Yesterday, Mt. Bethel UMC took a trip to Seven Lakes State Park and held worship and a picnic in the Fisherman's Cove shelter. Earlier in the week we saw that the weather might be rainy but God gave us a beautiful, bright, sunny day!

Since we were outside in God's beautiful nature, worship focused on God's "Good" creation and mankind being part of that goodness. After every stage of creation, God saw that it was "good," and after he created humans he saw that it was "very good." Later, Jesus reminds us that we are indeed part of that good creation. If he cares for the small birds then guess how much he cares for mankind? He even knows how many hairs are on every person's head. We shared about the blessings we have experienced and sang some songs of praise. The service was a reminder that though we experience sadness and tragedy, there is still a lot of good and God is still very present in our lives and at work in the world. Also, we have eternal life through Him. We thank you, Jesus. 
Scripture: Genesis 1, Psalms 8, Matthew 6:25-34, & Matthew 10:28-30. 

After worship we celebrated! We ate and played in the sun! Our grilling expert, Ron, grilled some delicious hotdogs and corn and others brought a variety of picnic foods. There was a competition of cornhole, horse shoes, and ladder golf. People went fishing. Kids did some crafts. And everyone enjoyed some good Christian fellowship. 

Worship and Picnic at the park was a success. Thanks to everyone who came!

Mt Bethel UMC hosted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for 10:31 Youth Group's summer 2022 Mission Trip in South Dakota! Thank you to all who helped make this happen! We appreciate your support, prayers, and appetite for spaghetti. Plus, it was a good way to utilize Mt Bethel's newly renovated kitchen! 

Unfortunately we were so busy that we forgot to take a picture until the very end after cleanup! There were others who helped but missed the picture! 

Nobody named Green was harmed. Hanging of the Greens is our annual celebration of the start of Advent. We decorate the church and make it look festive for the Advent and then Christmas season. We love how our country church looks during the holidays! It makes preparing for and celebrating the birth of Jesus that much more festive! 

Youth members of Mt. Bethel UMC and Ortonville UMC combined went on a mission trip to Charleston, West Virginia. Pastor Brian Johnson (Ortonville UMC) and Pastor Leah Caron (Mt Bethel UMC) participated too!

The students experienced serving God's people in different communities from our own homes and ministries in Michigan. They focused on different scripture passages throughout the week and how they still apply in the modern world. In the 5 days they were there, they helped clean up a city lot, worked a community garden, served at a summer kid's program, and sorted items at a thrift store, which serves the homeless and those recovering from addictions. On the way home they visited the Ohio Caverns as a celebration of the week. 

We are thankful for the many people of Mt. Bethel UMC who helped fund so that youth members could take this trip and experience God in this unique way!

If you have a youth in 6th-12th grade, contact Pastor Leah to see how you can join 10:31 Youth which meets weekly on Sunday evenings during the school year. Then come join us for worship!

Click the link below to see a Maundy Thursday Service you can do at home with your family.

If you want music then you can join The Carons.

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve Service. We took turns reading the scriptures leading up to and surrounding the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We also sang Christmas Hymns with piano, organ and acoustic guitar. 

The candle light ending was the most beautiful as we sang Silent Night and remembered how an innocent baby came to save us all. 

God is almighty!

Last week our church family joined together to decorate for the upcoming Christmas season, ina yearly tradition that we call the "Hanging of the Greens."

Today, we were able to join together and appreciate the beauty of these decorations, and begin the joyous beginning of the Advent season.

"Our Advent journey begins with rules of the road. We are on the way to where God would have us be, and we're not there yet. But how shall we go? We shall go together, as one body, livong and trusting in one another. We shall go as this community of faith, working side by side, and leaning into the grace of God every step of the way. We shall go in peace....
Isaiah says that in days to come, the nations shall stream to the mountain of the Lord, and there we will beat swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks; there we will learn war no more. God will teach us peace.

Today we light this first candle to burn as sign of peace among all people.

​Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that God may teach us the ways of peace.

Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel."

Yesterday our young children spent time in children's church learning about manners.

We role played a number of scenarios and how to handle them with Christ-like manners--
~Borrowing an Item from Someone
~Taking cuts in line
~Introducing ourselves to new people
~Sharing our thoughts when someone else is talking
~and more!

We also took the time to discuss proper manners at the table, what a proper table setting looks like, and being our *best* selves at the table.

Most importantly, we shared about how our best manners are about thinking of others and being *KIND.*

What do you plan to do to use YOUR best manners today?

With worship outside, this obviously meant some outdoor enjoyment for the kiddos, too!