July 16, 2023
Summer Worship
Worship at 9:30 am

Presiding Minister: Rev. Rebecca Bourret

Preacher: Rev. Rebecca Bourret

Assisting Minister: Blair Goodlin

Lectors: Greta Lee & Elaine Ramshaw

Altar Guild: Nora Lee

Livestream: Blair Goodlin

Tellers: Elaine Ramshaw & Nora Lee

Ushers: Chris Lee

Bread Baker: Chris Wigren

Coffee Set-Up: Tyler Fair

Organ: Maria Coffin

Cantor: Elaine Ramshaw

Worship Livestream

We stream Sunday worship services live on Bethesda’s YouTube Channel. Join us live at 9:30 am every Sunday or watch the recording afterward.

Click here to access this Sunday's bulletin.

Update from Tim and Kari

Dear Bethesda,

I am writing from Taizé, France, where Kari and I are spending the week with the community of those here to pray, sing, and gather for Bible study and reflection. We are being asked this week to respond to the question “what is it that I am thirsting for” and “what is the source that satisfies that thirst?”

With the ecumenical monastic community and hundreds of pilgrims from throughout the world, mainly Europe, mostly youth and young adults, we pray three times a day using the repetitive chant style Bethesda knows well. We have met a few friends we know from Yale who happened to be here at the same time. We have met an Episcopalian couple from Maine. We are making friends visiting from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, etc.

Greeting from Taizé

We are about at the halfway point of our time away and I want you to know how grateful we are to have found our way to rest, reflection, and time in prayer. Focused on our own well-being and the life in the Spirit, I am hopeful that these rhythms will enable renewal in ministry and our own shared life together once I return.

We will have many stories to share. For example, the program for youth and young adults this week at Taizé includes Christian-Muslim friendship. Yesterday all were invited to a workshop on examples of Christian-Muslims with a speaker from Bethlehem. The speaker, Stephanie, wove stories about her friends in Palestine not dissimilar to stories we tell from our relationship with Lutherans and our Muslim friends there.

The setting in the French countryside of Burgundy is very beautiful. Our Bed and Breakfast host serves us eggs from her own hens, while their pet donkeys bray a morning wake-up call.

Kari and I hold you in our hearts while we continue our time away.

Blessings,

-- Pastor Tim

Unexpectedly met a Yale student and her parents!

Godspeed to Vicar Gabrielle Brown

Vicar Gabrielle’s internship has come to an end. She will be completing her final year of seminary as a distance learner from her home in Colorado. Gabrielle’s contact information is: [email protected]  719-352-8918

Gabrielle Brown 1385 Bison Ridge Drive Colorado Springs CO 80919

Introduction to Rev. Rebecca Rourret

Pastor Rebecca Bourret retired recently after serving parishes in Connecticut and Massachusetts, as well as a term with Bishop Margaret Payne. She and her husband, Jeff Kinney, live in West Hartford, and are parents of three adult children, and grandparents to one attention-grabbing, seven month old grandson, Jack. She was a classmate at The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago with both Pastor Tim Keyl and Pastor Kari Henkelmann-Keyl. Fun fact: Pastor (then Vicar) Kari was the first visitor to meet Jack’s father, Samuel, when he was born in 1989.

Consecration of Deacon Jeff Hazewinkel

Member Jeff Hazewinkel will be consecrated into Diaconal Ministry Sunday July 16th at 5:00 pm local time in Dewitt MI as part of the Community of Lutheran Deacons Annual Meeting. Livestream of the service may be viewed through this link.

Consecration marks several years of personal, spiritual, academic and professional preparation. Jeff has been especially influenced by the persistent ministries of individuals rebuilding the Christian church in the former East Germany. The theme of the service is Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe (faith, hope, love) which guides many in their daily walk with Christ.

The Lutheran Diaconal Association (LDA) is an independent, multi-Lutheran organization that forms, sends and nurtures a community of deaconesses and deacons, and supports the people of God in Christ’s call to service.

Should you wish to support the LDA’s mission, you may do so by visiting www.theLDA.org or by specifying so on your donation to Bethesda.

We Need Volunteers for July & August

Email administrative assistant, Tyler Fair ([email protected]) to volunteer for needed roles! In particular we are on the search for volunteers to serve on altar guild, lectors, ushers, coffee setup folks, and tellers for the upcoming month.

Thank You!

Thank you to Rev. Rebecca Bourret who will presiding and preaching as well as Maria Coffin who will be serving as Bethesda's organist this upcoming Sunday. Also huge thanks to Elaine Ramshaw!

We Have a New Music Director!!

Bethesda is excited to be hiring Isaac Lee as our next music director!

Isaac is a graduate of Yale's Institute of Sacred Music and will be splitting time between Bethesda and Julliard in New York City in the fall.

Please give Isaac a warm welcome!

Mission Investment Fund (MIF) Loan Update

Look for the Chimney in the Narthex - there you will find a QR code to give online. Let’s see how quickly we can pay back this loan!

Remember, for the cost of one fancy cup of coffee a week, together we can buy down this ten year loan!

You can choose to contribute online here or by notation in the comment line of a check. Thank you for your generosity!

Ministry at Bethesda

For pastoral care, please reach out to Elaine Ramshaw, congregation council president [email protected] , (203)747-1343 

Deacon Jeff Hazewinkel will also be available after July 16th at (219)929-8684.

For other needs, reach out to Bethesda's administrator, Leigh Cromey [email protected]  or (203)787-2346.

Prayer Requests

For healing and strength: John Ferreira, nephew of Chris Couture; George Arndt, father of Lynn Arezzini; Marie Gray; Sonja Krummrey; Maureen Anderson; Shirley Farm; Anne and Lee Keck; Kay Leone; Molly Dinneen; Matthew H., cousin of Tyler Fair struggling with addiction.

For our partners in the Gospel: the congregations and schools of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and LuMin Campus Ministry; for Bethesda House and Yale Divinity School students.

For our Ecumenical Partners Worldwide: We pray for Djibouti and Somalia. The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle takes us through every region of the world over the course of a year.

For Bethesda New Haven: that God continues to guide us into the future with ministries of witness, service, hospitality, and care while building up our community in all its diversity.

For those in candidacy for rostered leadership in the ELCA: Natalie Benson, Tyler Fair, Calli Micale, Vicar Gabrielle Brown, and Jeff Hazewinkel (in formation for consecration as deacon).

For Pastor Tim and Pastor Kari Henkelmann Keyl on sabbatical May 22-August 21, that they may be renewed.

For Bethesda members traveling over the summer: Eleanor Lee attending the Lutheran Summer Music in Valpro, Indiana until late July; the Lee Family will be in Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota mid-July through early August; Michaela Natal who will be in Argentina and Brazil in July; Maggie Astrup and Max Marmor spending time in Minnesota and Austria through August; the Franz Family in Alaska early August; Dianne Witte and Richard Ford traveling West for triathlon related travel through August; Ann Louise Onton headed to Japan in early August; Ike Harijanto who will be in Germany until the end of 2023.