This coming Sunday, June 25, we thought we'd try something new - we'll be adding a little African flavor to our worship service! Local drummer Ben Ofori will be providing us with some drumming. I'll be preaching on some of my learnings from my time in Africa, particularly Ghana. Once again, we'll be focusing on Paul's letter to the church in Corinth—1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

This coming Sunday, June 18, we'll be celebrating "Recognition Sunday." We not only want to honor our dads and father-figures but we also want to recognize all of the many ways that our church family shares our individual gifts to further the mission of Jesus Christ. We will also be giving Bibles to Bethany's children in our service. We'll be focusing on 1 Corinthians 12:7-26—the individual parts of the body that each have their own unique role, but which all work together for the body.   

All people matter to God, regardless of our background or what we have done or left undone. Jesus teaches us that God is particularly passionate about finding those who are lost. 

This Sunday, June 4, we'll gather as a church family to celebrate Pentecost—a Christian holiday that celebrates both the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. The Holy Spirit is depicted in a variety of ways, sometimes as a peaceful dove and other times as tongues of fire. We'll be wearing red in honor of the Holy Spirit!

This Sunday, May 28, we'll gather for worship, and since it's Memorial Day weekend, we'll be considering memories. How special it is that we can remember sweet times throughout all the eras of our lives? Of course, we also have some memories that are far from sweet — but we are blessed with the ability to inventory all that has transpired in our lives, the lives of our families, our churches, our nation, and

This coming Sunday—May 21—we'll gather for worship, and we'll be considering dreams and aspirations. The Bible actually speaks quite a bit about dreams—God spoke to various ancestors of our faith through dreams. Our text will be from Genesis 41:1-16 (Joseph interpreting dreams for the pharoah) and Matthew 5:1-12 (the Beatitudes). During our worship, you will be invited to share about your own dreams.

This coming Sunday, May 14, I will be away; thankfully, Jim Guida has graciously offered to lead worship. We are so very blessed at Bethany with so many talented folks who lead worship through preaching, music and prayer. All are welcome to gather for worship, to center yourselves around God's word, to sing songs and share prayers, and to fill your soul for the coming weeks.

With so many sweeping changes happening in our nation and the world, we wonder: how might we, too, be changing? However, it often seems as though the hardest changes to make are the ones in our own life. 

A few weeks ago, during a Monday spiritual formation gathering, we discussed the mystery of the Holy Spirit. We acknowledged the challenging work of discerning how the Spirit is moving and what we might be being called to. So this coming Sunday, April 30, we'll be focusing on 1 John 4:1-12—knowing God through love. 

This Sunday, April 23, we'll be celebrating Earth Day. We'll be considering our earliest calling as stewards of God's creation. We'll be focusing on Genesis 1.

Even though the world often seems bleak and stressful, as resurrection people, we are to proclaim the good all around us—all of those opportunities for rebirth and love! 

Our hearts are heavy with yet another mass shooting— involving children—and we cry out, "how long, O Lord?" We seem stranded in this awful nightmare; the status quo of broken politics and bloodshed is our new normal and has been so for many years now. Can't we do something?! 

Palm Sunday speaks to us of a whole new reality offered in Christ … which should transform our powers and principalities. 

This coming Sunday, March 26, we will be having a service of healing and wholeness. You will have the opportunity to share a personal prayer with myself or Rev. Janice Kamikawa and then be anointed with oil. 

This coming Sunday, March 19, we will be wrangling with Jesus' call to "pick up your cross and follow me." It's an important text to consider, especially as we make our way to Good Friday and then Easter.

Lent is a perfect time to try something new—a new spiritual practice, a new way of offering praise and gratitude to God.

Our prayer for the season of Lent is that we are all blessed with fresh perspectives for our faith. We also cherish this time to inventory our faith lives, and work to re-invigorate our commitment to being disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Walking and living every day in faith …

This coming Sunday, February 5, our worship service will be led by Rev. Janice Kamikawa and Rev. Judy Davis. 

This coming Sunday is "Creativity Sunday.” We want to celebrate the many wonderful gifts that God has given us which help us express ourselves, benefit others, beautify our surroundings, etc. The desire and act of creating is biblical and so we'll be focusing on 1 Corinthians 12:4-20 to unpack these ideas further. 

This Sunday we'll be focusing on Romans 3:19-25; this text concerns the human condition—the ways we always fall short, and the amazing grace of God that pours over us.