembering all at the same time. The trauma of Good Friday lost to the promise fulfilled in the awakening dawn. The one planted in the tomb is said to be alive; Mary says she has seen him, brothers on the road recognizing him in the breaking of the bread. Then He is standing before them, standing before us He is alive. Pastor Mike

3 3 In the beginning, darkness covered the face of the deep. Then the rush-breath of life hovered over the waters. Let us breathe together. Let us catch our breaths from the need to make, to do. Let us be conscious of the Breath of Life. We breathe out what the trees breathe in. We breathe in what the trees breathe out. Together we breathe each into life. Blessed is the One within the many. Blessed are the Many who make one. ~~ Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow Remembering and Honoring Loved Ones With Easter Lilies We will be adorning our worship area again this Easter season with lilies. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers of the Easter Lily symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life... the spiritual essence of Easter. The lilies may be given in memory of departed loved ones, in honor of someone, or simply in thanksgiving for particular blessings. The names will appear in the bulletin for Easter, March 27. The cost of a Lily is $10. Please complete order form along with payment to church office by Sunday March 13th. Checks should be made to: Bethel Lutheran Church and indicate Easter Lily Name and phone of purchaser: I would like to order $10 each, Total of Please PRINT as you would like to appear in bulletin. In Memory of By In Memory of By In Honor of By In Honor of By With Thanksgiving for By With Thanksgiving for By Form can be mailed or ed.

4 4 Prayer Concerns...praying for and with our community. Laverne Atkins Paul Beezhold Iva Lynn Burris Kathy Buss JulieAnn Edman Christine Downing Dorothy Hansen Joyce Hansen Jeff and Shirley Kolpin David Lingnau John McAllister Phyllicia McGowan Justin Olson Rita Olson Mary Rix Skye Esther Statzer Loretta Van Dyke Please also pray for the families of Ann Furgurson, Bob Frank, and Ruth Vandenbos who have recently passed away. The Bethel Hygiene Program, a ministry assisting neighbors who are homeless with showers and fresh clothing, needs donations. Will you help? We need: sturdy men's pants/jeans (or long shorts), waist sizes 28 through 34 medium and smaller sized belts men's long-sleeved shirts, specially warm lined flannel or lined hoodies, men and women's underwear, size small and medium MEN'S RAZORS, mini-shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes, mini toothpastes, floss, etc. Warm coats Women's clothes, especially long-sleeved undershirts and fleeces, sweaters Think about buying a table of eight and making it a party! $150 for a table or $20 each ticket

5 5 Egg Dying Party! When: Saturday, March 19 from 12 pm - 2 pm Where: Bethel Fellowship Hall RSVP: Come join the fun as we dye and decorate eggs! We will provide the dyes, decorations and a snack and you provide the artistic vision and 12 hard-boiled eggs. Questions? Pastor Christine is the go-to for answers. Please feel free to invite friends and family...the more the merrier. Heartfelt thanks to my Bethel family. You are all a living expression of God s love and kindness. Thank you for your prayers, cards, phone calls, visits, and delicious food. The journey of the last four months has been hard. But after stays in three hospitals, two skilled nursing facilities, and my radiation treatments ending Feb. 26, I m grateful to be alive and confident I have beat cancer. Special thanks to Pastors Mike & Christine for their visits, listening ears, & sharing Eucharist. And Mike s delivery of your personally signed card by worshippers helped make my birthday special. Last, but not least, thanks to Wendy who faithfully posts the bulletin each Friday so I can worship with you in Spirit on Sundays. I DO thank my God every time I think of you. Philippians 1:30 Blessings & Hugs, Mary Rix INTRODUCTION TO THE CRAFT OF PREACHING...April 3 11:30 12:30 am Join Pastor Mike after worship for an introduction to the craft of Preaching. There will be three opportunities for lay preachers at Bethel between now and the end of August, and we will want lay preachers to be well prepared for their assignment. (Please note that participation in these sessions of preparation are required for anyone who will preach, but participation in the sessions does not guarantee that you will be given a Sunday; that decision rests with the senior pastor.)

6 6 Walk of The Cross Walk of the Cross is an annual ritual organized by neighbors and an ecumenical body of Christian communities throughout Portland. We bear witness to God crucified in our neighborhoods through prayer and the sharing of our stories, as we carry the cross together. Together, we will tell the story of Jesus Passion in Spanish and English. All are welcome! Walk of the Cross 2016 will focus on Housing Pressures When: Good Friday, March 25, 2016 Where: Noon Gathering: Luther Memorial Lutheran Church 4800 NE 72nd Ave Stations of the Cross throughout the Cully Neighborhood Sending & light meal at about 2:30 pm at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church We walk together, rain or shine. Join us N Denver Ave Portland OR