You are invited to join us in the new year as we explore a new series from Worship Design Studio called Bread, Bath and Beyond. The new year always brings opportunity to move beyond our limitations… to find new beginnings and be better than we were before. We use this cultural word-play to remember that the most basic transforming experiences of our faith–communion and baptism–are the starting points for life “beyond” our limitations. Let’s make this year one of amazing transformations–for our lives, for our community, for our world beginning January 13.
John Nilsen Trio
John Nilsen Trio to Play at Bethel UCC the Last Sunday of 2018. For about the last eight years, the John Nilsen Trio has been performing at the Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ during the holiday season. This year is no different and on December 30 at 10 am, they will be at Bethel again. The John Nilsen Trio is based in the Portland area and consists of John Nilsen, Jason Moore, percussionist and Jeff Leonard, bass player.
John Nilsen was born in Seattle, Washington and moved to Portland, Oregon when he was four years old. He began studying classical piano from his mother at age six and started playing the guitar at age fourteen. He attended Southern Oregon College (Southern Oregon University), graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and was honored by the institution in 1995 with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Nilsen founded the Magic Wing recording label in 1987 that has a catalog of eleven successful titles, all having international distribution. Nilsen and Jason Moore met in Ashland in 1987 and became his percussionist and in 1992, Jeff Leonard joined the group as the bass player.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the entire family to end the year, enjoy some great music and worship together on Sunday, December 30, 2018 at 10 am at Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ, 5150 SW Watson, Beaverton, Oregon.
Do Not Be Afraid: #morejoy
Matthew 1:18-25
Christmas Eve Services
2019 Schedule
Christmas Eve Family-Friendly Service
Join us in the sanctuary for a celebration of Christmas that is fun and festive for families with young children, or children of any age. Our early Christmas eve service on December 24 at 5 pm will include a participatory reenactment of the Christmas story as recorded in Scripture. With carols, costumes and prayers, this service provides a wonderful opportunity to worship on Christmas eve at an earlier hour.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
Starts at 10:00 PM in 2019
You are invited to join us December 24 for a candlelight service as we continue our theme of Angels Among Us. Listen to readings, sing carols and hear beautiful music by our Chancel and Handbell Choirs. The service will end at midnight on Christmas Day with the lighting of candles and the singing of Silent Night. It is a wonderful way to celebrate God's love through the birth of Jesus!
Nothing is Impossible: #morepeace
Christmas Pageant - #GotMyWings
Make plans now to join us on Sunday, December 23 at 10 am when the children and youth of Bethel present #GotMyWings. You will want to find out if Gabriel gets his wings after delivering messages of hope, peace, joy and love this holiday season. Owen Hofmann-Smith and Beth Astarte have once again teamed up with an original script and music along with some all time favorites! You won't want to miss it! If you would like to help with the pageant, please contact Beth.
Make Ready a People: #morehope
Blue Christmas
Each year during Advent, Bethel offers a quieter, more meditative worship service for those who are coping with serious illness, grief, loss or any of the 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, 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's Blue Christmas Worship will take place on Sunday, December 9 at 2 pm in Bethel's sanctuary. The pastor and Called to Care members will be available after the service for any who wish to stay to speak privately with someone. For further information, please contact Pastor David.
Cultivating a Spirit of Thanksgiving
Advent Small Group Study
Advent is just around the corner and you have two opportunities to go deeper with the materials through this special small group study - "Do Not Be Afraid: Defeating Fear with Hope, Peace, Love, Joy and a Wholehearted Life." This group will use Dr. Brene Brown's work on vulnerability to show us how to live more fully and the various ways we let fear affect our lives. It's a perfect time of year to explore Dr. Brown's work, not only because it complements the worship theme but also because the holidays can bring up issues of perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, stress, sorrow and old or existing family conflicts. (How many of you have family members who think and even vote differently than you do?)
Paige Unangst will be facilitating discussion at the Sunday morning 9 am "Conversations for the Curious" class beginning Sunday, December 2. If you cannot make the 9 am class, then you'll have an opportunity to join Pastor David Tuesday evenings at 7 pm electronically via Zoom (a free online meeting platform) beginning Tuesday, November 27. For questions or to join, please contact Beth. It is important if you're joining the Tuesday evening classes that you pre-register with Beth so she can make sure you can connect electronically.
Start Livin’ Right Now
2 Corinthians 6: 1-2, 16b
Beaverton High School Homeless Teens
Good news! We have enough Fred Meyer $10 gift cards for all BHS homeless students’ winter food drive. However, we still need lots more chunky/ hearty soup. We‘d like to provide 5 soups per student and we almost have enough for 1. We also have special categories that need some big donors. If you are interested in this please contact Nancy Winston or Fran Jensen. We are providing 3 meals a day for 16 days for 91 kids. That’s enough food for 4368 meals. This project includes all kinds of people. If you have a neighbor or friend that is interested in participating, please invite them to contribute or join us. Jesuit High Alums and Holy Trinity church are contributing. Check donations need to be made out to Bethel with the memo stating BHS homeless. Mark your calendar for Sunday night, December 16th starting at 6:30pm to lay out the food and Monday, December 17th starting at 9am for bag assembly and delivery. Lots of opportunities for heavy lifting!, organizing, and driving. A special thanks to the Wednesday morning Food Cupboard re-stockers-Ted, Judy, Nancy, Sara, Pat, Kathy and Mac- for already helping to stash the food for this project.
I Wanna Be Reaching Out
To see the YouTube playlist containing all the sermons in “Outside Your Own Little World” click here, or on the line icon in the upper left corner of the video.
Advent Angels - Blessing Bags
The Bethel UCC Blessing Bag Angels (BBAs) invite you to participate in this special Advent gifting opportunity. Our goal is to assemble 200 Blessing Bags on December 9th for anyone who wants to take 2 or 3 bags to keep in their car and distribute to homeless persons in our community – and enlarge your world to population two! Something special you can do with your children or grandchildren to teach them about caring/giving for those in need. To reach our goal, we need to collect items or donations between now and December 2nd. A cash donation of $20 earmarked for this project will fund a Blessing Bag that contains basic toiletries, healthy snacks and warm clothing articles. Donations by check should be made out to Bethel UCC. We would also appreciate (in lieu of a donation) a contribution of any items on the attached shopping list. Many of these items are inexpensively available at a Dollar Tree, Walmart or K-Mart, and some come packaged in multiples which will help stretch your contribution across more than one Blessing Bag. Many thanks for your help from your Bethel UCC BBAs (Sarah Bradshay, Kate Jones, Beth Asmann, Sue Pike, Mo and Nikki Manley-Smith, Liz Patch, Kanedra Thomas, Kerry Elenitoba-Johnson, and Suzanne Dunn)! .
Dying and Living
Bethel Weekly Highlights
On Saturday Night, it's time to set our clocks back an hour.
Looking forward to seeing you here at Bethel, November 4th,10:00 am, Standard Time.
All Saints Sunday November 4
This is the day we take time to remember and honor all of our departed loved ones with lighted candles. You are invited to bring a picture of your loved one and place it on the table in the Narthex under the stained glass.
Break My Heart for What Breaks Yours
YouTube playlist for this series can be found at - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkolLLTsvkiql8D7bbO1c9-AP-StIKG3R
Bethel Weekly Highlights
All Saints Sunday November 4
This is the day we take time to remember and honor all of our departed loved ones with lighted candles. Please contact the office and let us know if you have had a loved one who has passed since last November. We will have a table in the Narthex for you to bring a picture of you loved one and place it on the table
Give Me Open Hands and Open Doors
YouTube playlist for this series can be found at - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkolLLTsvkiql8D7bbO1c9-AP-StIKG3R
Bethel Weekly Highlights
Rummage Sale - a huge success!
Bethel’s 2018 All-Church Rummage Sale generated over $6,500 to be applied toward the cost of the Fellowship Hall air conditioning. We had record donations as well as record profits. Most of the items not sold during the 2-day sale were taken to Value Village in Tigard. The payment we received from them exceeded $600, also a record. Additionally, we donated hardware and home goods to Habitat for Humanity, household items to the Community Warehouse, miscellaneous items to Good Will, shoes, canvas bags and back packs for Faith Café clients and children’s furniture to the Unity of Beaverton Church – for their rummage sale.
Many thanks to our leader, Susan Scott, to members of the Rummage Sale Planning Team and to all of you who contributed time and labor. It was truly a community effort. A special thank you to those who donated items for the sale.
We have already begun to plan for next year’s All-Church Rummage Sale. Please contact George Patch (gpatch@hotmail.com or 503-625-0910) if you would like to join our planning team.
Outside My Own Little World
Global Ministries Highlight—Ghana
This week, Jean Doane is excited to introduce you to two of the newest Global Ministries Mission Co-Workers, Rev. Dr. Larry Colvin and his wife Debbie Colvin. Larry and Debbie began work in Ghana on October 1, 2018. Larry was the Regional Minister for the Disciples of Christ Mid-America Region, while Debbie, a Certified Medical Assistant, was practice manager at a kidney dialysis clinic. Our partner organization in Ghana, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, requested that Larry serve as a theology professor at Peki Seminary on the campus of Evangelical Presbyterian University in Ho, Ghana and that Debbie work with the public health ministry of the EP Church. Jean met Larry and Debbie at the Global Ministries Board meeting in Cleveland in November, 2017, when they were hoping that fund raising efforts would be sufficient to allow them to begin their work in Ghana. Thanks be to God, they received enough pledges to begin serving in Ghana. Funding for their mission follows the same Personalized Fundraising model that funded the work of Rev. Erik Free and his wife Kim Free in Mozambique. Through Mission and Outreach Committee, Bethel made annual contributions to the work of the Frees, and Erik and Kim spoke at Bethel after returning from 3 years in Mozambique. Jean and Jim Doane personally made annual gifts supporting the Frees and they are doing the same for the Colvins. Jean says, “Our hope is that people at Bethel will continue where we left off with the Frees by providing on-going support for Larry and Debbie during their 3 years in Ghana. This will help the congregation have a focus for involvement with Christianity in the world context.” More information about the Colvins and Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, including information on how to donate to their ministries, can be found at https://www.globalministries.org/colvins