Category: General

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of a longtime member of our church family,

Charles Theodore Jennings, Sr., 14 December 1931 — 12 November 2018

Charles Theodore Jennings, Sr. — Ted to friends and family and Charlie to work colleagues — passed away in the early hours of 12 November 2018. He was born in Centreville, Illinois, to Marvin Edward and Alice (Muir) Jennings.

His wife of 57 years, Dorothy (Lange) Jennings predeceased him in 2014. He is survived by his daughter, Schalene Dagutis and her husband, Pete, of Cohoes, New York; his son, Charles Theodore Jennings, Jr., and his wife, Dawn, of New Bern; his son, John Edward Jennings, and his wife, Celeste, of Anniston, Alabama; and two grandsons, Austin and Bradley Jennings, and six great grandchildren. His brother, Marvin Edward Jennings also survives him. as well as three sisters-in-law, Katherine Lange, Jeanne Lange, and Virginia Lange.

Ted came to the Washington, DC, area in 1941 when his father accepted a job with the federal government. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from 1952-1954. He attended The Columbia Technical Institute at night, graduating as valedictorian and earning a degree in mechanical engineering in 1959. He and his family moved to Pamlico County in 1978 and attended Bethany Christian Church in Arapahoe. Ted and Dorothy moved to New Bern in 2006.

Ted never met a stranger and will always be remembered for his smile, outgoing personality, and willingness to help others whenever needed. His children will never forget the model he set for how to live a worthwhile life and be a loving, thoughtful spouse.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 17 at 3:00 p.m. at Bethany Christian Church, 8126 NC Highway 306 South, Arapahoe, North Carolina. In lieu of flowers, the family asks if you want to remember Ted, please donate to the charity of your choice in his name.

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.

–Psalm 63:2-4

Thank you, Lord, for…

When my day begins with washed-out colors, reflecting the lack of spirit in my soul and the dearth of hope in my heart, I thank you, Lord, for making me aware of your love and the beauty of Your creation. As your sun rises upon this fertile earth and illuminates the beauty around me, and as Your sun saturates the colors of all that appears, brightening the world, my soul is filled with Your Spirit, and my heart pulses with your love. I praise you for Your love, and I bask in Your glory. Forever.

“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. –John 14:23

In The Secret Place: Devotions for Daily Worship, the Nov. 16 devotion, Home Sweet Home,  by Sarah Lyons, she uses John 14:23 as the “thought for the day.” She tells in the devotional of missing a flight, having to sleep in the airport, and catching a flight out the next morning.

Upon arriving home, she stated, “It felt great to be home. There really is no place like home. Jesus creates a home for those who love and obey him. It’s a home where we can feel safe and comfortable. If our earthly home can feel good to us, imagine how great a home with Jesus will be.”

Whether our home is grand or modest, there’s no place like it. The only one better is not to be found in this world; rather, it is the one Jesus prepares for us.

 

Christian Women’s Fellowship and Christian Men’s Fellowship meetings, regularly the third Sunday each month, were cancelled for September. CWF and CMF will meet instead at 6 PM, Sunday, October 14.

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.