December 17, 2023

Third Sunday of Advent Worship at 9:30 am
Followed by Fellowship and Learning Hour

Presiding Minister: Pastor Tim Keyl

Assisting Minister: Jeff Hazenwinkel

Organist & Music Director: Isaac Lee

Lectors: Veronica Brisson & Chris Lee

Altar Guild: Clarissa Wylie Youngberg

Ushers: Miles Kirschner & Nora Lee

Tellers: Becky Lerud & *volunteer opportunity*

Livestream: Blair Goodlin

Coffee Set-Up: Richard Ford

Bread Baker: Lee Family

Volunteer Opportunity

If you would like to serve as Teller this Sunday, please email Cynthia at [email protected]

Seeking Christmas Worship Leaders!
Christmas Worship includes Christmas Eve Eucharist at 7:30 pm (December 24), Christmas Day Eucharist at 10 am (December 25), and First Sunday of Christmas Eucharist at 9:30 am (December 31). We are looking for readers, acolytes (Christmas Eve), communion assistants, ushers, and coffee preparers (First Sunday of Christmas). Please see the sign-up sheets in the orange binder or talk to Pastor Keyl.

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 for the bulletin.

From the Pastor

December 17, 2023
Advent Week 3

Mary, mother of our Lord

Mary’s day is assigned by the church to be on August 15. The Annunciation (to Mary by the angel Gabriel, in Luke 1:26-38) is March 25, nine months to the day of Christmas (get it?)!.The Visitation (of Mary to Elizabeth, in Luke 1:39-45) is May 31. Besides being feast days in the church, the stories are worth revisiting each Advent through personal devotion and scripture reading.

Martin Luther devoted substantial commentary on Mary’s song, the Magnificat (in Luke 1:46-55). After her cousin Elizabeth exclaimed at the Visitation “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” Mary burst into praise with these opening words: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. About this Luther says:

These words express the strong ardor and exuberant joy with which all her mind and life are inwardly exalted in the Spirit…It is as if she said: “My life and all my senses float in the love and praise of God and in lofty pleasures…. I am exalted, more than I exalt myself, to praise the Lord.” –from Commentary on The Magnificat.

We will be hearing the Annunciation story as the Gospel for Advent 4, Sunday, December 24 at the 9:30 am Eucharist (I know, Christmas Eve will be later that day. Isn’t that weird and wonderful?), and singing versions of the Magnificat.

Capturing Mary’s role in the life of Jesus is something people of faith, theologians, and writers have pondered for millennia. I am very glad that we get to include her in our marking of Advent and Christmas as one whom the church calls God-bearer (in Greek, theotokos).

Her song is a defiant message of hope and promise for those facing adversity, where God favors those weighed down. Her following of Jesus throughout his life and at his death is exemplary.

Many people have noticed that the color of vestments, paraments, and candles in Advent in the Lutheran church (since 1978) is blue, not purple and wondered why. One suggestion is to bring Mary to mind, who is widely depicted in art as wearing blue. Does that help?

Join me in giving thanks for Mary this Advent.

Pastor Tim Keyl

Though the Magnificat is a hymn and a poem, it is foremost prophecy. Rubem A. Alves says the prophet is one who stands empty before the spirit of God. He or she speaks, invoking the holy one, and proclaiming that which will renew the hopes of the deed and challenge the deadness in the living. Prophecy is the place where the artist and the theologian intersect. –from Mary: The Imagination of her Heart, by Penelope Duckworth.

Notice of Special Congregational Meeting on January 7th, 2024
Bethesda’s Council is calling a special congregational meeting on Sunday, January 7th, 2024. The only agenda item is approval of proposed updates to Bethesda’s constitution. The meeting will immediately follow the worship service.

Last Saturday, December 9th, the youth group and parents had lots of fun making and decorating cookies!

Cookie box sales support the youth trip fund to the National Youth Gathering. Sugar and Ginger Snap cookie boxes may still be available - listen for an announcement in church.

Bethesda’s FEMA grant work has begun

Sloss Electric began repairing light fixtures at the bridge and at the Parish House this past week. Funding for this and other security related physical plant needs is coming from a FEMA grant awarded to Bethesda. Many thanks to Leah Snavely, Bethesda’s caretaker, who is the grant’s Project Coordinator.

Advent at Betheda

Third Sunday of Advent - December 17th

Since Advent is shorter this year, we will be decorating Bethesda’s Christmas Tree following worship with handmade chrismons. Come forward during the postlude to hang an ornament. Help put poinsettias on the chancel steps. Following worship all will gather in the Campanius Room for a “dessert” potluck. You are invited to bring cookies, cakes, pastries, or what have you to share. Following fellowship, you are invited to sing carols at homes or care facilities where those from Bethesda are expecting us for a couple hours. Bring your own lunch to eat before we carol, and plan to carpool. Questions? Ask Pastor Keyl.

Service of the Longest Night Prayer - Wednesday, December 20

7:00 pm in the sanctuary

Near the winter solstice, we will acknowledge grief and pray for God’s coming in the deepest darkness

Christmas and the Sundays of Christmas at Bethesda

Christmas Eve - Sunday, December 24

7:30 pm (NOTE THE NEW TIME!)

Carols, Choir song, Candlelighting, Eucharist, 

Refreshments following worship in the narthex

Christmas Day - Monday, December 25

10 am in the Sanctuary

More carols, The Prologue of John (Gospel), Eucharist

Refreshments following worship in the narthex

First Sunday of Christmas - December 31 at 9:30 am

Even more carols, The Presentation our Lord (Gospel), Eucharist

Refreshments following worship in the narthex

Supporting Palestinian Christians

Special Offering for Palestinian Christians during Advent and Christmas

We are looking to raise $1,000 to support our companion church in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Jordan (the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land). Donate to Bethesda with “ELCJHL” in the memo on check and online designating it as “Special Gifts.”

Crafts by Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem

Pastor Keyl has friends in Bethlehem looking for additional income during the crisis, as tourism has ground to a halt.

Order Crafts from Jack at the Christmas House on Facebook or My Christmas House on Etsy

or Elias at Touch of Grace on Facebook.

Even better will be to combine orders into one big order. See Pastor Tim and stay tuned for more details.

Devotions in the Home

Take home limited copies of:
Bread for the Day: Daily Readings and Prayers for 2024
The Word in Season Daily Readings and Prayers

Year-End Gift to Bethesda
We give our time, our talent, and our treasure to many places, year-round. But the profound hope of Advent engenders a sharper sense of gratitude for all we have received from God through our beloved faith community, Bethesda. We ask that your reflection results in consideration of a special, year-end gift, even as it coincides with your financial planning for tax purposes. A donation beyond a pledge or regular gift can be made in many ways besides cash: an IRA distribution; appreciated stock (don’t sell it first!); the pile of coins collecting dust on your dresser. Thank you for thinking about making a special gift to Bethesda by December 31.

Pastoral Care

If you’d like to meet with Pastor Keyl, please make an appointment through Bethesda’s administrator Leigh Cromey [email protected] or by calling (203) 787-2346 most weekday mornings. Pastor Keyl can meet at your home, at Bethesda, or over a cup of coffee somewhere.

Prayer Requests

For healing and strength: Dan Cortright; Michele Meyer, daughter-in-law of Marietta Meyer; Linda Johnson; John Ferreira, nephew of Chris Couture; Sonja Krummrey; Maureen Anderson; Shirley Farm; Ann 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 our Ecumenical Partners Worldwide: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. 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 who mourn: the family of Cathyann Colson (Plummer), former Bethesda Assistant and YDS grad, who died on November 25; for Paul Stuehrenberg and family, at the first anniversary of the death of Carole Devore, December 15, 2022.

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