Bethany Lutheran Church

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Matthew 5:1-4This Sunday, we celebrate All Saints' Day and wrestle with how to grieve and yet remain hopeful in the resurrection to come. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.Matthew 5:1-4Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Reformation is a celebration of what Christ accomplished for us but it is also an invitation to be faithful and live fully the life that Christ gives.  Shame and guilt leads us into holy spaces and places with Christ. John 8:31-36 (ESV)So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Competition is meant to be fun. It can be motivating and encouraging. The ways we compete in sports, academics, music etc. is holy. It speaks to the parts of our soul that desire maybe a bit of what has been lost to sin. We love to see people move and perform in the beautiful ways in which they were created. We love to win. There is also the competition within ourselves to be faithful. To lean into Christ and his call. Along the way there are many temptations to cut corners, be envious, or maybe even quit but we push on to win the ultimate race.Luke 9:46-48 (ESV)An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”1 Corinthians 9:24-26 (ESV)Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run th

Job 12:7-10 and John 1:1-3Some of the most holy moments are in a sunrise or in the night sky. Sometimes we are so detached from the natural world that we miss God shouting at us all through the gift of this earth and all the creatures that dwell in it. We pause to reflect on God’s creation and how he has called us to be creative within it. Job 12:7-10 (ESV)“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.Who among all these does not know    that the hand of the Lord has done this?In his hand is the life of every living thing    and the breath of all mankind.John 1:1-3 (ESV)In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Every Moment Holy- Vacation & Sabbath- 11:00 AMThere is built into the world a natural rhythm that has seasons of activity and growth and seasons of rest. It is all too easy to ignore how important time off and sabbath is for not only our mental and emotional health but also our spiritual well being.Mark 2:23-28 (ESV)23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Parenting can feel like death by a thousand papercuts. Just when you think you have it figured out there is a curve ball thrown your way. Children go against their parents, parents do not do right by their children. In the middle of the chaos sometimes it can feel far from holy. It can feel tedious with little thanks. However, each little conversation, every bit of grace given, the mundane repetitive tasks that come with parenting bear fruit and show the world a different kind of love.Ephesians 6:1-4 (ESV)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.Luke 18:15-17 (ESV)Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the childr

Where we work we are called to do it to the glory of God. To let our light shine, serve those we are called to serve, and do the very best that we can. Being holy isn’t about working in a church God uses you where you are.Philippians 2:3-4Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.Matthew 5:14-16“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We all continue to learn from Christ but sometimes we make the mistake and limit what Christ is teaching us to things in Sunday school, a sermon. It is greater than just what happens in church. All knowledge is God’s knowledge. Being a student is about being a student of God’s creation and God’s wisdom as it permeates all of creation. This never ends. Matthew 11:25-30At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”Ps

Sometimes we forget that the service shown to others in keeping house…being domestic in Christ can be holy and honoring. A home is an extension of the body of Christ and the hospitality we are to show. Cleaning feet was a service and about keeping house. Cleaning the toilets, doing the dishes, all these things are little acts that serve others. John 13:1-5 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him

God’s blessing had been given to people who time and time again chose to reject it. Later in the story, after Israel had been exiled from the promised land, God sent the true Israelite, the only one who could faithfully walk in God’s blessing and truly unleash it for all people. Join us as we conclude our end-of-summer series as we see how Jesus is the ultimate blessing. Galatians 3:13 (ESV)Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”Matthew 3:15-17 (ESV)But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

After the first humans’ rebellion, God chose a new couple to bless so that God’s blessing may extend to all nations through them. Later, God’s people are offered a choice to choose life or death, to receive God’s blessing or to reject it. Join us as we continue to see how God is always inviting us into his larger story to partner with him in his redemptive story. Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV)Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (ESV)“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and h

The human story begins with God blessing the first two humans, but something goes tragically wrong shortly after the initial blessing. The first two humans reject God’s blessing for something they think will be better, but instead of greater blessings comes a curse, which has skewed the human experience ever since. Join us as we unpack why being a human can sometimes be so difficult.Genesis 3:1-24 (ESV)Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the

The first time the word bless/blessed appears in the Bible is at the start of Genesis. This one tiny word has amazing and beautiful ramifications on what it means to be human and shows us how God continues to invite us to partner with him on his mission in the world. Genesis 1:26-31 (ESV)Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”So God created man in his own image,    in the image of God he created him;    male and female he created them.And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its

Where does your help come from? Your bank account? Capitol Hill? Your career?  Psalm 121 lifts our eyes from these things that are sure to fail us and fixes our gaze on Yahweh, who is the maker of heaven and earth. Join us as we wrap up our series as we learn to pray prayers of trust. Psalm 121 (ESV)A Song of Ascents.I lift up my eyes to the hills.    From where does my help come?My help comes from the Lord,    who made heaven and earth.He will not let your foot be moved;    he who keeps you will not slumber.Behold, he who keeps Israel    will neither slumber nor sleep.The Lord is your keeper;    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.The sun shall not strike you by day,    nor the moon by night.The Lord will keep you from all evil;    he will keep your life.The Lord will keep    your going out and your coming in    from this time forth and forevermore.Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will

God’s way often seems foolish to the world, and to surrender our will to God’s will often seems very foolish to those around us who don’t know God. The Psalms give us language to come to grips with what true wisdom is, even when it feels like foolishness. Psalm 14 (ESV)To the choirmaster. Of David.The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”    They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;    there is none who does good.The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,    to see if there are any who understand,    who seek after God.They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;    there is none who does good,    not even one.Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers    who eat up my people as they eat bread    and do not call upon the Lord?There they are in great terror,    for God is with the generation of the righteous.You would shame the plans of the poor,    but the Lord is his refuge.Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!    When the Lord restores the fortunes of his

Psalms scholar Dr. Saleska writes, “Psalm 2 puts us in the middle of a power dispute. Who has power and who does not? What does power look like? Who gets to exercise it? Whose side are you on?” Sound familiar?!  As followers of Jesus, these ancient words can help form our prayers as we wrestle with the same questions. Psalm 2 (ESV)Why do the nations rage    and the peoples plot in vain?The kings of the earth set themselves,    and the rulers take counsel together,    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,“Let us burst their bonds apart    and cast away their cords from us.”He who sits in the heavens laughs;    the Lord holds them in derision.Then he will speak to them in his wrath,    and terrify them in his fury, saying,“As for me, I have set my King    on Zion, my holy hill.”I will tell of the decree:The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;    today I have begotten you.Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,    and the ends of the earth your possession.You shall break them with a rod

Jesus got angry. So, is such a thing as righteous anger? What do we do when we become angry? How do we express that anger? How do we process that anger? The Psalms give us words to help us process this universal emotion. Psalm 137 (ESV)By the waters of Babylon,    there we sat down and wept,    when we remembered Zion.On the willows there    we hung up our lyres.For there our captors    required of us songs,and our tormentors, mirth, saying,    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”How shall we sing the Lord's song    in a foreign land?If I forget you, O Jerusalem,    let my right hand forget its skill!Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,    if I do not remember you,if I do not set Jerusalem    above my highest joy!Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites    the day of Jerusalem,how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,    down to its foundations!”O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,    blessed shall he be who repays you    with what you have done to us!Blessed shall he be who takes your lit

It is easy to look around and let our hearts grow cold and numb because of the brokenness all around us. The Psalms give us language to express the lament we experience. But the Psalms also teach us how to pray prayers of thanksgiving as a form of protest against the evil in this world. What does it mean to bring a sacrifice of praise to the LORD? The Psalms teach us how to do this. Psalm 95Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!For the Lord is a great God,    and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the depths of the earth;    the heights of the mountains are his also.The sea is his, for he made it,    and his hands formed the dry land.Oh come, let us worship and bow down;    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!For he is our God,    and we are the people of his pasture,    and the sheep of his hand.Today, if you hear his voice,    do not h

What do you do when you feel as though God has deserted you? Jesus experienced this and he used the words of Psalm 22 to give voice to what he was experiencing as he was dying on the cross. Join us as we explore how to pray when we are overcome with grief, sorrow, and lament and when God seems to remain silent. Psalm 22My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,    and by night, but I find no rest.Yet you are holy,    enthroned on the praises of Israel.In you our fathers trusted;    they trusted, and you delivered them.To you they cried and were rescued;    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.But I am a worm and not a man,    scorned by mankind and despised by the people.All who see me mock me;    they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”Yet you are he who took me from the womb;    you made me

Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray!” Jesus gave them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. However, as a Jewish man Jesus’ prayer life would have been formed by the prayers in The Book of Psalms. Join us Pastor Jake introduces this beautiful book and how Jesus desires to teach us to pray as we learn how to Pray the Psalms. Psalm 1Blessed is the man    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners,    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,    and on his law he meditates day and night.3 He is like a tree    planted by streams of waterthat yields its fruit in its season,    and its leaf does not wither.In all that he does, he prospers.4 The wicked are not so,    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,    but the way of the wicked will perish. Luke 11:1-4Now Jesus was pray