Bcc Newsletter March 09

Featured in this Issue... Calendar

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Missions Soup Luncheon

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Cancellation Info

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Women’s Book Club

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Movie Night

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March 2009

The Bethlehem Message from the Pastor For my article this month, I would like to expand on a point I make in my 2008 annual report. At a recent congregational meeting, we voted to spend close to $5,000 to make needed repairs around our stained glass window in the front of the sanctuary. This window is known as the “Sower Window.” It is so named because it is a depiction of someone standing in a field sowing (scattering) seed out of their hand. The window is important to us, hopefully for more reasons than its supposed value. Hopefully it is dear to us because of its message spoken through the image each time we gather together to worship. The theme for Bethlehem’s 100th anniversary celebration was “One Hundred Years of Sowing God’s Word.” The inspiration for the theme came from the window as you might imagine. According to the 100th anniversary booklet, the window was installed when the church was built in 1901. So there is certainly a long history and significance to the window. We should seek to do all we can to make sure it doesn’t get damaged or fall out! But shouldn’t we as a church do more than this? Are we not called to an ever bigger goal, an even larger and more

Word important mission? I believe we are and the window reminds us of that fact. To quote the anniversary booklet, “The window serves as a constant reminder of our need to both receive God’s Word and to spread the Gospel to those around us.” That my friends is the starting point for our mission as a church. We are reminded of this each time we gather together to worship the Lord. Many improvements have been made to our existing building this year. Many thanks to Bill Stafinski for all his hard work—and feeding my voracious appetite with hotdogs from Coney Island and other great hot dogs joints throughout this area. But my prayer for Bethlehem for this coming year is that we would focus not simply on ourselves and/or our building, as important as that may be. Our real mission is not simply to minister to ourselves but to minister to those in our neighborhood who are not part of a church and who do not yet know the good news of the gospel. We exist in a large sense for those who are not yet a part of this fellowship. Sometimes we forget that—that we exist not only for ourselves. Too often we are concerned only about ourselves—those of us who are already here—and we forget about our calling to bring others into the fold. (Continued on pg. 4)

March 2009 Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

1 Worship 10:30am

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3 Youth Group 7-8:30pm

4 Soup Supper 6pm Lenten Service @ St. Catherine 7pm

5 Bible Study 7pm

6 NA Meeting 6:30pm Veritas Mtg. 6-8:30pm

7 Veritas Mtg. 9am to 1pm

8 Worship 10:30am

9 Veritas Team Meeting 7pm

10 Church Board Meeting 7pm

11 Soup Supper 12 Bible Study 6pm Lenten Service 7pm @ Quinsig United Methodist 7pm

13 NA Meeting 6:30pm

14

18 Soup Supper 6pm Lenten Service @ Bethlehem 7pm

19 Bible Study 7pm

20 NA Meeting 6:30pm

21

25 Soup Supper 6pm Lenten Service @ Emanuel Lutheran 7pm

26 NO BIBLE STUDY

27 NA Meeting 6:30pm

28

Youth Group 7-8:30pm 15 Worship 16 10:30am Congregational Annual Mtg. after service

17 Youth Group 7-8:30pm

22 Worship 10:30am

23

24 Youth Group 7-8:30pm

29 Worship 30 10:30am Missions Soup Luncheon 11:30am

31 Youth Group 7-8:30pm

PRC Meeting 7pm

Missions News Here is the schedule of our upcoming Ecumenical Lenten Soup Supper and worship services. Soup Supper is at 6pm and worship is at 7pm. Wednesday, March 4th at St. Catherine of Sweden with Rev. Gloria Connery preaching Wednesday, March 11 at Quinsig United Methodist with Deacon Jim Denning preaching Wednesday, March18th at Bethlehem with Father George Ridick preaching Wednesday, March 25th at Emanuel Lutheran with Rev. Wendell Luke preaching Wednesday, April 1st at Sacred Heart of Jesus (596 Cambridge St.) with Pastor Dave preaching

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Missions Soup Luncheon Sunday, March 29th following the morning worship service. All are welcome to attend this free lunch. Denise McGinley will be cooking the soup for us as usual.

Birthdays and Anniversaries April Birthdays March Birthdays Dayna Girourd Kenneth Olson Trevor LaVallee Sarah Strozina Robert Elbe Sr. Eleanor Smith Marjorie Thyden Amy Malo Esther Elbe Paul Faler

3/9 3/12 3/14 3/15 3/16 3/19 3/23 3/2 3/29 3/30

March Anniversaries Barbara & William Ruzika 3/3

Steven Koller Martha Connor Stephanie Stockwell Doris Anderson Joy Monopoli Jeffrey Stafinski Hannah Zoulias Russell Lindquist Bethany Johnson Steven Nordstrom Karin Jacobson Kasey Remington David Pope Steven Pope Avery Shepard Thomas Johnson Sarah Stafinski Marjorie Anderson

4/2 4/3 4/4 4/08 4/09 4/09 4/11 4/12 4/13 4/17 4/18 4/19 4/21 4/21 4/23 4/24 4/26 4/30

April Anniversaries Paul & Lucyann Swenson 4/30

Cancellation Information As you know, we have had some bad weather this winter season and have had to cancel worship services several times this winter season. We usually decide to cancel on Sunday mornings and the decision is made by 8am. Cancellation information can be found numerous places. It will be on the radio: WTAG am 580 and on their website, www.wtag.com. It will also be found on television on Channel 5 WCVB and on their website, www.thebostonchannel.com. Finally, cancellation info can also be found on the main page of the church website, www.bethlehemcc.org.

Bethlehem Covenant Annual Meeting Part 2 of our annual meeting will be held on Sunday, March 15th following the morning worship service. This will be a time to go over the annual reports from each committee and review the finances, investments, etc. Copies of the report have been made and if you did not pick one up at church, they will be mailed to you. We would ask you to look over the reports prior to the meeting and come with any questions, comments or concerns on the 15th. Please make every effort to be at this important meeting of our congregation.

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The following is an updated list of our church members and friends who unable to attend church on a regular basis. Let us remember them in our thoughts and prayers and with a note. Please let the pastor know if you are aware of others who should be on this list.

Paul Faler 321 Massasoit Rd. Worcester, MA 01604

Mr. Lee Randall 10 Hall Street Webster, MA 01570 508-943-0847 Mrs. Doris Anderson 667 Washington Street #225 Auburn, MA 01501 508-832-5239 Mrs. Lillian Ekstrom Notre Dame Du Lac 555 Plantation Street Apt. 327 Worcester, MA 01608

Mrs. Dagny Johnson Life Care Center of Auburn 14 Masonic Circle Auburn, MA 01501 Mrs. Claire Poirier 63 Hudson Avenue Grafton, MA 01519 508-839-0364

Mrs. Lydia Anderson Whitney Place Mr. Carl & Mrs. Esther Werme P.O. Box 935 24 Briarwood Circle 85 Beaumont Dr. Apt. 10 Worcester, MA01606 Northbridge, MA 01534 508-856-7232 Mildred Carlson 669 Washington St. Apt. 105 Auburn, MA 01501

Women’s Book Club Tues. March 10th at 7pm to discuss Lucy Grealey’s Autobiography of a Face In a strikingly candid and beautifully written memoir, Lucy Grealy describes how at age nine she was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates at her disfigured face. Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength without sentimentality and with considerable wit. She captures with unique insight what it is like as a child and young adult to be torn between two warring impulses: to feel that more than anything else we want to be loved for who we are, while wishing desperately and secretly to be perfect.

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Movie Night “Lars and the Real Girl” Saturday, March 14th We will meet at church for pizza at 5:30pm and start the movie around 6pm. In this comedy, Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in -law's home. The only problem is that she's not real - she's a blowup doll Lars ordered off the internet. But what Lars has in mind is a deep, meaningful relationship. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he's nuts, but eventually the entire town goes along with his delusion in support of this sweet natured boy that they've always loved. The movie is rated PG-13 and is 106 minutes.

Message from the Pastor… (Continued) We are spending $5,000 to fix our Sower stained glass window, which is ok, but I pray it doesn’t end there. If we are not a church that acts out the imagery of that story; if we are not a church that goes out and sows the seed of God’s Word into our community, then shame on us. We have then neglected our calling and have turned inward on ourselves and it will not be long until we shrivel up spiritually—and numerically. I pray this is not the case but that we will have a mission and vision and a spiritual hunger that will propel us into our community and into God’s Word and into more vital ministry here at Bethlehem. May we be known as the church that not only looks good, but as the church that does good—a churches that makes changes to its building but also a church that changes lives. May God bless us— and He will—when we step out in faith and not just go to church but we actually are the church. God bless, Pastor Dave

Heading to Church for Money Advice (CNN) -- Jennifer Pedley had very little interest when her husband, Ken, suggested three years ago that they enroll in the Financial Peace University program their church in Brighton, Michigan, was offering. The couple signed up to learn how to reduce their debt and get on a budget. Partway through the course, a light came on for her, Pedley said. "I started to see the changes it was making not only in our money but in our relationship," she recalled. "It was unbelievable, but 80 percent of personal finance is personal. There is so much related to communicating about money and communicating about life." Now Pedley is facilitating the course at 2/42 Community Church, where many in the area depend on the auto industry for their livelihood and are struggling with a deepening recession. Throughout the country, places of worship are not just offering prayers for the improvement of their members' finances. They are offering help in the form of classes, seminars and workshops. Programs that teach debt elimination, financial literacy and money management are gaining popularity among the faithful who are seeking some stability in the midst of uncertain times. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox is a personal finance expert and author who has launched the Zero Debt Tour, a financial literacy initiative designed to teach people how to better budget, manage credit and debt wisely, and save money. Khalfani-Cox, who provides the program free for churches, said she is hearing from places of worship, both big and small, nationwide who want to offer resources to their members. "In faith-based communities, if you ask pastors across the country, many will tell you that attendance is up; however donations are down," said Khalfani-Cox, who is known as the Money Coach. "People are turning to the church for help, whether it's help making their mortgage payment, putting in a prayer request, assistance in finding a job or just getting practical, day-to-day strategies for managing debt." Jeff Foy, manager of training and evaluation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Employment Resource Services, said traffic has increased to the church's Providentliving Web site, which offers resources on family finances and employment assistance. It's very difficult to reach someone spiritually if they are struggling temporally, Foy said, and some have had to sacrifice time with family and church to pay the bills. "We see a lot of our members perhaps that wouldn't ordinarily be working on a Sunday that are working on a Sunday instead of attending some of their meetings," he said. The Rev. Steve O'Dell of 2/42 Community Church said he believes that people have a desire to give more of their time and money but just don't have the means. That's why programs that help get them on track financially are beneficial, he said. "A lot of people are imprisoned by debt," said O'Dell, whose church has expanded the number of Financial Peace Univer-

sity sessions to meet the growing need. "If people are in place where they are not going further and further into debt and all of their money isn't going into paying off debt, then financially they are freed up to give to things they would like to give to," he added. "Whether that's the church or charitable organizations or places that reach out to people in times of need." Joel Schwartz is director of the Moving from Debt to Assets program, which was founded in 2005 by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. It offers sessions on finances, a peer support group and private sessions with a financial counselor. Schwartz said that since its inception, Moving from Debt to Assets has graduated more than 400 participants and now has half of its groups run in languages other than English. What makes his program and others like it so effective is that they are offered through organizations that have a relationship with those participating, Schwartz said. "It's embedded in institutions that are part of the fabric of people's lives," he said. "This creates a lot of opportunity for reinforcement. People who see each other every Sunday can say, 'How are you doing paying down those credit card debts? I know you are working hard on that.' " Programs like Financial Peace University and Crown Financial Ministries, which have components that speak directly to biblical principles about money, have been seen as integral to the ministry. At Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, a stewardship workshop series based on Crown Financial Ministries "Road to Financial Freedom offers topics like "Who's in Control?" which covers God's responsibilities versus those of the believer, and "A Slave to the Lender," about living debt-free. Kevin Stacia teaches stewardship at Ebenezer and said that with everyone from the wealthy to the disadvantaged being affected by the economy, it makes sense for churches to offer such programs. "We always want members of the church and our community to be grounded in how God wants us to manage the things he has entrusted us with," Stacia said. "We want to give people an avenue to get knowledge and understanding." Cheryl Spiva has attended the series and said education is the key. Spiva retired at 45 from her position as senior vice president of sales for the southeast division of the investment group Charles Schwab and said financial education programs can be empowering. "Often, people don't really know what to do with their money," she said. "If you give them tools, they become more confident and they make better choices." Jennifer Pedley said she and her husband have benefited from learning how to manage their money more effectively. They have paid off a car and their credit cards and are well on their way to being debt-free. Pedley said they are also much better off in the current economy than had they not taken the course. 'When we took [the course], people had questions like, 'How do I budget vacations and going out to dinner?' " she said. "Now it's, 'How can I pay my mortgage and save my house?' "And despite her initial resistance, Pedley said, she views it as a learning and growing experience. "I never realized how practical the Bible is about money," she said. "It just makes so much sense."

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The Bethlehem

Bethlehem Covenant Church 46 Greenwood Street P.O. Box 70629 Worcester, MA 01607 (508) 752—1459 www.bethlehemcc.org

Word