Beacon News
September 6, 2020
Gospel Sunday
Text for Tired Eyes by Tyler Knott Gregson
Be there to see it, the wings of geese in the lightlessness.
The blur of hummingbirds roaring
softly on summer porches,
the earthquake of thunder
when you swear that dusk will never fade out.
Be for this,
keep being, for there is music
in all this,
quietly it plays, almost inaudible,
but the melody remains.
Be for this,
and lend yourself to the
perfect cacophony.
Our Church Calendar is Listed Below.
Friday, September 4, 10 a.m. – No Coffee Chats with Pastor Sarah this week!
Sunday, September 6, 10 a.m. Recorded Worship on YouTube
Please NOTE! We will have a very special service for this Sunday that will NOT be Zoom but will be loaded to our YouTube Channel. Continue reading our Beacon for more information! You may watch this service any time on Sunday.
For our YouTube Channel. Click here!
Tuesday, September 8, 7 p.m. Finance Committee
Wednesday, September 9, 9:30 a.m. – Pastor’s Bible Study Join us as we gather weekly via Zoom as we walk through the life of David.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/568102184.
Meeting ID: 568 102 184 No password created.
Wednesday, September 9, 7 p.m. Book discussion group on the book–Dear Church: A Love Letter by Lenny Duncan
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83184116789?pwd=TFpuOVNsM0Y3MWw0c2NGVDIydGMvdz09
Meeting ID: 831 8411 6789
Passcode: 620468
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,83184116789#,,,,,,0#,,620468# US (Chicago)
+19292056099,,83184116789#,,,,,,0#,,620468# US (New York)
Thursday, September 10, 10 a.m. – Prayer Time Pastor Sarah will lead a brief time of prayer every Thursday at 10 a.m. via Zoom. Perfect for those of you at home or work who need a quick “lift” for the rest of the day.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 529 280 391
No password created.
One tap mobile: +13126266799,,529280391# US (Chicago)
Friday, September 11, 10 a.m. – Coffee Chats with Pastor Sarah.
Join Pastor Sarah for relaxed conversation and catching up every Friday morning. You may drop in and leave when it’s convenient.
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 117 491 031
No password created.
One tap mobile: +13126266799,,117491031# US (Chicago)
Sunday, September 13 10 a.m. Worship
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/602272570?pwd=VUdRVVp6NkRNczl5QjFnUkF4OGt4Zz09
Meeting ID: 602 272 570
Password: 344276
One tap mobile
+13126266799,,602272570#,,#,344276# US (Chicago)
Virtual Fellowship will follow our service.
You can watch our services after they happen on our YouTube Channel. Click here!
Ways to Grow and Learn
Bible Study continues…
We gather on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom for our Pastor’s Bible Study. All are welcome, and no preparation and previous knowledge is required.
We are walking through the life of David, King of Israel. Come and learn more about this complicated man. And we are getting to the “good stuff”—that is, topics and realities of David that you normally don’t hear in a homily on Sunday. Join us!
Pastor Sarah will lead a discussion on the book, Dear Church: A Love Letter by Lenny Duncan on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. We will walk through the discussion questions found in the back of the paperback edition. Please, this discussion is for those who have read at least half of the book by Sept. 9th. We hope to have an honest conversation about the book, the author’s points concerning the ELCA and more. If you have any questions, please connect with Pastor Sarah.
We will be taking a break from our discussion, Troubling the Waters, until Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. The planning committee felt we needed to wait until fall schedules were in place for our families and for members to return from their vacations. Please make a note in your calendar to join us again on Sept. 17.
Link to Materials:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kmbe4fkcbbdkeqf/AADdapbc7vJXGrPLxppTdjTCa?dl=0
Ways to Love, Serve and Give
Pastor Sarah will “ride” for Outreach for Hope’s main fundraiser during the month of September. Like last year, she has set up a fundraising page for this Lutheran charity here in Milwaukee. Support local ministries of our synod through supporting Outreach for Hope. Click here to donate to her page directly.
“What fun this has been to see the donations come in after making it personal! And yes, I will definitely be walking the 10+ miles during the month of September—and if I reach 500% of my goal—and we are close—I will double my miles to 20!” – Pastor Sarah
Do you wonder what Outreach for Hope does? It is the arm of the synod which coordinates partner ministries like we have with Hephatha. We are one of many churches that support sister churches in Milwaukee—Hephatha has over 20 ministry partners like us. Watch this great video from Pastor Mary Martha, made by OFH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmmjNmaLaZE&feature=youtu.be
Turn Your Computer Off Overnight
If you turn your computer off every night, again you will reduce the power you use. You will save an average of $14 a year. It’s not a huge amount, but better in your pocket than your energy suppliers, right?
Our 2020 coffee import is shipping from Tanzania. Your online coffee orders are helping to support the coffee farmers on Mt Meru. Even though the international coffee market is at its lowest price for years the Mt Meru Coffee Project continues to pay the consistently high price it has paid for years. This additional income is improving the standard of living in the Meru Diocese. PRICES AT OUR WEBSITE WILL INCREASE TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8th Added funds will be used to for increased costs and to add to programs in the Meru Diocese. -We have not had a price increase since 2011.
A special request from Pastor Mary Martha:
One of our Hephatha 17-year-olds would like to lift weights while he is away from the church gym. Would someone in your congregation possibly have a bench and set of weights they no longer use? Terrill would put them to good use. Thank you and God’s peace to you, Mary Martha. Please contact [email protected] if you do!
To assist globally, Lutheran World Relief is on the front lines in many places across the globe. You may help globally here.
Another place that can use our help locally is Hunger Task Force. You may remember Pastor Sarah sharing how in August she is not purchasing un-needed items and she is funneling funds to HTF if she forgets— well, she is up to 78.50 so far!
Click here to donate Directly to HTF.
Ways to Connect and Share
The Bay Shore Lutheran Church Foundation (BSLCF) is accepting grant applications until September 30, 2020. Grant requests should reflect the religious, charitable and educational responsibilities of Bay Shore Lutheran Church (BSLC), including furtherance of its spiritual ministry, care of its physical properties, implementation of educational responsibilities, and support of organizations and groups within the congregation. Grants from the BSLCF are intended to supplement, not substitute, financing provided by the normal BSLC operating budget. Grant applications can also be considered for support of agencies and activities outside of the BSLC congregation which have, in the opinion of the Foundation, a clearly identifiable Lutheran character and emphasis, complementing the ministry of BSLC and/or providing services to its membership. These grants should also reflect a religious, charitable and educational responsibility and focus. The grant application form is available now by contacting the church office at [email protected]
Prayer of the Week: Prayer for students
Dear God, please grant our students as they are returning to their schools, the self-discipline to complete their classwork through virtual means and safety when they come in contact with other students for study or community. We pray that these students would not disregard precautions that need to be taken out of a false sense of security. We also pray that our students would not be fearful, rather we pray that they would be hopeful about the future and that they would be content with what they currently have and the direction they are heading in. Help us to think of others more than we think of ourselves, and help us look to you, God, above all other things. May our troubled minds rest on the things above and find joy in your steadfast love for us.
In your name above all names, Jesus, Amen.
Reading for this Sunday, September 6
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18:15-20 Jesus offers practical advice to his disciples on how individuals—and the church as a whole—should go about restoring relationships when one member has sinned against another.
15“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Click here to see our Sunday’s Order of Worship to be used at home. It includes our hymns, too.
THANK YOU, MISSION PARTNERS AT BAY SHORE!
8-28-20
Dear Bay Shore Lutheran Church Mission Partners,
Thank you for your continued support and mission partnership in the Gospel with us at Hephatha. In this time of hardship and struggle, we have been able to grow goodness in the Gospel in our congregation and community. THANK YOU for your part in this goodness that grows like wheat in the field of God. THANK YOU for your tremendous support of summer work ministry and our back-to-school efforts for our young people.
We are thankful to share with you some signs of God’s goodness growing in our work together this summer:
+ Worship on our website: hephatha100.com (please visit us): Sunday and Wednesday worship videos in YouTube format and weekly holy communion Sundays at 10:30 a.m. by ZOOM. We would love to see you! Sunday School for adults and youth by ZOOM every week since the building closed!
+ Summer Work Ministry for our young people took place over ZOOM and the young people served by visiting elders over the phone, cleaning up the community and planting flowers in SAFE MODE (only with one’s own family), and dwelling in the prayer of St. Francis, “Lord, make us instruments of your peace.” Almost $13,000 of back to school gift cards for new clothing will be delivered to the work ministry youth, who give a collective offering of $1,300 to our companion synod in Tanzania. Back packs with school supplies have been delivered to every work ministry family. We thank God for our young people.
+ Food distributions in partnership with Just One More Meal Ministry continue almost weekly on the front sidewalk of Hephatha. 3,000 pounds of food at a time, people are fed. Countless gift cards for food have also been shared in this time of economic hardship.
+ Our anti-racism work continues with young people of Hephatha joining me to offer a presentation to our national church entitled, “To Be Young, Gifted And Black Servants of God.” You can view this one hour presentation by going to: www.elcacoaching.org .
Then scroll to the recording of the Wednesday, August 12th Session,
“TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK SERVANTS OF GOD.”
We have not missed a beat in our Coalition On Lead Emergency and Strong Baby Sanctuary work, addressing through direct service and advocacy the evil and harmful impact of lead poisoning and infant mortality on the black community.
+ Our congregation continues our meaningful community partnerships including hard work in the community garden and orchard in our neighborhood, continued care for the local public school, work to support the Benedict Center through grants and use of our showers and washer/dryer area for those women who live and work on the streets. We are thankful to be a community hub in virtual modes of ministry these days.
YOU ARE WITH US IN IT ALL—thank you for your offerings, prayers and goodness to us. We thank God for you and we miss seeing you face to face.
God’s peace to you, Pastor Mary Martha and Hephatha Lutheran Church
Stay in Touch
STAFF
Pastor Sarah Stobie [email protected]
Kate Yelvington, Parish Admin [email protected]
Dulcie Shoener, Minister of Music [email protected]
Daniel Ellis, Choir Director [email protected]
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