Our blog

Filter By:

October 13 Announcements

Faith Formation:

The Nursery is open in the education building. We welcome your littles under four to join us! Please be sure to have a registration form on file. Forms are available Sunday morning or click here to download, fill out, and bring back to the church office. 

This week’s Sunday School lesson is centered on God’s promise to be present with God’s people, always and forever. God said, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 31: 33).” We’ll explore what God’s promise to the ancient Israelites has to say to us today. Spoiler alert: you are loved; God is always close no matter the circumstances! Please join us for a fun time of learning, prayer, snacks, crafts, and more! 

Join us for Adult Education where we’ll continue our discussion on the Suquamish Land Acknowledgement and work together on crafting a Land Acknowledgement for our congregation. If you couldn’t make it last week on Indigenous People’s weekend, but are interested in learning more about our Suquamish neighbors, three good websites to find more information are the following: Our Home on Native Land, an interactive map detailing the indigenous tribes of North America–and indeed all over the globe; the Suquamish Tribe’s website; and a link to the Port Madison Dialogues, a video exploration of the history, culture, and current issues facing the Suquamish Tribe in three recorded sessions.

LWR School Bag Kits: Team work makes the dream (LWR School Kit) work! Starting this summer, we asked folks to purchase and donate school supplies from a list provided by Lutheran World Relief (LWR). Wow, did you all come through, with notebooks, rulers, erasers, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, crayons, and scissors. So many supplies were donated that we have a head start for 2023. Thanks!

Volunteers sewed book bags out of sturdy fabric donated to Rachel Circle: Selina Johnson, Tanya Roe, and Alice McCain. Martha Shonkwiler spent hours cutting book bag strap rope to length and sealing the ends to prevent fraying; Selina attached straps to bags. Thank you!

On Tuesday, October 18, 12:30-2 p.m., volunteers will gather at Bethany to finish assembling the book bags and fill them with supplies. Please RSVP with Alice McCain (360.328.0920) by October 17 if you’d like to help; she needs to know how many Subway sandwiches to order for the workers’ lunch. Thanks in advance!

Finally, thanks to a grant from Thrivent Financial we have $250 for items needed to complete the project, shipping expenses, and the October 18 lunch. Thank you, Thrivent!

Blessing of the Rachel Circle Quilts & Kits: The weekend of October 29th and 30th, we will be blessing the quilts, baby kits, and school kits that we will be sending to Lutheran World Relief the following week. Join us in celebrating the beautiful work of these very talented women and rejoice in the blessings that we are able to share. Envelopes will be provided for donations to help with our shipping costs. We also are in desperate need of MEDIUM size boxes for shipping the quilts and kits. If you are able to help with this need, please bring the boxes to the church by October 31st.

Debbie Out of the Office: Sarah Rimkus (daughter of Debbie & Andy Rimkus) and her husband, Tom are expecting their first baby next week. Debbie will be taking some time off to support the new parents and enjoy her new role of Nana. She will be gone October 21-November 1.

New Member Sunday: We will receive and celebrate new members on Sunday, November 13. Bethany has a number of people who have expressed interest in being received as new members, and we are looking forward to celebrating this in gathering! In advance of this, we will have an ‘orientation’ to share with potential new members ‘all things Bethany.’ Pastors Paul and Erin will meet with this group on Thursday, November 10, from 6:00-7:30pm, including pizza and salad, for introductions and conversation. Please contact Pastor Paul if you would like to join this group, AND if another time to meet individually would be preferable. or 206-842-4241

Women’s Schola: Women’s Schola of Bainbridge Island will sing the Office of Evensong at 6 pm on Sunday, October 16, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Come hear traditional plainsong, anthems, psalms, and chants, and let the grace of sung prayer refresh you for the week to come.

Supporting Martha & Mary: Our non-profit, senior care partners, Martha & Mary in Poulsbo, are planning an extra special holiday for the 100+ seniors in their care. Bethany hopes to help meet that goal by providing the following Christmas wish list items:

10 large gift bags (approximately 14” x 20”)
10 2023 calendars (12” x 12”)
10 large print word search and/or crossword puzzle books/magazines
5 men’s razor kits (such as the Gillette ProGlide),
5 packs (3 count) big, fluffy socks with non-skid feet. (Good quality socks survive their commercial wash cycles best)

Donations can be dropped off at the Bethany office. Martha & Mary hopes to have all donations in by November 11.

Altar Flowers: The altar flowers this weekend are provided by the altar guild. Please consider signing up to give altar flowers in honor or memory of a special person or event. See the sign-up sheet on the hallway bulletin board.

Prayers are Requested: For Mary Toepel Coar who is now recovering at home; for Mark Sather, son of Pat and DeMar, contending with serious health concerns.

Thank You to this weekend's Worship Assistants:           

          Altar Duty: Kathy Dudgeon
          Saturday 5:00pm – Greeter/Usher: Barbara Michael; Lay Reader: Barbara Michael; Hospitality Hosts: Marlene & Al Orwiler
          Sunday 10:00am – Greeters/Ushers: Doug Dudgeon & Jim Cauter; Lay Reader: Noreen Sievertson; Communion Assistant: Jim Cauter; Hospitality Hosts: The Bethany Choir

Next weekend's Worship Assistants:

          Altar Duty: Vicki Bech
          Saturday 5:00pm – Greeter/Usher: Charlene Selvar; Lay Reader: Gail Christensen; Hospitality Hosts: Gail & Dave Christensen
          Sunday 10:00am – Greeters/Ushers: Barbara & David Swartling; Lay Reader: Marcy Daley; Communion Assistant: Wayne Daley; Hospitality Hosts: Vicki Browning and Noreen & Jeff Sievertson

Posted by Bethany office with

October 6 Announcements

Faith Formation:

This week in Sunday school we’ll explore the Gospel lesson about Jesus healing a man with a skin disease (Luke 17:11-19), focusing on verse 15, “Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.” 

We’ll take special notice that Jesus’ healings always included more than just the physical affliction, but extended to relationship healing too. Jesus’ compassion crossed barriers and together we’ll learn that given Jesus’ teaching, we can participate in relationship healing no matter what barriers seem to prevent us from doing so. As always, we’ll get our creative juices flowing by working on a special craft to remind us of Jesus’ unbounded love for us and all of God’s good creation! That is something to be truly grateful for. Please join us–and bring a friend, everyone is welcome!

Over the next two weeks in Adult Education, we’ll observe Indigenous People’s Day by learning more about our neighbors, the native people of this land, the Suquamish Tribe. On October 9, we’ll watch a clip from one of the four video recordings of the Port Madison Dialogues, which was an exploration of the history, culture, and current issues facing the Suquamish Tribe. We’ll begin discussing the importance of Land Acknowledgement statements and how local places of faith have incorporated a Land Acknowledgement into their worship, meetings, and other gatherings. 

On October 16, we’ll continue the discussion and “workshop” a land acknowledgement statement to be used in our congregation. In between these Sundays, the FFF group will take a field trip to the Suquamish Museum on Wednesday, October 12. If interested, please see the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board outside of fellowship hall for more details. Everyone is welcome!

Bible Study Groups: The Women’s Bible Study group meets on Monday, October 10 at 9:30am. The Men’s Bible Study group meets on Tuesday, October 11 at 8:00am. Both groups will meet in fellowship hall.

FFF October Gathering: Let’s take a field trip! The FFF group will meet next on October 12 for a field trip. We will carpool from the Bethany parking lot to the Suquamish museum. Come to Bethany at 10:30am and bring a sack lunch to enjoy. Cost for the museum is $3 per person. If you plan to attend, please add your name to the sign-up sheet on the hallway bulletin board or call Debbie at 206-842-4241.

New Member Sunday: We will receive and celebrate new members on Sunday, November 13. Bethany has a number of people who have expressed interest in being received as new members, and we are looking forward to celebrating this in gathering! In advance of this, we will have an ‘orientation’ to share with potential new members ‘all things Bethany.’ Pastors Paul and Erin will meet with this group on Thursday, November 10, from 6:00-7:30pm, including pizza and salad, for introductions and conversation. Please contact Pastor Paul if you would like to join this group, AND if another time to meet individually would be preferable. or 206-842-4241

Opening Up the Nursery: The nursery is open for children 4 and younger! While the sanctuary work is being completed, the nursery is located in a classroom in the Education Building. Your children can start in worship and be escorted after the children’s message or brought straight to the nursery. Sunday school children should start in worship. We are looking for a couple more teens to round out our nursery team. Nursery workers are paid and do not have to be available each Sunday. Interested or have questions? Contact Debbie at .

City Council Meeting: The Bainbridge Island City Council is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, October 11 for the revised draft ordinance 2022-2 which provides a density bonus of up to 23 units of affordable housing for Bethany Lutheran Church. The Affordable Housing Task Force encourages you to send quick notes of support for Bethany’s initiative to the City Council at

Bainbridge Prepares Workshop: Bainbridge Prepares will hold a workshop on disaster preparedness for houses of worship on Saturday Oct. 15, 2022, 1pm to 3pm at Bainbridge Island City Hall. Pastor Erin will attend and warmly welcomes anyone else in the congregation who would like to join her. The event is free, but we need to RSVP so that the group can plan accordingly. Please let Pastor Erin know if you plan to attend ( ).

The workshop will feature an expert panel to discuss:

+ An overview of emergency preparedness steps for faith-based groups

+ A deep dive into organizing and conducting evacuation and earthquake drills in houses of worship

+ Discussion, questions, and knowledge sharing among local congregations

Please contact Laura Samant at if you have any questions.

Women’s Schola: Women’s Schola of Bainbridge Island will sing the Office of Evensong at 6 pm on Sunday, October 16, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. Come hear traditional plainsong, anthems, psalms, and chants, and let the grace of sung prayer refresh you for the week to come.

Altar Flowers: The altar flowers this weekend are given by Alice & Bruce McClain in honor of Alice’s birthday and in memory of her parents.

Prayers are Requested: For Mary Toepel Coar who is now recovering at home; for Mark Sather, son of Pat and DeMar, contending with serious health concerns.

Thank You to this weekend's Worship Assistants:           
          Altar Duty: Alice McCain
          Saturday 5:00pm – Greeter/Usher: Gail Christensen; Lay Reader: Gail Christensen; Hospitality Hosts: Jim & Veronika Rohrscheib
          Sunday 10:00am – Greeters/Ushers: Eve & Mike Curtis; Lay Reader: Andy Rimkus; Communion Assistant: Alice McCain; Hospitality Hosts: Debbie & Andy Rimkus

Next weekend's Worship Assistants:
          Altar Duty: Kathy Dudgeon
          Saturday 5:00pm 00pm – Greeter/Usher: Barbara Michael; Lay Reader: Barbara Michael; Hospitality Hosts: Carol & Ron Fenner
          Sunday 10:00am – Greeters/Ushers: Doug Dudgeon & Mike Cauter; Lay Reader: Marcy Daley; Communion Assistant: Wayne Daley; Hospitality Hosts: Bethany Choir

Posted by Bethany office with

12...39404142434445464748 ... 390391