Looking for a great way to give back? Join Our Puerto Rico Mission Trip! Approximate travel dates are June 18-25, 2019. We will visit at Cristo Rey and work with smaller congregations. Bethel members 16 years and older are welcome to join us. We are looking for roofers, construction workers, cement and brick masons, and other skilled laborers as well as people willing to learn and work. If you are interested please contact Pastor Anjanette (507-288-6430), Cindy Williamson (507-261-7927), or Shari Engel (507-269-9043).

Christmas Blessings to Bethel Members and Friends!

It is a delight to greet people at joyous times in their lives—Christmas and otherwise. This fall I sent a postcard greeting to one of our members turning 95 years old. I wrote the postcard on September 20, a Friday. However it is that our current postal system works, it was postmarked four days later on September 24.

Meanwhile, this wonderful Norwegian woman would find herself in the hospital for recurring issues she needed to deal with at the age of 95. During hospital visits it was fun to reminisce about her days in Norway prior to her emigration to the United States when she was 24.

On November 3 she died, 14 years to the day after her husband had died. It was a meaningful time to recall her gifts to her family and the world, and to recall God’s powerful promises to her and all the rest of us.

On November 20, one of the Bethel office staff came into my office with the postcard. A hand written note said, “Not here.” The USPS yellow sticker said, “Return to Sender, Not Deliverable as Addressed, Unable to Forward”.

Well…….yes. Nearly two months after the card was sent! We can wonder about where the postcard might have been for two months, but the Post Office tells the truth. She is not here. That is reminiscent of a Biblical truth spoken by angels, “He is not here. He has risen.” That is also the truth for our 95 year old.

The angel speaks another important truth in this season—a truth about one who would be born as Immanuel, God with us.

If you are reading this, you are still here, at least for a time. God’s promise is that God will abide with us. But there will come a time in which our mail will be marked with, “Not here.” A truth to celebrate. A promise to claim. In this season and every season.

Merry Christmas,

A Delayed Postcard — and a Truth

Pastor Norman W. Wahl

Featuring: Pastor Jason’s Sabbatical | Bethel Lutheran’s Endowment Fund

Winter 2019

All are welcome to enjoy an evening of beautiful music featuring many of Bethel’s musical ensembles on Wednesday, December 11th at 6:30 pm.

The evening weaves together biblical readings, reflections on the birth of Christ and gorgeous anthems and instrumental pieces for you to savor the season and prepare your heart for celebrating Christmas.

A cookie and punch reception follows the concert served by Bethel Youth and free-will donations will be accepted for their upcoming 2020 Mission Trip to Denver, Colorado.

All are welcome for Bethel’s Annual Christmas Caroling on Sunday, December 22nd from 4 to 6 pm. We will meet at Bethel at 4 pm to organize caroling groups to go visit Bethel homebound members and care facilities in Rochester.

We will return to Bethel for a delicious potluck. Please bring a dish to share. If you are planning to attend, contact Pastor Linda Helberg or call the church office (507) 288-6430. Thanks for considering coming to this fun event filled with good cheer!

Paper products and beverages will be provided. Even if you “can’t carry a tune in a bucket!” you are welcome to make a “joyful noise to the Lord”. All ages are invited to attend.

Beacon | Winter 2019

Christmas Concert Christmas

Caroling

Do you recall growing up and the excitement surrounding the Christmas Pageant at church? Some reminisce of bags filled with candy, oranges and peanuts in the shell. Others recall children dressed up in homemade costumes, others a live stable scene outside the church doors. Bethel’s Children, Youth, and Family Ministry carry on the tradition of a Christmas Program with few changes.

Our Sunday School and Forum 56 Youth tell the simple story of the birth of Jesus. We stick to the story because we want to share the Good News of great joy! The program includes our Sunday School children singing Christmas songs and hymns. Our Forum 56 and older Sunday School children portraying Mary and Joseph, angels

and shepherds, and the three Kings. The story is narrated by two youth narrators.

You are invited to join us on Sunday December 15th at 1:30 pm in the sanctuary for this year’s Sunday School Christmas Program. We promise an afternoon filled with the JOY of Christmas.

Following the program, we will gather in Bethel Hall for cookies and punch. It never gets old hearing of angels and shepherds, a baby born in a manger who has come to save the world. Come and hear this timeless story one more time plus enjoy a homemade Christmas cookie or two!

Semac Mission Trips

In 1997, I went with a group of volunteers from Wykoff to the Red River Valley to work on homes after the ‘97 flood. The following year I decided to form a group to help for 3 days in St. Peter after a tornado. After that, we named our group SEMAC (Southeastern Minnesota Area Christians) and began taking two week trips each year to different parts of the country to help after floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. Our volunteers come from many different denominations in SE Minnesota.

For the past 10 years, we have taken a two week trip each February along with various day projects around our area. These projects have included

By Larry Vomhofwork in Rushford, Hammond, Zumbro Falls, as well as low income needs in Rochester.

Out of state, we have worked with Lutheran Disaster Response, Catholic Charities and Habitat for Humanity, to name a few. Our trip in February 2020 will be to Dayton, OH where they had three tornadoes last Memorial day.

If you are interested in volunteering, would like more information or would like to help financially, please contact Larry Vomhof (507) 251-1342.

As we look to winter, we think of the snow beginning to fall and the fun winter activities that come with it! Skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, and sledding are ways to try and enjoy the snow that some of us dread. Here at Bethel we want to get in on that fun too!

The Bethel Ski Day is a wonderful time for our youth at Bethel to come together on a vacation day from school and take the bus to Afton Alps for a day of skiing or snowboarding. Afton is a new experience for most of our youth as it is a little further away, and is much bigger than most ski hills in the Rochester area.

This event is for youth 7th-12th grade and will have a cost for admission, but the transportation to and from the ski resort will be absolutely free! So, consider joining us for this wonderful winter outing! Sign-up will be available soon on the Bethel website.

The story of a Roman centurion Marcus, who falls in love with Hannah, a beautiful Jewish girl returns to Bethel the 2nd and 3rd weekends in March.

Hannah is a follower of Jesus, the radical teacher from Nazareth. As Marcus becomes fatefully intertwined in the events leading to the execution of Jesus, he weighs the impact of Jesus in his own life. The conflict in Marcus propels him to evaluate all he’s experienced, and ultimately to make “The Choice”.

Show times are March 13-15 and 20-22, 2020. Note: We still have openings for a fewkey roles, onstage family/crowd folks, set construction, and off stage/behind the scenes helpers. Please reach out to Ron Hanson at (507) 358-7955 if interested.

www.bethellutheran.com

810 Third Avenue SERochester, MN 55904-7394

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Permit No. 346Rochester, MN

Winter 2019For more information on events, please visit www.bethellutheran.com/calendar

Calendar Recurring Events

Beacon | Winter 2019@bethelrochester

Annual Christmas Concert12/11 - Concert in Sanctuary | 6:30 pmAdvent 3 - December 14/1512/14 - Worship with Communion | 6 pm12/15 - Worship Services (Communion) | 9, 10:10, & 10:30 am12/15 - CYF Christmas Program | 1:30 pmAdvent 4 - December 21/2212/21 - Worship with Communion | 6 pm12/22 - Worship Services | 9, 10:10, & 10:30 amChristmas Eve - Tuesday, December 2412/24 - Festival Worship Services | 3, 4:30, & 6 pm12/24 - Candlelight Worship | 11 pmChristmas Day - Wednesday, December 2512/25 - Worship with Communion | 10 amEpiphany – Monday, January 61/6 - Worship Service | 6 pmBethel Annual Meeting1/26 - 12 pm

Saturday Evening Worship6 pm in Sanctuary

Sunday Morning Worship9 am & 10:30 am in Sanctuary

10:10 am in Chapel (Gate of Life)

Monday Night Bible Study6:30 pm Room 115

Wednesday Morning Bible Study6:30 am & 10 am Room 115

Coffee & A PrayerWednesdays, 7:30 am on 3rd Ave

Pre-Baptism Class2nd Sunday of the month

6:30 pm Room 115