The Bethlehem Star is published 6

times/year by Bethlehem United

Methodist Church, 4 Westtown

Road, Thornton PA 19373, (610)

459-3482, www.bethmeth.com,

Deadline for copy: the 7th day of

the month prior to publication.

Editor reserves the right to edit for

content and space. Unsolicited

material is welcome!

Bethlehem

United Methodist Church

PO Box 57

4 Westtown Road

Thornton, PA 19373

P: 610-459-3482

F: 610-459-0811

www.bethmeth.com

EASTER SCHEDULE 1

STAINED GLASS 2

COMMUNITY DAY 3

WOOFI REPORT 4

Inside this issue:

The Bethlehem StarThe Bethlehem Star March/April 2015

Eggs-tra Facts

Although eggs were once part of pagan spring festivals, they’ve become

Christian symbols of new life. A cracked-open shell also represents

Jesus’ empty tomb on Easter morning.

The early Christians of Mesopotamia began staining eggs red in honor of

Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. Red eggs remain part of Greek Orthodox

celebrations today.

In medieval times, churches held “egg throwing” festivals. The priest

threw a hard-boiled egg toward the choir boys, who tossed it back and

forth. When the clock struck 12, whoever was holding the egg got to

keep it.

The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever produced weighed over 16,000

pounds — more than an elephant!

EASTER at BUMC

Palm Sunday, March 29 — The BUMC Dance

Project will perform “Give Me Jesus”

Maundy Thursday Service, April 2 at 7:30 PM

Worship led by Pastor Christie and the BUMC

Choir

Easter Sunday, April 5 —4 services:

6:00 am Sunrise Service — Easter hymns led by

Pastor Christie

8:00 am Service — Easter hymns led by Sally DiL-

odovico

9:30 & 11:00 am Services — Worship led by the

BUMC Praise Team. The BUMC Choir will perform

“Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed”

2

Easter is the perfect time to point out the details, symbolism, and history of one of our beautiful stained glass masterpieces: the “Christ is King” window. This glorious sparkling window, rich with jewel-like colors, is located at the front of the sanctuary, left of the organ.

The blood red shield at its center is foil to an ornate cross encircled by a royal crown, encrusted with sapphires. One recalls the words of Revelation 5:22 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” Surely, this window celebrates the coming kingdom of our God and Savior.

When compared to the other windows in the church, we recognize the intensity of its color and ornate complexity, but upon close examination, it becomes apparent that so much of its 3-D quality is created by shading and not by the blown glass and pressed glass jewels used in earlier windows.

This window is over 50 years later than most of the other windows of the sanctuary. The glass studios, so popular in the Victorian era, were no longer producing such works; it is even well past the era of Tiffany. The common, centuries-old, practice of painting on glass creates a fine illusion of greater richness than is here. It is, nevertheless, masterful and inspiring.

All these colors are delightfully repeated in the crowning tympanum window portraying the Rainbow of Promise. Billowing clouds float in a sunrise and just below the rainbow’s arch we can discern Noah’s Ark. Wavy blue glass and spheres framing the window playfully hint at bubbling waves of the 40 days voyage.

Perhaps the rainbow, which is a symbol of God’s promise, is to also remind us of the language of Revelation 4:3, “… the One Who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.”

One other point of interest is that the window was given in the memory of Charles Wesley Starr by his wife. She was the author of the church history commemorating our centennial year. Thank God for her inspired faithfulness that honored not only her husband, but her Savior in this gift.

THE CHRIST IS KING WINDOW By Jane Bonner

God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.

1 John 1:5

3

What is the best day of spring? BUMC’s

Community Day of course! It’s fun for all ages! For

the kids, there will

be a giant

inflatable obstacle

course, a bounce

house, face

painting, crafts,

and music by

Makin’ Music

Rockin’ Rhythms just to start. For the tweens, a

chance to dunk (and perhaps be dunked) your

friends in the oh so wet dunk tank. For the grown-

ups, a fabulous quality craft show (NEW ) to browse

and the opportunity to bid on great stuff at our

own Kenya Silent Auction. Enjoy the tuneful guitar

of Andrew McLean and your favorite oldies from

the cover band “The FilpSidez “ later in the day.

Look for a visit from the Concordville Fire Company

and lots of other surprises. Burgers & dogs hot

from the grill and sweets from the bake table will

make sure no one goes away hungry.

Why Community Day? To accomplish our goal to

be “outwardly focused,” we welcome our

community to our property through several events

throughout the year, with Community Day being

our key outreach event for the spring season. The

overall purpose of Community Day is to be a

“connectional event,” an event in which we

connect the people of BUMC with the people of

the local community. In order for the event to be a

success, each of us needs to make that connection.

What can you do?

1. COME. No one can make a connection with you

if you are not there.

2. INVITE. The committee has taken the bold step

to NOT mail postcards to our neighbors this year.

This means that each of us needs to contact our

friends and neighbors to let them know about

Community Day. Postcards will be available to give

out. Take a bunch to work. Hand them out at the

gas station. Get some exercise on a nice evening

and stick them in your neighbor’s doors. Be

creative…

3. HELP. Sign up at church to help with any of the

fun tasks that go to make the day a success. Greet

guests at the welcome table. Serve food from the

grill. Paint designs on little kids faces. Use the

Woofi stuffed toy to tell kids about Jesus. Hand out

popcorn. Check the sign-up sheets for more.

4. DONATE. Baked goods (yum!) Silent Auction

items. Time.

Questions or to volunteer… Contact Kim Gehrke:

kgehrke01@verizon.net or 610-613-0805.

COMMUNITY DAY 2015

Saturday May 2, 12 – 5 pm

By Janice Butterworth

Future fireman tries on a coat at last year’s event

4

Easter is upon us and the Woofi Ministry is doggone busy! Woofi will be advertised on a short TV program at Maris Grove telling of a onetime sale for the residents just in time for Easter Baskets. Many residents are grandparents and great grands. This is a ‘God’ thing as I was asked by a staffer, “Is there anything I can do to help?” Since The Women’s Bible Study at Maris Grove is sponsoring Woofi with BUMC, I responded, “Yes.” From our Christmas campaigns and random sales, we have about 50 in our church bank for use in sharing the Gospel. Whoopee!! How will God work in this event to touch more children?

You have sent Woofi to Ukraine, Africa, Chester, Kennett Square, our own Community Day, and our Nursery School. That does not even mention all the places you have personally sent him. But we now have two outlets for children in crisis slated for foster care or adoption: Bethany Christian Services (BCS) and Christ’s Home for Children (CHFC).

We visited CHFC for the third time in January. Janice Gruehn gave out hugs and kisses to very receptive children. This was a whole new set of children and a new house couple. The children asked us to come back and we will with another Woofi story about the lost lamb. One four year old little boy loved the flipper flapper (wordless book). At first he was showing everyone and saying, ‘dark heart, dark heart’ but after a little help, he was showing and telling, ‘dark heart, red cross’. Joy! He was getting it.

Prayer requests:

1. Distribution and children added to our Lord’s kingdom.

2. Direction: Should we buy more ‘Keep Christ in Christmas’ magnets as a fund raiser for Woofi? The magnets give all of us another silent evangelism tool. If so, that someone might like to sponsor this effort financially. But have we saturated the market here?

3. Open doors: Pray that CHOP (going up where Ethan Allan was) will not have a ‘politically correct’ policy but would allow Woofi to keep his little Gospel tag on when presented.

4. Fruit from Maris Grove TV ad.

5. Financial: Continued donations

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Sunday, March 22 -

New Members join at 9:00 am

Service; Mission Sunday

Sunday, March 29- Palm

Sunday - Distribution of Palm

at both services

9:00 & 10:30 AM Services

Maundy Thursday, April 2

7:30 PM

Good Friday, April 3:

Cross Walk starts at BUMC -

12:00 Noon with Service at

Thornbury AME - 1:00 PM

Easter Sunday, April 5

Sunrise Service - 6:00 AM

8:00, 9:30 (Sunday School)

& 11:00 AM - Communion

at all services

Friday, April 10 - 6:00 PM

Friday Fun Night

Sunday April 12 - Sunday,

May 10: Amnion Baby Bottle

Collection

April 16, 17 & 18:

Photo Directory - visit

www.bethmeth.com and

click on the second slide for

Portrait Sign Up.

Wednesday, April 29

Last Day of Awana

Saturday, May 2

Community Day

WOOFI Report By Harriet Widlund

Woofi goes to Kenya