VOLUME 9, ISSUE 4 APRIL 2013

Canvas Neighbors Page 2

ArtFully Alive Page 2

“the table” Page 3

Prayer Shawl Page 3

Youth Ministry Page 4

Worship Page 5

Jr. Honor Society Page 6

Bobcat Boogie Page 6

LifeLight Page 7

Mary Martha Page 8

Stephen Ministry Page 8

LWML Page 9

Prime Timers Page 9

Children’s Ministry Page 10

Women’s Ministry Page 10

April Calendar Page 11

Coffee News Page 12

Let the Construction Begin!

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1

Canvas the Community By Pastor Tim Ahlman

Our neighbors that live around Bethlehem are very important to us – even if, and especially if, they do not call Bethlehem their church or school home. As a ministry we long to model love and care for our neighbors, just as I am sure you long to do with your own neighbors. The construction phase of The Next Door Project (roughly May 31st through the early portions of 2014) will mean changes for not only our church and school community, but also for our surrounding neighbors. In order to make them aware of these changes, we are mobilizing a group from the Bethlehem community to interact with our surrounding neighbors through conversation and an informational flyer. We will meet in the Childwatch (north) parking lot at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 4th. It should take no longer than an hour or so. Please RSVP to tahlman@bethluth.net so we know how many from our community we can reach in love and relation-ship.

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ArtFully Alive! By Michelle McLeod

Visual Arts has the ability to connect people to the truths of God’s Word in ways the spoken word alone often times does not. Visual Art overcomes barriers, penetrating our hearts and resonating in our souls, with beauty and deeper understanding. After all, God, the ultimate Creator, conceived art — He IS beauty and creativity. Now just imagine Bethlehem becoming a place for everyone to experience culture, beauty and creativity, seeing God’s Word come alive to us through visual arts created by our own community of believers.

A new renaissance is taking place through the vision of our pastoral staff. A movement to bring God’s message alive and enhance our worship experience through the use of visual arts in many different forms. For example, live visual art during services, art pieces created to illustrate and enhance ideas and concepts for sermon series or

church seasons, and eventually the devel-opment of a gallery space within our church for unification, enjoyment and medi-tation.

The human impulse to

create reflects our being created in the image of Creator God. A new Life-Group is being formed to encourage visual artists to meet regularly to know their Ultimate Creator through prayer & reading, awakening creativity and encouraging one another in their creative callings and developing skills in workshops. God will use these artists in unique ways as they create pieces to convey God’s love to the congregation in authentic and creative ways.

If you are a Visual Artist and have a desire to use your talents to glorify God and enrich and edify our church body, we’d love to meet you. Please join us! Our first interest meeting is scheduled at 12 noon on Sunday, April 7th in the Bethlehem Coffeehouse. Contact: Michelle McLeod at 303-257-1468 or mcleodrm@msn.com.

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God in the City! By Pastor Tim Ahlman

You Are Invited ~ Prayer Shawl LifeGroup! By Debbie Haywood

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What: What is the Prayer Shawl LifeGroup?

This LifeGroup is a group that meets regularly to knit or crochet Prayer Shawls for distribution as gifts of healing and comfort and to celebrate mean-ingful events.

When and Where:

The LifeGroup meets on Saturday mornings, every two weeks, from 8:30-10:30 AM at Bethlehem.

Why:

What are Prayer Shawls?

Prayer Shawls are a tangible example of God’s love and care. The shawl is made of soft yarn so the recipient can wrap it around them and feel God’s presence. Before and during the making of a Prayer Shawl, prayers are said to bless the recipi-ent. Once a shawl is completed, it is prayed over and blessed by the members of the Prayer Shawl LifeGroup.

Who do we minister to?

We minister to those in need of strength while

undergoing medical procedures; comfort after a loss; peace and patience during an illness or recovery; celebrating a graduation, marriage, or birth of a child. There are endless possibilities!

How: How can I be involved?

Join the group to knit or crochet the Prayer Shawls. We will teach you how!

Donations of yarn are gladly accepted.

Bless the ministry by keeping the LifeGroup in your prayers.

Join us as we celebrate the third anniversary of the Prayer Shawl Ministry. Shawls that have been completed recently will be dedi-cated and blessed in the church services on Sunday, April 21, 2013.

After the services, the shawls will be available for you to choose one for a loved one. Come and learn more about the ministry!

Contact Debbie Haywood for more information 303-227-2799 or haywoodfamily@comcast.net.

God has a special place in his heart for the city – he always has. God has shown both his wrath (Sodom) as well as his great mercy (Jerusalem) in the city. There is such a diversity of people that find themselves in our cities and God longs to redeem all people. If God can establish himself through His Word and the mission of his Church, many within that city can come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. God always locates himself in the city because of the significant injustice and inequality that is often found in the city. God longs to reconcile and re-deem everything that is broken in the city.

―the table‖ believes God desires to work in wonder-ful ways in the Denver Metro area. We long to be a part of reconciling everything that is broken unto the living God. Please join us for an 8 week sermon series titled, ―God in the City,‖ starting on April

4th. Lucas Rosentrater, director of Turning Point in the City (www.turning pointcity.com), will be joining us on April 4th to share God’s care for urban adolescents getting integrated back into the city after spending time in juvenile detention. I will also present an overview of a theology of the city that evening. If you are interested in doing your own exploration of God’s care for the city, I encourage you to purchase the book by Ray Baake, ―A Theology as Big as the City.‖

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Bethlehem’s Children & Youth Ministry to Undergo a Renovation By Adam Winterhof

The first week in February Bethlehem hosted two team members from Ministry Architects to do a full assessment and recommendation for youth and children’s ministry at Bethlehem. The goal of this visit was to come away with an 18 month road map toward excellent & sustainable Youth and Children’s ministry programs. Af-ter talking with 15 different stake-holder groups, the team from Min-istry Architects produced a 20+ page detailed report with both a thorough assessment as well as step by step plans for the subse-quent 18 months. In April we will be commissioning a Renovation Team to help lead us through these exciting changes. Additionally, our friends from Ministry Architects, Melissa Rau and Duane Smith, will be back at Bethlehem leading a kick-off retreat April 21 and 22

nd. Please keep the

Youth and Children’s Ministry Renovation Team as well as the staff and volunteers in your prayers throughout this process!

Renovation Steps 1. Laying the Foundation: Building a foundation and infrastruc- ture that will ensure the ministries’ future effectiveness, and at the same time, 2. Continuing to Do Ministry: Maintaining the current ministries in a way that builds the enthusiasm of children, youth, families, staff, and the church at large.

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Remarkable Worship by Marilyn Havekost

When you’re reading this, Easter will have come and gone, with its beautiful decorations in the sanc-tuary, wonderful music, wonderful worship songs and hymns, and great messages of hope and redemption from the pulpit. Hopefully, you’re still reveling in the joy of the season.

I’ve been reading Psalms again. Did you know it’s divided into five sections? Book 1 is chapters 1-41, book 2 is chapters 42-72, book 3 is chapters 73-89, book 4 is chapters 90-106, and book 5 is chapters 107-150.

Throughout the book of Psalms we see the entire gamut of emotions depicted. There is rejoicing and sorrow, exaltation and lament. It’s all there. The very highest point of the earthly experience and the lowest are all mixed in together.

Interestingly, each section in Psalms ends in nearly identical fashion: with words of praise for the God of Israel. Take a look at the endings of each section:

―Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from ever-lasting to everlast-ing! Amen and amen. (Ps. 41:13)

―Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things… Amen and amen. (Ps. 72:18-19)

―Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and amen. (Ps. 89:52)

―Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, ―Amen!‖ Praise the Lord! (Ps. 104:48)

―Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctu-ary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! …..Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! (Psalm 150)

Regardless of what has come before – sadness or gladness, dancing or mourning – the ending point is the same: praise to the Lord.

I mentioned once Jesus’ meeting with the Samari-tan woman at the well. He said to her ―true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth‖. That means worship must involve the mind. Some people wait for a floaty, ethereal feeling to come over them before they are sure they have truly worshiped. They fail to realize that worship involves all of one’s mental faculties and is experienced at the height of mental aware-ness. The more you exert your mind, the more you will become a true worshiper.

Worship, as Revelations describes it, is grand, im-posing, breathtaking, but it is also simple, even repeti-tious. Worshiping God does not require an ongo-ing procession of novelty. A heart cleansed by the blood and a life submitted to Him, expressing them-selves fervently to glorify Him, are quite enough.

With the coming move to worship in the gymna-sium for a time, we should remind ourselves that the space for worship doesn’t matter either. Wherever we gather in His name as a community of believers, we worship Him in spirit and in truth, just as we would in the sanctuary. We have some exciting days ahead of us, but let’s commit our-selves to gather for worship as we always have – as God’s people about God’s work of reaching the lost for Jesus. See you in worship on Sunday!

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National Junior Honor Society at BLS By Michelle Fischer

Bethlehem is very excited to have implemented ―National Junior Honor Society‖ this year. Led by faculty advisor, Mr. Havekost, twelve seventh and eighth grade students represent BLS in this endeavor. NJHS encourages students to keep high academic excellence, allows for self-expression as school leaders, provides opportunities for using good communication skills, and engages students in problem solving and project planning. These life skills are taught and encouraged through the five criteria that each mem-ber must uphold: scholarship, leadership, citizenship, character, and service.

The NJHS students are required to participate in both individual and group service projects. As a group, they have already helped in many ways around the school, such as serving ice cream during back-to-school night, leading tours at our yearly open house, and preparing and leading a chapel service for the school. In May, we will be sending the eighth-grade NJHS students off to high school, where they will move up to the National Honor Society. Proudly, we will also be inducting our upcoming NJHS seventh graders.

Stay tuned to see what this amazing group of kids does next year!

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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

Caleb Kruse Vicar (Student Pastor)

Michel le Fischer , Pr incipal

Sandy Wendelin,

Director of Discipleship and Early Learning Center

Administrator

Mari lyn Havekost, Director of Music Ministry

Scott Bubke,

Director of Operations

Paul Beasley, Director of Information Technology

Adam Winterhof,

Director , Student Li fe Ministry

Suke Gnagy, Preschool Director

Melissa Meuzelaar & T imi Schuessler

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

Fully Alive is published monthly for the members and fr iends 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

You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet By Jim Lewis

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are ... Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 (ESV)

"You ain't seen nothing’ yet." Sounds good. Maybe too good ...

We live in an "all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end" world where things that sound good run out, wear out, time-out or turn out not so good after all. We learn a basic protective Rule: Don't get your hopes up and you won't get let down.

John breaks the Rule. With attitude. "You've got to see this!" he says, "Look how God loves us – he actually calls us his children!" John's excitement wakens us to realize that God has drawn us to the most tender place in his heart. For no reason but his just-because love.

For a moment we let ourselves share John's excitement. But remem-bering the Rule, we tell ourselves, "OK, he loves me. He's supposed to; I'm his child. But sometimes he must wish I weren't!" Back to the Rule: Don't get your hopes up.

But John continues: "You don't like what you see in the mirror?" he says. "Well, what you see is NOT what you get. In fact you ain't seen nothing’ yet!" Seeing Jesus in person will trigger a quantum leap to Christ-likeness. The mirror tells us "nothing’" about what's coming.

Children of God, break the Rule. Get your hopes up. God doesn't love you because you're his child. Not even because you're a good child. God made you his child because he loves you. That same love will transform you into a flawless reflection of himself. Yes, flawless.

Forget the mirror. Look at Jesus. Live in the hope of becoming like him and you'll find yourself looking more like him today.

To learn more about Lifelight,

please go to bethlehemfullyalive.com

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Mary Martha Society By Jean Wendelin

The morning of our March meeting started with some snow, but thirty-two ladies braved the snow and bad roads to attend our monthly meeting. After we enjoyed some wonder-ful refreshments, Pastor Lange-wisch led our devotions on Isaiah 53: 4-5, helping us to understand the significance of Christ’s dying and resurrection on our lives today.

He then stayed to explain the changes that will be associated with The Next Door Project, or as he is now calling it, ―The Back Door Project‖, and how different groups will be affected. The ladies had many ques-tions for him which he answered very graciously. We completed the morning with our business meeting and added the finishing touches to our Easter Baskets for the Bethesda Lutheran Communities. Many of the ladies brought paper products and kitchen items for our kitchen shower to benefit Bethesda as well.

We would like to encourage any women in the congregation to join our group the second Tuesday of each month at 9am in the PAC.

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Tending God’s Garden By Marian Anne Brossman

Stephen Ministers are Christian caregivers that tend gardens of faith. As author Kenneth C. Hauck writes in his book Christian Caregiving, a Way of Life, ―Christian caregivers prepare the ground for the Great Curegiver. Preparing the ground means doing the best possible job to create a therapeutic situation and then waiting on the Lord expectantly. It is God who provides emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual growth according to His will.‖

All care receivers can be very confident that their caregiver (Stephen Minister) works diligently preparing the ground for the Lord to do His work. Our Stephen Leaders (Martha Rowley and Sharon Brown) match care receivers and caregivers using a wonderful process. When a request comes in, the leader spends time in prayer asking the Lord to make the decision of which Stephen Minister would be a good match. Likewise, when a Stephen Minister gets this request they also spend time in prayer asking the Lord to assist them in this decision of

accepting a care receiver. We all wait on the Lord’s direction and then feel quite confident as we move forward to caregiving.

There have been many times in my life I certainly needed a Stephen Minister and looking back, I know for certain their prayers for me would have

helped settle my life down. Dr. Doug McKay’s book, Where is God When Life Hurts?, writes, ―Unexpected tragedy, intense trials, and unjust suffering leave us not only with a true sense of loss and bewilderment, but also with a feeling of alienation and distance from oth-ers and from God.‖

You can rest assured your Stephen Minister will deposit many prayers in your account when you are hurting or lonely or sad. Your Stephen Minister asks for the Holy Spirit’s assis-tance and follows his direction because after all, we are just gardeners preparing the soil, not afraid to tend the garden on our knees.

To find a caregiver, you may call the church office or Martha Rowley at 303-425-6971.

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Spring Cleaning— How’s Your House? By Kay Koch

Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) North Central Zone will hold a Spring Workshop on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at Peace Lutheran Church, 5675 Field Street in Arvada. All women of Bethlehem are invited to attend.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. with a coffee and juice reception and the workshop starts at 9:00 a.m. followed by lunch. $5.00 covers the cost of the materials and lunch.

A Mite Offering will be featured at the event as well.

Easter Baskets for Mean Street Ministry

LWML ladies met in March to assemble 74 baskets to be distributed to children by Mean Street Ministry. Brightly colored baskets and Easter buckets were filled with Bible-based activity books, crayons, cross bookmark, stickers, toys and candy treats.

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Prime Timers by Georgia Phillips

Prime Timer's: Christian fellowship meeting the special needs of seniors and enabling them to serve others.

The Prime Timer's organization (55+) has been a part of Bethlehem for 15 years. We have numerous activities, including Bible Study, Bunco, pot lucks, Out To Lunch, and miscellaneous outings.

Prime Timer's have worked hard to encourage handicap accessibility for our congregation. As part of our efforts, we were able to purchase a 15-passenger bus with a handicap lift. Initially, this bus was used to transport our group to events such as the "Older Adult Retreat." One of our goals was to begin a bus ministry for those who are unable to get to church on their own, which has now been accomplished. Since that time, the bus has been used for and by many of our church ministries, in-cluding the youth mission trips, and ―the table‖ for their InterFaith Severe-Weather Ministry.

You may have noticed our cabinet in the P.A.C., which was built for us by Dick Crater. It is used to get information to our group and to sign up for cur-rent activities. This cabinet also doubles as an Altar for the ―table‖ ministry church services.

We are always seeking new members. Please join us for any of our activities. They are listed under Prime Timer's in the Bethlehem News, also on the

bulletin board in the hallway by the nursery and in Fully Alive.

April Activities

Tuesday, April 2 Committee meeting at 8:30am in the PAC

Bible Study at 10am in PAC

Saturday, April 6 Bunco at 1:00pm in PAC

Tuesday, April 16 Bible Study at 10am in PAC

Out To Lunch at 11:30am

Sunday, April 21 Potluck at 12:30pm in PAC

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Children’s Ministry By Marva Tonniges

PROJECT SOUL - Sharing Our Universal Love with the Children of

Uvita Costa Rica

Last spring our Sunday School sent school supplies to the children in a church in Uvita Costa Rica. That mission project has now grown to four churches. Continuing to share God’s love, we are undertaking a new project called KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF FOR COSTA

RICA.

In April we will be collecting socks, underwear and undershirts for children through age 10. All underwear has to be new. Dona-tions for new socks, blue and white, are the school uniform colors, soccer socks or athletic socks, underpants and white undershirts and t-shirts for under their uniforms will be collected in the school entryway and PAC. Jesus said, ―Let the little children come to me.‖ Thanks for sharing the Gospel to all the children of the world.

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Women’s Ministry By Margaret Wahl

ABRAHAM AND MARY’S HAPPIEST DAY

You are cordially invited to join

ABRAHAM AND MARY TODD LINCOLN

for Tea in the White House (P.A.C.) May 11th at 2:00 P.M.

A Historical One Act Play portraying Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln’s White House Reception before leaving for the Ford

Theater. The play is suitable for ages 8 and above. We welcome all who are interested to join us (gentlemen as well as children).

Tea and dessert will be served.

Presented by: John & Pamela Voehl

Tickets are $6.00 and will be available in the PAC on April 14, 21 & 28

Sponsored by the Women’s Ministry of

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

For more information call

Margaret Wahl at 303-238-3465

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Non-Profit Org.

U. S. POSTAGE PAID

WHEATRIDGE, CO

PERMIT NO. 68

Congratulations Confirmation Class of 2013!

―For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.‖

Jeremiah 29:11

―May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in

hope.‖ Romans 15:13

March Specials

Salted Caramel Latte / Steamer

Salted Mocha Caramel Latte / Steamer

The Coffee House will be

closed on Sunday, April

28th for Confirmation!