June 29, 2021

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We'll worship outdoors again on July 4th! Bring your chairs (and an umbrella for shade if you'd like) and stay for a popsicle after!

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Remember, Pr. Collette is on vacation until July 8th. Please call Pr. Kristin with any pastoral needs.

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Did you see the survey in your July STAR last week? We're preparing for fall and we'd like your input. If you receive the STAR via email or if you'd just prefer it, fill out the survey online here: https://blcmankato.breezechms.com/form/FallWorshipSurvey

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Don't forget to have August 22nd on your calendar to celebrate Pr. Collette's ministry at BLC on her last day. We'll have cake, coffee, and fellowship in the parking lot after worship.

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Letters P-Q were added to the name tags this week. We still need 100 more! We need ALL NAME TAGS returned. EVERYONE is getting new ones made. Please do not hang onto them. You can drop them off in the office. Also, please wear your name tags when you come to church, so Pr. Kristin can learn your names. See the updated look here.

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Are you engaging in the study guide for our summer series? The questions are thought-provoking and the art is beautiful. Learn more at blcmankato.org/summer.

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We are hiring again! There is a weekend/evening janitor position available. Learn more and apply on the website. 

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The ALS Walk has been scheduled for September 11. It is a statewide walk, but Bethlehem still has a team and encourages fundraising. Find out more, including a link to donate, on the blog. 

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June's Monthly Mission is Lutheran World Relief. You can read about their mission here, and make a donation here or by sending a check to the church, memo line "June Mission." 

***

Our new website and church management system, Breeze, offers so many exciting ways we can streamline our communication with you. Using Breeze to send you weekly updates is one of the ways we can keep our email list consistent and accurate (it also saves time and money!). 

Additionally, our new website features a "News & Updates" blog, which you can follow right from the home page (blcmankato.org). By including all the details there, you can easily reference it at any time. 

News & Updates: https://www.blcmankato.org/news-updates

The website also integrates the Events Calendar from Breeze. You can view the calendar and event descriptions on the website, but you can also check into worship and register for events by using your own Breeze account (don't have one yet? Contact Emily in the office). 

Church Calendar: https://www.blcmankato.org/calendar

"Bethlehem is an inviting community that is growing in Christ, loving our neighbors, and serving God's world."

blcmankato.org (507) 388-2925
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
720 S. 2nd St. Mankato MN 56001
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation

June 22, 2021

We've got only two months remaining under Pastor Collette's strong leadership. Please plan to join us to celebrate her many contributions to BLC over the years. Sunday, August 22nd. Details to come.

***

Watch for a survey in your July STAR this week. We're preparing for fall and we'd like your input. If you receive the STAR via email or if you'd just prefer it, fill out the survey online here: https://blcmankato.breezechms.com/form/FallWorshipSurvey

***

We'll worship outdoors again on July 4th! Bring your chairs and stay for a popsicle after!
***

Letters P-Q were added to the name tags this week. We still need 100 more! We need ALL NAME TAGS returned. EVERYONE is getting new ones made. Please do not hang onto them. You can drop them off in the office. Also, please wear your name tags when you come to church, so Pr. Kristin can learn your names. See the updated look here.

***

We are hiring again! There is a weekend/evening janitor position available. Learn more and apply on the website.

***

The ALS Walk has been scheduled for September 11. It is a statewide walk, but Bethlehem still has a team and encourages fundraising. Find out more, including a link to donate, on the blog. 

***

June's Monthly Mission is Lutheran World Relief. You can read about their mission here, and make a donation here or by sending a check to the church, memo line "June Mission." 

***

Our new website and church management system, Breeze, offers so many exciting ways we can streamline our communication with you. Using Breeze to send you weekly updates is one of the ways we can keep our email list consistent and accurate (it also saves time and money!). 

Additionally, our new website features a "News & Updates" blog, which you can follow right from the home page (blcmankato.org). By including all the details there, you can easily reference it at any time. 

News & Updates: https://www.blcmankato.org/news-updates

The website also integrates the Events Calendar from Breeze. You can view the calendar and event descriptions on the website, but you can also check into worship and register for events by using your own Breeze account (don't have one yet? Contact Emily in the office). 

Church Calendar: https://www.blcmankato.org/calendar

"Bethlehem is an inviting community that is growing in Christ, loving our neighbors, and serving God's world."

blcmankato.org (507) 388-2925
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
720 S. 2nd St. Mankato MN 56001
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation

Join us for Pastor Collette’s last day with us at Bethlehem. Her letter informing us of her resignation was met with sadness for us, but joy and celebration for Connections Ministry. It is with your help and support that she and others were able to build their shelter so quickly into a full-time mission and church. Come to celebrate and honor her important work here the last ten years. More details to follow as the date approaches. For now, just put it on your calendar: Sunday, August 22nd, 9:45 church and 10:45 reception.

June 15, 2021

Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It recalls how the states of Louisiana and Texas heard the news that President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Slavery continued in those two states for more than two years after the proclamation was signed beaus the word had yet to travel there. Texas and Louisiana finally got the good news on June 19, 1865. Former slaves broke out in spontaneous celebration. These were dangerous times. Even in the face of resistance and threat, the formerly enslaved Africans found ways to give voice to the wide range of thoughts and emotions at the announcement of the end of legalized slavery in the United States of America.  

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Letters P-Q were added to the name tags this week. We still need 100 more! We need ALL NAME TAGS returned. EVERYONE is getting new ones made. Please do not hang onto them. You can drop them off in the office. Also, please wear your name tags when you come to church, so Pr. Kristin can learn your names. See the updated look here.

***

We are hiring again! There is a weekend/evening janitor position available. Learn more and apply on the website.

***

The ALS Walk has been scheduled for September 11. It is a statewide walk, but Bethlehem still has a team and encourages fundraising. Find out more, including a link to donate, on the blog. 

***

June's Monthly Mission is Lutheran World Relief. You can read about their mission here, and make a donation here or by sending a check to the church, memo line "June Mission." 

***

Our new website and church management system, Breeze, offers so many exciting ways we can streamline our communication with you. Using Breeze to send you weekly updates is one of the ways we can keep our email list consistent and accurate (it also saves time and money!). 

Additionally, our new website features a "News & Updates" blog, which you can follow right from the home page (blcmankato.org). By including all the details there, you can easily reference it at any time. 

News & Updates: https://www.blcmankato.org/news-updates

The website also integrates the Events Calendar from Breeze. You can view the calendar and event descriptions on the website, but you can also check into worship and register for events by using your own Breeze account (don't have one yet? Contact Emily in the office). 

Church Calendar: https://www.blcmankato.org/calendar

"Bethlehem is an inviting community that is growing in Christ, loving our neighbors, and serving God's world."

blcmankato.org (507) 388-2925
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
720 S. 2nd St. Mankato MN 56001
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation

June 8, 2021

This Sunday, June 13, we will be worshipping outside and beginning our Summer Sermon Series: Unraveled. Click on the links for more information about each.

***
We enjoyed honoring our graduating seniors and scholarship recipients on Sunday. We also had a baptism, a guest preacher, and special music! What a day. Enjoy some pictures on the blog.

***
We are hiring again! There is a weekend/evening janitor position available. Learn more and apply on the website.

***

Please wear your name tags when you come to church, so Pr. Kristin can learn your names. See the updated look here.

***
Want to sing along at home? We've taken the lyrics off the screen, but you're welcome to arrange pick-up with the office if you'd like to borrow a hymnal. Information on the blog.

***
The ALS Walk has been scheduled for September 11. It is a statewide walk, but Bethlehem still has a team and encourages fundraising. Find out more, including a link to donate, on the blog.

***
June's Monthly Mission is Lutheran World Relief. You can read about their mission here, and make a donation here or by sending a check to the church, memo line "June Mission."

***
DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS THIS WEEK! CLICK THE LINKS FOR MORE DETAILS. It's time to register for summer fun! Find out more: blcmankato.org/youth for Mission: Mankato! Find out more: blcmankato.org/vbs2021 for VBS!

***
Our new website and church management system, Breeze, offers so many exciting ways we can streamline our communication with you. Using Breeze to send you weekly updates is one of the ways we can keep our email list consistent and accurate (it also saves time and money!).

Additionally, our new website features a "News & Updates" blog, which you can follow right from the home page (blcmankato.org). By including all the details there, you can easily reference it at any time.

News & Updates: https://www.blcmankato.org/news-updates

The website also integrates the Events Calendar from Breeze. You can view the calendar and event descriptions on the website, but you can also check into worship and register for events by using your own Breeze account (don't have one yet? Contact Emily in the office).

Church Calendar: https://www.blcmankato.org/calendar

"Bethlehem is an inviting community that is growing in Christ, loving our neighbors, and serving God's world."

blcmankato.org (507) 388-2925
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
720 S. 2nd St. Mankato MN 56001
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation

In worship on June 6, we were excited to honor the young adults of our congregation, recognizing the graduating seniors and awarding scholarships to the twelve undergraduate college students who applied. We also welcomed guest preacher, Rev. Lisa Kipp from Lutheran World Relief, and had a baptism! It was a full day. Check out these pictures from worship yesterday!

What happens when our world falls apart? How do we press onward when our tightly-knit plans unravel into loose threads? What do we become when our identity—or the path we’re on—comes undone? What if all of this is not the end we fear it will be? In our unraveling, sometimes life surprises us with unexpected joy, love, and hope—with a new beginning we couldn’t have imagined. Sometimes we need God to unravel us, for we long to be changed. This worship series explores 12 stories of unraveled shame, identity, fear, grief, dreams, and expectations. These are stories where God meets us in the spiraling, unraveling our plans—and us—into something new.

Click here for the schedule and the study guide.

Last year we met outside out of necessity, and it was actually a great time! This year, we’ll do it just for fun. Plan on bringing your comfy chair (or use one of our not-so-comfy folding chairs) and joining us in the parking lot on the following dates:

June 13

July 4

July 18

**If the weather is bad, we’ll simply head inside!

***You will NOT be required to wear a mask outdoors, in accordance with the current MDH guidelines.

LWR is a non-profit organization that focuses on disaster relief/ recovery and offers many different services to the poor in 30-35 countries. Today, LWR helps communities living in extreme poverty adapt to the challenges that threaten their livelihoods and well being and responds to emergencies with a long-term view. Bethlehem has long supported this organization by volunteers sewing quilts and assembling school kits. Volunteers take the completed quilts and school kits to a LWR warehouse in South St. Paul, where they are packaged and loaded into shipping containers for Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. One of the ways a financial contribution helps LWR is for shipping costs. It costs on average about $2.25 for a quilt and $1.40 for a school kit to be shipped from the U.S. to a designated country. The total spent by LWR for shipping kits and quilts exceeds $1.3 million per year. For more information, go to lwr.org.

Make a donation here or by sending a check to the church, memo line "June Mission."

June 1, 2021

Pictured is our guest preacher this week, Rev. Lisa Kipp. She works with Lutheran World Relief, our June Monthly Mission partner. Read more about her work on the blog.

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Bethlehem is honored to receive the 2020 Servant of Christ Award from LSS. Enjoy the video and find out more about it here.

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We are hiring again! There is a weekend/evening janitor position available. Learn more and apply on the website.

***
This is the last week of school for Mankato! Congrats to our graduates, who will be honored on Sunday, and to all our school-aged members. Well done! Join Miss Anna for a school's out park play time with cool treats this Friday, June 4th at Highland Park at 4pm.

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The Drewitz Family invites you to Jack's graduation party this Saturday, June 5th from 1-3pm in Grounds for Joy. Come for cake and coffee, as you have been an important part of Jack's faith journey.

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Pride Month is upon us and ReconcilingWorks, our partners in our RIC ministry, is leading the parade! Find out more here.

***
Please wear your name tags when you come to church, so Pr. Kristin can learn your names. See the updated look here.

***
Want to sing along at home? We have takien the lyrics off the screen, but you're welcome to arrange pick-up with the office if you'd like to borrow a hymnal. Information on the blog.

***
The ALS Walk has been scheduled for September 11. It is a statewide walk, but Bethlehem still has a team and encourages fundraising. Find out more, including a link to donate, on the blog.

***
It's time to register for summer fun! DEADLINE FOR VBS IS THIS FRIDAY. Find out more: blcmankato.org/youth for Mission: Mankato! Find out more: blcmankato.org/vbs2021 for VBS!

***
Our new website and church management system, Breeze, offers so many exciting ways we can streamline our communication with you. Using Breeze to send you weekly updates is one of the ways we can keep our email list consistent and accurate (it also saves time and money!).

Additionally, our new website features a "News & Updates" blog, which you can follow right from the home page (blcmankato.org). By including all the details there, you can easily reference it at any time.

News & Updates: https://www.blcmankato.org/news-updates

The website also integrates the Events Calendar from Breeze. You can view the calendar and event descriptions on the website, but you can also check into worship and register for events by using your own Breeze account (don't have one yet? Contact Emily in the office).

Church Calendar: https://www.blcmankato.org/calendar

"Bethlehem is an inviting community that is growing in Christ, loving our neighbors, and serving God's world."

blcmankato.org (507) 388-2925
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
720 S. 2nd St. Mankato MN 56001
A Reconciling in Christ Congregation