Bethel-Beacon-Februa..

beacon
BETHELUCC
FEBRUARY 2016
worship
7
FEBRUARY
Reflecting the Glory
Rev. Carolyn Richar
14
FEBRUARY
Journey Begins
Rev. Patricia Barth
21
FEBRUARY
Waiting for God
Rev. Patricia Barth
28
FEBRUARY
Tending Our Garden
Jason Thompson
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
10 am Worship
11 am Fellowship
BETHEL
UNITED CHURCH
O F
C H R I S T
4347 Arlington Blvd., Arlington,VA 22203
E-MAIL BethelUCCVa@verizon.net
WEB www.bethelucc-va.org
BY JASON THOMPSON
Forty Days
So who will it be? We’ve been asking this
question for months. In the coming days, our
congregation will welcome The Rev. Patricia
Barth as Bethel’s next Interim Senior Pastor.
Special thanks to our search committee members Lisa Peterson, Bill Graver, Judy Norton
and Carolyn Richar for all their hard work in recruiting Rev.
Pat! As we eagerly await the arrival of our new pastor, I
would encourage us all to begin looking forward to the season of Lent which begins with Ash Wednesday on February
10.
The forty days season of Lent can be a meaningful time.
The number forty has deep biblical significance in our Bible:
Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai communing with
God; Elijah was on Mount Horeb for forty days; the rains of
the great flood of Noah lasted forty days; and of course, Jesus
Christ spent forty days in the wilderness being tempted by
evil. During this season, our hearts turn toward introspection and contemplation and on strengthening our relationship with our God.
I offer only one recommendation for spiritual practices
during the coming weeks: DO SOMETHING!! For some of
us this may mean giving up chocolate or limiting caffeine.
(continued on page 2)
Every member of Bethel
are the ministers
staff &
leadership
Associate Pastor
Rev. Carolyn Richar
crichar@capitalhospice.org
Seminary Intern
Jason Thompson
jason7thompson@outlook.com
Church President
Whit Wheeler
Director of Music
Angie Stevens
angielatte@gmail.com
Interim Pastor Emeritus
Rev. Dr. H. Donald Smith
revhdsmith@starpower.net
Forty Days
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
For others, limiting carbon emissions or an exercise regime
may seem more appropriate. And of course, for some, there
seems no need to deprive one’s self at all. Whatever your
Lenten rituals may be this year, I remind you that Lent is not
about “giving something up” but about getting closer to God.
We “give up” in order that we might spend more time building
relationship our Triune Deity.
Lent can be a solemn time, but the road of solemnity will
lead to the Joy of Easter. There can be no Light without Darkness and there can be no Resurrection without Christ’s Passion. This season may end with Good Friday, but in Christ’s
Death, we have the promise of eternal life!!
We could use your help! Bethel only provides $400 annually from
offering funds towards the clinic – the rest of the money is raised
from individuals who give additional funds directed for the clinic.
Dr. Alfaro has not had a raise in the two years she has worked at
the clinic. A raise to $700/month would be appropriate given the
average doctor’s salary in El Salvador is $1300/month. This raise
would be paying Dr. Alfaro $31.82/day. Your donation of $32 per
month extra to cover a day of her salary would be most welcome!
We would also welcome any additional funds toward the cost of
a new computer, paint, or the equipment that would allow her to
provide complete well-women check-ups.
We wish Pastor Kristen Curlee all the best in her future endeavors!
Noteworthy: Lenten Bible Study
Join us each Wednesday night during Lent from 6-8pm for simple
meal and Bible study. For five weeks (February 17 - March 16)
we will walk the journey of Jesus and discover 24 Hours That
Changed the World!
2 BETHEL UCC BEACON
Bethel Vision and Mission Online Giving
Long Range Planning Committee have discussed putting
To receive and share Jesus’
the entire statement on our
message of extravagant love
website. That way, as new
through compassionate care
members of the community
for our community and the
seek information about Bethworld.
el, this short statement tell
them who we are and what the
Mission
essence of our congregation
• We seek to know God and
is. There are other potential
one another and open our“next steps” as well. Our variselves to be known.
ous committees can use pieces
• We seek to be a chruch
of the vision and mission
where people are comforted,
encouraged, and challenged by that speak to their expertise
and role in Bethel; we might
God’s Word.
• We seek to be God’s hands of distill the vision down to key
phrases to use on our bullemercy, arrirming justice and
tins. Once we have adopted
peace in the world.
a vision and mission, then we
• We welcome and celebrate
will come together to deterthe diversity of people and
mine the best ways to use it
thought, encouraging an
and “put it out there.”
individual’s relationship with
Christ.
Over time, as Bethel grows
and evolves certainly the viA question that often comes
sion and mission might as
up is “What are we going to
well. The work above based
do with this, when and if we
on an earlier version produced
adopt it?” Well, there are
several things. First and fore- by our church a number of
years ago. In this regard, we
most, it is a guide to us, the
are not “trapped” or “conmembers of Bethel. It is like
the star the wise men followed fined” by our vision. Instead
it is a tool to help us be intenthat lead them to Bethlehem,
tional and conscious as a comso that even when life’s chalmunity to think about where
lenges pop up it keeps us
oriented as the wind and rain God is calling us to focus and
buffet us. It says this is where how His spirit moves us as a
family to share Jesus’ love with
God has called us to go and
the world.
what Jesus would have us do.
Secondly, the Consistory and
Vision
If you are a regular visitor
to Bethel UCC’s website
(www.bethelucc-va.org), you
may have noticed that Online
Giving is now operational. It
allows members and friends the
option of keeping up with those
pledges and giving regularly
even if you cannot make it to
church every Sunday.
As you click through you will
enter a secure portal where you
can give on a regular basis or
for special collections. You will
enter checking account information and your account will
be debited for the amount and
at the frequency you specify.
More information will be
available in the future but it is
easy to use so give it a try.
Sound Board Specialist
Needed
No experience necessary! We are
looking for one more person to
learn how to run the soundboard
when we have 5 Sundays in the
month and to help with some
special services like Christmas Eve,
weddings, funerals, etc. Join this
great team:
Thabo - First Sunday
Cheryl - Second Sunday
Peter/Kristen W - 3rd/4th
Sundays
Talk with Peter Rich if you are
intersted.
BETHEL UCC BEACON 3
The Lighthouse Clinic (Faro de Luz Clinica
Medica) in El Salvador
BY CAROLYN RICHAR
Dr. Lissette Alfaro submitted her 2015 annual report for the Faro de Luz Free Medical Clinic in
San Luis Talpa, El Salvador. Bethel UCC members, along with a donation from the Kiwanis Club
of Fairfax, pay Dr. Alfaro’s salary which was $7200 for 2015. La Luz Verdadera donated an additional $8,000 that pays for the cost of a secretary, basic medications/supplies, and licensure. We
collected donations from Bethel and other organizations that included vitamins, over the counter
medications and first aid supplies.
For the amounts donated, Dr. Alfaro provided visits to 3510 patients over 2015 – seeing an
average of 292.5 pts/month. Costed out, we are paying Dr. Lissette $2.05/visit with an average of
approx. $1.00 in medications/supplies being used per visit. I can’t think of a better investment
since the administrative costs are minimal and covered completely by La Luz (cost of $20/month
banking fee to send funds to bank in El Salvador). The majority of patients seen are mothers and
school age or younger children. Dr. Alfaro also sees a significant group of people 60 years and
older in a country that has no Medicare or insurance system for its citizens.
Dr. Alfaro has goals for 2016 which include:
•Implement accounting system that allows a more detailed financial report and also allows improve financial control.
•Implement system with CardEx card enabling you to more efficiently organize the inventory of pharmacy.
•Developing general inventory of the clinic.
•Replace computer.
•Touchup painting clinic, pharmacy, respiratory therapy and waiting room.
•Provide the service of taking of Cytology for which will be necessary to buy gynaecological bed, lamp gooseneck, lamellas, spatula for sampling, brush, fixative, disposable specula, bata
for patients and screen.
A huge thank you to Bethel members for all your support for the clinic at the recent
Alternative Gift Market and for ongoing contributions! I will be visiting the clinic
again this upcoming March and will look forward to bringing back more pictures and
stories of the care being provided. If anyone is interested in joining me in El Salvador
between March 13-20th, please let me know as soon as possible!
Carolyn Richar, Associate Pastor. For questions/more information – carolynsrichar@hotmail.com
4 BETHEL UCC BEACON
My Time Away: Thoughts from El SalvadorLazaro Javier Garcia
BY LAZARO JAVIER GARCIA
place is not safe. But, I think
it was the right place to spend
December 31 because they had
a party for the end of the year;
I had the opportunity to meet
I spent three days in San Luis with politicians and some acTalpa with Doctor Alfaro, the tivists in Human Rights issues.
person in charge of the Clinic
Faro de Luz and with the pastor of the Church and others members. I listened to the
needs of thier community and
heard the gratitude for the support Bethel UCC Church is
giving to them. You can keep
in mind, January 16, 1992, El
Salvador signed an agreement When I was talking with many
of peace in Mexico with the of them about the focus of the
participation of United Na- UCC church in Social Justice,
tion and others government Human Rights and equality
leaders in Latin America, but advocacy, they were very restill, El Salvador, it is a country ceptive. Someone even told
where 4 people are murder ev- me that they could donate the
ery hour with a population of land to build a church with
6 million people. For that rea- more sense of flexibility. Many
son, El Salvador, today is called of the churches around the city
the homicide capital of the are very traditional and conworld and we are supposed to servative, and many of them
continue helping them in this preaching prosperity theology
crucial hour.
in a country with gangs and
I stayed at the Crowne drug related issues, high levels
Plaza Hotel, because every of poverty and homicides.
The most shocking experience I had was find Palestinian people that speak Spanish. They are first generation
refugees, Catholics and Evangelicals, but from Bethlehem
and Judea ; many of them
shared with me their testimonies about the Israeli occupation in Bethlehem and the
way they have lost properties
and businesses because of the
Israeli occupation. I thought
they were all Muslim, radical in
some way, but I found different
kind of people, more socialists
and more focused on progressive issues. That was something that I was not expecting.
Very nice people. So, I would
like to go back to El Salvador
to continue to work with those
focused with Churches who
are very interested in becoming part of the UCC Church,
with open mind and real conviction.
BETHEL UCC BEACON 5
february 2016
sunday
monday
tuesday
1
wednesday
2
thursday
3
friday
4
5
6
11
12
13
18
19
20
26
27
7 p.m. Bible
Study
7
8
9
10 a.m. Worship
& Sunday School
Voices of Bethel
6-8 p.m. “An
Ordinary Hero”Movie and Panel
Discussion
15
22
10 a.m. Worship &
Sunday School
11a.m. Fellowship
11:30 Consistory
Meeting
6 BETHEL UCC BEACON
23
24
6-8 p.m. Simple
Supper & Bible
Study
11a.m. Fellowship
10 a.m. Worship &
Sunday School
17
6-8 p.m. Simple
Supper & Bible
Study
11a.m. Fellowship
28
10
16
10 a.m. Worship &
Sunday School
21
6 p.m. AFAC
Bagging
7 p.m. Ash
Wednesday
Service at
Church of the
Bretheren
11a.m. Fellowship
14
saturday
29
7 p.m. Bible
Study
12 p.m. Third
Thursday
25