February 2025

that so many people can get left out.

Here's a love idea that doesn't leave anyone out: God.

1 John 4:16 and following says in part, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; We love because he first loved us. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”

John 13:34 says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Romans 8:38 says, “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God

in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

At Bethany, we know what love is. God is love, and God is for all, forever.

Blessings,

Pastor Deb

________________________________________

When I go to baseball games with my brother, I have often thought that I should bring a big sign with me that says “BROTHER!” just in case the kiss cam focuses on us during the game. I feel the same way about going out to dinner with a friend on Valentine's Day. It's kind of sweet the way we want to help people celebrate their romantic relationships, but love is a little more nuanced than that.

There's the Hallmark and candy and jewelry and flowers commercialization of it that might be kind of fun to get caught up in if one is in sweet circumstances. There are so many awkward moments that come to mind though. There are folks who are recently bereaved, recently divorced, happily single, or unhappily single, or just plain private about it all. The trouble with a holiday like Valentine's Day is

March 2025

For some, the month of March means the end of

Winter and joy and freshness of Spring! So why does

the Church bring us down from that freshness and joy

and enter a season talking about dust and ashes and

repentance and temptation? I want to be upbeat and

hopeful with the coming of warmer weather and longer

days.

Do you feel the same way? Well, my message to all of

us is that we really can have it all. We can experience

the joy and freshness of Spring budding all around us

that is real, and live with full acceptance that worry and

fear and suffering are also an integral though less

pleasant part of life.

And. That tiny but mighty word. In my letter for our 2024 Annual Report I said that my wish for Bethany for 2025

is that we would become Messengers of Hope. The more complex our world becomes and the more our default

ways of seeing the world are called into question, the more important it becomes to slow down and re-discover

what matters the most to us. What our values are; what we love; what we hold dear. In his book “Aflame: Learning from Silence,” Pico Iyer writes about the clarity and calm that comes from a time of quiet retreat. Paradoxically, the inner reflection that happens during a time of isolation is actually an invitation to greater connection. The point of the isolation of quiet retreat is not to remain in isolation. In the same paradoxical way, Lent is a chance to be honest about our inner darkness and struggles so that the renewal and rebirth that arrives with Easter can be celebrated with a new sense of clarity and yes, hope.

I hope you will join me for this Lenten season on a journey through the lengthening days of Spring, by joining in the two activities shown here. Let us discover the renewal that is possible as we look toward the coming joy of Easter Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Deb

________________________________________

Hello friends,

Here we are in April already!  This month of Sundays will be one more week of Lent, then Palm Sunday, Good Friday and then the third Sunday is Easter Sunday already.  It feels like it would be easy to rush right through the final weeks of Lent.

With this photo, I invite you to say hello to the beauty that is Westminster Woods in the springtime! Those of us who were able to attend the Women's Weekend this year were able to linger there in the beautiful

April 2025

weather among the tall redwoods and enjoy the beginning of the buds on these plum trees, standing tall all in a row.  Lingering is a special spiritual exercise that we can enjoy any time.  Lingering involves leaving our impatient feelings behind, forgetting the next thing on our list for just a moment, and holding on to the beauty we see, the thought we have, the presence of the person we are with and really enjoying the moment we are in.  These anxious days we are experiencing will not get the best of us if we learn to linger long enough to enjoy all that is around us that is not part of the global anxiety.

As Easter approaches, we are reminded with every passing day of the love and life of Jesus Christ as we read about his ministry and path to Jerusalem.  We stare at death with Christ on Good Friday, lingering there too, knowing that that Friday is not the final word.  May we finish this journey together, lingering for the beauty that is around even during the darkness.  Knowing that we will soon say Alleluia! He is Risen!  

Blessings,

Pastor Deb

________________________________________