The Beacon
Newsletter
January 6, 2023 Volume 65, No 1
This Sunday: January 8, 2023
Theme & Title: For Such a Time as This
“For such a time as this.” This phrase is used by many in popular culture. In the book of Esther, Mordecai, Esther’s adopted father and cousin, used this phrase to chastise Esther. She was in danger of side-stepping responsibility. Mordecai calls Esther to cease ignoring her heritage and feeling powerless to speak with the voice of integrity to the King, and to step through doubt.
The community of Beacon Heights has nurtured each of us to hold our heritage, peacekeeping, consensus making, creedless, living Gospels, priesthood of all believers, front and center in our daily walk.
Our collective voice of integrity is being pushed, by the culture, into a corner.
Are we succumbing to the negative pressure of speaking our truth to a culture willing to use the famous quote from Mordecai as a radical call for ‘white national christianity’?
As we approach a season of leaning into the work and remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr, what do we do with ‘for such a time as this’?
Please read Esther 4: 9-14 to prepare.
Deb Romary
Sunday, January 8
9:30 a.m. Eat and Meet
10:30 a.m. Worship
Monday, January 9
Tuesday, January 10
Wednesday, January 11
9:30 a.m. Food Bank
Thursday, January 12
11:30 a.m. Worship Preview meeting
12:30 p.m. Spirit Journey Women
6:30 p.m. Choir Practice
Friday, January 13
Church Office closed.
Saturday, January 14
Pastor Anna Lisa will be out of the office from Saturday, Jan 7 to Thursday, Jan 19. Please contact Deb Romary and the Care team with any care giving needs.
Remember to check the Breeze calendar for upcoming events and activities!
Weekly Announcements
Regular office hours are now Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Meet and Eat is available online - gather in the "Worship and Gatherings" zoom room (the one we used for a couple years for worship) at 9:30am. If you prefer casual conversation, enjoy the Fellowship Hall.
Jan 8 we will enjoy the Dunker Punks Podcast in which Pastor Anna Lisa interviews Samantha Farley, with her parents Carla Kilgore and Craig Smith, and grandparents Ev and Bill Kilgore. While we listen, we would love your help with sorting socks! Dave and Carol Lindquist will be providing the program in the Parlor on January 15th.
On Friday, Jan 20, the Board gathers in a special location (see your email) from 7-9 pm for gourmet cheesecake and thoughtful, fresh activities. Then we'll get down to business on Saturday at the church building from 9am-3pm. The whole 2023 Board is listed in the body of your Beacon email if you're curious!
Statistics 1/1/2023
Worship 70
Offering 12/18, 12/24/2022 not counted yet
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Food Bank on January 4:
14 Families served
46 Individuals in families
The food bank needs newspaper bags! If you have unused newspaper bags, please bring them to the church and put them in the labeled box in the office.
Pastor Anna Lisa will be taking time away in January. First, from Jan 6-11, she'll be in meetings with the Council of District Executives. Since this meeting is in Florida, she and Phillip will then be having vacation from Jan 12-19. They look forward to returning with some color in their cheeks for the exciting final two weekends of January! (Board retreat Jan 20-21, Pastoral candidate weekend Jan 28-29).
On Saturday, Jan 28, you are invited to meet our candidate for full-time pastor over desserts at 7pm. Sunday, Jan 29 come for Meet and Eat, worship, a potluck lunch and a Council Meeting, as we discern together if we will call this pastor to Beacon Heights.
We plan to print the Church Directory in January. If you have updates to your contact information that you would like to have included in this printing, please make sure to get that information to the office by Monday, January 9th!
The Education Commission is seeking Sunday School teachers! If you would like to be a part of nurturing the curiosity, creativity, and wisdom of our young people, please reach out to Brenda Galbraith for more information.
The Ladies’ Birthday Luncheon will not be meeting in January. Please stay tuned for a February update in an upcoming Beacon!
Next Sunday: January 15, 2023
Theme & Title:
As Brethren we aim to “continue the work of Jesus, peacefully, simply, together.” On January 15 we will gather to celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the great peacemakers of our time. Dr. King’s principles center around the concept of nonviolence and social justice; social justice we understand, and have ideas on how it might be pursued. Nonviolence can be trickier: is there a way to think of this outside of physical violence?
In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” Dr. King helps us understand nonviolence in a different way, as direct action creating a tension that forces negotiation; negotiation by definition being nonviolent:
“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. “
Join us next Sunday to learn more, including the witness of the Freedom Riders of the 1960s. Please read Ephesians 2:13–22 and Romans 12:1–2 to prepare.
Donna Kline
Published by Beacon Heights
Church of the Brethren
Editor: Melinda Long
Phone: (260) 482-8595
Email: office@beaconheights.net