Habitat HopeBuilder Virtual Breakfast Fundraiser

Habitat for Humanity Portland Region will be holding their "Hope Builder" virtual fundraising breakfast on Wednesday, April 28 at 8:00 a.m., featuring keynote speaker journalist Ann Curry. This virtual event is free to attend. Paul Griffo will be our host and organizer. You can learn more about the event and RSVP by visiting the event website here.

If you plan to support Habitat for Humanity Portland Region at this event, remember to add “Griffo/Bethel Table” when you register. There is a fun bonus for those in attendance - you will be automatically entered into a drawing for an Alaska Airlines trip!

Thank you!

New Sermon Series - Just As He Told You: When in Doubt, Read the Instructions

Join us this Sunday, April 18 as we begin a new sermon series entitled "Just as He Told You: When in Doubt, Read the Instructions." Jesus' time with his disciples was short. But from the beginning he began to prepare them to continue his ministry once he was no longer with them. Using this Worship Design Studio series by Marcia McFee, this Easter season we will encounter teachings of Jesus that end up coming in handy as the early church struggles and thrives… ultimately handing on the instructions to us. What will we do with them?

Grab your "dancin' shoes" for Pentecost

During the Lenten season of healing, one of the things we learned is that people were joyous and happy after they were healed. They often could not keep quiet and would go off "dancing and leaping and praising God." As we head towards Pentecost, we're going to carry forward the joy of the resurrection by connecting with each other through dance and music.

During the pandemic in February 2020, Fenómenos do Semba, a group in Angola, south-west Africa, recorded themselves dancing to the song "Jerusalema" while eating and without dropping their plates. "Jerusalema" is in the Zulu language and is by South African DJ and musician Master KG. This dance went viral on the internet and inspired a worldwide Jerusalema Dance Challenge, as more and more people uploaded their own dance videos. The dance is simple to learn and we would like everyone to learn the dance with their families and friends, record themselves dancing to it and email the video to Beth Astarte at ba@bethelbeaverton.org.

There will be opportunities to gather on the south lawn at Bethel and do the dance in a group if you live on your own (socially distanced and masked) or would like to do it in a group. If you can't dance, we will have other options so you, too, can still participate!

Don't worry - you've got time to have some fun and learn this dance. All videos must be in no later than Sunday, May 16, and then a compilation of Betheleans dancing separately, yet together, will be shared on Pentecost as a celebration of the Holy Spirit moving in all of us!

Here's a couple of videos to learn the steps. You can use either of these dance tutorials. They are slightly different but we want you to add your unique spin to the dance. https://youtu.be/6efHtpJK-Ns or https://youtu.be/YtuVWAQzGtE

This is the version of the song that we will be using: https://youtu.be/3JCJskzryKc

Contact Beth Astarte with any questions at ba@bethelbeaverton.org.

Special Worship Service - April 11

On Sunday, April 11, we will join in worship with our sister churches around the Central Pacific Conference at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Drawing from Psalm 133 and Acts 4:32-35, we will celebrate the joy of being held together in God’s Spirit with the theme of “Kindred: Celebrating our CPC Connections”. The service will be led by clergy and lay leaders from around the Conference, and our preacher will be Rev. Kathy Abend from Wright UCC in Boise.

Make plans now to join this unique worship service on Sunday, April 11. A special Zoom link will be sent out in the Highlights on April 9. We will also stream the worship service to Bethel UCC's Facebook page for those that prefer to participate in worship through Facebook.

Good Friday Virtual Walk of the Cross

The Walk of the Cross for Peace and Justice will be held virtually this year. Although we cannot walk together physically, we can still be together in spirit this Good Friday to reflect, pray and share stories of injustice in our world and witness to Christ’s power for transformation and resurrection.

Please join us by Zoom on Good Friday, April 2, at 10:00 a.m.
Meeting ID: 852 4771 7396 Passcode: WOC2021
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85247717396?pwd=S0xQUjZ6R2dVZitWZzJZRnArRUgyQT09

Good Friday Prayer Vigil

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.

Beaverton Resource Center

The new Beaverton Resource Center is opening this March! Founded on the understanding that economic insecurity is often the result of interlaced issues, the Beaverton Resource Center offers a central hub for individuals and families living in the Beaverton area to easily find help. With a broad range of social service partners in one place, we empower those dealing with hunger, homelessness, and poverty to create stability for a better tomorrow. They are located on Walker Road, next to Holy Trinity Catholic Church, and are currently looking for volunteers. You can visit their website at https://beavertonresourcecenter.org/.

One Great Hour of Sharing: Let Love Flow

This year's theme for the UCC's One Great Hour of Sharing campaign is "Let Love Flow". We will be collecting a special offering for this campaign on March 21, which you can send in to the church via mail or electronically through our eGiving portal. The gifts you give to One Great Hour of Sharing support a variety of local and global partners in the areas of advocacy, sustainable development, refugee and asylum issues, and assisting those most in need and vulnerable among us. The major emphasis of the 2021 offering campaign is on safe and accessible potable water around the globe. A great example of mission work in this area is the Water Well project in Mozambique, which builds adequate infrastructure for safe drinking water in villages. Not only does this improve health and sanitation, local wells are a tremendous life improvement for the women of these villages, who can travel up to 12 hours by foot just to collect safe drinking water for their families. Please consider an offering to "Let Love Flow" this year.

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.

Biography on former Bethel Congregant Morten Lauridsen - Call for Oral History Submissions

Morten Lauridsen is an American composer, a National Medal of Arts recipient, and one of the most performed composers in American choral music. In addition, he and his family were members at Bethel and Morten, also known as "Skip", was an active member of the Pilgrim Choir and Pilgrim Fellowship group at Bethel! We have been approached by writer Jim Bond, who is currently working on a biographical book about Mr. Lauridsen, and he is looking to interview anyone who may have known Morten "Skip" Lauridsen personally. He would have been most active at the church in the late 1950s and early 60s as a youth, before moving out of the area to pursue his career in music. Jim had the following to share: "Those Bethel programs meant the world to him, and he still sees the church as very much like a family. Singing in the choir led to his love of choral music, which shaped his own choices when he became a composer in the mid-1960s." Did you ever know Morten "Skip" Lauridsen at Bethel? If so, and if you would be interested in assisting this writer with his book by taking part in a Zoom interview, email exchange, or phone call, please contact the office at office@bethelbeaverton.org.

If you are interested in learning more about Morten Lauridsen's work, Jim Bond shared one of his articles about Morten, which will be included as one of the chapters in his upcoming book. You can view the article by clicking here.

Bethel Donations Help Local Neighbors in Need

Thanks to the generosity of Bethel Church members, neighbors and friends, local non-profit “Family Promise” earned more than $7,700 in the past year from the returnable bottles and cans we donated.

In 2020, Bethel and two neighboring churches donated a record 73,000 containers, and earned a 20 percent premium (12c per container) from local recycling centers for the bottles, cans and plastics we redeemed during a two week “Holiday Premium” period between November 15-December 1. Due in part to our Covid-confinement during the past year, and the closure or recycling centers at most retail outlets, it has become more difficult to redeem beverage containers for their 10c deposit. Our donations to Bethel Church represented an increase of more than 27 percent during the past year, as most of us stayed home, drinking from 12 oz containers, instead of eating and drinking away from home.

A growing number of families in our community no longer have the luxury of having a home of their own, or a safe place to shelter. Family Promise of Beaverton works with homeless families in our community to get them back into permanent, sustainable housing and employment as quickly as possible. Through Family Promise, guests receive food, shelter, and comprehensive support services. Guests families also have the opportunity to develop enduring life skills through individualized case management by staff and through personal mentoring by volunteers. Lois O’Halloran, chairwoman of Family Promise Beaverton recently reported how her group has been working to help local families in need:

We have had three babies born in our program since COVID. Our most recent Mom lived in her car with her 3 year old daughter until she was 8 months pregnant in order to keep her baby in her tummy safe and her 3 year old safe. Once she heard about our program we were able to take her in and guide her to appropriate medical care. She had an emergency C-section. She and her newborn son have been hospitalized 7 times in the last month and each had an additional emergency surgery. They are both on a path to healing now. We are so grateful to all our donors that allowed us to be able to serve this mom. She is amazingly resilient and with the right tools will be one of our success stories. She is passionate about making a better life for her children. We are passionate about helping her.

Thank you Bethel! Our donations during the past year have not only made a tangible benefit to our community - they have also protected our own families and public health, cleaned out our garages, and benefited our environment. That’s certainly worth toasting! So drink up, and cheers!

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.

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.