Reflections

Blog by Barbara Cody
Director, Bethany CDC
October 25, 2012

To help children understand where their food comes from and to appreciate the effort that goes into producing it, students at Bethany Lutheran Child Development Center participate in a year-around gardening ...

Grace is a special word to Lutherans. Grace is a word expressing the idea of kindness bestowed upon a person who is undeserving of that kindness, such as a gift from God to us. To Lutherans, the Means of Grace include the Bible (the Gospel both written and spoken), the rite of baptism, and the rite of communion. Lutherans believe in a gracious God,...

During the time for communion, take time to look at the altar. Those things we take for granted such as the altar cloths, the wine, the bread---do they just magically appear there? How many people are involved? The ladies of the Altar Guild bake the bread, bring the wine and grape juice, and prepare the altar. The ushers bring the wine, the bread, ...

What does God require of us as followers? Micah 6:8 sums it up in a hurry.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you---but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This sounds so simple, but we sometimes just can’t do it. Why do we take the simple road and make ...

What is the greatest thing God has ever created? The Grand Canyon, the mountains, the seas---or you and me? Can any of those great sites and sights walk about to do what God wants to be done? Can any of them invite people to church and share in the Gospel? Can any of them put their hands on someone to give warmth and compassion and healing? Can any...

As a youth I realized how great God really is. He was always there to listen to my troubles. He was always there to keep me from feeling alone. When I fouled up, he was always understanding and showed me a better way to live my life the next time. I could tell God what I had done wrong. God was, no! is more forgiving and receptive than human beings...

The wine and bread of communion are gifts from God to us. Once on the altar, the cork of the wine jar Is removed so that the aroma of the wine permeates the air around the altar to remind us of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The bread for communion at Bethany is made with yeast, so the bread has risen---to remind us that Christ has risen. The ...

. As you sit in church, look at the wall of bricks behind the altar. What makes the church? The saints in the congregation, both past and present make the churc h. We are all saints once we accept Christ into our lives. Bethany is a home for saints. In your mind, let each brick represent a saint who has gone to heaven or that saint sitting in the ...

Often unchurched people when invited to Bethany will answer back, “I don’t feel comfortable with others who know so much about their religion and the Bible.
I guess they are right. I felt that way as an adult returning to church. Some of the questions I asked teachers and pastors included such things as:
How come the Books of the ...

Feeling low and down-in-the –dumps about accomplishing so little in life and feeling so lonely and blue? Do you hear the echo of this poem in your ears and mind?
Oh we’re busy doing nothing,
We have plenty of things to do.
We’ve eggs to lay and chickens to hatch
And cackle the whole day through.
At Bethany we have lots to do...

Why does Bethany offer Sunday School classes? To teach the young and old and all in between so we learn more about the love and power and reality of the Triune God.
 
By studying and sharing our thoughts about the Sunday lessons, we have a better understanding of what God expects of us, what Jesus taught us to do with our life, and how the ...

Acts 16:16-34 This reading for this coming Sunday seems to be about "doing good" creating "bad" and a "bad situation" being "good."  The slave girl has her way of making money, seen by the disciples as wrong, taken from her.  Paul and Silas see what they did as helping her.  Her owners see it ...