April 23, 2023

Worship at 9:30 am

Fellowship and Learning Hour following Worship

Presiding Minister: Pastor Tim Keyl

Preacher: Vicar Gabrielle Brown

Assisting Ministers: Blair Goodlin and Vicar Gabrielle Brown

Music Director: Stephen Gamboa-Díaz

Music Intern: Ike Harijanto

Altar Guild: Becky Lerud

Lectors: Aníbal González and Blair Goodlin

Ushers: Lee family

Livestream: Nora Lee

Bread Baker: Keyl family

Coffee Hour: Michaela Natal

From the Pastor

Sabbatical is one month away

While Bethesda’s rhythms in the coming months include honoring students, Ascension, Pentecost, Music Sunday, Recognizing Learning Ministry, Blessing for Stephen Gamboa-Díaz, and transitioning into summer, with Kari, I will be taking time away May 22-August 21. New England Synod guidelines suggest a sabbatical may be taken every four years. My last sabbatical was the summer of 2017.

Plans are in place for pastoral coverage. Vicar Gabrielle, Elaine Ramshaw, and local clergy will be among the points of contact. Sunday preachers and presiders are all but set for that time.

It has been my hope that the report from Partners for Sacred Places would have been available in early 2023, but there has been an unexpected delay. We are expecting the report soon, but a beginning response and action plan to that report will largely fall on leaders and all of you while I am away. 

After the 2017 sabbatical, Bethesda conducted a Congregational Assessment Tool (CAT) to give us a snapshot of our strengths and growth areas. In 2018 we also began receiving full-time ELCA seminary interns, to renew our strength for ministry, our gift for vocational formation, and to provide renewed energy.

Now in 2023, it is my commitment to accompany Bethesda in its discernment for its staying power in New Haven, with particular focus on our capacity, resources, and our building. This has already begun, and will continue as we use God-given wisdom.

Additionally, in my next phase of ministry, I am exploring how deepening attentiveness to spirituality and spiritual practices will pair with Bethesda’s and my activity ministry to our community. 

A life in the Spirit is not antithetical to activism. In fact, the people I most admire as activists had deep faith practices. And sabbath-keeping is critical to health and well-being. Notice how Jesus often went apart to a place to pray.

There will be more to share about our common life together and summertime while we are apart. Kari and I will be resting, recreating, and traveling.

We also are the beneficiaries of a synod sabbatical grant which is focused on our desire to focus on spirituality, bookending our time with monastic retreats.

The highlight will be a three-week visit to France, where the centerpiece will be at the ecumenical community of Prayer at Taizé, which is the source of much of our congregational song, and which is the weekly mainstay for LuMin Campus Ministry.

Below you can read some of the language from our grant proposal so you can better understand our rationale. We covet your prayers, and we commit to praying for you while we are away.

Pastor Tim

Excerpt from the Keyls’ synod sabbatical proposal

In our highly technological and competitive world, it is hard to completely avoid the forces which fill up our inner and outer space and disconnect us from our innermost selves, our fellow human beings, and our God. (Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out)

As ministry goes, the “disconnect” Nouwen mentions resonates with our own experience of the demands of ministry and the ways our respective communities become disconnected.

Kari and I have been blessed to provide spaces for prayer, leading song, and exploring dimensions of the spiritual life in our ministries. Kari’s main regular campus ministry worship is a weekly Taizé-style prayer service at a university chapel. Tim has led a variety of prayer services: Prayer Around the Cross (derived from Holden Village), Dinner Church, Services of Lament and Hope (in response to racism and during the pandemic), and, with Yale Divinity students, weekly Evening Prayer. These events have made for rich formation in spirituality, to connect our communities with God. And we have also maintained connection to monastic communities as models for our prayer and communities of prayer.

We look forward to a time apart to pray, as Jesus modeled in the gospels. We look forward to drinking from the wellspring of scripture, silence, and song, not as leaders but as followers. We look forward to our own better practices of reflecting with one another about life in the Spirit, which will have a direct and meaningful impact on the communities we serve.

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 to access this Sunday's bulletin.

Bible Study on Zoom

Bethesda's Bible Study continues to discuss NT Wright's Acts. The next gathering will be Wednesday, April 26 at 8:00 am.

When? Every other Wednesday at 8:00 am

Where? On Zoom, click here to join (or join by telephone: 203-432-9666; Meeting ID: 961 0888 6279)

Congregational Watershed Discipleship

Mark your calendars - on Sunday, April 30th at 11:30 am, Bethesda will host Rev. Dr. Nancy Wright, who will preach and lead an interfaith workshop on Congregational Watershed Stewardship. Lunch will be provided, so please register in advance.

Contemplative Prayer

Wednesday Contemplative Prayer begins this week, from 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Together we will experience a short reading, quiet time, and reflection. Join us as we pause in the middle of the week and tend to our spiritual health.

Click here to join

Upcoming Forum Schedule

Join us after worship each Sunday at 11:00 am in the Parish House Living Room!

April 23rd - Review and Reflection of Bethesda's Creation Care Covenant, led by Vicar Gabrielle Brown

April 30th - Congregation Watershed Discipleship Workshop (no forum)

May 7th - TBD

May 14th - Inclusive Language and Bethesda's Reconciling in Christ Update

Bethesda Nursery School Spring Fair 2023

Saturday, May 7th 9AM-2PM

Barnyard Box Update

Thank you to everyone who helped raise $938 for Lutheran World Hunger through the Global Barnyard Box collection. That number will be matched by the New England Synod, doubling our impact!

Support Bethesda's Internship!

Bethesda has been wonderfully served by students -- part-time and full-time -- for decades. Our ministry benefits as they learn. However, support for these partners is not in our budget; it comes from generosity beyond our pledges. Additional support of $14,200 is needed between now and July 15 so our Student Ministry Fund can provide for the final months of Vicar Gabrielle's internship. Please consider a donation or two in gratitude for her service to us. 

Upcoming Commemorations

Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury, died 1109

Friday, April 21, 2023

This eleventh-century monk was one of the greatest theologians of the Middle Ages. He is remembered for emphasizing the maternal aspects of God, and for the theory that the Son of God became human in order to make the necessary payment for our sin.

Day of the Creation (Día de la Creación) (LLC)

Saturday, April 22, 2023

This observance invites us to notice and give God thanks for the wonders of the created universe. As stewards of that creation, we are also challenged to be careful in our use of it.

Toyohiko Kagawa, renewer of society, died 1960

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Born in Kobe, Japan, Kagawa was orphaned as a young child. Later, when he became Christian, he was disowned by the rest of his family. Wishing to bring Christian principles into society, he worked among poor people, established schools and hospitals, and worked for peace.

Mark, Evangelist

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

He was not numbered among the twelve apostles, yet Mark was probably a member of the early church community. The gospel that bears his name is the shortest and most direct, and many scholars think it was the first to be written.

Catherine of Siena, theologian, died 1380

Saturday, April 29, 2023

This theologian was the first woman among Roman Catholics to receive the title "Doctor [teacher] of the Church." Catherine was a Dominican sister known for her mystical visions as well as her work on behalf of people who were poor and imprisoned.

Prayer Requests

For healing and strength: Martin Gehner; Lynn Arezzini; Pastor Kari Henkelmann Keyl; Rachel, daughter of Mary Browne; Pastor Ruth Drews; John Ferreira, nephew of Chris Couture; Kathryn and Karolyn Lee, aunts of Chris Lee; George Arndt, father of Lynn Arezzini; Michelle Lee, friend of Christina Castañeda; Mark Barnett, nephew of Becky Lerud; Marie Gray; Sonja Krummrey; Maureen Anderson; Natalie Denardis, granddaughter of Gail Denardis; Shirley Farm; Anne and Lee Keck; Kay Leone; Molly Dinneen; Karen (Starbranch) Blitch, daughter of Chuck Starbranch.

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 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 for rostered leadership in the ELCA: Natalie Benson, Calli Micale, Vicar Gabrielle Brown, and Jeff Hazewinkel (in formation for consecration as deacon).

For those preparing for baptism: Karim Ibrahim

For those who mourn: Sara Ryan and family, at the death of her mother Jane Turner. Pastor Keyl will lead a graveside service Saturday, April 29 at Grove Street Cemetery. Jane was a part of Bethesda years ago. See her obituary.