VOLUME 9, ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 2013

The “table” Lent Page 2

Gloria Deo Page 2

Worship Page 3

Bobcat Boogie Page 4

Lenten Suppers Page 5

Potluck Celebration Page 6

Rutter’s Gloria Page 6

LifeLight Page 7

Mary Martha Page 8

Stephen Ministry Page 8

Primetimers Page 8

Youth Ministry Page 9

Children’s Ministry Page 10

BLS NLSW Page 10

February Calendar Page 11

Coffee News Page 12

Ever since coming to Bethlehem from the plains of Missouri, I have been fixated on the mountains just to our west. Brit-tany and I have enjoyed getting into God‟s awesome crea-tion and exploring trails, mountain lakes and streams, and seeing the wildlife. Seeing the vastness and creativeness of God‟s hand from the top of a mountain is a wonderful experi-ence.

In the Bible, we see God meeting his people on mountains all over the place. While God meets his people in a variety of ways, this Lenten season we are going to meditate on God‟s encounters with man on mountaintops. What does our God reveal about himself to us through these experi-ences? How does God interact with his chosen people in these intimate and remote locations?

Starting on Ash Wednesday, February 13th, we will begin to

look at these questions each week as we explore the re-vealed nature of God as seen from the mountaintop. We will once again be incorporating the talents of two of Bethle-hem‟s own artists during the sermons.

Please join us on Wednesdays at 10:00am in the Chapel or 7:00 pm in the Sanctuary, or if you can‟t make it on Wednes-day, you can join us at “the table” as we will be doing this same series every Thursday with a meal at 6:00pm and wor-ship at 7:00pm. Lenten suppers will be served at 5:45pm on Wednesday evenings.

Encountering God on the Mountaintop: Lent at Bethlehem By Vicar Caleb Kruse

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Celebrating from the Mountaintops - Walking Together in the Plains By Vicar Cruse

We know that we are all one body in Christ, and when one part of the body rejoices, the whole body rejoices. This past January, “the ta-ble” congratulated members of the community who gradu-ated from Jobs for Life! If you see Stevie Fields, Jenni-fer Pare, Jodi Gabel, Karen Weisz, or Christine Aragon, please congratulate them for the dedication they put into their 16-week program. We regularly celebrate victories in this community as God blesses His people.

As we head into our Lenten Series on Encountering God on the Mountaintop, we re-member that for us to go from mountaintop to moun-

taintop, we must journey through valley and plains. These are not journeys we are meant to take alone. We journey as one body, walking together and encouraging one another. If you‟ve never had the opportunity to eat or worship at “the table”, I invite you to join us during Lent. Join us as we journey with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from mountaintop to mountaintop. Encourage one another as you walk through the plains so that you might be strengthened to make it to the next moun-taintop. Regardless of where we are in our faith journeys, we need the mu-tual consolation of our broth-ers and sisters in Christ.

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Gloria Deo By Carol Caldwell

Gloria Deo had the privilege of carrying over 17 bricks, representing the money that was donated during the month of December to The Next Door Project. Who is Gloria Deo?

It's a group of people who love to sing. They love to lead worship. They love to work hard and laugh along the way. It's an amazing lifegroup whose pur-pose is to provide special music not only for Sun-day morning worship experiences, but also for all the special festival services we as Christians ob-serve, like the Christmas concert, and all the Holy Week services leading up to our grand Easter res-urrection celebration.

Our members come from all walks of life, sharing their love for music. We try to work on many differ-

ent styles of mu-sic during the year, hoping to stretch us all and broaden our hori-zons even more to the wonderful variety of music the Lord has given to composers who write to share His story with all who would listen.

We have become a family who care for each other in the process, which binds us together ever closer. We are always looking for new members to join us. Rehearsals are every Wednesday at 7 pm in the school music room. Think about joining us soon!

Last month we were thinking about how we do things the same in worship, so how do we keep things fresh and relevant? How do we sing for joy in the midst of every day sameness?

Do you recall the encounter between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Car-mel? They each set up the same altar with wood and an animal for sacrifice. Then, they would each pray to their god, and whichever god responded and burned up the offering would be declared the true god. The prophets of Baal tried everything, but, of course, there was no response. Then it was Elijah‟s turn. Just to prove a point, he had his servants cover his altar and the surrounding area with water. He stepped up and prayed that the Lord would show the people that He was indeed God. And the Lord did. Fire came down from heaven. The bull, the wood, the stones, the soil, and even all the water were consumed by the fire.

To me, the response of the people really says it all. When they saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” No one needed to tell them what to do or how to respond. They fell on their faces and worshiped the one true God. Worship is the natural response when we en-counter God.

There are many similar illustrations in the Bible. When Jesus walked on the water, his disciples fell down in the boat and worshiped Him. When Jesus healed the man born blind, he fell on his knees and worshiped Him. The man had witnessed the miracle-working power of God, and his only possible re-sponse was to worship Him.

When we take our first steps into heaven, we will not need anyone to tell us what to do. When we gaze upon God in all His glory, our only possible response will be to worship Him. That will be true in a time that is coming, yet the same is true here and now, perhaps less in degree, but no less in truth. When we get a glimpse of the Lord‟s greatness and majesty, His power, and His holiness, the natural human response is “I want to worship a God like that!”

So, the important question is, “How do we recapture…the overwhelming sense of awe and reverence in the presence of God”? The answer is, we “see” Him. Acts 2:25 tells us, “David says concerning God, „I saw the Lord always before me, for he is my right hand that I may not be shaken.‟” Did David actually see the Lord? Of course not. However, he chose to perceive God all around him. David filled the frame of his mind with the Lord so no room was left for other things. We, also, need to focus on God.

The problem is that most people today have much too flat, too mundane a perception of what God is like. When surveyed recently, one question asked, “Why don‟t you go to church now?” The two most common answers were that they found it boring and irrelevant. Here‟s the truth: If you truly encounter the God of the Bible, we will never find Him boring and we will never find Him irrelevant. We might fall on our faces. We might be transfixed. However, we could not possibly find Him either boring or irrele-vant.

A while ago I read an article that suggested that we do people a great disservice by encouraging them to come to church in fancy clothes and pretty hats. The author thought that issuing crash helmets and having seat belts on the pews might be a better idea. Why? Because if we truly encounter the God of Scripture, our nice outfits might be wrinkled. If the mountains begin to quake and the hills start to melt, we might be much more comfortable wearing crash helmets and seat belts.

Remarkable Worship by Marilyn Havekost

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2nd Annual Bobcat Boogie April 13, 2013

9:00am Early Registration Ends February 15

The second annual Bobcat Boogie 5K Run/Walk and Foxtrot Family Fun Run, scheduled for April 13th, got off to a running start with registration opening in January. The Bobcat Boogie 5K Run/Walk is a certified USAT&F course, professionally-timed, and is a Bolder Boulder Qualifying race. Both the 5K and Family Fun Run are open to run-ners or walkers of any age or experience level. We invite everyone to register and participate in the race with us.

You can register on-line at www.BobcatBoogie.org or you can download a registration form and drop it off at the church or school. Act fast though, as the early bird pricing special ends February 15th. Run-ning is not your cup of tea but you would still like to support the school? You may make a donation for the school by going to the website at www.BobcatBoogie.org and click on the “Donate Now” button on the home page.

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LENTEN SUPPER MENU 2013

Ash Wednesday, February 13th ITALIAN NIGHT

SPONSOR: LifeLight

Menu: Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread, Dessert, Beverages

Wednesday, February 20th PIZZA NIGHT

SPONSORS: School VIT/PTL Menu: Pizza, Salad, Brownies, Beverages

Wednesday, February 27th OLD FASHIONED PICNIC SPONSORS: Men’s Bible Study & Primetimers

Menu: Hamburgers/Hot Dogs, Relish Bag, Chips, Root Beer Floats

Wednesday, March 6th BBQ NIGHT

SPONSORS: Mary Martha/LWML

Menu: BBQ Brisket, Baked Beans, Coleslaw, Dessert, Beverages

Wednesday, March 13th GERMAN NIGHT

SPONSOR: Thrivent

Menu: Brats/Hot Dogs, German Potato Salad, Apple Strudel, Beverages

Wednesday, March 20th CHILI & CINNAMON ROLLS

SPONSORS: Gloria Deo Choir &

All God’s Ringers Handbell Choir

Menu: Chili, Cinnamon Rolls, Veggies, Dessert, Drinks

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Congregational Potluck “Thank You” Celebration

On behalf of your support of The Next Door Pro-ject, the Bridge Team invites you to a “thank you” potluck celebration on Sunday, February 10 at

11:30am in the Parish Activity Center.

Fried chicken and beverages will be provided.

Here‟s what you can bring:

Last name A-H Salads

Last name I-P: Side Dishes

Last name Q-Z Desserts

Come help us celebrate our reaching the $1 million mark within the first year! Special enter-tainment will be provided!

See you on February 10th!!

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Rutter’s “Gloria” Coming to Bethlehem— February 3 We will have a special performance of Rutter‟s “Gloria” on Sunday, February 3 during the 8am and 10:30am services in the church and chapel. This production is directed by Tom Zehnder and features a special worship team. You won‟t want to miss this presentation!

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Fully Alive

Bethlehem Lutheran Church & School

2100 N. Wadsworth Blvd. Lakewood, CO 80214

Church office: 303-238-7676 School office: 303-233-0401

Visit us online at

www.bethlehemfullyalive.com E-mail Bethlehem@bethluth.net

KLTT 670 Radio Broadcast 11:00 AM Sundays

David J. Langewisch, Pastor

Tim Ahlman, Pastor

John Petersen, Pastor of

Visi tat ion & Older Adul t Ministry

Caleb Kruse Vicar (Student Pastor)

Michel le Fischer , Princ ipal

Sandy Wendel in,

Director of Discipleship and Early Learning Center

Administrator

Mari l yn Havekost, Director of Music Minis try

Scott Bubke,

Director of Operat ions

Paul Beasley, Director of Information Technology

Adam Winterhof,

Director, Student L i fe Ministry

Suke Gnagy, Preschool Director

Mel issa Meuzelaar & Timi Schuessler

Cornerstone Counsel ing, 303-238-7676, ext . 315

Fully Alive is published monthly for the members and friends of Bethlehem Lutheran. It focuses on news within the congregation and activities in the church each month. Articles may be submitted to the church office by the 15th of each month for the next month’s issue.

e-mail to: fullyalive@bethluth.net

And Now, the Rest of the (Love) Story . . . By Annette Gunther

In April of 2011 I wrote an article about finding the good in the bad. In that article I mentioned that my client‟s wife fell down the stairs of her home in Silverthorne, broke her neck, and became a quadriplegic at the age of 72. Had her husband not been at home at the time of the accident and had he not performed CPR, she would have died in-stantly. As a result of the fall, she had absolutely no feeling from the neck down and required oxygen and, at times, a ventilator to survive. This is the same couple (Donald and Barbara Hodel) whose son com-mitted suicide on his 17th birthday. As I mentioned before, this trag-edy resulted in the couple becoming born again Christians and af-forded them many opportunities to help people who had been through the suicide of a child by telling them of Christ‟s love and helping them to put Christ first in their marriages. They also helped couples to un-derstand that turning on each other and blaming each other was not the answer.

While not all tragedies result in good things, this second one afforded God yet another opportunity to show the world the kind of love He has for us and the kind of love Don and Barb shared for 56 years. The number of people who witnessed that love and devotion cannot be calculated. While their lives changed dramatically due to the fall, their love only became stronger. Don cared for Barbara and devoted his life to her comfort and well-being, such as it was, for five years follow-ing the fall. She required 24/7 care by an outstanding team of nurses with Don overseeing every aspect and making sure she enjoyed life as much as possible in her condition. He took her on outings nearly every day to keep her mind stimulated and read to her and took her to church when possible. Don became an expert in “Barbara care” and even performed some of the daily caregiving himself.

During all this time, Barbara rarely complained or became mad at God for her circumstances. She and Don were just happy to still have each other. They reminisced about their life together and thanked God often for Barb still having her mind, even though her body was essentially dead. To have witnessed the two of them together was to have witnessed what true love, devotion, and sacrifice really was.

During one of her last church attendances, Barb told Don that when she got to Heaven she would be able to dance and sing again. What a significant sign of faith! Barb died on October 11, 2012 and there was much rejoicing in Heaven as she was finally free of her broken, earthly body.

In LifeLight we learn constantly of God‟s great love for us and how He works all things for His good, even if we can‟t understand how. Why not consider joining this small group bible study this year and experi-ence how much God loves us and wants a personal relationship with each of us.

Please plan to join us - you may register online at lifelight@bethluthmin.org.

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Mary Martha Society By Jean Wendelin

December and January have been busy months for the members of Mary Martha. Along with our brunch in December, we brought toys and gift cards to be given to Mean Street Ministry and The Action Center. We also helped move bricks from the chapel to the church to acknowledge the next milestone in The Next Door Project. January found us making 120 Valentine envelopes for Colorado Lutheran Nursing Home.

To finish this first month of 2013, we will have a Bake Sale on January 27th with proceeds supporting the Staff Recognition Team. We would like to encourage any women in the congregation to join our group on the sec-ond Tuesday of each month at 9:00 am in the PAC.

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Stephen Ministry Corner By Cheryl Baumgartner

Hi! My name is Cheryl Baumgartner and I‟ve been a Stephen Minister for about two years. I‟m proud to be in this wonderful LifeGroup where we can share God‟s Word with each other and with our care receivers where there‟s the belief that God will walk you through any trials. We try to be sensitive and encouraging with our care receivers and every-thing is completely confidential. We‟ll meet with our care receiver at any place, day, and time that is ar-ranged between them.

Stephen Ministers provide help to men, women, non-members, and members of Bethlehem. We

pray with and for you and we‟re only a phone call away. We enjoy sharing the love of God with our care receivers and letting them know that they can always hold on to the hand of Jesus, lean on Him, and believe that He is the only one that can do the true heal-ing.

If you would like to talk with a Stephen Minister, please call the church office or Martha Rowley at 303-425-6971.

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February Prime Timers Activities by Pastor Petersen

Saturday, February 2 Bunco in the PAC at 1:00 pm

Tuesday, February 5 Committee Meeting in the PAC at 8:30 am

Bible Study in the PAC at 10:00 am

Wednesday, February 13 Ash Wednesday Service in the Chapel at 10:00 am

Sunday, February 17 Potluck in the PAC at 12:30 pm

Tuesday, February 19 Bible Study in the PAC at 10:00 am

Wednesday, February 20, 27 Lenten Service in the Chapel at 10:00 am

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Youth Gathering and Mission Trip Update By Adam Winterhof

To all of you who have supported the youth through burrito sales, thank you! Your support has provided the way for many of our students to experience mission work first hand! This year, we will be going to the LCMS National Youth Gather-ing in San Antonio, Texas. As part of the gather-ing, on July 1-5 we will reach out into the San Antonio community to serve. We will also be doing an extended por-tion of the trip from July 6-10 where we will go up to Austin and serve through Can-Do Missions from Concordia, Texas. There we will work with University Lutheran to impact the Austin community.

Fundraising plays a key role in making the trips possible, not only to provide a way for the youth, but also to assure we have adult leaders to make the trip even more of a lasting impact. Our two main efforts to raise funds are our Burrito Sales and the Lenten Suppers. Beginning in February

our regular schedule will be the 2nd and 4th Sun-days of each month. We hope you all enjoy our partnership with Santiago's burritos who provides discounted burritos for our group to sell on Sun-days. We really appreciate Santiago's partnering with us for this effort.

Additionally, all through the 6 Wednesdays of Lent (beginning with Ash Wednesday, February 13) we will have our Lenten Sup-pers. These meals are sponsored

by various ministry partners within Bethlehem be-fore each of our Wednesday mid-week services. Because the cost of the meal is provided by a weekly ministry partner, we keep the cost low at $4 for adults, $2 for kids under 12 and a maxi-mum of $14 for one family. We know Wednesday evenings in Lent can make it difficult to eat to-gether as a family. Consider eating with us and supporting a great cause at the same time!

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Children’s Ministry By Marva Tonniges

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

We at KidzClub (Sunday School) have the blessing of sharing with children the love of Jesus every Sunday morning from 9:15 - 10:15 am. Catch the excitement! Registration is al-ways open for ages 3 years through 6

th grade.

God’s love is an everyday VALENTINE

for us all!

National Lutheran Schools Week By Michelle

Fischer

The theme for National Lutheran Schools Week (January 27 - February 2) was “Baptized for This Moment” based on Acts 2:38–39. This was chosen to build on the theme for the 2013 Synod conven-tion. We participated in an opening devotion, unity-building activities, and classroom projects through-out the week.

In the Small Catechism, Luther invites us to “daily” live our Baptism. We should by “daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteous-ness and purity forever.” Baptism is not simply a past event. Have you ever noticed that in the Cate-chism, Baptism‟s verbs are in the present, not the past? “It WORKS forgiveness of sins, RESCUES from death and the devil, and GIVES eternal salva-tion to all who believe this, as the words and prom-ises of God DECLARE.” Baptism is the gift that keeps on giving; it is our life in Christ!

What a blessing it is to have a special week to cele-brate Lutheran schools!

PTL has several things to report this month:

The bathrooms downstairs in the ELC and kinder-

garten area received a complete overhaul - complete with new counters, vanities, toi-lets, and décor. Thanks to Dave and Beth Goddard for get-ting this project off the ground! Come take a look. The January Dining Out fundraiser was canceled, but keep an eye out for the February event and plan to join us for a night of food and fellowship. Details will be in the Paw Prints and church bulle-tin. The Bobcat Boogie is coming! Sign up early, be-cause rates go up the closer it gets to the race. Keep bringing your recyclables for the Wellness Committee to send in! We‟ve had great success this year! We take zip top bags, lunchable kits, chip bags, candy bags, tortilla bags, cheese bags, and Capri Sun pouches. Please put them in the bins in the cafeteria. BLS gets two cents for each item we send in. We are always looking for volunteers. If you have time or talents to share, please stop by the office.

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Non-Profit Org.

U. S. POSTAGE PAID

WHEATRIDGE, CO

PERMIT NO. 68

LATTE ART

Latte art is a method of preparing coffee created by

pouring steamed milk into a shot of espresso and

resulting in a pattern or design on the surface of the

resulting latte. It can also be created or embellished

by simply "drawing" in the top layer of foam. Latte art

is particularly difficult to create consistently, due to

the demanding conditions required of both the

espresso shot and the milk.

February Specials

Red Hot Cinnamon Latte / Steamer Raspberry Truffle Latte / Steamer