SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, October 2 
Psalm 37:1-9
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10

If this were a newspaper, all of the news reporting would be about a week behind !
In next week’s newsletter, I hope to tell you about our visit to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church on September 25th, and about the interment of my Aunt Sal’s ashes.  But this week, I want to describe the wonderful scenes I witnessed, the week before. 
On Saturday, September 17th, Nancy B and I attended the Central Atlantic Conference’s memorial service for Rev. Dr. John Deckenback, our late Conference Minister, who passed away while working in the Conference office in Catonsville, Maryland on July 19th of this year.
Rev. Dr. Deckenback served our Conference from the early 1990s until his death.  He held the role of Conference Minister far longer than anyone else in the United Church of Christ, and through the many eulogies that were delivered in his Conference memorial service, we learned the extent to which other Conference Ministers around the UCC looked up to him.
In addition to his Conference role, Deckenback helped to found the Conferences of the United Church of Christ Insurance Board, a non-profit organization which provides affordable property and liability insurance to UCC and Christian Church (Disciples) congregations.  Several times, he served as the executive of the Insurance Boards, and struggled hard to keep it going to benefit the churches.
Deckenback was also a tireless advocate for justice: in Baltimore, in the United States, in Israel-Palestine, in Colombia and in South Africa.  Since I have been with you-all at Bethel, he has gone to many “hot spots” around the world as a Christian from America, to show solidarity with oppressed people.  Afterwards, he always came back to our Shenandoah Meetings or Conference Meetings to tell us what he had learned, and to bring us messages of love and of need.  Only recently, he visited and embraced Syrian refugees who were living in primitive camps in Iraq, across the border from their war-torn homeland.
At the memorial service at St. John’s UCC in Catonsville, two and a half hours flew by as the congregation sang, clapped, swayed, laughed, wept, and reminisced about John Deckenback’s life and ministry.  The music was heavenly, mostly led by the very sharp band and choir and soloists of Plymouth Congregational UCC of Washington, D.C..
The diversity of the speakers and musicians in the memorial service spoke volumes about the wide circle of love John Deckenback cast in his earthly life: we should all strive to be worthy of such a colorful tribute.  This was found especially in one chorus we shared:
Every praise is to our God.
Every word of worship, with one accord.
Every praise, every praise, is to our God !
Sing hallelujah to our God !
Glory hallelujah is due our God !
Every praise, every praise, is to our God.
 
God my Savior; God my Healer;
God my Deliverer; Yes He is, yes He is.

It reminded me of the scenes in the Book of Revelation where “there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.  They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (7:9-10)
So it really ought to go without saying, that the tribute was not really to John Deckenback: it was to God his Master, his Creator.
I realize that not very many of our Bethel folks spent time with John Deckenback, our Conference Minister: for those of you who didn’t, it was your loss.  If you get to the Heavenly City, you will get to know him better, then.  You will hear him laughing as he continues organizing souls in God’s service.
†                      †                      †
The LORD answered me and said:
   Write the vision;
      make it plain on tablets,
          so that a runner may read it. 
   For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
         it speaks of the end, and does not lie. 
   If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
      it will surely come, it will not delay. 
   Look at the proud!  Their spirit is not right in them,
      but the righteous live by their faith.
                           -Habakkuk 2: 2-4

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, September 25 
Psalm 146
Amos 6:1-7
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

Most UCC congregations will receive the Neighbors In Need offering on October 2, 2016 as part of their World Communion Sunday observance.  Here at Bethel, we will, too.
Neighbors in Need is a special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States.  
One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM).  CAIM is the voice for American Indian people in the UCC.  CAIM provides Christian ministry and witness to American Indians and to the wider church.  Justice issues that affect American Indian life are communicated to the whole UCC by CAIM. 
Historically, the forebears of the UCC established churches and worked with Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arickara, and Hocak in North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and northern Nebraska.  Today there are 20 UCC congregations on reservations and one urban, multi-tribal UCC congregation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  CAIM supports these local churches and their pastors.  In addition, CAIM strives to be a resource for more than 1,000 individuals from dozens of other tribes and nations who are members of other UCC congregations and to strengthen their participation in the life of the church.

Two-thirds of the Neighbors In Need offering is used by the UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants.
Justice and Witness Ministries of the UCC awards Neighbors in Need grants to churches and organizations doing justice work in their communities.  If we at Bethel applied for a Neighbors In Need grant, we could receive one, just as some other churches in our Association have done in the past.  These grants fund projects whose work ranges from direct service to community organizing and advocacy to address systemic injustice.  
One example of a church in our area using a Neighbors In Need grant was St. Luke’s – County Line Church.  A few years ago, they applied for and got one such grant, which they used to reach out in multiple ways to the camp full of migrant workers who tend and harvest the orchards between Timberville and Mt. Jackson. 
Funding for these grants is provided through donations to the annual Neighbors in Need offering.  Please pray and ask what gift you should make to this worthy cause.
Our gospel lessons, this Summer, have been highlighting Jesus’ and the prophets’ call for us to curb our selfishness and make sure to care for the poor.  If I were preaching at Bethel this Sunday, you would surely be hearing about ‘the rich man and Lazarus,’ as told in Luke 16:19 — 31.  Jesus said that the rich man who did not take care of his poor, sick neighbor ended up in hell, while poor Lazarus lives in glory in the bosom of Abraham.  
This gospel inspires me to be a progressive Christian.  When I pray, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” I am not satisfied to imagine “pie in the sky when we die.”  No.  Jesus calls us to care for our discriminated-against and our poor neighbors now, today, in this lifetime.

Washington Gladden was a pastor and leader of Congregational churches, beginning in the late 1800s.  His studies in the teachings of Jesus and the prophets led him to develop the movement known as the Social Gospel.  Gladden worked hard to organize Christians on behalf of workers’ rights, ending racial segregation, and other progressive attempts to realize the kingdom of God in this world.  In 1879, Gladden published this poem, which was made into a beloved hymn:
          O Master, let me walk with Thee,
          In lowly paths of service free;
          Tell me Thy secret; help me bear
          The strain of toil, the fret of care.
 
          Help me the slow of heart to move
          By some clear, winning word of love;
          Teach me the wayward feet to stay,
          And guide them in the homeward way.
 
          Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee
          In closer, dearer, company,
          In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
          In trust that triumphs over wrong.
 
          In hope that sends a shining ray
          Far down the future’s broadening way,
          In peace that only Thou canst give,
          With Thee, O Master, let me live.

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, September 18
Psalm 113
Amos 8:4-7
1 Timothy 2:1-7
Luke 16: 1-13

I am writing this on Monday morning, twenty-four hours since we celebrated Homecoming here at Bethel.  In so many ways, it was a great and very special day.
Twenty four hours ago, our friend Rev. Buddy Marston was here, preaching on Nehemiah 4:14 : After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them.  Remember the LORD, Who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
[ Please let me know if you would like a CD or tape of yesterday’s worship service- they will be freely available, later this week.  The sermon, in particular, is well worth hearing again. ]
It would be unwise and unhelpful for me to try to summarize briefly what Rev. Marston said so well and in such depth.  Even so, it seemed to me that his main emphasis was on fighting for God’s future for our churches, our families, our people.  He emphasized that our enemy in this fight is Satan, who hates all of God’s works, especially people. 
“Remember the LORD” means that we are not alone in this fight:  God fights for His people and His Church.  At his conclusion, Rev. Marston stated, “I believe Bethel Church is that kind of church, that will not let people fight alone.”
This is reassuring.  It is also a serious challenge to us, here in the local congregation, to be active partners with God in the struggle.  Just as the Jews trying to rebuild Jerusalem in Nehemiah’s day had to marshal all of their meager resources to accomplish their task, so do we. 
Thank God, our resources are not that meager !     We have a dedicated core group of workers with excellent skills, a beautiful building, much good will among our neighboring congregations, and vast potential of un-tapped personnel and raw material which can be brought to the battle— if we partner with God.
Our gospel lesson for this coming week speaks to the contest we are in.  Allow me to set it in context. 
Jesus faced a group of people which included not only his disciples and acknowledged “sinners”— folks who were friendly to his movement: there were also worldly-minded curmudgeons who wanted him to fail: religious leaders who grumbled about Jesus, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."  (Luke 15:1-2) 
That was when Jesus told the parables about the lost sheep and the good shepherd, the lost coin and the determined housewife, and the lost son and his loving father and angry older brother.  All of those parables Jesus told to make the point: our loving heavenly Father desperately wants everyone to be “found” – “saved” – enlisted on God’s side against the devil.
So, in this week’s gospel lesson, Jesus makes a further move:  in his parable of the dishonest manager, he tells us that God wants each of us, His agents, to use every skill, every clever brain cell, every gift He has given us in our fight against the devil, to rescue the lost ones. 

We human beings can be quite devious, energetic, and persistent when we want something for ourselves: money, survival, authority, etc..  “The children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”  (Luke 16:8)  If you have been the victim— or the perpetrator— of a scam or a con-job, you know how that is:  it is not good.

But Jesus’ challenge is for us to use all of our best in God’s service, to be excellent managers of whatever gifts God has given us for God’s sake.  Jesus was not saying that “the ends justify the means”— we must not use cruelty or any evil way in God’s name.  But, if we submit to God’s rule in our lives and claim God’s powerful help in doing God’s will, there is no limit to the success we may achieve against our enemy the devil.
Your church needs you now, to step up and offer  your shrewdness, your strength, your loyalty, your patience, your kindness, your dexterity, your number-crunching ability, your hugs... whatever best gifts God has given you. 
Rev. Marston told us yesterday, “Whenever you fight for your family, your husband, your wife, your children, you choose not to take the easy way out, and you remember the Lord.  And the forces of hell will not destroy their future, or the future of your church.  You have an Advocate: any enemy of yours, or your family, or your church is an enemy of God.” 
                          Praise, O servants of the LORD;
                                   praise the name of the LORD.    
                                                 Psalm 113:1

 Scriptures for the week of September 5 - 11, 2016
Exodus 32: 7 – 14
Psalm 51: 1-10
1 Timothy 1: 12 – 17
Luke 15:1 - 10
[note:  we don't yet know what text(s) our Homecoming guest speaker,   Rev. Buddy Marston, will be using]

WELCOME HOME

We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
and our Father,
and to His deeds we testify:
He calls the worlds into being,
creates man in His own image
and sets before him the ways of life and death.
 
He seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
 
He judges men and nations by His righteous will
declared through prophets and apostles.
 
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord,
He has come to us and shared our common lot,
conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to Himself.
 
He bestows upon us His Holy Spirit,
creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ,
binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.
 
He calls us into His church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship,
to be His servants in the service of men,
to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil,
to share in Christ's baptism and eat at his table,
to join Him in His passion and victory.
 
He promises to all who trust Him forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace,
courage in the struggle for justice and peace,
His presence in trial and rejoicing,
and eternal life in His kingdom which has no end.
 
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto Him.  Amen.
 
    ( The Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ, since 1957 )
†                      †                      †

This week, plans are finally coming together for Bethel’s One Hundred and Twentieth Anniversary as a congregation.  We are hoping for an outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon “the regulars” and upon everyone who gathers— in the flesh and in spirit— for this special Sunday celebration. 
Our church officers and the History Committee have worked to make this a good event.  One might imagine that Homecoming is a backward-looking event, mainly concerned with “the way things used to be.”  True, our History Committee has been trying hard to gather correct and interesting facts and photos which illustrate the one hundred and twenty year history.  But our church is alive NOW, living to serve Jesus Christ.  And our whole aim is to serve him faithfully each new day.  So, as always, each milestone reveals not only how far we have come, but what direction we are moving, and how far we still have to go toward our heavenly goal.  At best, looking at our history can give us additional reasons to thank and praise the One Who makes all good things possible (and Who calls us to repent of all un-fruitful works).  Also, if we study our church’s history very prayerfully and thoughtfully, we may discern some past mis-steps which we want to avoid, going forward.
We current stewards of Bethel’s mission are imperfect, struggling human beings... not very different from the Charter Members of 1896.  We, as they, require repeated forgiveness and refreshment at the hand of our so-gracious God.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
     let the bones that You have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
     and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
     and put a new and steadfast spirit within me.
                                       - Psalm 51: 8 – 10