Category: General

All activities and events for the week of 17 September are cancelled or postponed. As we learn, we will post postponment dates.

We pray for those who experienced damage or loss during Hurricane Florence, and ask the Lord to aid and comfort them in the cleanup process.

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” –Luke 8:22-25

Our faith is in Jesus, and we are praying for everyone’s safety as Hurricane Florence heads into land.

If you have not made preparations for the storm, there still is a little time to get ready through today, before storm conditions worsen. It is likely that tornado action can occur, too, so be especially aware of the weather at all times.

If the location of your home is low, get to a shelter or to friends or family who live on higher ground.

Pray for the safety of all in the county, and hope that, on the other side of the storm, we all are safe and have had minimal damage.

Due to the approach of Hurricane Florence, events previously scheduled for this week are cancelled.

Saturday, 15 September, Rev. Torrie Osgood will try to send a One Call Now phone message update regarding the schedule for Sunday and beyond.

Bethanyarapahoe.org also will post updates as they become available to us.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!  For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. –Psalm 27:7-10

There are people who have been abandoned, not necessarily intentionally. Think of old people who languish in nursing homes; those who are bound to their homes due to their infirmities; those who receive few visits. They are like old abandoned buildings that continue to stand, though no longer serving a useful purpose. Even when those buildings are structurally sound, because their facades show age and deferred maintenance, they are abandoned.

If you visit those in nursing homes, as elders do, you will find that, often, rather than blessing the one you visit, the one you visit blesses you. Elders frequently feel that, after their visits, they have been blessed far beyond what they have provided to those they visit.

Our Lord does not abandon us; He is with us through adversity, and provides us strength. He never forgets us. When our walls lack paint, our doors creak, our windows fail to block rain and cold, and no one seeks our shelter, the Lord becomes our shelter. “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.”

The Communications Committee is holding two photo contests in 2018. The first concluded June 30, and the winners are announced in the August issue of The Beacon.

Contest No. 2 began July 1 and runs until December 31. For Contest No. 2, contestants may submit two (2) images only, so pick your best ones! The theme for the contest is Rooted in Christ.

Contestants my submit digital images to jenniekadams@gmail.com, or 5″ x 7″ prints to the church office, placed in the communications inbox.

Qualifying images will be those that depict the theme and were taken between July 1 and December 31, 2018.

Beginning Sunday, August 5, contestants in Contest No. 1 (January 1 – June 30, 2018) are asked to sign release forms so their photographs can be published as background for the weekly devotional, A Light for Your Path, and as background for other Bethany publications and displays. Any reproduction of a contestant’s image(s) will be afforded proper attribution. Those submitting images for Contest No. 2 also will be asked to sign release forms.

 

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. –Colossians 2:6-9

August definitely is a hot, summer month. Yet, near the end of August we begin to see the first signs of fall, signaling the last quarter of the year. If we relate a calendar year to life, we understand that, for most of us, the part of our lives approaching is shorter than the part that has passed.

So it is imperative that we make sure our lives are rooted in Christ. In the Book of Job, Job, talking about humans and death, says, [unlike man] there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. (Job 14:7-9).

In Job’s time, Christ had not come to give us the ability to be like a tree that lives again “at the scent of water.” Jesus made it possible to be like a tree, so that we can be revived and nourished by His Living Water. If our roots are in the world, when “[they] grow old in the earth,” they wither and die. But if our roots are in Christ, His Living Water is accessible to us, and will save us.

“Rooted in Christ” also is the theme for the August A Light for Your Path devotionals.

The runoff vote to decide the winning photograph among the four 1st-place and the four 2nd-place photos is complete, the votes have been counted and the election certified!

Do you want to know who won? If so, be sure to read the August issue of The Bethany Beacon!

The Communications Photo Contest voting that ended July 22 resulted in a 4-way tie for 1st place, and a 4-way tie for 2nd place.

Consequently, a tiebreaker re-vote is necessary. The tiebreaker re-vote will begin Sunday, July 29, and end Sunday, August 5.

All are urged to vote again for your favorite 1st-place and 2nd-place photos! The four tied 1st-place and four tied 2nd-place photos will be displayed on a table in the fellowship hall from July 29 until August 5. They also are displayed below.

1st-place tied images:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19

 

27

35

 

2nd-place tied images:

 

Last Sunday (July 22) at 7 PM, a number of folks, despite  impending rain, came to the pavilion to enjoy ripe, juicy watermelons.

A downpour occurred about 7:20 PM. The pavilion would have provided sufficient shelter had not a strong wind accompanying the rain blown it under the pavilion roof to the dismay of the watermelon consumers.

Fortunately, after a few minutes the rain and wind subsided, and the festivity carried on. No one left hungry, though perhaps a bit damp.

–Photos by Communications

The North Carolina Baroque Orchestra (NCBO) will present a concert, Fiori del barocco (Flowers of the Baroque) at Bethany, Thursday, August 2, at 7 PM.

This marks the second year that NCBO has played in concert at Bethany. The concert presented August 4, 2017, was standing room only.

Composers Johann Sebastian Bach, Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco, Antonio Vivaldi and others will be featured in the performance. The orchestra will play on period instruments.

The concert is by donation only. Suggested donation is $15 general; $10 students and seniors; kids free.

NCBO is presenting the concert while on retreat at Camp Caroline, where it conducts an in-house workshop to grow the orchestra’s musical bonds and artistry. The concert is a way for the orchestra to highlight its endeavors during the retreat to celebrate its accomplishments and to share the music with the Eastern North Carolina community.

The orchestra was formed by sisters Frances Blaker, artistic director, and Barbara Blaker Krumdieck, executive director, along with musical collaborators, to provide opportunities for musicians and vocalists interested in exploring baroque performance practice in a baroque chamber orchestra setting.

NCBO allows musicians in North Carolina and the surrounding area an opportunity to work with highly experienced experts in the field. Conductor Frances Blaker is a world-renowned expert in baroque performance practice, in addition to being a virtuoso instrumentalist.