December 31, 2023
First Sunday of Christmas
Worship at 9:30 am

Presiding Minister: Pastor Tim Keyl

Assisting Minister: Deacon Jeff Hazewinkel

Organist & Music Director: Kathryn Nichols

Lectors: Adam and Jack Marchand

Altar Guild: Lee Family

Ushers: Rachelle Goto

Livestream: Miles Kirschner

Coffee Set-Up: Richard Ford

Bread Baker: Lee Family

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

From the Pastor December 31, 2023

Blessings in the New Year

Blessings of the Home

Eternal God, you have placed us in a world of space and time, and through the events of our lives you bless us with your love. Grant that in the new year we may know your presence, see your love at work, and live in the light of the event that gives us joy forever—the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Prayer of the Day for New Year’s Eve)

It seems like a good time for new commitments, New Year’s resolutions and all. I invite your engagement in prayer as one possibility.  Consider the use of Bread for the Day: Daily Readings and Prayers that have been available for the taking in the narthex. Scripture readings are provided from the daily lectionary and Sunday lectionary, with prayers for each day. There are prompts for each season that offer additional rituals that can be used at the home. There are prayer templates also for use in the home. It’s a handy and useful resource that Kari and keep at our dinner table, where we also use its table prayers.

Of course, as your pastor you won’t be surprised I encourage activity in church, including prayer, learning, and worship participation. Have you considered being a reader? Preparing communion? Starting a small group? Talk to me about where you might engage at Bethesda in a new way.

The Epiphany story includes the visit of the magi to Jesus at his home in Matthew. The church traditionally thinks of the blessing of home life, including the blessing of homes during this time of the year. Might you offer a blessing for home and family? Invite me to your home for a visit, with prayer for your home?  You’ll see an example for home blessing in that Bread for the Day resource.

O God, you revealed your Son to all people by the shining light of a star. We pray that you bless this home and all who live here with your gracious presence. May your love be our inspiration, your wisdom our guide, your truth our light, and your peace our benediction; through Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Pastor Tim Keyl

Even though Christians gather on the Lord’s day, Sunday, for public worship, much of our time is spent in the home. We first learn the words, gestures, and songs of faith in the home. We discover our essential identity as a community of faith and mark significant transitions of life in the home. To surround and infuse the daily rhythm of sleeping and waking, working, resting, and eating with the words and gestures of Christian prayer is to discover the ancient truth of the gospel: the ordinary and the human can reveal the mystery of God and divine grace. Like planets around the sun, our daily prayer draws us to the Sunday assembly  where we gather for the word and the breaking of the bread in the changing seasons of the year. From the Sunday assembly, our daily prayer flows into the week. (from Bread for the Day 2023)

Notice of Special Congregational Meeting on January 7th, 2024

Bethesda’s Council will call a special congregational meeting on Sunday, January 7, 2024. The only agenda item is approval of proposed updates to Bethesda’s constitution. There will also be a verbal report on the status of activity related to Bethesda’s Sustainable Future. The meeting will immediately follow the worship service.

The proposed constitutional updates were formally presented to the congregation at the December 3, 2023, special congregational meeting. Suggestions the Council received from the congregation were considered at the December 18 Council meeting. The Council approved one suggested change: lowering the age at which Council members are allowed to serve as officers from twenty-one to eighteen. The pertinent bylaw now reads: 

C11.02.02 All elected officers shall be voting members who have reached at least eighteen years of age. 

A chart of all the proposed amendments and how they change Bethesda’s current constitution is available online HERE. Printed copies are available upon request to Administrator Leigh Cromey in the church office.

Isaac Lee: Award Winner!

Our own organist, Isaac Lee, is a recent recipient of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) Student Commissioning Project, AGO’s most recent new music initiative. Each year, grants of $1,000 are awarded to four student collaborative composer-and-organist pairs for the composition and performance of four new works for the organ. This year’s award winners included Cheng Jin Koh(composer) from New York University and Isaac Lee (organist) from the Juilliard School. Bravo Isaac! So proud to have you as our organist and Music Director!

Sweet Success!
Thanks for your support of the youth cookie fundraiser. Together we raised $500+ for their trip to the ELCA National Youth Gathering.

Bethesda Music Series

On December 3, the Bethesda Music Series presented a concert featuring Baroque violinist Daniel Lee and former Bethesda Music Director Stephen Gamboa-Diaz in a concert of Austrian works for the Christmas season. In keeping with the mission of social ministry, the concert raised $1025 for East Street Arts, a non-profit creative arts organization employing artists with disabilities. Bethesda’s own Karl Arezzini works there, creating original paintings and caning chairs. East Street Arts is located at 597 East Street, just off of State Street. Art works and crafts created by their artists can be purchased there during regular business hours.

The next BMS concert will be presented on Feb. 25 at 4:30 will feature Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. Donations from the concert will benefit Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK) and will be a collaboration with the choir of First Presbyterian Church in New Haven.

Companion Synod 

Bethesda, along with all congregations in the New England Synod, have a long-standing relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). This church body in The Lutheran World Federation is based in Jerusalem, with congregations and schools on the West Bank. Pastor Munther Isaac of Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Tamara Haddad in the Gender Ministry office have been in the news for speaking about Palestinian Christians and criticizing the untold violence in Gaza and on the West Bank.

Look to gather for conversation at an upcoming forum. Read more about the ministries of the church on their active social media and website. Talk to Pastor Tim about making an order to support olivewood artisans, and in Lent to make an order for olive oil from Augusta Victoria Hospital.

The ELCA has been a very supportive church partner, with personnel on the ground there now and a recent release of one million dollars for assistance. Thank you to those who have designated donations to the ELCJHL through Bethesda throughout Advent and by year’s end.

Bethesda Bible study

Bible Study meets every 2 weeks at 8am and is currently studying The Letter to the Romans. The next meeting will be on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. We will discuss The Letter to the Romans 8:1-18 which corresponds to N. T. Wright's Romans chapter 9. Please read the selections before the meeting.

New:  Please make a note of any question that is important to you. Rather than discuss all the questions, we will spend more time on questions that interest us, intrigue us, puzzle us, or just makes us think.

To access the call on Zoom, join from PC, Mac, Linux, IOS or Android, or Telephone

Meeting ID:  961 0888 6279

Volunteer!
There's lots to do at Bethesda, and volunteers are always needed to do it! Before, during, and after worship, and during the week, too. Step out of your pew comfort zone and sign up to help. If you're a rookie, we'll show you how. Spread the joy of participation around! Thanks to Martin and Becky for tackling teller duty.

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

SAVE THE DATE:

Annual Congregational Meeting Sunday, January 28, 2024 (official notice coming soon) If you have an annual report to offer, please submit to Leigh Cromey [email protected] by Monday, January 8. Thank you!

A Gift to Yourself!
These quieter days after all the Christmas presents are opened are a great time to consider a special, close-of-the-year monetary gift to the faith community that nurtures you! A little something extra to Bethesda by December 31 is a tangible way to express your love and care for our ministry that supports you and so many others. Thank you for considering a gift!
--Your Stewardship Team

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.

Pray for an end to violence in the Middle East: Donations are being received for our companion synod the ELCJHL through Bethesda, using “ELCJHL” in the memo, or “Special Gifts” on Tithely.

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, Gabrielle Brown, Tyler Fair, Calli Micale, Tim Bergeland, Jordan Baker, Eric Pitts.