VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3 MARCH 2012

Lent Activities Page 2

Worship Page 3

Lutheran Chorale Page 4

KidzClub Page 4

Primetimers Page 4

LifeLight Page 5

LWML OGT Page 6

Youth News Page 7

NLSW Page 8

Theater Camp Page 8

Bobcat Boogie Page 9

Directory Page 10

March Calendar Page 11

New School Website Unveiled! www.bethlehemschool.org

Attractive user-friendly layout

Online registration and forms

Encourages visitors to schedule tour

New interactive calendar

Maps and directions for sports and offsite events

"Virtual Tour" of facilities

One-click login

Social Networking

Parent quick links

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The Living Last Supper will once again be part of our Maundy Thursday worship this year. It’s a very moving event, with each of the disciples sharing their thoughts on that most momentous evening.

I have need for one or two more cast members. If you’re in-terested, contact me soon!

Sitting in the Midst of Pain By Pastor Tim Ahlman

A few of you have come up to me recently and asked why we’re no longer collecting items for Mean Street. First, let me say how thankful we are for the items that have been do-nated! Mean Street is still accepting donations of toiletries and blankets, but it would be helpful if you delivered them di-rectly to Mean Street Ministry’s location at 14

th and Ammons.

Bethlehem does not have the space nor the manpower to manage these donations.

I just finished reading a book by Robert Lupton titled, “Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help.” The basic premise of the book is that churches love to give resources and monies to organizations instead of giving what is of most value – their presence. Simply giving resources, detached from relationship, creates unhealthy dependency amongst those we’re trying to help. It’s honestly all about re-lationship. Yet, developing relationships with the vulnerable and downtrodden will affect us – their pain will be passed to us and that makes us uncomfortable. Yet, the beauty of God’s kingdom is found in sitting in the midst of pain and pro-viding your loving presence to those in need. Isn’t that what you want in your pain – someone to just sit, listen and pray for you? What’s frustrating for us is that there are often no ―quick-fixes‖ for those in pain – we must execute patience and remind those in pain that we’ll be present for them into the future.

That is exactly what ―the table‖ weekly provides – a space to just sit with those who are in pain. And if you’re suffering with any sort of brokenness such as addiction, depression, job-lessness or homelessness, know that you’ll find someone weekly at ―the table‖ who is ready and willing to sit with you in your pain.

Living Last Supper Returns By Marilyn Havekost

Lent Activities Continue

Worship services on Wednes-days at 10am in the Chapel and 7pm in the Church.

Lenten Suppers on Wednesdays at 5:45pm in the school cafeteria.

Six pieces of the cross are being addressed: pain, comfort, shame, holy, forsaken and hope.

Reading through the gospel of Matthew—Commentaries and dvd’s are available. Reading schedules are at the visitor cen-ters.

Daily Lenten Devotions via email. If you are not receiving our emails, please contact the church office with your email address.

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Remarkable Worship By Marilyn Havekost

Last month I talked about worshiping God in spirit and in truth. Actually, we only looked at worship-ing God in spirit. So, let’s spend a few minutes thinking about worshiping God in truth. If we’re going to worship God in truth, we need to be sure we understand what truth is. John 17:17 says, ―Your word is truth.‖ The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth to us. Therefore, if we are going to endeavor to worship in truth, we must use Scrip-ture to define the boundaries of what is accept-able.

That thought could be a little unsettling to some people. We too often equate certain forms and expressions of worship with certain types of churches. If someone raises their hands or expresses an exuberant joy, many people would say that person must be a Pentecostal. Unfortunately, we have too often failed to rec-ognize that many of those forms and expressions are not charismatic or Pentecostal. They are Biblical. Some de-nominations have mastered the art of kneeling in church, but would never think of raising their hands in praise. Other churches raise their hands regularly, but have never knelt in worship.

All these expressions are simply physical demon-strations of spiritual truths. Bowing our knees is a physical demonstration of bowing our hearts. Lift-ing our hands is a physical demonstration of lift-ing our hearts. Remember, Jesus said, ―You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.‖ That is not passive! Wor-ship cannot be passive.

What would you think if I told you that my hus-band and I have been married for thirty-eight years, but we never really demonstrate our feel-ings toward each other? We never offer a gentle, caring word or a compassionate touch or physical

passion. We just live to-gether. We believe in love. Certainly, we believe we love each other. We just never demonstrate that love. (By the way, none of those things are true about the relationship between my husband and me!) I would guess you’d think my marriage is in trouble.

In the same way, there is more to worshiping God than just thinking nice thoughts about Him. If that’s all we ever do, we’re missing out on much of the relationship He has described in His Word.

As you can see, true worship involves worshiping in spirit and in truth. If we have only spirit, our worship becomes only experiential. There may be lots of emotion, but little Biblical basis. On the other hand, if we just have truth, we go through a ritual but without honesty. We go through accu-rate motions yet neglect the

heart. God’s desire is for us to be biblically accu-rate in our worship (truth), but our worship must come from a heart that is turned toward Him (spirit).

See you in worship on Sunday!

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Come SOAR with Kidz-Club every Sunday morning 9:15-10:15am. Our FUN learning environment gives children the experience to be fully alive in Christ. Reg-istration is always open for 3 year olds through 6

th grade. For more information come

visit with us in the school entryway.

Primetimer March Activities By Pastor John Petersen

March 3 Bunco at 1pm in the Chapel Fellowship Hall March 6 Bible study at 10am in the PAC March 7 Lenten service at 10am in the Chapel March 14 Lenten service at 10am in the Chapel March 18 Potluck at 12:30pm in the PAC March 20 Bible study at 10am in the PAC March 21 Lenten service at 10am in the Chapel March 28 Lenten service at 10am in the Chapel

SOAR

$2,274,290

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Know Pain, Know Gain By Annette Gunther

The other day the leaders and advisors of LifeLight had a meeting during which they watched a video skit where God (as a man) confronted another man who was struggling with sin and self-esteem is-sues. During the skit the man said a prayer to God asking Him to make him everything He created him to be and to mold him into the image of His Son. That’s when God showed up with a chisel and hammer in His hands. He told the man that He was going to remake him into His original master-piece (Ephesians 2:10). He was going to remove every-thing that didn’t belong in his life. God then starts painfully chis-eling on the man’s body as He points out the things the man needs to eliminate from his life such as anger, comparing himself to others, telling little white lies, being lazy but act-ing busy to try to fool people, and his lust issues, among other things. God told him that His goal was to chisel the sin out of him so that others would see His Son, Jesus, in him. He told God that he hated who he saw in the mirror and then he told God that when he tried to be like Jesus, people got uncomfortable. He also told God that the chiseling hurt and that he didn’t want to do it. These were just excuses. God reminded him that without the pain of the chis-eling, his life would just continue on a path to in-sanity which results from doing the same thing over

and over again expecting things to change. God told him that he couldn’t just stay where he was; he was either moving toward Him or away from Him. The man told God that he had let Him down and God reminded him that He holds us up, not the other way around. God then told him that he needed to relinquish control and focus on his char-acter and not his image, and that mirroring Jesus was a lifelong process. He also pointed out that the man needed to keep

his eyes on the prize – the day when God would say to him, ―Well done, good and faithful servant … (Matt. 25:3).‖ In the end the man realized how much God loved him and that God originally made us all good. Perhaps an even more poignant illustration of how much sin hurts would be for the man (representing us) to have to hit

Jesus with a chisel and hammer every time he (we) sinned. I wonder if we would think about our sin differently or if it would make a difference in our actions? His painful suffering, death and resurrec-tion ended in our eternal gain because of His great love for us. LifeLight has just begun the study of Ephesians and 1 & 2 Thessalonians which will end on April 12, 2012. We will then be taking a break for the summer. Why not consider joining LifeLight this fall? You can find more information at www.lifelight@bethluth.net.

Summer Camp June 5—August 10

Register Now Online or at the Reception Desk

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Orphan Grain Train Fish Boil

By Kay Koch

Originating in our country along the shores of Lake Michi-gan, the ―fish boil‖ is the Great Lakes’ answer to the New England clam bake. The tradition is said to have started when the Scandinavian immigrants settled along the shores of Lake Michigan where whitefish and Lake Trout were plentiful and it was easy to prepare a meal outdoors by boiling fish with potatoes and onion. This custom has been adopted as one of the signature fund-raising efforts of the Orphan Grain Train.

Bethlehem’s LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) will be sponsoring, and Thrivent will be support-ing, a Fish Boil on Sunday, March 11

th, in the PAC imme-

diately following the 10:30am service. Everyone is invited to stay and participate in the dinner. The menu will consist of whitefish, potatoes, onions, cabbage slaw, rolls, butter and dessert. A free will offering will be taken to help cover the cost of the full meal and support the work of the Or-phan Grain Train.

The Orphan Grain Train, which delivers food, clothing, medical supplies and HOPE in areas of greatest need, has also been recognized as having played a significant role in domestic disasters. FEMA and the Red Cross serve as first responders and then the Orphan Grain Train rolls in. The OGT immediately sets up a mobile volunteer village where volunteers can stay for days or weeks to help re-build the area. The OGT has responded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in the tornado devastated areas of Joplin, Missouri and Greensburg, Kansas. The Orphan Grain Train remains to help for the long haul, sometimes years after the Red Cross and other relief agencies have left.

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Butter Braids are Coming! Orders taken March 4-18

Parish Activity Center

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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

Michael Heiden, 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

Karla Hal lac y, 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: bethlehem@bethluth.net

Youth Quake: April 20-22 “Packer" Dave Gunnlaugsson has a deep love for Jesus and for youth, which is why he is so excited to serve as a speaker at events. Packer's involvement with Youth Encounter dates back to his Cross Fire team experience to Africa in 1998-1999. He also worked on staff and has served as the Assistant Registrar and an Event Min-istry Director. In addition to being passion-ate about Youth Encounter's ministry, he also enjoys camping ministry, disc golf, ul-timate Frisbee, and spending time with his

wonderful wife, Nicky, and their baby boy, Isaac. Currently, they live in Wisconsin where Packer is a youth pastor.

Registration still open!

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Jr. High Youth Winter Retreat By Adam Winterhof

On January 27th a dozen plus youth and a few brave leaders made the trek up to our Lutheran Camp, Lutheran Valley Re-treat outside of Divide/Woodland Park for the annual Winter Retreat. This event continues to grow each year. In 2010 we had 55 participants; 2011 was 110; and in 2012 we split 115 into two weekends

This is more notable since LVR is a quite remote camp much closer to Colorado Springs than Denver. However, those who made the trip enjoyed a great weekend of fun activities, winter games, my favorite camp food, and time in the Bible exploring the book of Colossians.

It was a weekend that truly shaped lives of faith and helped form new friendships and stronger bonds with existing friend-ships. A special thank you to all those who purchased calen-dars during our fundraiser last fall, as a portion of those pro-ceeds made it possible for some of our campers to attend. The weekend was a blessing and we made memories that we will carry with us for years to come!

Next year's retreat dates have already been announced:

January 18-20 and January 25-27, 2013

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Sunday, March 4—Faculty will serve muffins and coffee between services in the Parish Activity Center.

Monday, March 5—Opening service in the church at 8:25am.

Tuesday, March 6—Imagination Makers at 2:00pm in the gymnasium. Winter concert at 7pm in the gymnasium for grades 5-8.

Wednesday, March 7—School Color Day. Write notes to military personnel.

Thursday, March 8—Service Project: Create ―Goodie Bags‖ for the less fortunate.

Friday, March 9—Teacher Swap Time. The 8th grade melodrama “How the West Was Dun” will be held at 1:15pm in the gymnasium for students only, and at 7:00pm for parents, grandparents, congregation, etc. Tick-ets may be purchased in the school office: $4/adults; $2/children. Join us for dessert at 6:30pm.

National Lutheran Schools Week

March 4-10, 2012

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Summer Theater Camp By Marilyn Havekost

It’s time to think about summer theater camp! Our third annual camp will be held from June 18-29, with perform-ances on June 28

th and 29

th at 7:00pm. Mark your calen-

dars now for those special events. It’s a great opportunity for kids to learn more about stage productions, get to sing, act, dance, learn set design, lighting and sound.

The camp is open to kids going into grades 4-9. Cost of the camp is $250 for the 2 weeks, not including the cost of the costume. If you’d like to sponsor a camper, here’s your op-portunity. Contact me to find out how you can offer a schol-arship to a young camper. More news to come!

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R E G I S T E R

N O W

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Don’t miss out on our

new pictorial directory

coming this year!

Bethlehem’s Past Leaders . . .

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Non-Profit Org.

U. S. POSTAGE PAID

WHEATRIDGE, CO

PERMIT NO. 68

Do you know what PS81:10 stands for? "I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it."

Coffee Specials: * Bananas Foster Latte or Steamer * * Nutty Irishmen Latte or Steamer *