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Friday, Sept. 18, 2026

For Sunday – NEW SCHEDULE!


9:00 a.m.: Holy Ground Worship Service

(in person in Fellowship Hall)

11:15 a.m.: Traditional Worship Service

(in person in the Sanctuary, and livestreamed on Facebook and website)

**UPDATE ON SUNDAY SCHEDULES**


Beginning this week (Sunday, Sept. 20), we will move to two services: Holy Ground at 9 a.m. in Fellowship Hall, and Traditional at 11:15 a.m. in the Sanctuary.


The Traditional service will be livestreamed on Facebook and our website.


Our adult ed class, Hearts N Minds, and intergenerational offering, Body N Soul, will also begin. Hearts N Minds will meet from 10-11 a.m. in the Library; Body N Soul will gather in Room 216 from 10:10-11 a.m. All are welcome!

A MESSAGE FROM REV. KAREN KINNEY: 
THE COURAGE TO ADDRESS WRONGS


Grace and peace to you,

This Sunday we take up conflict as something that every leader faces, indeed every church body eventually faces. Perhaps it is fitting that we explore how to address conflict and reconciliation on the day that Yom Kippur begins at sunset, following ten days after Rosh Hashanah – the celebration of the Jewish New Year. 

Jesus most certainly would have observed Yom Kippur and perhaps that is what he had in mind in the passage from Matthew 18:15-20 that we explore this Sunday. Who has wronged us? Who have we wronged? What does it mean to forgive and/or ask for forgiveness?

How does one forgive when the wrong is so wrong that reconciliation is impossible? And, how does being part of a community give us courage to address wrongs?

Conflict, atonement, forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation aren’t easy things – there are times and places where especially reconciliation is not possible and can be quite harmful. But Jesus is giving us a process that we should consider.

First, he is reminding his followers in the verses that precede our reading that no one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven – that we need to be like children – humble in our approach to God and to one another. We need to not cause our fellow believers to stumble and fall into sin through our words and actions.

It is also in this chapter that he reminds people that when one sheep out of a hundred goes astray, the shepherd will go after the one – the 99 have each other. The 99 and even the one that goes astray are bound together as a community and that gives them courage to resolve their differences, to care for one another, to hold each other accountable.

The church is often called a hospital for the sick, for the broken, for being repairers of the breach (Isaiah 58:12). We are called to be healers, to right wrongs, to repair breaches between people, to overcome what might keep us apart. That is hard, hard work and it requires that we do our own work of hearing how we might have wronged people, to engage in our own repentance, to ask for forgive-ness and work towards reconciliation. Repentance is an important step.

We will explore more about this as well as how community rituals might help us do this work. Come and see this Sunday!

Blessings, 
Pastor Karen

TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT on 8.5" x 11" paper:


 Traditional Worship Bulletin (4 pages)

BEGINNING SUNDAY: HEARTS N MINDS ADULT ED CLASS

In 2014, the Hearts N Minds adult ed class offered a place, a safe place, where people could discuss readings from the Bible and books that offer a path through a troubling and confusing world. In discussion groups, we try to read everything through a lens of love. 

"Jesus is a biblically formed non-Bible quoter, who gets the deeper stream of God’s unconditional love, the spirit, the trajectory, of his Jewish history and never settles for mere surface readings.”

In 12 years, we have read authors such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sister Joan Chittister, Father Greg Boyle, Marcus Borg and John Crosson, as well as John Philip Newell, Atul Gawande, M.D., Shirley Guthrie, and Henri Nouwen. We have learned about the great religions of the world and racial inequality in our own country.



This season, class begins on Sunday in the Adult Library (room 210) at 10 a.m. Our first book is Holy Envy: Finding God in The Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor, which you can buy new or used online. Please read the Introduction and Chapter One, and the poem fragment after the book’s dedication. We invite you to join the discussion as we look for “justice, mercy, and good faith” in our readings.

JOIN US THIS SUNDAY FOR BODY N SOUL

Body N Soul is our intergenerational class which meets from 10:10-11 a.m. in Room 216. We will begin on Sunday. Kate Arrington is the leader, with the help of Pam Phillippe and Deb Castellano. 

LEARNING MORE ABOUT CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM

by Rev. Karen Kinney

As promised this past Sunday, I am sharing books and documentaries that increase our understanding of Christian Nationalism and its impact on Christianity and democracy.

A basic definition of Christian Nationalism is this: an ideology that espouses a form of religious nationalism that focuses on promoting the Christian views of its followers in order to achieve prominence or dominance in political, cultural, religious and social life (wikipedia.com).

We can see the effects as school systems in more conservative states now hang the Ten Commandments in classrooms and promote curriculum that interprets history through the lens of Christian Nationalist beliefs. We see it in politics and in our government. We see it in how the media portrays Christianity – promoting and lifting up Christian Nationalist beliefs over frankly a Christianity that lives out the Gospel values of Jesus.

Many are leaving these churches and entering a period of deconstructing their faith, their beliefs, the teachings they learned. It is a scary place to be – what would you do if you realized that everything you believed and were taught was not what you believe now because of outside the community friendships and relationships, coursework, your own reading of the Gospels, or other ways you come across a different way of thinking about Christianity. Some walk away, some find comfort in more traditional churches – Nadia Bolz-Weber and Rachel Held Evans come to mind. How might we be helpful?

Books for understanding

• The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy (September 2025) by Matthew Boedy 

• Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy is a September 2026 book by religious scholar Robert P. Jones

• Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, written in 2020 by Kristin Kobes du Mez 

• The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism is a 2023 book written by staff writer and journalist Tim Alberta


Documentaries


• Bad Faith 
  
• God and Country: This documentary looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts the constitutional republic and Christianity itself.
  
• Interview: CNN’s Pamela Brown Reports in “The Rise of Christian Nationalism” for The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper

PARTICIPATE IN OUR WEEKLY SERVICES

Would you like to play a more active role in our worship services? We are looking for volunteers to serve as lectors.

INTERESTED IN DONATING FLOWERS FOR SUNDAY WORSHIP?

WORLD COMMUNION OFFERING: SUPPORTING JUSTICE

The World Communion Offering begins on Sunday and ends on Sunday, Oct. 4 - World Communion Sunday. This is a new way for Presbyterians to “love kindness” expressed in action, involving mercy, faithfulness and steadfast commitment.

SUPPORT THE SLATER SOUP FUNDRAISER

CALLING FOR MENTORS

by Deb Philpotts

If you like helping students in 2nd through 5th grade with reading, playing games, and building relationships, then we’d love to have you join us as a mentor. 

We are assigned a student by the school staff and remain with that student until their graduation into 6th grade as they move to middle school.

We park in an open lot near the school and walk to the school office. And there’s no problem if you need to miss a week because of trips or doctor appointments. We cover for one another.



Please come and check out our program – you are welcome to drop in as a visitor to see if it’s something you might enjoy doing. Contact me at info@fpc-bethlehem.org with your questions!

FOOD DONATIONS: SUPPORTING OUR NEIGHBORS

HI NEIGHBORS: OFF TO A BIG START!

Our popular speakers series, Hi Neighbors, is back with a new nine-week series that began on Monday. The presentations are free and open to the public, and feature an interesting array of topics such as history, local culture, music, and current events. 

For Monday: Is your "mind full" or are you being "mindful"?

Let’s learn more about “The Practice of Mindfulness and Its Benefits for Stress Management” at Monday's Hi Neighbors speakers program. Long-time practitioner Matthew Wolf of the Pratyush Sinha Foundation will share about this ancient practice.

Click here for a printable copy of the schedule - and please consider sharing it!

FOR YOUR CALENDAR

Sunday, Oct. 4 is World Communion Sunday

We will offer one service at 10 a.m. in the Sanctuary (in person and livestreamed). Following the service, we will enjoy an outdoor potluck lunch.

Please plan to bring your favorite picnic lunch items to share for eight: salads, sandwiches, relish trays (pickles, olives, veggies, cheese, etc.), spreads, dips, chips – and let’s not forget desserts!

FOR SUNDAY’S IN-PERSON WORSHIP:

Child care will be available from 8:45 a.m. - 12:15 a.m. this Sunday; they will meet in room 216.

Your children are a joy in our worship services, and should the need arise, “kid bags” are available for their use while they are visiting. They are in the Narthex.

We offer nametags for folks to wear – these are for everyone! You can pick up as you enter the worship space; please clearly PRINT your first name.

THIS SUNDAY

• 8:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Child care available in room 216
• 9:00 a.m.: Holy Ground worship service, Fellowship Hall (in person only)
• 10 – 11 a.m.: Hearts N Minds adult ed class, Adult Library (room 210)
• 10:10 – 11 a.m.: Body N Soul intergenerational class, Room 216
• 11:15 a.m.: Traditional worship service, Sanctuary (in person and livestreamed on website and Facebook page)

 
WEDNESDAYS: 7 p.m. - Overcomer’s Outreach Christian 12 Step Recovery Group weekly meeting, via Zoom.com (meeting #: 868 2214 2960; passcode: OO-Beth)



CHURCH OFFICE AND BUILDING INFO: 


Regular office hours are Monday - Thursday from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Many of the office staff are working remotely for some of the time, so please make an appointment if you need to see someone specific. The answering service (610-778-7003) can take your urgent pastoral concerns, 24 hours a day. 

IN CASE OF BAD WEATHER: Look for updates on our website (fpc-bethlehem.org), Facebook page, and WFMZ (channel 69 and wfmz.com). We will also put the info on our church phone message, 610-867-5865.

CARE CONCERNS AND HOSPITAL VISITS: If you are hospitalized, please tell the hospital our church code is 724. Also, please call the church office at 610-867-5865 to let us know as the hospitals do not always collect this information.  After hours, for emergency pastoral concerns, call 610-674-0005.

PRAYER REQUESTS: Send to prayer@fpc-bethlehem.org or call 610-867-5865 and leave a message.