I don't know how many of you know my faith background, but I am not a cradle Episcopalian. I spent most of my life in evangelical churches. My formative years were in the Assemblies of God and most of my adult life in the Southern Baptist church. Evangelism was always a central theme. As Bethesda starts this journey of evangelism, what can I draw from my forty plus years as an evangelical that can aid us? Evangelical churches define evangelism the same way we do, sharing the good news. An evangelical invites you to experience the good news in a way that will elicit a very specific response, lived out in a specific way. As Episcopalians, our experience of the good news manifests into many different lifestyles. We share these with each other and partake together from the common table. When we share the good news with others, we are not inviting someone to convert to living life and experiencing God the exact way we do, but to come and experience God with us, in their own way. What we can learn form the evangelical movement is that we live fuller more complete lives, with real hope for our future because we have a relationship with a God who desires to have a relationship with us and it is selfish on our part if we do not share that with the people we meet. Jesus commanded us to Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19), but shouldn't we want to?
Fred Staley
Associate for Administration
SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2018
Preacher (8:00 a.m., & 11:00 a.m.): The Rev. Canon Elizabeth R. Geitz Preacher (9:00 a.m.): The Rev. Burl Salmon
*8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
8:30 a.m. Fellowship Breakfast, Parish Hall West
*9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
9:30 a.m. Fellowship Finger Food, Parish Hall West
9:50 a.m. Adult Forum, Parish Hall East
9:50 a.m. Bethesda at its Best, Guild Room
9:50 a.m. 3 & 4 Year Old Sunday School, Sunday School Hall
9:50 a.m. K & 1st Grade Sunday School, Sunday School Hall
9:50 a.m. 2nd & 3rd Grade Sunday School, Sunday School Hall
9:50 a.m. 4th & 5th Grade Sunday School, Sunday School Hall
9:50 a.m. 6th & 7th Grade Sunday School, Library
9:50 a.m. 8th Grade Confirmation Group, ECW Room
9:50 a.m. 9th-12th Grade Mission Group, Youth Room
*#11:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist
Fellowship Breakfast | 8:15 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. | Parish Hall West
We will have a full breakfast, with rotating menu, for $5 per person. After 10:00 a.m., a simpler fare, fellowship finger foods, will be provided until 1:00 p.m. with no cost to our parishioners.
This week's menu: scrambled eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, biscuits, muffins, and fruit & cheese platters.
Bethesda at its Best | Sunday, April 29 | 9:50 a.m. | Guild Room
Come one, come all for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Bethesda the special place that it is. Join the clergy and vestry as we discuss the history, mission, and organization of this remarkable parish and how each of these beautiful threads comes together into a diverse and spirit-filled tapestry. Whether you've been here for years or a couple of weeks, you're invited to join this great conversation.
Adult Forum: Modern Doctors and Modern Decisions
| Sunday, April 29 | 9:50 a.m. |Parish Hall East
This morning, our own Doctors Sandy Burdett and Sebastian Kent will discuss advancements in modern medicine, especially those pertaining to the body as it ages, and decisions we should consider as we age. Join us this week as these practitioners share their wisdom in health care and next week as attorney Aaron Millman discusses long-range decisions and practical matters that everyone should consider, no matter where we are in our earthly journey.
PARKING: Persons attending Sunday services will be allowed to park on
Click here to view the service leaflet for this Sunday.
Click here to view this week's Bethesda Happenings.
5:45 to 6:30 p.m. | Community Supper | Parish Hall
The cost is $10 for adults; $5 for children under 12; $25 family max (payable at the door).
This week's menu: fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, coleslaw, sauteed vegetables, garden salad, strawberry shortcake with buttermilk biscuits and whipped ice cream. Kindly
RSVP here or call Ayana at (561) 655-4554.
*In order to properly plan and prepare the supper, we need your reservations by noon on Monday.
FEATURED CLASSES
6:30 to 7:40 p.m. | The Enneagram in Life | Guild Room
In this dynamic five session workshop led by Certified Teacher Paul Van der Grift, we will explore each of the nine Enneagram types through the use of type specific panel discussions. As we hear the stories and anecdotes from each type, the fundamental similarities of their personality type structure will begin to emerge. What is the core motivation for their type? What causes them stress? What makes them angry? What are their strengths? What are their challenges? How does their faith help them deal with their personality? How can we support them in their personal and spiritual development? By hearing the testimony of others, and maybe sitting on a panel yourself, you will have the opportunity to learn how to be more compassionate and empathetic with yourself and others.
6:30 to 7:40 p.m. | The Divine Dance, a study of the Holy Trinity | Library Challenging the notion of an aloof and distant God, Franciscan brother Richard Rohr invites us into an intimate experience with the Trinity. During this four-week study of Rohr's most recent text,
The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation, facilitators Kenlynne Mulroy and Tom O'Brien will lead a conversation about Rohr's beautiful ways of understanding the Trinity, using scripture, theology, and the insights of holy women and men throughout the history of the Church. Texts will be available in The Shop.
RECURRING CLASSES
6:30 to 7:40 p.m. | Liturgy Group| Sunday School Hall
For all children in Kindergarten through 5th Grade who are interested in learning more about what we do on Sunday mornings in our worship services, the Wednesday Liturgy Class will teach them more about what we do and why. Over the course of the year we will explore elements of the Holy Eucharist more in-depth with our young people and also train them to become worship leaders for Sunday services. Topics will include communion, acolyting, music, the liturgical calendar, and saints. If you've ever wanted a class to teach your child about what we do in worship, don't miss this wonderful opportunity.
6:30 to 7:40 p.m. | Bethesda Youth Group | Youth Room
The Bethesda Youth Group will move from our traditional Thursday night meetings to Wednesday nights to join our Middle Way ministries. Come for dinner at 5:45 p.m. and stay for Youth Group until 7:40 p.m. The Bethesda Youth Group is a fellowship group open to all those in 6th through 12th Grade. Members also participate in monthly special events including our annual lock-in, service day, and camping trip to Peanut Island.
6:30 to 7:40 p.m. | Yoga | Parish Hall West
Physical therapist and yoga therapist, Emily Large, invites all adults for an evening of holistic worship through Christian yoga practice. Physical postures, relaxation, breath techniques, and mental focus create a holistic approach for worship as we will reflect on the themes associated with the liturgical calendar. A requested donation of $10 per class (payable at the door).
CLOSING PRAYER
7:45 to 8:00 p.m. | Compline | Church
An ancient, brief, and contemplative liturgy of the Christian tradition, compline offers an opportunity to give God thanks for the day behind us and pray for rest and safety in the night ahead. A fitting end to the day, compline offers a peaceful and meditative sacred time in the middle of our often frenetic weeks, as well as a beautiful conclusion to our Wednesday evenings together.
Welcoming the Stranger Workshop
with The Rev. Canon Elizabeth R. Geitz
Saturday, May 5 | 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. | Parish Hall
"Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:1-2
We need your input! Join us for a workshop with Canon Geitz on welcoming the stranger to Bethesda. Seven aspects of Welcoming Ministry will be discussed: Praying, Attracting (Website, Social Media, Print Media), Greeting, Tracking, Contacting, Orienting, Incorporating. Come learn new ideas and share yours for welcoming others into the Body of Christ known as Bethesda-by-the-Sea. Your input is vital in shaping our program going forward!
Please Click Here to register or call (561) 655-4554. A light lunch will be served (donations gratefully accepted).
Mary Magdalene as Role Model for the Spiritual Journey
Join Heather Sisk in a one-day retreat exploring Mary Magdalene's transformative spiritual journey as an archetype for our individual path. This retreat is not designed to uncover Mary Magdalene's historical identity, but to explore her Spiritual identity. Mary Magdalene as disciple, witness, and prophet is one of our strongest role models for understanding the elements that emerge as one enters into a spiritual journey. These elements do not follow in a necessary order but cycle within us as we grow into deeper awareness of the movement of the divine encounter. Through lecture and reflection we will consider Healing & Forgiveness, Discernment, Witness, Abiding, and Transformation.
The day is accompanied by 3-D icons for contemplation, and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. The Retreat has traveled since 2012.
Click here for her page dedicated to this retreat.
Heather Sisk, is a spiritual director and retreat leader. She earned her MA in Theology and Spiritual Direction from The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, NYC in 2010.
Please note that the retreat date has changed to Saturday, May 19.
This Sunday's Readings in Context
Parishioner Tom O'Brien, a Canon and Examining Chaplain for Scripture of this diocese, writes brief background descriptions of the Sunday readings. We thank Tom for sharing his learning and love of Scripture with us in this way.
The reading discusses
the story in Acts of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch and a powerful restatement of key ideas of the Fourth Gospel in 1 John.
Acts 8:26-40
The book called "The Acts of the Apostles" was written around 85 to 90 CE by the anonymous author of the Gospel According to Luke. The first 15 chapters of Acts are a didactic "history" of the early Jesus Follower Movement starting with the Ascension. The last 13 chapters describe Paul's Missionary Journeys - not always consistently with Paul's letters.
Today's reading - the conversion of the high-ranking Ethiopian eunuch - is filled with references that were important to the late First Century Jesus Follower Community.
Philip was one of the first deacons (6:5), and just prior to this story, was converting Samaritans (thus spreading the Jesus Movement).
In the First Century, Ethiopia was seen as "the ends of the earth," so the conversion of an Ethiopian official was a fulfillment of Jesus exhortation to the apostles to be his "witnesses ... to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1.8).
Most references to eunuchs in the Hebrew Scriptures were unfavorable. Eunuchs were prohibited from making offerings at an altar (Lev. 21:20) and from being admitted to the assembly of YHWH (Deut. 23:1). The only favorable reference was to eunuchs who keep YHWH's sabbath in Isaiah 56:4. The story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch was therefore an important statement of openness in the Jesus Follower Community to all who accepted the good news.
It is also noteworthy that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading verses (vv. 33-34) from the "Suffering Servant Songs" in Isaiah 53. The Gospel According to Mark first presented Jesus as the Suffering Servant-Messiah. The four Suffering Servant Songs in the Book of Isaiah were written during the Babylonian Exile (587 to 539 BCE) and originally referred to the Judeans in captivity.
1 John 4:7-21
Today's reading is from the first of three letters attributed to "John" - an attribution that was given to these letters in the late 2nd Century about the same time the four canonical Gospels were attributed to Mark, Matthew, Luke and John. (We do not know the actual authors of any of the Gospels.)
The author of 1 John was likely an individual speaking on behalf of a community of followers of the author of the Fourth Gospel.
Today's reading takes key ideas from the Fourth Gospel and makes a beautiful and powerful statement that God is Love and that we love God only by loving one another.
Bethesda's Mission is to experience the clear and strong presence of God and to understand and spread Christ's teachings through collective worship, learning, and service.
Funeral Services
Ann Stuart Coale Tylander
Thursday, May 3, 2018,
12:30 p.m.
Bethesda at its Best
Sunday, April 29 | 9:50 a.m. | Guild Room
Come one, come all for a behind-the-scenes look at what makes Bethesda the special place that it is. Join the clergy, associates, vestry, and ministry leaders as we discuss the history, mission, and organization of this remarkable parish and how each of these beautiful threads comes together into a diverse and spirit-filled tapestry. Whether you've been here for years or a couple of weeks, you're invited to join this great conversation.
Music at Bethesda
Sunday, May 6 | 3:30 p.m. | Church
Julia Gill, trumpeter, will play a recital at 3:30 p.m. Evensong with The Bethesda Choir follows at 4:00 p.m. A free-will offering will be received, and a reception will follow in the Parish Hall. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Sunday School Cupcake Party
Sunday, May 6 | 9:50 a.m. | Garth
To celebrate all of our programs from this past year we're bringing back one of our best events, the ultimate cupcake coffee hour. We'll have games, prizes, and all the cupcakes you can eat. Bring your own baked goods to share. Also, this will be our awards event where we recognize every single child and youth who participated in all of our Sunday School classes, Pre-Confirmation and Confirmation classes, and our Mission Group. We have special gifts for EVERY child and youth! This is the one day not to sleep in!
The Rector's Forum
Sunday, May 13 | 9:50 a.m. | Parish Hall
Grab breakfast and come into the forum this morning for a year-end conversation with Fr. James Harlan, Rector of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, and final forum of the year. Father James will share his sabbatical plans and itinerary with us as he makes final arrangements for his departure. He will also be ready to answer questions about parish programs and activities during those months.
Evangelism from an Evangelical
