11 o'clock Worship in the Park

11 o'clock Worship

this Sunday, June 29, 2014

will be at

Green Valley Park*

 

*Weather permitting, of course.


"The good Lord willing, and the creek don't rise," the Sunday Q&A Sunday School Class will meet at 10am at Green Valley Park (all other Sunday School classes are cancelled).  And our regular, Sunday morning 11am Worship Service will be at Green Valley Park on Big Hill Road, just a few miles down from the church.  The Grubb family musicians and friends will be leading us in singing!


Bring a bag lunch for you and your family - stay and fellowship with us after worship is over!


Rain plans:  If it rains, we'll have worship (11am) and Sunday Q&A Class (10am) at the church.

Join Us and Grace for VBS!

Hello,

This year, we'll be teaming up with Grace to do VBS, and we are reaching out to include adults!  Here's a promotional video!

Location: Grace Lutheran Church
               115 E King St
               Boone, NC 28607
Date:       June 22-24, 2014
               6-8:30pm each night
Theme:    Weird Animals

Coalition Gathering in the Park

Join us in the Park!

Sunday, June 15

at 5pm

Green Valley Park

 

The churches of the High Country Lutheran Coalition will once again be having Summer Coalition Gatherings.  The first Gathering is hosted by Bethany. 

Everyone is invited to come out for fellowship and outdoor games, a covered dish meal, and outdoor worship by the banks of the New River with the Grubb family musicians and friends!

Shall We Gather at the River?

What to bring:
Bring any outdoor games you have

Bring your Bocce ball set!

Bring a covered dish meal

Bethany folks will provide drinks and paper products.  You may also bring a folding chair if you like.



A Playground for the little ones

We look forward to seeing you there!  And go ahead and mark your calendars for the next gatherings:

• July 13, 5pm at Holy Communion, when we will say Farewell to our vicars
• August 10, 5pm at Lutherock, hosted by Grace

Come, Holy Spirit!

It may seem hard to believe, but this Sunday will already be day number fifty since Easter.  (It seems to this vicar that Ash Wednesday was just yesterday!)  That means that this Sunday is the Day of Pentecost.

Pentecost is originally a Jewish festival that comes fifty days after Passover and commemorates when the God gave the law to Moses at Sinai (think of Exodus 20:1-21).  The original name in Greek just means "fiftieth."

Of course, it's significant for us as Christians for another reason.  It was at Pentecost that the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in a rush of wind and in divided tongues of fire (Acts 2:2-4).  That is why one traditional phrase that the Church has used on this day is "Veni, Sancte Spiritus--Come, Holy Spirit!" Filled with the Spirit, the apostles were able to speak to a crowd of people from all different places speaking all different languages who had gathered for the festival.  If you've ever labored through trying to take a foreign language in school or even through Rosetta Stone, you have to be jealous!  

This promised sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), which we heard about on both Ascension Day and Easter 7 (last Sunday), allows the Holy Spirit to continue the hard work of building the Church after Jesus is in heaven.  That's why you will often hear Pentecost called "the birthday of the Church."

A Pentecost "birthday card" to the Church (From: 2 x 2: The Church without a Building)

Flash forward: For us as Christians today, we receive the Holy Spirit in our baptisms.  Because of that, Pentecost is seen as an especially appropriate time to give thanks to God for the gift of baptism.  Often, the rite of confirmation, which reaffirms the baptismal promises, will take place on Pentecost.

This Sunday, we'll get a special chance to celebrate the birthday of the Church, the coming of the Spirit to the apostles, and the coming of the Spirit to us in our baptisms.  How?  Well, of course we'll have hymns about the Holy Spirit, of course we'll have Holy Communion, and of course Pr. Laura will preach a great sermon, but another way to celebrate is to wear red.  Red in the Church is always associated with the Holy Spirit.*  It reminds us of the tongues of fire that descended on the apostles, as well as the fire of God's Word (think Jeremiah 23:29 or even Luke 12:49).

*For instance, when we use red on Reformation Day, we are remembering how the Spirit breathed new life into the Church during the Reformation.  

So what is it?  The Day of Pentecost!  When/where is it?  11am this Sunday, June 8 here at Bethany!  Celebrate the Holy Spirit!  Celebrate the Church!  Celebrate your baptism!  Join us for Pentecost!