Newsletter September, 2011 Rev. Dr. Vera M. Wingate, Pastor

Dear Bethany Friends,

                Summer seems to have come and gone so quickly here, and that gets me to thinking about the seasons.  How do you know when one season turns to another?    Me? I want a date on the calendar – a time I can pen-point and say, “That’s it.  That’s when it begins, and there’s where it ends.”   And having that orderly mindset, I went to the Internet and I found “Dates and Times of Seasons 1995-2020”.  Good grief and then some!  I clicked ‘print’ and 15 pages started coming up!  Enough of that.  I can’t sit while 15 pages print out – so I ran outside and started watering my flowers.  And as I watered the pots of New Guinea Impatience at the foot of the grill arbor, as I watered the portulaca on the patio table, the roses by the bench – and flowers all around the garden –I began to realize something about the seasons.  The bees were buzzing around flowers here and flowers there – ‘they know’ when it’s time to get that juicy pollen from the blossom.   The bees know the seasons – and how is that?  God lets them know.  God designed a built-in radar of sorts – maybe it’s the color of the flower, or a pleasant aroma from the bud.  The bees know the season – “Why don’t you and I?”  Maybe it’s because we don’t stay close enough to God so that we can hear the messages God gives us.  I find God in my garden.  I find God as I read Scripture early in the morning and reflect on things going on in life.  I find God as I converse with a friend about the changes that take place as we all age.  As your body gets older, you can’t expect to keep on doing the same things you’ve always done.  You can’t live the same way you’ve always lived.  Changes have to be made.  We have to grow up and face that fact.  I’d like to put a date on the calendar and have it happen all neat and orderly.  That’s not the way it happens, though, is it Folks?  More than a few of us get trapped in one season, unable to get to the next.  It’s a mystery for me ministering among the people – how to help people realize seasons around them are changing.  The bees know the seasons and what they should be doing in the season at hand.  Why don’t you and I?  I pray to God that that I’m listening when God tries to let me know the seasons are changing.  You pray for yourselves and you pray for me, too.

                Meanwhile, let’s enjoy this life God has given us.  We’re having our annual turkey supper this coming Saturday, September 17, 4:30-6:30 pm.  Come join us for turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, squash, peas, cranberry sauce – and all the fixin’s!  A flier is enclosed.  Dennis Phelps is chair of the supper.  Email him for any questions  dbphelps@comcast.net

                Then come this Sunday, September 18^th it’s NATIONAL BACK-TO-CHURCH-SUNDAY!  There’s a flier on the back of this newsletter – thousands of churches across America invite everyone back to church!  Sunday School with our new curriculum starts with a whole array of activities planned for the Fall! Sunday School Superintendant, Gail Morgrage, is looking for  more teachers to join Diana Bridgewater and Patti Boyce.  COFFEE HOUR AFTER CHURCH WILL WELCOME NEW STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND FAMILIES!  Join us Sunday!  Worship begins at 10:00 am.  Children come to worship with parents, then after the Children’s Story, go to Sunday School which is held while worship in the chapel continues.

                During Sunday School on September 25^th, students will bake bread for WORLD-WIDE COMMUNION SUNDAY  October 2^nd.  Sunday School will present the loaves of bread during Children’s Story on October 2^nd.  REMEMBER TO BRING FOOD FOR OUR FOOD PANTRY EVERY COMMUNION SUNDAY – the first Sunday of each month!

                Bethany Chapel’s MISSION COMMITTEE is organizing Bethany’s participation in Manchester’s Food Drive – the Religious Response to Hunger.  Bethany will be represented in the caravan from Brookside Congregational Church to New Horizons, Thursday, September 29^th, 2:00 pm.  For more information, contact Barbara Cirincione 624-4607 or Gloria Myrdek 623-5464.

                In our October newsletter, you will hear more about: 

                our next BREAKFAST BUFFET – Saturday, October 8^th

                the OLD FASHIONED ALL-FAMILY HALLOWEEN PARTY on Friday evening, October 28^th

                      the INTERGENERATIONAL, ALL-FAMILY BIBLE MASQUERADE ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30^th

                the ROAST PORK SUPPER, Saturday, November 5^th

                THANKSGIVING BASKETS for the community and

                THANKSGIVING SUNDAY CELEBRATION

‘TIS THE SEASON TO CELEBRATE GOD-AMONG-US AT BETHANY!

                May the Spirit of love guide you….                           

                                          Your Pastor,