The Beacon
Newsletter
November 17, 2023 Volume 65, No 47
This SUNDAY: november 19, 2023
Theme: The Unbearable Heaviness of Being
Lightening our loads so we can pivot to follow God’s call. This isn’t just our physical *stuff* of baggage and knick-knacks. What emotional and spiritual baggage is weighing us down?
To prepare, please read Genesis 13:8-18, Matthew 23:1-12.
Pastor Anna Lisa Gross
Sunday, November 19
9:30 a.m. Meet & Eat
10:30 a.m. Worship
Monday, November 20
9:00-12:00 p.m. Office Open
7:00 p.m. Board Meeting
Tuesday, November 21
3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Office Open
Wednesday, November 22
9:00-2:00 Office Open
11:30 a.m. Worship Preview meeting
Thursday, November 23
Office Closed
Friday, November 24
Office Closed
Saturday, November 25
Remember to check the Breeze calendar for upcoming events and activities!
Worship on 11/12/2023:
In-person attendance 64
Offering 11/5 $4,453.00
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Food Bank on 11/15/2023:
34 Families served
91 Individuals in families
Vacation
Pastor Paula will be on vacation from Monday, November 20 through Sunday, November 26. If you have a pastoral care need during this time, please contact Pastor Anna Lisa or a member of the Care Team.
MEET AND EAT
Join us for table talk with questions about Thanksgiving!
Weekly food bank update
Thank you for all your donations! Currently, the most needed items are broth, pasta sauce, and pancake mix. Monetary donations are also appreciated.
Shoppers are needed for January and February of next year if you would like to sign-up! The sign-up sheet is located on the office countertop.
zoom meeting Schedules
Since we have only one zoom room, please make sure to make a note on Breeze when you will be using zoom for your meeting(s). This isn't an issue most of the time; but occasionally, more than one group needs zoom at the same time. This will help us to schedule around one another. Thank you!
an important Message from on Earth peace
“Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17).
On Earth Peace calls on all our constituents, on followers of Jesus specifically, and on members of the Church of the Brethren to stop the genocide of Palestinians now. All who believe in the force of agape love are called to focus and channel it now to stop this terrible tragedy.
There are no words to express how difficult, heavy, and unbearable these last weeks have been for Palestinians, and for all of us watching this nightmare on TV, and social media, and through the heartbreaking testimonies of our Palestinian friends and colleagues. We give the loss of all civilian life, both in Israel and in Palestine. No more deaths! No more violence!
Non-stop for almost three weeks now, Israel has been bombing homes, whole neighborhoods, hospitals, schools, mosques, and churches in Gaza, while cutting off electricity, fuel, water, medicine, and food supplies to the 2.3 million Palestinians there.At least 9,000 Palestinians have been murdered, including more than 3,600 children and more than 21,000 Palestinians wounded. More than 40% of all housing units have been damaged or destroyed.
Prominent international scholars and genocide experts as well as US and Palestinian human rights organizations are sounding the alarm and calling on the world to intervene and stop the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. We must heed the call to action from Palestiians, including Palestinian Christians.
“If I die, remember that I, we, were individuals, humans, we had names, dreams and achievements and our only fault was that we were classified as inferior.” Belal Aldabbour
“In Gaza, every one of us dies a little death every night and we are born again every morning.” - Rasha Abushaban
What OEP is Calling For
We call our constituents to support Palestinians and all people of good will to act now to end the genocide and apartheid that has been inflicted on Palestinians for the past 75 years.
We support the demand for a ceasefire that can save lives immediately.
We urge that humanitarian aid flow freely through Palestine, meeting urgent needs for medical care, food, and water.
We call for Israel to lift the long-term siege of Gaza, allowing Palestinians to move freely once again and ending the prison camp of Gaza that the Israeli government has created.
What can you do?
-- Support the calls for a ceasefire and demand that no more military funding goes to Israel!
-- Email and call your congressional representatives, urging them to support an immediate ceasefire! Below are links to organizations that will help you email or call your representatives!
Email campaign: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resource/email-congress-to-stop-fueling-violence/
Calling Campaign: https://act.uscpr.org/a/callforgaza?oa_action=GazaToolkit
Find Local Marches: https://uscpr.org/oct-2023-protests/
Email us at Palestine@OnEarthPeace.org to let us know what local nonviolent actions you are participating in--or that you hope to join or create. We would like to hear from you, share your story, and support if we can!
“Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.” Micah 6:8
With love and righteous indignation, On Earth Peace, https://www.onearthpeace.org/
Local Action: Plymouth UCC is staging demonstrations against Palestinian genocide on Tuesdays from 5 - 6 pm at the Allen County Courthouse in Fort Wayne. I'm sure that they would love for you to join them!
Also, if you would like to receive the original email from On Earth Peace with more information and links, please let Pastor Paula know.
“Rizpah”
by Rev. Jennifer Scarr, Co-Chair OEP Board of Directors
I read this morning in the New York Times that Israel’s army is “tightening the noose” around Gaza City. I read that hospitals are losing and have lost power. I read that because of that power loss a premature baby died in an incubator. Others died, too, but it’s the child that haunts me.
There is an ancient story asking for our attention in these present days. It arises from 2nd Samuel 21. The story goes like this:
In the days following King Saul’s defeat, after the great war that put David on the throne, the land was parched. Cracks spread along the fields, swallowing up what crops the people had managed to grow. Famine and drought had been bedfellows to King David’s people for 3 years. King David beseeched the Lord for answers. “Why is the land dry? Why is there no rain?” The sins of a past king came back to haunt him. The former King Saul had done poorly by their neighbors the Gibeonite people and God was seeking reconciliation. The drought was a divine attempt to gain King David’s attention.
But King David did not ask God for the pathway to reconciliation, instead he asked the Gibeonites - “What would you have me do?”
Vengeance burned bright in their hearts and they demanded an eye for an eye. To sooth their blood thirst, King David gave the Gibeonites two sons and five grandsons of Saul to be sacrificed in atonement for past sins. The Gibeonites hungrily took the young men to the top of a hill and impaled all seven on large wooden stakes. All seven died together.
King David turned to the skies, expecting rain. None came.
Instead there came a woman. A mother. The mother of the two sons of Saul who were killed. Rizpah. Rizpah climbed the dreadful hill and picked a large flat rock next to the dead boys as a bed. There she spread sackcloth and held terrible vigil. Months passed. Each day, Rizpah defended the boys. She beat back the moonlit scavengers and the sun drenched ravens so that no creature disturbed her boys. All seven were her boys now.
Between the wild scuffles, she pointed her body toward King David’s house. She could not see him, but she watched him. And God’s eyes watched, too. Waiting for justice. Waiting for healing rain to fall on the land.
Word eventually reached the ears of the mighty King David about Rizpah and her vigil. David felt her eyes on his back. David felt the eyes of God on his heart and knew his mistake. Innocent boys had been killed, he was to blame.
While King David could not undo the violence done, could not undo the sins committed, he did what he could.
King David went to the hill where the seven young men were impaled and gathered their bodies. Rizpah was there. He buried them all with dignity, with respect in their homeland. Rizpah was there. And she wept.
As the tears poured from her eyes so too did they pour from the eyes of God. The clouds broke open and a gentle rain fell upon all the land.
I feel Rizpah’s eyes on us today.
I feel her spirit beckoning us. Beckoning us to be brave.
Beckoning us to hold terrible vigil, join the protests, call representatives, and defend the lives of those in Gaza and the West Bank as if they were our own flesh and blood.
She will not give up until justice is done.
With God’s help, neither will we.
Prayer for peace
by Matt Guynn, Co-Executive Director & Director of Organizing at On Earth Peace
Holy One, break our hearts and form them again.
We lament death, fear, and destruction in Gaza, Israel, and the entire Middle East.
We lament those killed, those maimed, those whose spirits are crushed.
We cry out for our sisters, our brothers, our whole human family still under bombardment and living without water or bread.
Lord, sit with us as we cry.
Quell the violence when and where it arises -- in hearts or in war rooms.
Holy One, break our hearts and form them again.
Lord, guide us to grieve and feel.
Breathe through us as we inhale, seeking your inspiration.
Guide us to see your imprint in every person, to value each life.
Lord, guide us to rise.
Open our imaginations and open a path to powerful action for justice and peace.
Holy One, break our hearts and form them again.
Spirit Journey Women Resumes
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 28
TUESDAY DECEMBER 19
Bring your own sack lunch to the parlor.
Lunch 12:30-1:00
Book discussion 1:00-2:00
Prayer concerns 2:00-2:15
Join us as you are able!
Help a family in need: christmas Bureau 2023
Beacon Heights is continuing its partnership with The Christmas Bureau by sponsoring 2 families this year. Family #1 includes Andrea (34), Adalina (7) and a Baby Girl on the way.
Family #2 includes Serena (27), Luis (10) & Kashus (2).
Please consider helping by signing up on the poster board outside of the sanctuary. There is a wide selection of needs, including clothing, household basics and pantry items for the home and a Christmas Day meal.
If you are unable to shop or prefer to make a monetary donation, please put donations in the offering plate by November 26 and designate “Christmas Bureau Family” and items will be purchased.
Please bring all items unwrapped to the church by Sunday, November 26.
We will gather to wrap gifts the week of 11/27. Information on the date and time will be sent out soon. If you would like to participate, please contact Lisa and we will decide on a date that works for most.
Thank you in advance for your willingness to help families in need this Holiday Season!
Service to Families in Need
Our Beacon Heights fellowship continues to support families transitioning through homelessness at Just Neighbors: Interfaith Homeless Network. We will be providing, but at not serving, dinners at the Just Neighbors home a few blocks from Church on December 3, 4, and 5. Please be part of the team providing meal items on one of those evenings. Food dishes will be dropped off, in nonreturnable containers, at the IHN administration office 2925 E. State, back door, prior to 5:00 PM each day. Staff can reheat as needed. Currently nine families (30 individuals) are in shelter. Other supplies are always appreciated, such as bathroom tissue, cleaning supplies, diapers, lunch food, and can be dropped off at Church or directly to Just Neighbors-IHN. Click this link for the full donation wish list. https://www.ihnfamily.org/wish-list.php
Sign up on the poster or contact Mark/Barb Beck at 637-2144 or 403-6220 or email markabeck@hotmail.com with questions or to volunteer.
Women’s Winter Art Fair
Sophia's Portico is proud to sponsor its 22nd annual Women’s Winter Art Fair on Saturday, December 2, 2023, 11 am to 4 pm at Beacon Heights Church. Admission is free and open to the public. We invite you to support local women artists selling their handcrafted works of jewelry, fabric art, Native American art, glass, pottery, photography, clothing, prints, cards and mixed media. This is a lovely event to find that unique holiday gift. In addition, we will offer delicious homemade soups, breads and a wide assortment of baked goods in a festive atmosphere.
For further information call Sophia’s Portico 260-482-7402 or kuanyin011@frontier.com
website: www.sophiasportico.org and Facebook
NEXT SUNDAY: November 26, 2023
Theme: First Sunday of Advent-We acknowledge our weariness
We invite you to settle into the sanctuary at 10:15 every Sunday morning for a quiet, calming time of Prayer with Art. This will begin promptly at 10:20 from November 26 through January 7. We plan to let go of some of our busier things during worship, so that we can take a much-needed deep breath and focus on the Spirit’s Presence with us in this season.
To prepare, please read Luke 1:1-23.
Pastor Anna Lisa Gross
Published by Beacon Heights
Church of the Brethren
Editor: Alexis Shoda
Phone: (260) 482-8595
Email: office@beaconheights.net