Fall Worship
Worship at 9:30 am
Followed by Fellowship and Learning Hour

Presiding Minister: Pastor Tim Keyl
Assisting Minister: Priscilla Meléndez
Organist & Music Director: Isaac Lee
Lectors: Dianne Witte & Richard Ford
Altar Guild: Richard Ford
Livestream: Blair Goodlin
Tellers: Rachelle Goto & Dianne Witte
Ushers: Ray Bussolini
Bread Baker: Lee Family
Coffee Set-Up: Veronica Brisson

Worship Livestream

We stream Sunday worship services live on Bethesda’s YouTube Channel. Join us live at 9:30 am every Sunday or watch the recording afterward.

Click here to access this Sunday's bulletin.

This Week at Bethesda

From the Pastor

Listening, Hospitality, and Living in Community

On our sabbatical, Kari and I spent one week each in three very different monastic communities, in Chicago, in Taizé, France, and in Vermont. While their prayer styles were so varied, while their size and demographics were not the same, their commitment to silence, welcoming, and sharing community were intrinsic to their identities.

We were invited to listen for God. We were given space and time to respond to scripture in ample silence.

We felt that though we were strangers and from away, we were in fact part of their community by participating in their rhythms of prayer (eight times a day in Chicago, three times a day at Taizé, four times a day in Vermont). We ate shared meals. We met other strangers who became friends.

The main expectation and experience was only to pray. That we had the time, made the time, were given the time to pray so deeply enabled us to experience God’s love and renewed our faith in a profound way.  And a great gift was that Kari and I experienced that together.

I’d like to explore times of prayer and community with you at Bethesda so that we might be renewed in God’s love. Would you come for half an hour? One hour? Per week? Per month? In person? On Zoom? Spend time listening? In silence? Reading scripture, singing songs? Becoming friends? Sharing meals?

Time is such a commodity these days. What time can we find together to create space for God?  Let me know.

May we be blessed.

Pastor Tim (603) 533-7537

[email protected]

We can see that creating space is far from easy in our occupied and preoccupied society. And still, if we expect any salvation, redemption, healing and new life, the first thing we need is an open receptive place where something can happen to us. Hospitality, therefore, is such an important attitude. We cannot change the world by a new plan, project or idea. We cannot even change other people by our convictions, stories, advice and proposals, but we can offer a space where people are encouraged to disarm themselves, to lay aside their occupations and preoccupations and to listen with attention and care to the voices speaking in their own center.

–Henri Nouwen, from Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc.© 1975), p. 54.

Bethesda's Sustainable Future News

The Congregation Council has initiated a month mailing (snail mail!) with information relating to Bethesda’s Sustainable Future, as well as more general news.

The September mailing went out last wee. If you do not receive your copy by next week and would like to be sure you are included in future mailings, please let Leigh know [email protected]

Maintaining a current and accurate data base is an on-going effort!

Read the newsletter by clicking the link here!

Monthly CCA Need Update

Christian Community Action (CCA) is requesting Bethesda donate the following items:

- Canned goods
- Ramen noodle soup.

CCA's Director of Administration and Planning, Charmain Yun, says everything Bethesda sends is always helpful and sends gratitude.

Sue Berube, Alex Labadia, Martin Gehner, and Bethesda got a "shout out" in Christian Community Action's printed August newsletter in their blurb about the food pantry! Wohoo! Keep it up Bethesda.

Blessing of Animals, Sunday, October 8, 4:00 pm on the grass in front of the Parish House.

Near the commemoration of the great lover of animals and creation, St. Francis (October 4), Bethesda offers blessings for your pet on the grass in front of the Parish House. Bring your cat, dog, iguana, fish, or what have you to hear stories, share our love for animal companions, sing a song, and receive a blessing.

Meet Bethesda Staff and Bethesda House

A new year has brought a completely new house of Bethesda House residents. Check out this link to meet the Bethesda Lutheran Church staff and new Bethesda Residents.

Call to join the choir!

The Bethesda choir is open to all who love to worship and sing! We meet on Thursdays at 7pm in the choir room. No audition is required but musical training is appreciated. We are committed to learning, improving, and growing as a community.

Whether you are new to the church or a seasoned congregant, I encourage you to take the plunge and lend your voice to enhance our collective worship experience. Instrumentalists are also welcome to offer your musical talents.

The first Thursday of every month is our “Join-the-choir” welcome session. Do drop by and try it out for a night. No commitment required. Come and meet kindred spirits who share a love for music!

For more information or queries, please write to Isaac Lee, Music Director, at [email protected]

Regards,

Isaac

Like Live Music? Like Talented Lutherans?

Dave’s Arezzini's band, Tuxedo Junction, will be playing on 9/17 from 1 pm to 3 pm at the Edgerton Gardens.

We Need Volunteers for September

Email administrative assistant, Tyler Fair ([email protected]) to volunteer for needed roles!

The following roles need filled for September 24th: altar guild, coffee hour set-up

Apple-picking Sunday, October 1 following Learning/Fellowship Hour

Bethesda’s somewhat annual apple-picking will follow learning/fellowship hour on Sunday, October 1, and is for any and all who want to come. Bring your own lunch and eat it with others in the Campanius Room after learning/fellowship hour at noon. We will leave around 12:30 pm and car pool to Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, a half an hour drive from Bethesda.  You pay per bag which is provided. If there is time and interest, we can hang outside the farm store where there are cider donuts and kettle corn, and other things to eat for sale.  There is also a corn maze for an additional cost. RSVP’s will be helpful, but not necessary. Send them to Leigh at [email protected].

Learning Hour resumes today after worship for all ages

Learning Hour begins after worship for these groups:

Children in Primary Grades (or younger, too!) meet with Elaine Ramshaw and Priscilla Meléndez to learn about Creation Care. They gather in the yellow classroom at the end of the education wing on the right, but will go outside to explore today. Snacks are provided.

Confirmation Youth (Middle School) meet with Dan Cortright in the Muhlenberg Room at the end of the education wing on the left to continue their exploration of the resource Manna and Mercy. Snacks are provided.

Youth, young adults, and all others meet with Pastor Tim and Pastor Kari Henkelmann Keyl in the Parish House Living Room all the way through the education wing and through the Dining Room to the room facing St. Ronan Street side. Attendees will be regaled with stories about the spiritual grounding of their summer sabbatical with three different monastic communities: in Chicago, in France, and in Vermont. After you grab coffee and refreshments in the Campanius Room, find your way to the Parish House by 11:00 am.

Looking for a spring tenant/roommate?

Hello! My name is Heather and I'm an older "second-career" student at the Divinity School looking for a room to rent from mid-January through March 8, 2024. I'm commuting from VT (where my spouse and children live), so would be staying approximately 4 nights/week (generally Sunday night through Wednesday night). I'm a quiet, studious roommate (and tidy former innkeeper) who has rented rooms from individuals/families in the past, and can provide excellent references. I'd love to hear from you if you have a guest room in your home. (802) 999-9617. Thanks so much! 

Climate March Sept 17th

The March to End Fossil Fuels - organized in NYC at the beginning of the UN Climate Ambition Summit - is almost upon us! Join Dan Pflueger and the organization GreenFaith in this march on Sunday, September 17th from 1:00-3:30pm in Manhattan for an opportunity to put faith and conviction in action. Showing up as people of faith, we will march about 20 blocks to the UN Headquarters in order to call on our own national leaders and president to lead our country away from continued investment in fossil fuels.

If you are interested in joining, please contact Dan Pflueger at [email protected] or 567-215-3409

For more information, also check out https://greenfaith.org and https://www.endfossilfuels.us

Prayer Requests

For healing and strength: Linda Johnson; Paul Denardis, stepson of Gail Denardis; John Ferreira, nephew of Chris Couture; George Arndt, father of Lynn Arezzini; Marie Gray; Sonja Krummrey; Maureen Anderson; Shirley Farm; Anne and Lee Keck; Donna Nardciso, friend of Michaela Natal; Kay Leone; Molly Dinneen; Matthew H., cousin of Tyler Fair

For our partners in the Gospel: the congregations and schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and LuMin Campus Ministry; for Bethesda House and Yale Divinity School students.

For our Ecumenical Partners Worldwide: We pray for Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle takes us through every region of the world over the course of a year.

For Bethesda New Haven: that God continues to guide us into the future with ministries of witness, service, hospitality, and care while building up our community in all its diversity.

For those in candidacy or seeking candidacy for rostered leadership in the ELCA: Natalie Benson, Tyler Fair, Calli Micale, Tim Bergeland