Beaverton High School Community Partners will be packing and delivering hygiene and paper goods to Beaverton High School for families to choose at the daily nutrition pick up. These products will support families affected by the school closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Items to be collected are: deodorant, razors, shaving cream, laundry pods, dental supplies, soap, toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissues, hair care and feminine hygiene products. Bethel has been assigned the paper products but all donations are welcome. If you would like to drop any of these items off, pull into the Parkside Fellowship parking lot at 5755 SW Erickson, Beaverton, OR 97005. Drop off will be Thursdays from 10 AM to 1 PM into June. Volunteers receiving these donated items will be practicing safe handling and distancing to keep everyone healthy. Volunteers will also package these items into bags and deliver them to Beaverton High School. Families who are in need will be able to choose items at the normal nutrition food pick up time. Traffic Note: Allen north on Erickson turning left into church lot works better than taking Farmington south on Erickson because of the long meal pick up lines.
Thanks for all you do as a caring, vibrant congregation!
-Nancy Winston
Bethel Continues to Support Beaverton High School
Beaverton High School Community Partners will be packing and delivering hygiene and paper goods to Beaverton High School for families to choose at the daily nutrition pick up. These products will support families affected by the school closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Items to be collected are: deodorant, razors, shaving cream, laundry pods, dental supplies, soap, toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissues, hair care and feminine hygiene products. Bethel has been assigned the paper products but all donations are welcome. If you would like to drop any of these items off, pull into the Parkside Fellowship parking lot at 5755 SW Erickson, Beaverton, OR 97005. Drop off will be Thursdays from 10 AM to 1 PM into June. Volunteers receiving these donated items will be practicing safe handling and distancing to keep everyone healthy. Volunteers will also package these items into bags and deliver them to Beaverton High School. Families who are in need will be able to choose items at the normal nutrition food pick up time. Traffic Note: Allen north on Erickson turning left into church lot works better than taking Farmington south on Erickson because of the long meal pick up lines.
Thanks for all you do as a caring, vibrant congregation!
-Nancy Winston
Easter Service and Hallelujah Chorus Music
We will celebrate Easter and the risen Christ this Sunday, April 12 at 10:00 AM. Join us on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/BethelBeaverton/) or on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207 or by telephone at +1 301 715 8592, Meeting ID: 140 844 207). This all-generational virtual worship will celebrate Christ’s resurrection with special music, prayers and liturgy. An invitation to sing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus will conclude worship.
Hallelujah Chorus Music
On Easter Sunday our service will conclude with the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. If you'd like to sing along the sheet music can be downloaded in pdf form here (http://music.untraveledroad.com/Handel/Hallelujah.pdf). You will be singing along with a recording from Bethel's performance of Handel's Messiah with Mt Hood Community College Orchestra in 2015.
Holy Week Schedule
Though we anticipate that we will be asked to stay home through Holy Week and even Easter during this very unusual year, we are still going to be commemorating the Passion of Jesus Christ and Holy Week at Bethel. Make plans now to join us for virtual Holy Week services online beginning Sunday, April 5. During Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday services, we will celebrate the sacrament of Communion via Zoom and Facebook Live. Be prepared to improvise in your own homes what you would like to eat and drink to symbolize the “bread” and the “cup” when it is time to “share the elements”.
Bethel begins the celebration with a Palm Sunday service on Sunday, April 5 at 10:00 AM. Join us on Facebook Live or on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207).
We will have a Maundy Thursday service on Thursday, April 9 at 7:00 PM. Note that the time has changed from our typical Maundy Thursday time. Join us on Facebook Live or on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207).
On Good Friday, April 10 at 10:00 AM, we will livestream a special Stations of the Cross service on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207).
We will celebrate Easter and the risen Christ on April 12 at 10:00 AM. Join us on Facebook Live or on Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207).
Staying Connected during COVID-19
Pastor David and Bethel staff have been monitoring the COVID-19 spread and following the guidelines of the CDC and the Oregon Health Authority. We are prioritizing the safety of our church community and we are implementing the following measures to try to keep everyone safe and healthy:
We will be broadcasting Sunday worship live on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BethelBeaverton/) and Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207) on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM. We will be mailing Sunday School materials to our Bethel families with children enrolled in Sunday School.
Even if you've not been attending the Sunday or Tuesday class, everyone is welcome to join us on Tuesday at 11:30 am or 7 pm for the Entering the Passion of Jesus Class via Zoom. The Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/925811459
During this time of social distancing, it is important to feel connected so please join us for a time of prayer at 6 pm on Wednesday via Zoom. The Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/287178245
Pastor David will be hosting an open drop in session for checking in on Zoom each Friday from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM here: https://zoom.us/j/8946314945
Beth will be hosting an open drop in session for checking in on Zoom each Monday from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM here: https://zoom.us/j/8946314945
Our office will be closed, but you can continue to reach Courtney by email at office@bethelbeaverton.org, Beth at ba@bethelbeaverton.org, and Pastor David at drb@bethelbeaverton.org. Staff remote office hours will still be Monday through Friday from 9 AM – 3 PM. While we are working remotely, we will still be checking our voicemails throughout the day but may not be able to respond to your calls as quickly.
Your pledges and donations keep things running at Bethel. You can send us your pledge, offering, or donation by:
Dropping a check off in the mail slot by the Watson Street doors by the choir robes. It will go into a locked box the staff can access.
Putting a check in the mail.
Giving online through e-Giving by clicking here: https://giving.ncsservices.org/App/Giving/bethelucc
If you pay your bills online through your financial institution, you can make Bethel UCC one of your online bill payees and have your financial institution send us a check.
If you're in need of help or feeling particularly anxious and alone, please reach out either to one of us directly or on the Bethel Misfits Closed Facebook Group. Together, we can all be creative in finding ways to stay connected and share God's love with one another.
COVID-19 Update
Broadcasting Sunday worship live on Facebook and Zoom
Pastor David and Bethel staff have been monitoring the COVID-19 spread and following the guidelines of the CDC and the Oregon Health Authority. We are prioritizing the safety of our church community and we are implementing the following measures to try to keep everyone safe and healthy:
We will be broadcasting Sunday worship live on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/BethelBeaverton/) and Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/140844207) on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM. We will be mailing Sunday School materials to our Bethel families with children enrolled in Sunday School.
Our office will be closed, but you can continue to reach Courtney by email at office@bethelbeaverton.org, Beth at ba@bethelbeaverton.org, and Pastor David at drb@bethelbeaverton.org. Staff remote office hours will still be Monday through Friday from 9 AM – 3 PM. While we are working remotely, we will still be checking our voicemails throughout the day but may not be able to respond to your calls as quickly.
Your pledges and donations keep things running at Bethel. You can send us your pledge, offering, or donation by:
Dropping a check off in the mail slot by the Watson Street doors by the choir robes. It will go into a locked box the staff can access.
Putting a check in the mail.
Giving online through e-Giving by clicking here: https://giving.ncsservices.org/App/Giving/bethelucc
If you pay your bills online through your financial institution, you can make Bethel UCC one of your online bill payees and have your financial institution send us a check.
If you're in need of help or feeling particularly anxious and alone, please reach out either to one of us directly or on the Bethel Misfits Closed Facebook Group. Together, we can all be creative in finding ways to stay connected and share God's love with one another.
Even if you've not been attending the Sunday or Tuesday class, everyone is welcome to join us on Tuesday at 11:30 am or 7 pm for the Entering the Passion of Jesus Class via Zoom. The Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/925811459
During this time of social distancing, it is important to feel connected so please join us for a time of prayer at 6 pm on Wednesday via Zoom. The Zoom link is: https://zoom.us/j/287178245
Weekly Highlights
Please read the previous post for information on COVID-19 actions.
COVID-19 Update
Dear Bethel Members and Friends,
After careful consideration from myself, Bethel’s moderators, and other key lay leaders, and under the advisement of our Central Pacific Conference minister Rev. Tyler Connoley, we have decided to cancel Sunday worship for this Sunday, March 15.
On March 12, Gov. Kate Brown issued an official notice about her decision to prohibit large public gatherings, as well as the closure of all schools statewide. Within that document she asks people in vulnerable categories (which includes people over 60 years old) not to gather in groups of more than 10 people. In light of these advisories, our conference minister urged UCC churches in Oregon to cease holding worship services until Easter.
We have had to consider what is best for our Bethel community at this time. We understand that church is a place that helps us to feel connected, secure, and uplifted through the most challenging of times. We also feel strongly committed to safety, the health of our community, and see the value of guidelines that aim to protect the most vulnerable among us. While we have decided to cancel this upcoming worship service, Bethel staff and committee chairs plan to embrace this challenge with creativity, flexibility, and resilience. We will be updating you with our plans for moving our worship services and programs online, convening via teleconference, and staying connected as a community when we can’t gather for Sunday worship in our typical manner.
Grubby Sunday and the Potato Bar fundraiser originally scheduled for Sunday, March 15 have been postponed.
The BHS effort to feed the homeless teens WILL continue as scheduled. Special food handling precautions will be followed Sunday evening when food is gathered and Monday morning when it is delivered to Beaverton High School.
The food cupboard will remain open, at least for this week. Nancy Hilbrick has crafted safe food handling protocols that will protect volunteers and those we serve.
Since we will not be gathering in the Fellowship Hall his Sunday, Beth Astarte and I will offer a “virtual” worship service via Facebook Live on our Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ Facebook page. If you are not a Facebook user, a video recording will be made available shortly after the service is over. The video will be posted on our website through our YouTube channel.
As we adjust to the reality and restraints of the pandemic, we intend to create better, more accessible live-streaming technology for the broadcasting of Sunday worship. Also, we are exploring ways to stay connected during the week.
Zoom teleconferencing is an excellent tool that we’ve been using in the Central Pacific Conference, and for Lenten classes for a couple of years. We hope that we can hold a Zoom “mid-week prayer meeting” to both make a connection with each other and to test a new way of creating community. We will notify you via email with instructions to join a mid-week gathering.
I can honestly say that I have never before experienced a health threat that has generated the universal closures of public gathering places. It pains me to limit our contact. It challenges my sense of what it means to be “church.” And yet, I feel responsible for the well-being of our church community, and the larger community of Beaverton to which we belong. I cannot ignore the guidance of public health authorities and the common sense of limiting exposure.
As difficult as this time is for us, I trust that our “virtual” gatherings will help us to focus on life not illness. I trust that we can be creative and imaginative with staying connected. I trust we can rely on tried and true methods of contact, like notes and phone calls.
Remember from our mission statement, “no matter who we are, or where we are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” Our journeys may have more physical distance than usual, but by the Spirit of Christ, we remain “one body”.
Grace abounds!
Rev. David Randall-Bodman
Senior Pastor
BHS Spring Food Drive
We provide a basic supply of groceries to feed homeless students at BHS for the 9 day spring break. We successfully met our goals for food collection for this spring drive! Now it's time to get ready to pack and deliver bags of groceries. The packing and delivery of the food will be March 16 at 9:00 am. Laying the food out occurs the night before, March 15 at 6:30 pm. Thanks in advance for your help with this
CPC Conference Minister Rev. Tyler Connoley Visiting
We will be joined by a special visitor this Sunday! Rev. Tyler Connoley, our newest CPC Conference Minister, will be visiting Bethel on March 1.
From his bio on the CPC website: Rev. Tyler Connoley is fifth-generation clergy, so you could say church is in his DNA. He has spent most of his adult life serving in the church, first as a lay leader and then as an ordained minister. He grew up in Zambia, where his parents were missionaries in the Wesleyan Church. He came to the United Church of Christ in 2004, and has served in the conference setting of the UCC since 2014. This is his first position as Conference Minister.
Tyler loves connecting people, and helping them find their calling, and has years of experience in group and individual discernment processes. He has been a prophetic voice, advocating for full LGBTQ+ religious inclusion since he came out in 1992. He has more-recently been on the streets advocating for racial and economic justice, taking arrest for the first time in 2019 in an action for Immigrant Justice at the Federal Building in St. Louis. A biblical theologian and storyteller, Tyler has a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Divinity, both from Earlham School of Religion. His undergraduate degree is in Business and Economics from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Entering the Passion of Jesus
Mark your calendars for a very special Lent series - Entering the Passion of Jesus. Inspired by Amy-Jill Levine’s book by the same name, this Worship Design Studio series takes us deeply into the events of the last week of Jesus' life. The events of Christ’s Passion often don’t receive enough time in our worship and study. These stories are important to our faith journey and our identity as followers of Jesus. And yet, the time between Palm Sunday and Easter moves so quickly that we have little time to take in the dramatic story of that last week. During the weeks of Lent, we will “freeze-frame” moments in Holy Week so we might put ourselves in the picture, thereby “Entering the Passion of Jesus.” How might taking a closer look at the ancient story open us to deeper conviction for our role in its ongoing message? More details will follow in the weeks ahead.
"We Care" About the Homeless
The Bethel UCC Youth are raising money this winter to put together 100 "We Care" bags for anyone who wants to take 2 or 3 bags to keep in their car and distribute to homeless persons in our community. (This is similar to the Blessing Bag project we did a couple of years ago.)
To reach our goal, we need to collect items or donations between now and March 29. A cash donation of $20 earmarked for this project will fund a "We Care" Bag that contains basic toiletries, healthy snacks, warm clothing articles and special notes from Bethel youth. 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 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 the Bethel UCC youth! If you have any question, please contact Beth Astarte.
Black Girls in Suburbia Documentary
Join us for a screening and community dialogue of Black Girls in Suburbia, a Documentary by Melissa Lowey on Saturday, February 22, 2020 from 4-6 pm at Southridge High School in the Community Room. This was shown at the Community Conversation about Race last week. It would be wonderful to have a contingent of Bethel people show up. If you're interested, please contact Beth. Suggested donation is $10 but all are welcome. Click here to see the trailer and a longer sneak peek by clicking here.
Faith Cafe
It's a new year and it's time for another Bethel/CHUCC Faith Cafe command performance on Sunday, February 9. Please let Susan or Peter Bauer know whether or not you will be able to help out as soon as you are able. (It helps us plan!) As before, please indicate whether you would like to help out with cooking (2 pm arrival), set-up (3:00-3:15 pm arrival), or serving (4:15-4:30 arrival).
After February 9, our next Faith Cafe volunteer opportunity will be March 29. Please mark your calendars.
A Beaverton Community-Wide Conversation Around Race
There will be a sign-up sheet for this event in the Fellowship Hall. Let's show up as a Bethel contingent!
Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday
The Bethel office will be closed on Monday, January 20 in honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday.
Please enjoy these quotes from the incomparable Martin Luther King Jr.:
“Life's most persistent and urgent question is: 'What are you doing for others?"
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
Who Are You?
You are invited to join us in the new year as we explore a new series from Worship Design Studio called Who Are You? beginning Sunday, January 12.
The new year is a great time to re-look at questions such as "Who are you?" and "Where are you going?" We find ourselves making New Year's Resolutions in an effort to become who we want to be. Sometimes they last but most of the time we end up making the same resolutions year after year. This year we'll delve deeply into the question of "Who are You?" and discover that it is linked indelibly to "Whose You Are?" What amazing things could happen if you lived
into your best, most passionate, loving self? Let's find out together!
Quarterly Women's Gathering: Aim Your Arrow 2020
Join us on Saturday, January 11 from 9:30 AM to 1 PM as we start off 2020 with a special workshop designed and facilitated by Rev. Kathleen Verigin.
Are you ready to step off the edge of 2019 to a new edge that is one of your choosing? That’s what January is for! In this this fun and meaningful workshop—through meditation, reflection, and ceremony— we will together take aim for a fabulous 2020. The outcome is a Word of Intention that will guide and support you through the next calendar year.
Invite your mothers, daughters, aunts and nieces and friends. Lunch will be provided. Please bring a morning snack to share. Donations will be accepted to help offset costs. If you need child care let Paige know when you register. RSVP to Paige@unangst.net or 503-567-9946.
John Nilsen Trio
For many years the John Nilsen Trio has been performing at the Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ. This is a wonderful opportunity for the entire family to enjoy some great music and worship together. Join us at Bethel Sunday, December 29, 2019 at 10:00 AM!
2 Christmas Eve Services
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 the lighting of the special "mystery" advent candle, a participatory reenactment of the Christmas story as recorded in Scripture and an opportunity to spread the joy by lighting candles and singing Silent Night. With carols, costumes and prayers, this service provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas eve at an earlier hour.
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
You are invited to join us at a new time - 10 pm on December 24 for a candlelight service as we continue our theme of Heaven and Nature Sing: 300 Years of Joy to the World. Listen to readings, sing carols and hear beautiful music by our Chancel Choir and special guests. The service will end 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!