Pastor's Blog

Father Henri J. M. Nouwen (1932-1996) Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people…’” -Luke 18:11 In his book, Reflection on the Christian Life, Henri Nouwen wrote that, “Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” In my estimation, that’s a glorious and divinely inspired bit of wisdom. But, for some of us “being human” is not as easy as it sounds, in fact there are

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.” -Matthew 5:16 Sometimes people make me wonder! I saw a beautiful tree recently; it might have been a White Oak tree, and in the side of that beautiful expression of God’s creative power was carved a heart, inside of which was two sets of initials. I can’t remember the initials exactly, but I am sure you can imagine

A word from our Associate Pastor Dear friends in Christ, To me, August serves as a month where we still hold on to summer and yet are looking forward to the activities of fall. Before we look too far ahead, I wanted to share one of my favorite moments of the summer. I got to attend Grown-up and Me Day at Lutherlyn this year. My sister invited me to attend on a day she would be there wit

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven… a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.” -Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 I am not one to question the wisdom of scripture. As a result, I believe it’s a good thing to acknowledge that, “for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” My struggle - and it could be the case that some of you wrestle with this just a bit as well - is that I wo

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “Again he asked them, ‘Whom are you looking for?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’” -John 18:7 When the soldiers and the betrayer turn up in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus is ready, they are not. Jesus stands there before them, it is portrayed so poignantly in the Gospel of John, but there is a momentary failure to act. Jesus has to ask them not once, but twice, “Whom are you looking for?” Why the delay? Why did it take so long before they act

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “…Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’” -Matthew 19:14 The week of vacation Bible School truly is a marvelous time. The children, the volunteers, the music, lessons, games, and time in scripture are such a blessing. It’s only once a year, but to have a full week, day in and day out, during which we can devote ourselves to the faith formation of our y

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “Therefore, you also must be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44 I distinctly remember the fireworks displays of my childhood, these were stirring spectacles of sight and sound; they were the excuse to stay up late and relish a summer evening. But it didn’t take very long to catch on to the rhythm of the fireworks display. There were be a couple of loud booms to let folks know things were about to begi

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The passage above comes straight from scripture, quoted exactly from the NRSVue edition. If you had to guess, from where in the Bible does that passage come? It certainly does appear in the New Testament; you might have pointed to Matthew 22:39, or perhaps Mark 12:31. Both would be correct. However, for the sake of this brief devotion, I would like to note that this glorious bit of wisdom also appears i

“Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!” Matthew 13:8-9- (NRSVue) Not long after receiving this newsletter you may be celebrating our country’s semiquincentennial; that’s a fancy way of saying 250th birthday. I am all for recognizing the milestone, and I will certainly be enjoying the festivities taking shape in the days ahead. I am a patriotic person. I love our country and remain deeply c

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshipping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big day approaching.” -Hebrews 10:25, The Message Worship is such a regular and important part of my life, and has been for such a long time, that it is easy for me to take my time in the sanctuary for granted. I shouldn’t. In fact, I want to take a moment today to celebrate and