November 12, 2023

Stewardship Sunday

Fall Worship at 9:30 am

Followed by Fellowship and Learning Hour

 

Presiding Minister: Pastor Tim Keyl

Assisting Minister: Blair Goodlin

Organist & Music Director: Isaac Lee

Lectors: Greta Lee & Sue Berube

Altar Guild: Richard Ford

Livestream: Nora Lee

Tellers: Blair Goodlin & Dianne Witte

Ushers: Chris Lee & Eleanor Lee

Bread Baker: Anna Franz

Coffee Set-Up: Ray Bussolini

Worship Livestream

We stream Sunday worship services live on Bethesda’s YouTube Channel. Join us live at 9:30 am every Sunday or watch the recording afterward.

Click here to access this Sunday's bulletin.

From the Pastor

Consider me an exhorter. What are you?

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12:6-8)

I love, love, love this passage from Paul’s writing. It falls under the umbrella that everyone has something to offer. And that no one is better than anyone else. You should know that one of my favorite phrases is: together we are stronger.  

In a book about the many roles that pastors play, there are words like prophet, caregiver, fundraiser, preacher, firefighter. One of my favorites is cheerleader. Pastors get to cheer people on for the common work we do, and for individual sharing of gifts.  This is what Paul means in Romans about the exhorter.

Bethesda has so many strengths. Look at this enews for all the ways we are engaged with the world around us and our own community.

Remember the generosity stories we have been hearing by the Stewardship Team and seeing on post-it notes. 

Bethesda’s leaders are diligently working to ensure Bethesda’s good future with God and with God’s people, in ways we may never have imagined before.  They are to be commended.

Bethesda’s student community finds company with us, those who worship with us and who live at Bethesda House.

Caretakers, choir, Bethesda Nursery School, children and youth, staff, Debra who cleans our space, all are essential to what God represents through us.

While we imagine our future, we also glory in the present. While we concern ourselves with injustices, tragedies, wars, and uncertainties, every small act of prayer, giving, advocacy, and empathy all participate in God’s great reconciliation project.

Consider me a cheerleader. Consider me an exhorter. What gifts do you claim?

Pastor Tim Keyl

Reformation Concert!

On Reformation Sunday, Bethesda Music Series presented their annual Reformation Concert featuring the choirs of Bethesda and United church on the Green with members of the New Haven Symphony in Bach’s Cantata 99, “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” or “What God does, that is done well.” Under the leadership of Bethesda’s new Music Director, Isaac Lee, the concert also featured works by Thunder and Mendelssohn. About 100 people attended, raising nearly $900 for Christian Community Action. 

Thank you to the Bethesda Community, neighbors, and friends for your support. Concert donations in support of CCA are still being gratefully accepted online.

Margaret Astrup

BMS Chair

CCA Updates

CCA's special requests for November: shelf-stable desserts, pasta and stuffing.

Assembling Thanksgiving Baskets for CCA families

Saturday, Nov. 18, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, at Casa de Oración Y Adoración,

555 Columbus Ave, all ages are invited to move menu items to create assembled Thanksgiving dinners. You may bring boxes or bags of stuffing with you, or boxed mixes of corn bread or pies.  

Mostly we need human power to lift potatoes, turkeys, cans of cranberry sauce, and then load them onto trucks. All this is ably directed by CCA staff.  RSVP if you can to Priscilla Meléndez [email protected]. Carpooling is encouraged.

November 12th is Stewardship Sunday

Offer your intention for giving in 2024

Bring food to share for a potluck following worship

These past weeks, we have been reminded of the great treasure we have in the people we know and love who are generous. These acts of generosity come in ways both large and small. I had benefactors who paid for my seminary education (that’s large!). On Easter Day 2023, a small child gave me her artwork which she produced during worship that’s still on my refrigerator back home (that’s small, but really not so small).

We heard generosity stories from the Stewardship Team. We have been invited to place post-it notes noticing generosity in others and there’s still time to make more until November 12.

If you haven't already, share your intention for giving in 2024 using online or hard copy (paper) forms (Stewardship Pledge Form 2024.pdf; Online Stewardship Pledge Form 2024). Mail (305 St. Ronan Street, New Haven CT 06511) or email the hard copies ([email protected]), or bring them on Sunday, November 12.         

On the 12th, we will talk with one another about stewardship over dessert. And we will give thanks for all the ways that we live and serve together under the one who gave us life and life abundant, our loving God who showed us that love through Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Keyl and the Stewardship Team (Callie Micale, Marietta Meyer, Dianne Witte, and Blair Goodlin)

Click here for online stewardship pledge form

Bethesda Office Assistant Transition

Tyler Fair is leaving the Office Assistant position but not leaving Bethesda or Bethesda House’s Ministry. His last day is November 18. Blessings for Tyler as he continues his studies and various other commitments.

As a result, the office assistant position is now available for applicants. It is a ten-hour a week job publishing the enews and Sunday bulletins, recruiting volunteers for Sunday worship roles, interfacing with Administrator Leigh and Pastor Keyl, with some website and social media posting. This is ideal for students or anybody with skills with wordsmithing, layout, graphics, and marketing. You get to work with Bethesda’s fabulous staff and congregation. Contact Leigh at [email protected], or Pastor Keyl at [email protected].

Please get the word out to those you know who might be interested.

Super Saturday November 11

Dear Bethesda families and friends:

So glad to be celebrating our first SUPER SATURDAY of this fall On Saturday, November 11 @ 5:00 PM in the Parish House living room. As always, we will play outside (weather permitting), will eat pizza, salad, and ice cream. And YES, we will watch an age-appropriate movie (suggestions for movies, please). You are welcome to bring snacks or something to share. I will bring salad and ice-cream.

Invite your family and friends!!! And thanks be to God for the opportunity of being in community!! 

Also mark your calendar for the CCA Thanksgiving Basket Assembly Fun on November 18 from 11:30-1:30 at 555 Columbus Ave. More information later.

Best wishes,

Priscilla

RSVP if you can come, but come anyway if you forget to respond.

We Need Volunteers for November

Email administrative assistant, Tyler Fair ([email protected]) to volunteer for needed roles!

Thanks for volunteering and signing the orange binder! Lots of volunteer needs for November 19th.

Bethesda’s Youth are Making Pies!

Love making pies? Join Us! If you love to make pies and would like to join us on Saturday, 11/11 anytime between 9am and 3pm in the Campanius room, please stop by! The confirmation youth and their families would love to chat over peeling apples and stirring pumpkin puree!

The Middle East Crisis and our Companions There

The New England Synod has a companion church relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) Pastor Tim has traveled there and led groups there numerous times since 2006 and chairs the synod Global Mission Team. Since the outbreak of violence in October 7, that team has convened a presentation to pastors and released a statement. Pastor Tim has been in contact with Bishop Azar there, other friends and partners, and working groups in the ELCA, sharing information and courses of action. 

See a recent email from the synod about Pastor Tim’s work. See this link for a variety of resources. And consider registering for a Zoom Prayer for Lament and Peace sponsored by The Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH) on Friday, November 10 at 1:30 pm.

Barnyard Coin Boxes

God’s Global Barnyard Coin Boxes will be distributed on Sunday to collect coins (or paper currency, or checks….) toward ELCA Hunger. Bring the boxes home, fill them over the next months, and plan to return them on Palm/Passion Sunday. This is an initiative of Bethesda’s Sunday School Children.

Pastor Tim and Pastor Kari Henkelmann Keyl will be away at the annual Synod Convocation in Southbridge, MA Monday through Wednesday, November 13-15.

High Hill Orchard in Meriden begins its monthly winter CSA produce drop off and pick up Sunday from Bethesda’s Parish House on Sunday. You may notice Kathleen staffing boxes of cider, potatoes, turnips, etc.

MEF Matching Grant in support of Student Ministry 

Student Ministry Fund Efforts have met their match!

Thanks to a matching grant of over $2,000 from Bethesda’s Mission Endowment Fund (MEF), the balance of Bethesda’s Student Ministry Fund has gone from in the red to in the black. Barely. Many thanks to those who have donated. Please continue to donate to that fund to support current and future student ministry initiatives at Bethesda. Bethesda is grateful for its students

Prayer Requests

For healing and strength: Michele Meyer, daughter-in-law of Marietta Meyer; Pastor Betsy Williams, Linda Johnson; John Ferreira, nephew of Chris Couture; Marie Gray; Sonja Krummrey; Maureen Anderson; Shirley Farm; Anne and Lee Keck; Kay Leone; Molly Dinneen; Matthew H., cousin of Tyler Fair.

For our partners in the Gospel: the congregations and schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and LuMin Campus Ministry; for Bethesda House and Yale Divinity School students.

For the baptism of Nora (Eleanor) Yukich on November 23, 2014

For our Ecumenical Partners Worldwide: Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia. The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle takes us through every region of the world over the course of a year.

Pray for an end to violence in the Middle East: Donations are being received from Lutheran Disaster Response, or you may give through Bethesda, memo: “ELCJHL”. 

For Bethesda New Haven: that God continues to guide us into the future with ministries of witness, service, hospitality, and care while building up our community in all its diversity.

For those in candidacy or seeking candidacy for rostered leadership in the ELCA: Natalie Benson, Tyler Fair, Calli Micale, Tim Bergeland, Jordan Baker.