Greetings from Pastor Anne

 

Have you ever wondered why us pastor types insist you can’t do Christianity all by yourself? Well, the obvious answer is you can’t because it’s hard to be community all by yourself. I cannot think of an example in the New Testament where someone was following Jesus all by their lonesome, or simply as an individual. And, as someone who dreaded group projects in high school and college, even I get a little bummed out when I remember this.

The very heart, the core of our faith is doing it together. We don’t have a single story of Jesus giving a mission or the holy spirit to a single person. Even Peter who Jesus tells to feed his sheep is surrounded by other disciples when it happens. Even Paul on the road to Damascus needs other disciples to regain his sight and if you read the book of Acts, both Peter and Paul rely heavily on other people. There’s no such thing as going it alone among Christians. We can’t seem to do it.

I don’t know about you, but when I think about Bethlehem, the first thing I think about is community; the community we create and the community we live in! Folks here care about what happens to the others who sit in the pews beside them. We care for one another in tangible ways. Rides, meals, visits (and not just from Pastor!), prayer and phone calls, even cards matter in building up our community. Every time we bless a Sunday school student, or a couple celebrating their anniversary in worship, we are building community in Christ’s name!

And then there’s how we engage the other communities we are a part of. I was recently surprised when I heard that praying for our Catholic siblings in faith had an impact; it mattered in a way even I hadn’t thought about. It seems obvious to me that we would of course pray for another congregation facing challenges. Sharing ministry with other congregations builds up our community too, from VBS to meals to donations to the food pantry we are all in this together and we should celebrate that!

Being together matters, being in Vinton matters. And it’s honestly okay to say that we’re doing a good job of it. And we can say that because we are doing it together, as Christ’s community.

Together with you,

Pastor Anne

 Lutheran Service in Iowa

 

The Noisy Offering for August will be donated to Lutheran Services in Iowa. Mike Knipp will be attending our Worship Service on Sunday, August 30th and will be talking about the services that they provide. MacKenzie Ford, the LSI therapist that has an office in the Sunday School room at Bethlehem will also be present. Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) is a trusted nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening children, families, and communities across Iowa. Guided by faith-based values and a commitment to service, LSI provides a wide range of programs including child welfare, behavioral health, refugee and immigrant services, services for people with disabilities, and support for older adults. By meeting people where they are and honoring the dignity and potential of every individual, LSI works to create hope, opportunity, and lasting positive change throughout the state.

Youth Ministry

Ellen Olson, Youth Coordinator

 

Sunday School

Backpack blessing will be Sunday, August 23 during the 9 am worship service. Sunday school will resume in September with some new exciting curriculum.  Information to families will be sent in late August.

 

Noisy Offering

Thank you for your generous gifts of coins and dollars for Noisy Offering.  In June we collected $105.30 for the VBS mission project to raise money to plant trees in the rainforest.  These trees will provide many benefits to the area.  During VBS we collected $626.00 for this beneficial mission project.

Our July Noisy Offering will go to the Ronald McDonald Houses of Iowa.  All money raised benefits the three independent Ronald McDonald House of Iowa, located in Des Moines, Iowa City, and Sioux City.  These three houses have served over 55,000 families from all 50 states and many foreign countries.

This year, Madeline Olson has been selected to represent Benton County at the Governor’s Charity Steer Show at the Iowa State Fair on August 15 with her steer, Lightening.  The sale proceeds of her steer will go to the Ronald McDonald Houses of Iowa.  More information can be found at www.iowagovernorscharitysteershow.com

As always, your generosity is appreciated.

 

Vacation Bible School

VBS is complete and two words that come to mind are ‘WOW! GOD!”

Fun facts from the week:

*64 youth registered                   *60+ volunteers

*4 Co-Directors                             *7 Crews         

*134 God Sightings                      *20 Pizzas

*90+ Degree Days                       *Amazon Art    

*Wild Games                                 *Tons of Fun

*Rooted Bible Adventures             *4 Sloths

Hundreds of WOW! GODS!

I am grateful to our Bethlehem volunteers and youth who were able to attend.  I am also thankful for our congregation, all the prayers, donations, gift cards, and the clean up crew.  Continue to look for God Sightings and give thanks to our WOW! GOD!

 

Confirmation

The 8th grade confirmation class will be meeting on Monday, August 3 at the Vinton Pool for a summer get together from 1 pm – 3 pm.

To our incoming 7th grade confirmation students, please watch for emails and texts on the details of the upcoming class year.

 

Wisdom

 

With the Benton County Fair and RAGBRAI in our respective rearview mirrors, it’s become one of the popular topics of conversation.

Whether you bump into someone at farmers’ market, at the meat counter in Fareway or at your favorite coffee shop, someone is sure to ask “Can you believe school is starting?”

Families will be squeezing in vacations. Kids who spent the summer growing like an Iowa cornfield will be getting new clothes and new shoes. Teachers and administrators, meanwhile, will be putting final touches on plans that will inevitably have to change for the upcoming school year.

While it’s children who will be getting on the bus and going to class, the Bible emphasizes the importance of learning and continuing our education, regardless of the subject(s) and at all ages.

But what’s most important isn’t memorizing new information - winning trivia contests is not that important - but growing in a wisdom that can be shared and character that can be modeled on.

Two verses from Proverbs stood out to me as I learned more about what the Bible teaches about wisdom:

From the Fourth Chapter:

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

And from the 16th:

“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!”

Bill Martin

​

 

Sunday, September 13th

On God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday this year we will be gathering the items to create Personal Care Kits and School Kits for Lutheran World Relief.  If you would like to supply any of the items needed for these kits here is a listing:

Person Care Kits

• One dark color bath-size towel

• Two bath-size bars of soap

• One sturdy comb

• One metal nail clipper

 

School Kits

• Four 70-sheet spiral notebooks

• One 30-centimeter ruler

• One pencil sharpener

• One pair of blunt scissors

• Five unsharpened #2 pencils with erasers

• Five black or blue ballpoint pens

• One box of 24 crayons

• One 2 ½” eraser

 

Day Lilies & Iris

 

Carol Henkel will be dividing her Day Lilies and Iris in September.  If you are interested, please contact her at 319-215-9538.

 

Used T-shirts

 

Please bring adult size Large or larger T-shirts to the church office.  These T-shirts are used to make diapers for the Lutheran World Relief Baby kits. Thank you.

 

Food for Thought Book Club

 

Meets on the third Thursday of the month at the Brickside

Brew N Chew at 12:00 noon in Vinton.

August – Secrets by Robin Jones Gunn

September – The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhorn

October – Unplanned by Alana Terry (#1 in Kennedy Sterns series)

November – A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton by Michael Philips (#2 in the Shenandoah Sisters series)

December – Christmas in Chestnut Ridge by Nancy Naigle (#2 in the Chestnut Ridge series)