Due to elements out of our control, worship in the building has to be cancelled today, August 26, 2018. We apologize for the inconvenience and ask for your grace as we get this situation fixed.
BUT GOD IS FLEXIBLE and can meet us where ever we are. Back when John Wesley and other believers started the Methodist movement they often held worship in homes. So today we remember our roots and worship from home. Let's Start Worship! 1. Music Come, let us sing praise to the Lord! Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us. 2 Come and worship him with songs of thanks. Let us sing happy songs of praise to him. - Psalms 95: 1-2 The Bible is filled with poems and lyrics. Music has always been a part of connecting with the Holy Spirit. Start with your favorite hymn, praise song, camp song, or poem. If you are worried about your singing skills in front of each other then it is ok to play a song from the internet. The good news is that musical skill is not the important part. We need no trained opera skills. Just "make a joyful noise unto the Lord." (Psalm 100) 2. Prayer There is no right or wrong way to pray as long as it comes from the heart. Casey was kind enough to show us five parts to a prayer to cover a multitude of concerns of the human heart: Adoration of God, Confession of our sins, Thanksgiving of our blessings and God's greatness through all things, Prayer for others, and Prayers for self. However, you are welcome to pray whatever is on your heart. If you have a group of people you can take turns. End with the Lord's Prayer: Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4) Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive our tresspasses as we forgive tresspasses against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom. the power and the glory. forever. Amen 3. Scripture Please read Galatians 5:13-26 4. Devotional Galatians 5:13-26 is a common scripture. The fruits of the spirit are often listed on plaques and home decor. Your parents may have even reminded you of it when you fought with your siblings. Thanks Mom and Dad! Isn't it funny how we find ourselves repeating our parents' tactics with our own kids? Sometimes when we hear something often it becomes stagnant. We become unaffected to its message as it becomes background routine. Driving is a great example. We spend the first year of driving with the best intentions. We remain focused on the road thinking about when to brake, when to switch lanes, when to turn on blinkers. Now it all happens habitually. Unless we come across somebody who drives poorly or traffic that makes us wait, we really don't think about getting home. It is second nature. Today, let's think about this Galatians 5:13-26 and how we can apply it to our lives. Meditate on it a while. Think about it throughout the day. Which part is God reminding you to be practicing in daily living? Maybe he is asking you to be more patient. Maybe he is asking you to find something to be joyous about. Then try to be intentional in practicing that fruit of the spirit this week. 4. Close in Prayer Lord, we thank you for your many gifts you give us. As we go forth this week, show us how we can be more like you. Teach us to practice the fruits of the spirit so that we can reflect your love to others as well as grow deeper in you. Amen.
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Just as we have done for the past couple of years, we enjoyed another service partnered with Davisburg UMC at the fairgrounds during the Oakland County Fair. With our new pastor, Leah Caron, we enjoyed a lovely day of fellowship as we remembered that "All You Need Is Love." This evening Mt Bethel presented our annual live nativity barn service at the Oakland County fairgrounds. Church and community members joined together in the Ellis Barn to celebrate the joy of Jesus' birth, sing Christmas carols, enjoy fellowship, and - of course - enjoy some cookies and hot cocoa. What a wonderful reminder of the reason behind this season!
We hope that you were able to join us this evening, but if you weren't, please know we would love to have you at one of our Christmas Eve services- 11am service or 9pm candlelight service (or any other Sunday of the year, of course!). Merry CHRISTmas and God Bless! Today some of our church members stayed after our service in a joyous celebration of Hanging of the Greens! Our cute little country church was transformed into a beautiful, Christmas wonderland. Come by to see our finished product! And remember, Many of the members of our congregation spent the evening prepping for our big celebration tomorrow. 180 years! We hope you will be able to join us for some free food, live music, children's activities, and wonderful memories- TOMORROW! 11AM service, 12:30 celebration!We had two great events occur yesterday. First, we had the opportunity to celebrate our first church service with a PAVED PARKING LOT! This may not mean a lot to everyone, but to us, it means that our little country church is still growing! We have been around for 180 years, and look forward to this parking lot serving our congregation for many, many more!
Saturday some of the beautiful ladies of Mt Bethel got together at Sweet D's in Linden for tea time! They enjoy some wonderful commaraderie, delicious tea, and a fantastic lunch. If you weren't able to make it this year, we hope you can do it next! Yesterday Mt Bethel delighted in the adding of five new members to the church!
We are so blessed that Paul and Jenell Keller, Herb Leon, and Ryan and Liz Wivo made the decision to join Mt Bethel and make us their church family. We look forward to their involvement with the church and to witnessing God work through their lives! Happy Easter! What a beautiful day here at Mt Bethel! We were blessed to have the opportunity today to celebrate the joy of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today began with a delicious breakfast put on by the men of our church; what a blessing to be able to gather and congregate before our Easter sermon! A big thanks to the guys for putting this all together. Here's a little glimpse: After breakfast we headed into the service where we were greeted by the most beautiful display of flowers upon the altar. (A special thanks to Pam for keeping the church looking so lovely!) Spring is a new beginning for our flowers, trees, and animals of the earth, much like the resurrection of Jesus marked a new beginning for us. What a perfect choice for the altar. One of our greatest blessings of the church today was the many new (and regular) visitors and members of the church; it is always a great day to see the pews of Mt Bethel overflowing and FILLED! An even greater joy is to witness the love of the Lord seep through our future generations and witness our children growing and learning about the story and joy of Easter. A special thanks to Shirley Scramlin for sharing the story of Easter with our children today! Whether you had the opportunity to be with us today or not, we hope that you had a beautiful day celebrating the resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Savior, and hope that you have welcomed Him into your heart so that you, too, can enjoy the forgiveness of sins and the promise of everlasting life.
Happy Easter again! |
Who's Writing?At Mt. Bethel, we are not just a church; we are a community. Multiple authors contribute to our blog so that you may get a glimpse into the lives of multiple members of our congregation and see what fun has been had at our little church. Archives
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