Join us on April 2 from 12:00 p.m - 3:00 p.m. for a Good Friday prayer vigil, in-person at Bethel. As part of our Lenten Season of Healing, we will focus on the practice of Christian mindfulness – paying prayerful attention as we move through the time from Good Friday to Easter morning. The Sanctuary at Bethel will be open for quiet prayer and meditation – 15-person maximum in the Sanctuary at a time. Please sign up ahead of time for a 30-minute time slot using the sign up form located here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C48ABAD2FA2FEC25-good. If you have trouble with the sign up form, you can email the office at office@bethelbeaverton.org. You may sign up for more than one sign up slot. You do not need to stay the entire 30 minutes you are scheduled for. Masks and social distancing required.
Holy Week and Easter Sunday
Please join us this year for Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ begins the celebration of Holy Week with a very special Palm Sunday service culminating in a beautiful celebration of Easter and the risen Christ, followed by an in-person flowering of the cross and fun Easter egg hunt for the children (0 – 5th grade). You and your family are invited to join us for any and all of the Holy Week activities. We have planned both virtual and in-person events so there is something for everyone. All in-person activities will require masks, social distancing, and other COVID-19 safety protocols. If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, please stay home and participate virtually.
Holy Vessels: A Lenten Season of Healing
This Sunday, February 21, we will begin a new worship series from Worship Design Studio called Holy Vessels. Marcia McFee shares about the series: "Each of us is created a precious and holy vessel of embodied love. We have been through a harrowing time since last Lent that has shattered our sense of wholeness–body, mind, and spirit–like a glass vessel fractured into pieces. In this Lenten “season of healing” for our physical, communal, mental, intellectual, and environmental health, we will explore the healing narratives of Jesus that tell of divine solidarity with human suffering and remind us that we can begin a journey toward making something beautiful from that which is seemingly broken. Beach glass offers us a multifaceted symbol of this transformative process." We hope you'll make plans to join us.
As part of this series, we have prepared a Lenten Guide with a selection of guided activities, worksheets, and other resources to assist you as you journey through this Lenten season. The Lenten Guide was designed for families AND adults, there's something for everyone in our congregation. To download the Lenten Guide, click here.
Annual Meeting 2021 - All Are Welcome!
Mark your calendars, Bethel's annual meeting will be Sunday, January 31 after worship on Zoom and on Facebook. We will not be having a coffee hour or breakout rooms that Sunday. All members and friends of Bethel are strongly encouraged to attend. It is best if you can join the meeting via Zoom even if you watch the worship service on Facebook. If you still are unable to get on Zoom directly and need help, please contact Nancy Winston at winstonj@comcast.net.
In our tradition, the annual meeting provides a living example of how UCC congregations govern themselves under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The moderator (the chief lay leader of our organization) presides at the meeting. Reports from the various committees and teams are reviewed and accepted. A mission revenue and spending plan (a.k.a. the church budget) is presented, discussed and adopted. Past year successes and challenges are highlighted. Priorities and goals for the upcoming year are shared and celebrated. A slate of officers and lay leaders will be presented by the Nominating committee.
If you are new to Bethel, this is a GREAT way to understand how our church “works”. The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. For issues that require a formal vote, the official members of the congregation qualify to express a “yes”, “no” or “abstain”. Bethel friends who have not formally joined the church are encouraged to ask questions and share their insights and perspectives with respect to the topic “on the floor”. While essential decisions need to be authorized by a formal motion and vote, Bethel strives to make decisions through a process of dialogue and consensus.
Bethel Movie Discussions
We will be resuming the Bethel Movie Discussions on Race series starting on January 21. Please join us for these thoughtful discussions every other week on Thursdays at 7 PM. We have selected a variety of films and media that focus on issues of race, social injustice, and identity. After viewing the films on our own, we join together over Zoom to reflect, converse, and learn together in community. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86401912246?pwd=eTZxNVpxR2ZDbGlkY2RQWW5scWxPdz09. The password is: 760759.
January 21 - YouTube - Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man video series.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/Eacho18/videos
We ask everyone to watch 4 videos of their choice from the series and come with a couple of questions and we'll all share what we learned from the videos we watched.
February 4 - Loving - Based on an historical supreme court case, an interracial couple fights the law that they cannot be recognized as married in the state of Virginia. (Can be rented on Amazon for $3.99)
February 18 - The Hurricane with Denzel Washington
March 4 - Valerie Kaur TedTalk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIrl_Ob0jvg) and her Revolutionary Love conversation with Rev. Traci Blackmon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RruA8N3fmj4)
Epiphany: Flip the Switch and Be the Light
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you… Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice…” - Isaiah 60: 1-6
As we begin our Epiphany series on being “light”-hearted, we begin to look at spiritual practices to get us moving out of the mid-winter darkness and into a new season of clarity and action. We will see how experiencing the everyday activities of our lives as blessings can offer us a chance to be filled with the Light of God in whom we believe. The first week, on Sunday, January 10, we affirm that the very act of “arising” each day is a gift from God. For the next few Sundays, we will learn how we can all Flip the Switch and Be the Light in relationship not only with the Spirit, but with our families, our communities and the world around us.
Renewal Ritual - December 29
Throughout Advent, we have been called to fill the night with music and light . . . believing in the light that came with the birth of Jesus. As we move to the beginning of a new calendar year, we want to carry the hope of Christmas with us remembering that Christ’s light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
2020 has been a tough year for many of us. Feelings of fear, anxiety, loneliness, grief and pain became all too familiar companions. As we approach the end of 2020, you are invited to participate in a Renewal Ritual – an opportunity to let go of anything that you do not want to carry with you into 2021 and to envision the experience you want for 2021. We will gather via Zoom at 7 pm on December 29th. You will want to have paper, pen, your advent wreath or other candle and a glass or metal bowl for burning (or a paper shredder or scissors or your fingers.)
You can join via Zoom using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82579532974?pwd=MmtaV1pKcjdvMUhiZElmN1dMdXNpdz09 (Meeting ID: 825 7953 2974, Passcode: Advent!)
A ritual is a rite that connects us with Spirit. We use rituals to help us feel connected to God and to celebrate important moments in the life of the church – lighting the Advent wreath, lighting candles on Christmas Eve and singing Silent Night, Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, All Saint’s Day are just a few examples. For centuries people have used rituals to help mark a shift or change. So we use this opportunity to continue to allow Christ’s light to shine through us remembering as Paul reminded the church in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
For this Renewal Ritual, we will focus on feelings and events from 2020 that we are ready to let go of and allow the light of the birth of the Christ Child to transform us so we can turn the page and begin anew in 2021. You may be wondering how this is different from Ash Wednesday when we give up to God those things we want to let go of. There isn’t much difference. And, on February 17, we will have other things that will rise to the surface for us to give to God. However, the spiritual practice of letting go is not limited to a single time or place. God’s grace abounds and every day we are invited to allow Christ’s light to shine through us and renew our souls.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
Please join us for our Christmas Eve service! At 5 PM on December 24, you can watch our Christmas Eve service on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BethelBeaverton. You do not need to have a Facebook account to visit our church profile page and watch the Christmas Eve service!
Please note that the office will be observing the Christmas holiday, and will be closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25. The Food Cupboard will also be closed on December 24.
We wish you a very merry Christmas filled with light, warmth, joy, and many blessings. Joy to the world, the Lord has come!
Virtual Wassail Party and Cookie Recipe Exchange
This Sunday, December 13, stay tuned following Sunday worship as we celebrate our annual Wassail party! Please be sure to stick around for some memories from Wassail parties past, and we will be celebrating with a virtual cookie recipe exchange. Later this afternoon, Friday, December 11, check your email for a collection of special cookie recipes submitted by the talented bakers of Bethel, along with Diana Marsden's famous Wassail recipe. On Sunday, pour yourself a glass of Wassail, and enjoy your favorite Christmas cookie!
Blue Christmas
Each year during Advent, Bethel offers a quieter, more meditative worship service. The holidays can be a difficult time for those who are coping with illness, grief, loss, other difficulties and challenges of life.
This time of year, the culture around us seems to demand hearty good cheer at all times. When we are grieving, in pain, trying to make ends meet, dealing with the uncertainty of the pandemic and how to have a safe, socially distant holiday celebration or reeling from the violence and hatred in our nation and in the world, we may feel out of step and off balance.
The Blue Christmas Worship Service gives us an opportunity to give voice to our pain and frustration, and the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us through candlelight, music, and, if desired, the ancient practice of anointing with oil. This year, we have adapted the Blue Christmas service to an online format accessible to all who have Zoom or Facebook.
The Blue Christmas Worship Service will take place virtually on Sunday, December 13 at 2 pm. You can join on Bethel's Facebook page or via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/140844207 Pastor David and other Called to Care members will be available to speak with you privately in a Zoom breakout room for those who need additional support. For further information, please contact Pastor David at drb@bethelbeaverton.org.
Bethel Christmas Tree Lighting - December 5
On Saturday, December 5, at 5:30 pm, Bethel will be holding our very own Christmas Tree Lighting. Join us on the back lawn of Bethel near the Food Cupboard door on SW 7th Street between SW Washington and SW Watson Ave. Masks are required and we will be practicing good social distancing. If you do not want to be around others, you are welcome to park along SW Washington or SW 7th Street and observe the festivities from the safety of your car.
Christmas carols will be playing, and Pastor David will offer a few words. You are invited to bring a weatherproof ornament to add to the tree (something you won't get back.) A guide to creating a Crismon ornament is in the Advent Guide if you want to make your own ornament. We will also be accepting donations of non-perishable food for the Food Cupboard.
We look forward to seeing your "eyes" on December 5th!
Blessings
Advent Begins November 29!
“Raise your voice… raise it; don’t be afraid!” - Isaiah 40:9
Join us this Advent season as we raise our voices and proclaim “I Believe Even When...“
I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
I believe in love, even when I don’t feel it.
I believe in God, even when God is silent.
I believe in the light that has come and is coming.
These words scrawled by an anonymous Jewish poet on a wall during the Holocaust make up the theme song of this year’s Advent sermon series by Marcia McFee and Worship Design Studio. This theme song calls us to examine our penchant for annihilating fear by annihilating each other.
The history of humanity is fraught with pain–especially the pain that comes accompanied by fear and leads to oppression and violence of one people against another. We have seen and experienced this in 2020. This is the world into which Jesus was born and through which his teachings would challenge and call for transformation. The power of narrative and music will call us to a different response–transformation and reconciliation through hope, love, joy, and peace. This Advent and Christmas join us as we fill the night with music and light and affirm and act on the reasons why we can still “believe, even when” we are discouraged.
Guest Minister Rev. John Boonstra - Nov. 15
Rev. John Boonstra lives in Hood River. He is a UCC minister and worked six years as Pastor of Bethel UCC White Salmon until 2012. Since then John has worked on climate justice and environmental sustainability ministries. He represents the CPC on the UCC National Council for Climate Justice. He currently is a member of the CPC Justice and Witness Team and is devoting energy to rebuilding our CPC Climate Action Network. His daily work includes facilitation of programs related to the Columbia Gorge Climate Action Network. John has served as Executive Minister for the Washington State Association of Churches and prior to that worked in Geneva, Switzerland coordinating an internship program in conjunction with the World Council of Churches.
Order Your Christmas Wreath from the Bethel Youth
We may be in the midst of a pandemic, but through November 13, you'll have the opportunity to order your Christmas Wreath from the Bethel Youth.
There are wreaths and swags for sale. All proceeds will go to fund Youth Trips which we believe will happen again.
All wreaths and swags are made with fresh, local noble fir boughs and decorated with pine cones, cedar, juniper, and a choice of a red, weatherproof bow or a fabric bow.
20” wreath……………………………….. $25
28” wreath……………………………….. $35
30” swag…………………………………… $25
Click here to order: https://forms.gle/W9kmZ7ow8DE8S2WZ8
You can pay online, send a check to the church or pay when you pick up your wreath.
Wreaths will be available for pickup at the church on November 29 from noon to 3 pm. There's also an option for delivery by our Bethel Youth. Contact Pam Schlueter to arrange delivery at soletsgofishin@frontier.com.
Pandemic or no pandemic - Christmas is coming so take this opportunity to make your house even more beautiful AND support the Bethel Youth!
Plan to Vote!
BALLOTS are ARRIVING in your mailboxes this week. They are DUE at elections on Nov. 3 by 8 PM PST.
You already received your Voter Pamphlets. While waiting for your ballot, go through your pamphlets and mark your selections. When your ballot arrives, carefully transfer your selections onto your ballot, sign it and get ready to return it to elections. You can send it free of charge in the mail, you can place it in a ballot drop box or you can place it in your County’s drop box. If you’d like safe pick up and delivery of your ballot, please contact Nancy Winston and she’ll make sure one of our Bethel voting helpers gets your ballot into the County Elections drop box.
Washington County Election Office has moved. The new address is 2925 NE Aloclek Dr, Suite 170, Hillsboro, OR 97124.
Here are the locations of the other Washington County drop boxes. https://www.co.washington.or.us/AssessmentTaxation/Elections/CurrentElection/current-ballot-drop-sites.cfm?mc_cid=43e349ef26&mc_eid=0a37230d8b
If you are in a different county, please contact Nancy Winston at winstonj@comcast.net or (503) 544-3323, or Ken Ruse at zken@tongaken.org if you need help with your drop box location.
Installation of Rev. Tyler Connoley as Conference Minister
We are very happy to announce that at this year's CPC UCC Annual Gathering, Reverend Tyler Connoley was installed as this year's conference minister! Congratulations Rev. Connoley! If you would like to view this special event, please visit the video link below or click https://youtu.be/3orccHqsJ0o
Movie Discussion - If Beale Street Could Talk
Our next film discussion will take place October 1 from 7:00 - 8:30 PM, and we will be discussing the film If Beale Street Could Talk on Zoom.
The film is currently available on DVD through the Beaverton library, as well as on Hulu, in addition to other online rental services. In our Zoom discussion, we will discuss the movie, share what feelings it brought up, what it made us think about, and what insights we may have gained. This will be a safe place for all of us, including staff, to continue to educate ourselves on the complex issues surrounding racial injustice.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86401912246?pwd=eTZxNVpxR2ZDbGlkY2RQWW5scWxPdz09.
The password is 760759.
Outdoor Prayer Gathering on September 30
On September 30 at 5:00 PM, we are offering the opportunity to gather for an outdoor prayer service at Bethel on the south lawn. There is so much that has weighed heavy on our collective hearts as of late, from COVID fatigue to the wildfires to continued unrest in our streets. We wanted to provide an opportunity to support one another while honoring social distancing and our church's phasing-forward plan. Masks will be required and we ask individuals and/or households to maintain six feet from one another. If you are feeling unwell and experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, we ask you to please stay home for this one.
In response to the Black Lives Matter protests, and the murder of George Floyd, Bethel offered a bi-monthly Zoom program that met Thursday evenings beginning June 25. The purpose was three-fold: to better understand what the protests were about; to educate ourselves about the history of racial injustice; and to provide support for those who were deeply troubled by the protests. This forum was shared in the Weekly Highlights and during Sunday morning spoken announcements and it was open to all members of Bethel. That group viewed a number of films (Just Mercy, The Hate You Give, 13th and Good Trouble). Two sessions focused on Congressman John Lewis’ dedication to voter rights. Mr. Lewis championed the truth that “the right to vote is the most powerful non-violent tool we have.”
Inspired by John Lewis’ tenacity to defend the right to vote, the Bethel group that met over the summer felt that it was important to provide essential information to our congregation that would help all of us vote. Make a plan to vote with the resources gathered below.
Oregonians should have their ballot in their mailbox the week of Oct. 14. Oregon will let you mail your ballot in for free. You may prefer to drop it at your county election office as mail service may be delayed. Washington County Election Office has moved. The new address is 2925 NE Aloclek Dr, Suite 170, Hillsboro, OR 97124. There will be far fewer ballot drop boxes due to COVID -19. For example, Washington County public libraries are temporarily closed and will NOT offer drop boxes. Click link for more information: https://www.co.washington.or.us/AssessmentTaxation/Elections/CurrentElection/current-ballot-drop-sites.cfm
Ballot Delivery help needed? Call, text or email Nancy Winston if you want a Bethel Voting Team member to pick up your ballot. It will be done safely, then dropped at the county election office. winstonj@comcast.net, (503) 544-3323.
Ballots are due NOVEMBER 3, 8PM PST. Voting SOONER is better! Ensure your voice is heard.
Have you moved? Not registered?
OREGON REGISTER https://secure.sos.state.or.us/orestar/vr/register.do?lang=eng by Oct. 13.
WASHINGTON REGISTER https://voter.votewa.gov/WhereToVote.aspx by Oct. 26.
ASK your friends and relatives to vote. North Carolina residents already have their ballots.
Other questions? Send them in. Ken Ruse has volunteered to find someone to answer them from our Bethel Voting Team. zken@tongaken.org
Phasing Forward Update
Worship as is for another 90 days! Join us via Facebook live or Zoom.
The Phasing forward team has outlined a four part plan for moving forward with the ultimate goal of returning to worship in the sanctuary. We had set moving into phase two with having up to 50 participants in the sanctuary when the governor announced Washington County was in Oregon’s Phase Two. We are still in Phase One of the State’s plan even though the governor changed restrictions and added churches with up to 50 persons in attendance.
The board wrestled with and thoroughly discussed the pro’s and con’s of opening with up to 50 participants, but ultimately decided to go with the Phasing Forward team recommendation that we continue as is for another 90 days. Many of the newest hot spots of COVID-19 breakouts have been from church gatherings, weddings, and birthday parties. Your board chose caution for the safety, health, and well-being of staff and congregation even though we all would love to gather.