Mark Your Calendars! Our Holy Week Schedule! March 20 Palm Sunday 10:00 AM March 24 Maundy Thursday 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM March 25 Good Friday 1:00 PM and 7:30 PM [Evening Service with Third Reformed at Bethany] March 27 Early Easter with Communion 8:00 AM Easter Celebration 10:00 AM Please plan positively to attend as many services as possible! Sunday, March 13, 2016 begins Daylight Savings. Please remember to set your clocks ahead one hour on Saturday night! Bethany Family and Friends Come join Bethany family and friends for lunch and a movie day on March 13 following worship. The lunch will be Sloppy Joes, Salads, Desserts and drinks. I need to know who is willing to bring rolls, Sloppy Joe makings, salads, desserts and drinks? So you are probably wondering what movie are we going to see? The movie is a Walt Disney movie for the entire family called: Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. This is based on the book BY the author J. Viorst. This is a comedy so come and enjoy a great movie and be prepared to laugh a lot.
Be Our Guest Dinner On March 15, at 4:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., come and enjoy a meal at Bethany and with members of the community. The theme is Lasagna, tossed salad, bread, desserts and coffee, tea and soda. The coordinator this month is Melody VanA. All the food is donated by members of Bethany and it is our pleasure to share these meals with the community. Congregational Life Committee On Easter morning after worship come downstairs and enjoy fellowship with each other. There will be several breads prepared by various members of Bethany for you to sample along with your cup of coffee or glass of juice. Please write on the coffee sign-up sheet posted in the Narthex what kind of bread you are bringing. Thanks. Kitchen Renovations The Kitchen Reno committee evaluated bids from five contractors who were interested in doing our project. The committee has made a recommendation to Consistory. Consistory will review the contract soon and make a final decision. We collected donations and pledges during our fundraising phase of a bit over $27,000. We would appreciate all pledges being paid in full soon. If you need more time, please notify Joan Hollner so plans can be made. Additional donations are also welcome. March Birthdays March Anniversaries Dena B. 3/02 Robert and Jean G. 3/28 Jim H. 3/13 T.J. K., Jr. 3/15 Adam S. 3/15 Debbie H. 3/16 Jake A. 3/24 Marion H. 3/29 Please give any birthday/anniversary updated to Lisa E., by placing a note in the Newsletter mailbox in the stairway outside the narthex, or by emailing her at bethanyrca@gmail.com.
Newsletter via E-mail? If you would like to receive your newsletter via email, please contact the Church Office via email at Bethany.info@verizon.net, or by telephone at 518-482-7998 or by regular mail to Bethany Reformed Church, 760 New Scotland Avenue, Albany, NY 12208, and provide your email address. Easter by Elsie F. When God decided to send His Son, to earth to love and make us one, I wonder if He really knew how hard it would be to make us true. Mankind is so stubborn and slow to relent, to admit we are wrong and refuse to repent. And, yet, God loved us and knew the price would have to be His Son s sacrifice. A a carpenter s son, Christ knew the strain of good, hard work, of aches and pains. He so wanted us to know the love of His Father who watches over all from above. So Jesus willingly went all the way to die on a cross, our debt to pay. He rose again, conquering death and sin. He has opened the gate and calls us in. how we respond to God s love will be our choice for our lives eternally. So choose life with Christ as we run this race and rejoice with the angels when we see His face! Alleluia! Note From Linda B., Lucille H s Daughter: We received so many cards and notes from my mom s friends. She so loved Bethany and missed it terribly when we moved south. Her search for a church was not as successful as we had hoped. She couldn t find anything like what she felt at Bethany. And choir was a big issue!! The folks here tried their hardest, none seemed to possess the same level of skill that she left in Albany. That was very frustrating for her. I recently found the audio and video she did when Maria was the organist at Bethany, something I will treasure. Although she no longer sang, up until December she was playing her organ and playing well!
She loved getting the newsletters from church so she could keep up with what was happening up there. And she also loved the emails, notes, and cards she received. Unfortunately, after she became sick in January of 2015 she was unable to use her computer again. So the notes and cards sent over the past year by regular mail became her lifeline. Although she was diagnosed in May with Alzheimer s, it never got to the point where she could no longer remember who people were. For that we were very thankful. My mom was cremated and we had a small memorial service for her here in Summerville, even played the audio of her singing. We plan to come north and have another memorial service with burial at our home church in Montrose, NY (Reformed Church in Cortlandtown), which is in Westchester County. As you know, my mom was a planner and so we had many discussions about what she wanted things to be after she passed. We will bury her with my dad on Friday, May 6 th, which was their anniversary. I think she would like that. My thanks to everyone for all the prayers and for keeping in touch with her after our move. All those friendships were very meaningful to her. She didn t seem to miss the Albany area, just the friendships she had for so many years. We are grateful for all the years we had her with us. We have lots of wonderful memories; many of them captured on film and many of those are of her Bethany family. One short story I wish to share with you regarding her final few weeks. We connected her with another resident at her assisted living facility. This man, his name was David, always sat alone in his wheelchair for all his meals, no one wanted to sit with him. He had Cerebral Palsy and Parkinson s. In that setting with so many residents having varying degrees of dementia, they couldn t understand or have empathy for David. But my mom did. As soon as she was aware that he had CP she wanted to sit with him for each meal. When we would go visit her, she would tell us that she couldn t miss sitting with David for any meal. David didn t have good control of his hands and so feeding himself was difficult. My mom cared for him and helped to feed him when he couldn t help himself. She had found a purpose. I wish we had connected with David sooner, but I m happy that she found some meaning in those final few weeks. Thank you Bethany for all your cards and notes. We have found comfort in your messages and stories, and are thankful that my mom is now at peace. Linda
Calendar - March, 2016 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 10:00 AM - 02:00 PM 09:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Helping Hands - Regional Food Bank 07:00 PM - African 06:30 PM - Adult Bible Violet Society Study 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 06:00 PM - 06:30 PM - Al-Anon Speakers Meeting 07:00 PM - Fort Orange Stamp Club 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 02:00 AM - Daylight 04:45 PM - 05:45 PM - Savings Begins Be Our Guest Supper 06:00 PM - 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 09:59 AM - Palm 10:00 AM - 02:00 PM - 01:00 PM - Maundy Sunday Helping Hands Thursday Worship 01:00 PM - Good 07:00 PM - Maundy Friday Worship 11:30 AM - Consistory Thursday Worship 07:00 PM - Good Meeting 07:00 PM - Fort Friday Worship 06:00 PM - Orange Stamp Club 27 28 29 30 31 07:00 AM - Easter Sunday 08:00 AM - Early 07:00 PM - Choir Worship with Communion 06:00 PM -