STIRRINGS AT BETHESDA
A Monthly Publication of
Bethesda Baptist Church
May 28, 2015
Upcoming Activities
* Breakfast Fellowship: This Sunday morning we join together at 8:45 a.m. in the fellowship hall for a breakfast fellowship. We will gather together and share what others have prepared and God has provided, spend a few moments sharing in each other’s life, and then attending Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Make sure and come early for breakfast!
* Swim Party & BBQ: The Diamonds have opened up their home for a swimming party and BBQ on Saturday, June 6 beginning at 2 p.m. We will BBQ around 5 p.m. People may swim before and after the meal. Swimming, of course, is optional but if you plan on swimming please bring your towel and sunscreen. The meat will be provided for the meal. Everyone is asked to bring a side dish and a drink to share. The Diamonds live at 14 South Trail in St. Peters.
* Business Meeting: Our monthly business meeting is Wednesday, June 10. Everyone is invited to attend the meeting which will be held in fellowship hall as we seek God’s will concerning practical matters facing our church.
HAPPY … !
Our monthly calendar indicates several celebrations are slated for June:
Happy Birthday to:
* Ken on the 13th
* Samuel on the 16th
* Austin on the 26th
Happy Anniversary to:
* Dennis & Pam on the 7th
* Jeff & Alicia on the 12th
and, Happy Fathers’ Day on the 21st
The Luther Monthly
Last month we celebrated Mothers’ Day and, in a couple of weeks, we celebrate Fathers’ Day. So I decided to share with you 2 of the many paragraphs from Martin Luther’s Large Catechism on the commandment “Honor your Father and Mother”. If you have internet access you may read the full article there. Remember, the words you are reading were written in the 16th century German and translated over a hundred years ago and likely had a different meaning then!
“To this estate of fatherhood and motherhood God has given the special distinction above all estates that are beneath it that He not simply commands us to love our parents, but to honor them. For with respect to brothers, sisters, and our neighbors in general He commands nothing higher than that we love them, so that He separates and distinguishes father and mother above all other persons upon earth, and places them at His side. For it is a far higher thing to honor than to love one, inasmuch as it comprehends not only love, but also modesty, humility, and deference as to a majesty there hidden, and requires not only that they be addressed kindly and with reverence, but, most of all, that both in heart and with the body we so act as to show that we esteem them very highly, and that, next to God, we regard them as the very highest. For one whom we are to honor from the heart we must truly regard as high and great.
We must, therefore, impress it upon the young that they should regard their parents as in God’s stead, and remember that however lowly, poor, frail, and queer they may be, nevertheless they are father and mother given them by God. They are not to be deprived of their honor because of their conduct or their failings. Therefore we are not to regard their persons, how they may be, but the will of God who has thus created and ordained. In other respects we are, indeed, all alike in the eyes of God; but among us there must necessarily be such inequality and ordered difference, and therefore God commands it to be observed, that you obey me as your father, and that I have the supremacy.”
Pastor’s Postscript
I do hope everyone plans on attending the breakfast fellowship this Sunday morning. This will be a good time to get together with fellow members and to share what the Lord is doing in your life.
The adult Sunday school class has been examining a chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes each week. This Sunday finds us in chapter 7 with less time than usual to tackle the material. So I believe I am going to postpone our look at chapter 7 until June 7 and do something different this Sunday during our abbreviated session.
With summer upon us, we are “out and about”. So, let each of us seek new ways to share Christ with those in our influence. May you glorify Jesus in all you do!
Pastor Bruce