Bethlehem Lutheran Church – Aloha, OR
Rebuilding the Infrastructure
The story of those first Christian believers is amazing. Luke tells us that, after Peter’s sermon on Pentecost (Acts2), about three thousand people were baptized. That sort of thing doesn’t happen very often anymore, at least, not around here. But in those words from Acts, we do see how the church—the Body of Christ—grows: through the Word of God preached and studied.
One of the four goals of our mission focus that developed out of congregational self-study last year—and was celebrated during our 60th Anniversary service—was to re-build our congregational “infrastructure”. We want to rebuild our network of small groups. Just like county or state needs to keep the roads and bridges in good shape so people can be connected, so our “bridges” to one another need to be maintained. Bible studies are part of that small group emphasis. So, as the new school year rolls around, I wanted you to be aware of those small group Bible studies that are beginning or continuing.
I’d like to put them all under heading, LIFE+CONNECT; since in Christ, His life connects with us through the cross and the Word of the cross; and, our lives, connected to Him connect with one another through the cross and the Word of the cross. Here are those opportunities.
Monday Evening Men’s Study—led by Ron Hoffman and meeting in the Inn the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 7pm. Ron’s group will be finishing a study of Philippians and beginning one on Colossians. Newcomers are always welcome.
Monday Evening Women’s Study—led by Sarah Hengel and meeting in her home at 7pm on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Sarah’s group will be starting a study, “I AM,” by Lysa Terkeurst. Newcomers are always welcome.
Young Adults Bible Study (YABS)—led by Joel Hoffman meets every Monday evening at 6:30pm in the Youth Room at Bethlehem. All young people post-high school age through 29 years old are invited. They will be starting a new study on Philippians in September.
Wednesday Morning Adult Bible Study—led by Pastor Jeff Shearier meets nearly every Wednesday at 11am in the Inn, beginning September 18. We take a break for Advent, Lent and the once-a-monthly Senior Luncheons. We usually study the lessons for the upcoming Sunday.
Joel and Amy Hoffman will be starting a new home Bible study group for couples in September that will meet one Saturday evening each month. This group will study the Letter from James in the New Testament and is still gathering members. You can call Joel at Bethlehem for more information.
Ken and Yvonne Lindow are looking to start a home Bible study group for couples later this year. Details are still pending, but you could speak with Yvonne if you are interested.
Our Women’s Ministry Group is hoping to offer a topical Sunday morning Bible study beginning in January. You can give Mary Heck a call to find out more information at Bethlehem.
Also, our Discipleship Team is offering two opportunities for adults on Sunday mornings beginning September 1. Brad Loseke and Wayne Moses will be facilitating a group in the Community Center titled, “Death…Then, What?” Greg Long will be facilitating a study from the NOOMA series on questions people ask about living as a Christian when the world/life doesn’t’ make sense.
Consider taking advantage of one of these opportunities. If you have an idea for a study/group, please speak with me. As we grow in the Word and grow together as the family of God through relationship with Jesus Christ, may it be said of us: “The Lord added their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:47)”
Joy in the journey,
Pastor Jeff Shearier
Not By Might
In Zechariah 4:6, the prophet is given a word to bring to God’s people. The people have returned from exile in Babylon and are rebuilding Jerusalem. There is some dismay as they take on the task because it seems so huge.. They thought everything depended on them and they were weary, overwhelmed and exhausted.
So the prophet is given a word to speak, “This is the word of the LORD…’Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.” Two things stand out in this passage that address the feelings of the people: The Spirit, who especially in the Old Testament, is the life-giving, “make-it-happen” member of the Trinity is called into action. The LORD also uses His name, “the LORD of hosts/armies.” He uses this name to assure us He has the resources to fight the battles and bring the victory for us. I love the story in 2 Kings 6:17-20, where Elisha prays for the LORD to open the eyes of his servant to see the angel hosts on the hillsides.
So, why talk about these episodes in the life of God’s people? These stories remind us that as we talk about “building the family of God” in our mission statement, we are counting on the Spirit and the LORD of hosts. In June, Bethlehem approved a capital campaign to reduce debt. The idea is—that if we pay down (or even, off) the mortgage debt—we would have more resources available to expand our ministries.
These stories remind us that as we talk about “building the family of God” in our mission statement, we are counting on the Spirit and the LORD of hosts.
Looking at the size of our mortgage, it’s easy to feel like those returning to Jerusalem—overwhelmed. Remembering that we had a campaign in the past to pay for the Community Center and wondering if we aren’t “paying for it twice” now can leave us feeling like those in Zechariah’s day—exhausted. That’s why I remember what God has already said: Not by might, not by power, but by
My Spirit!
Dreaming about what we would do if we had more resources to expand our ministries takes us to the same word from our LORD. His Spirit leads us into the future, into our community—into ministry. What ministry could look like may depend upon how much of the mortgage we pay off. I understand that paying off $500,000 might fund a staff person dedicated to developing new ways to connect with our community—through our preschool, using our building to bring people into our midst—following Bethlehem’s “mission heart.”
What if we are able to pay off more than that? We’ll look around to see what God is already blessing, but maybe we could add staff that would focus on small groups and family ministry as well as mission trips and activities…maybe we could partner with agencies in our community to enhance their work or support/partner with sister congregations to expand the kingdom of God. The Spirit seems to be leading us to follow Jesus in not just building the family of God here at Bethlehem but helping to build the kingdom of God in our neighborhoods.
Capital campaigns often build buildings. This time, by God’s grace and the Spirit, we hope to not build a building, but the kingdom of God. In his book, Everybody Always, Bob Goff distinguishes between building castles and building the kingdom. Castles have walls and moats to keep people out, he suggests, while kingdoms build bridges and count everyone a citizen. This is especially true of the kingdom of God.
So, how can you help? You can keep the whole enterprise in your prayers. You can take stock of your time, talents and treasure—and determine if any of these can be dedicated to the campaign. There will be training for leaders during the week of August 17 that will provide more information. If you would like to participate, please speak with Jim Cullen or me. There are some important leadership and support team positions that need to be filled with people eager to help. We’ll be kicking things off at the send of September. Join the adventure to see where the LORD of hosts leads us!
Joy in the journey,
Pastor Jeff
I Believe Sermon Series
Join us Sundays in July and August at Bethlehem as we begin a new sermon series titled, “I Believe.” We’ll be taking a closer look at the Apostles’ Creed line by line, learning why each line was included in the creed and how it applies to us today. Services begin at 8:30 am (traditional) and 11:00 am (contemporary) every Sunday morning.
Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Continuing to Build
Paul talks about building the family of God—part of our mission statement here at Bethlehem—in Ephesians 2:22: In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. God is both the builder and the foundation—as Paul writes, “in Him,” meaning Christ. A few years ago, we hosted Dr. Brandt from Concordia University to lead us in some planning and he reminded us to see “what God is blessing” and continue to do that. So, as we reach the mid-point of 2019, what can we see?
This month, we welcomed more than 170 children into our midst for the “Roar!” Vacation Bible School. One of our goals in building the family of God here is to welcome people from our community into our building. God seems to have blessed that goal with these children and the volunteers who served them. Our Evangelism Team will be following up with those families to see if we can further connect with them. Next month, we will be hosting up to three families transitioning from homelessness into our building through the Family Promise project. We are still looking for hosts, if God is nudging you that way.
God is both the builder and the foundation
Another goal we identified is to “rebuild and strengthen” our network of small groups and Bible studies. To that end, this past month two groups of members met. One group met to explore the strengthening of our small group network by training new leaders and creating new and strengthening our existing small groups. These LIFE+CONNECT leaders will be trained this summer and our small group network highlighted this coming Rally Day on September 8. Another group met to talk about forming an “Empathy Team” that would care for our members in three areas. I’m looking for someone to coordinate meals for members experiencing need or loss. We have several people interested in being trained to be “listeners” to folks who
are looking to have someone come along side with them as their journey gets difficult. We have a few people who want to visit our members who are homebound or hospitalized. If any of this sounds like something in which you’d like to participate, let me know.
At the June voters meeting, we decided to begin a Capital Campaign this Fall to reduce our debt. We will be working with an organization/friend with whom I worked in Colorado on a similar project. We would like to “free up” money currently paid to service our mortgage for other ministries that would help us meet our goals and “build the family of God through relationship with Jesus Christ.” You will be hearing more in the near future about this effort.
Our God has also been blessing our Preschool—pray for more children and families to be touched by this ministry—and our efforts to send our members out into our community. I wanted you to be informed about these items as June ends. Please continue to keep all of our efforts in your prayers, seeking our Lord’s continued guidance and blessing.
Joy in the journey,
Pastor Jeff Shearier
Ascending Downward
Ascending Downward: Excerpted from Chad Bird
Take a look at these four sentences: He’s moving up in the company. She’s coming down with the flu. Things are sure looking up for them. I’ve been feeling kind of down lately.
Down is bad, up is good. These aren’t willy-nilly choices. Our bodies lead our linguistics. We associate “down” with sickness, collapsing in exhaustion, and dying, while “up” is iconic of vivacity, standing strong, health. Our positive and negative experiences are mapped onto the metaphorical language we use.
Even heaven is “up there” and hell is “down there,” right?
We all get this. But helpful as it may be, it really screws with our heads when it comes to something very important: the ascension, the “going up” of Jesus.
Some theological explanations of the ascension resemble a man climbing a tree to search for gold. Of course, the fellow’s gone in the completely wrong direction. He’ll never find gold “up there.” He’ll only find it “down here.” By mining, by digging, by channeling into the earth, he’ll discover gold.
…his enthronement as King of Kings, is his climactic, regal descent.
So it is with the gold of the ascension. It’s not about what’s happening up there in heaven but down here on earth. Christ’s sitting at the right hand of the Father, his enthronement as King of Kings, is his climactic, regal descent.
You see, dual things are happening simultaneously at the ascension. On the one hand, yes, Jesus does go up. While his disciples crane their necks to the skies, Jesus rises like a hot air balloon and slips inside a cloud (Acts 1:9-11). On the other hand, he goes up precisely in order to do what? To come down, to permeate all creation with his presence, to rule over all things in such a way that no place is outside him.
Christ ascends into heaven in order to descend fully into this world, into the lives of his people. The ascension is the dénouement of the incarnation. Jesus has entered his glory “in such a way that he knows everything, is able to do everything, is present for all his creatures, and has under his feet and in his hands all that is in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, not only as God but also as human creature” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, VIII.11 He has “entered his glory” (Luke 24:26) to glorify us by our incorporation into his body through the earthly element of baptismal water. The water down here.
Precisely because he is seated at the right hand of the Father, he is seated at the right hand of the father who holds the tiny hand of his baby girl in the NICU.
Because all things are under his feet, Christ is there with us when all the nastiness and ugliness of life tramples us under its own feet.
And best of all, because in his body he ascended to the highest throne in heaven, he puts that body into us as we gather down here around his altar-throne. Whether it’s a makeshift table in the middle of a bombed-out battlefield or a bejeweled altar ensconced within a cathedral, that place is where heaven is down here and earth is up there. Jesus ascends downward to lift us upward by putting his body into our body, his blood into our blood.
It doesn’t matter how far down we go in this life, we cannot go so far down, that Jesus is not there to meet us face-to-face. Every time our shattered hearts say, “Out of the depths have I cried to you, O Lord,” from deeper within those depths comes the voice of our Savior, “Out of the depths have I loved you and prayed for you, my precious child.”
The ascension is the ultimate descension of God. Down into our world, down into the ocean of our tears, down into the sewers of our shame, down into the rubble of our broken dreams, the Lord of life descends to save us, to bring us home, to heal us with his merciful touch.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t fathom more uplifting good news than our down-coming God of grace.
Joy in the journey,
Pastor Jeff Shearier
Bethlehem Lutheran Church - Aloha, OR 