Bethany Presbyterian

The Necessity of Suffering

Mark 8:27-33

It is at this point that Mark begins to build toward the climax of his Gospel in the narrative of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And he commences by defining in new terms the nature of the messiahship. “Who do people say I am?” asks Jesus. The answer is identical to the information given in 6: 14-16, introducing the story of John’s death: Some say he is John the Baptizer returned to life; oth-ers, that he is Elijah; and still others, that he is another of the prophets. For the first time, Jesus pressed the disciples themselves to say who he is. Peter is the spokesman for the others: “You are the Christ, the Messiah.” Now a strange thing. Jesus does not congratulate Peter, as Matthew’s Gospel represents him as doing. (Matthew 16:17-19). He merely warns them to tell no one about him. And the Greek word for “charged” in verse 30 normally means “rebuked.” It is almost as if he were displeased with the an-swer. Why? Apparently, we are still dealing with the question of how much the disciples can se and hear, as in 8:14-26. They have seen his wonders and they are satisfied that he is the Christ. But he knows their understanding is thin and tentative, that they are too simple to see yet that he must suffer great indignities at the hands of the Pharisees and Herodians who seek to destroy him. At this point, then, he begins to instruct them about this, so that they may withstand when the time comes. He tells them plainly about his death and resurrection (though it is possible that the phrase “and after three days rise again” is a later addition to the text, for Peter at least appears not to hear this part of the message). Peter takes him aside and chides him for such pessimistic talk. Jesus appears to ponder the matter a moment, looking at the other disciples. Does it flit through his mind, “Yes, Peter is right. Why should God’s anointed suffer what I see coming to me?” Then, in a flash, he rebukes Peter, seeing in his words such temptation as he felt in the wilder-ness at the beginning of his ministry: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” It is a blistering statement to make to a loyal friend who seeks only your welfare. But just as Je-sus had seen Satan’s power at work in the ill persons he has healed, now he sees him behind the kindness of Peter. It is not merely Peter’s understanding that is at stake; it is the whole battle with the demonic forces. The cross will be only an unfortunate episode in which justice miscarries; it will be the last cruel effort Satan can make to avert the coming of God’s Kingdom!

Lord, I sympathize with Peter. I too would have protested against such pessimism from the Mas-ter. But I often fail to see beyond the surface of life and realize the cosmic drama that is going on as you contend with evil and the demonic. Help me to look more sharply, and to be ready to die for the right. Through Jesus, who saw clearly. Amen.

From the Pastor- Rev. William Blackie III

Aug-Sept- Oct 2021

Bethany Presbyterian

Church Chat

• The official

definition: “Per

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Devotional

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Bethany Presbyterian Church Chat

Account Balances

The account balances as of July 26:

General Account: $55755.60

DWH/Rental Account: $3218.67

Capital Account: $3162.71

Living Nativity Balance: $1597.60

Savings Account: $64585.69

If anyone is interested in a copy of the Bethany

Presbyterian Church Bicentennial directory, stem-

less glass, or coaster. A free will donation will be

accepted for the coaster and glass.

ONLINE BANKING FOR

GIVING OFFERING

Some of our local banks

and our national banks are

offering “Online Banking”

to pay our expenses or

bills, but did you know that

you can also use Online

banking to pay your “Estimate of Giving Offer-

ing?”

Payments online can be made on a weekly, bi

-weekly, or monthly from Your bank by listing

our church as a vendor.

On the Bill Pay Page Enter:

BETHANY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

431 Wayne Street

Bethany, PA 18431

Phone #570-253-6316

Account Number: (would be your church en-

velope number)

Amount to be paid: (List the frequency that you would like it to be paid) The bank will forward your payments, on your behalf to the church following your requested frequency. If any additional information is needed please talk to either, Pat Rine or John Stepto.

Bible Study

Our Wednesday evening Bible study will resume on 14 Septem-ber 2021 at 5:30 pm.

Our study will be “Breaking the Code: understanding the Book of Revelation” by Dr. Bruce Metzger. Although it is not required it is highly recommended everyone attending purchase the book by the same title. The book is available through many bookstores and online and can be purchased as a paperback or e-book.

If you are planning to attend the Bible study or have any questions, please contact Pastor Blackie.

Mistakes are

lessons of Wisdom!

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Happy Birthday!!! Happy Anniversary!!!

August Birthdays

1-Gibsen Goodenough 4-Tara Olver 5-Marie Crocker 6-Emily Gunuskey 9-Tim Bell 19-Dan Gallik 24-Rick Rine 25-Helen Ward 27-Keith Gunuskey

August Anniversaries

7-Kevin & Leslie Gunuskey 18-Dave & Sue Seber 19-David & Marilyn Czapnik 29- Justin & Marchel Paule-Green

October Birthdays

3-Angelica Dyer 4-Jim Budd 6-Justin Green 7-Sierra Rine 8-Frank Ward 12-Linda Zimmer 16-Kevin Rine, Karen Bates 17-Heather Day, Kristin Thorpe 19-Bruce Hutchison 22-Kevin Gunuskey 25-Jean Blackie 28-Todd Watson, Rochelle Haviland

October Anniversaries

1-Rob & Eileen Dyer 13-Ron & Terry Lawrence 21-Kathie & Rick Dulay 22-Richard & Gretchen Erk 29-Cheryl & Chuck Scott

September Birthdays

2-Jeanny Haverkorn 3-Melissa Gonzales 10-Vicky Bonear 12-Darren Thorpe 13- Kevin Knapp, Joseph Dyer 14-Marian Knapp 20-Mark Bartocci 26-Taniesha Rine 27-Eric Whitaker 28-Jenna Gonzales, Richard Erk

September Anniversaries

8-Kevin & MaryAnn Swingle

Daylight saving time will begin at

2:00 AM on Sunday, November 7

Gift for Anyone Anytime

The church cookbooks make per-

fect gifts for anyone. Weddings,

Bridal showers, birthdays just to

name a few.

The book is $10 and recipes are

wonderful. Copies are found on the table in the

sanctuary.

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Fellowship and Fun

The Third Sunday Covered-

Dish Brunch will resume on

August 16th.

Come join us to see what

wonderful cooks and bakers we have in

church.

We will set up the buffet table in the Wilder

House and then have tables and chairs set up

outside, weather permitting.

PERSONNEL COMMITTEE The Personnel Committee members include Chair-man Craig Olver, Forrest Goodenough, Mark Zim-mer and Lorraine Gallik. John Stepto has recently resigned from the Committee due to his and Irene’s move to North Carolina. We will miss John and wish him all the best. Our meetings are held the second Monday of the month. During Covid, our meetings were held by conference call at 7 pm, but we have recently re-sumed meeting in the Wilder House at 6 pm. The Committee is responsible for reviewing staff contracts and salaries. The Committee also re-views the Minister’s statistical report, study leave and vacation time. We have updated the Emergency Management Communication Plan as well as the staff job de-scriptions. As many of you are aware, Brittany Lent passed away in June. During the last five years, Brittany cleaned for the church. Her mother Paula will be completing Brittany’s contract through the end of this year.

LADIES’ LUNCHES

On Saturday, June 26th

the ladies’ lunches re-

sumed at Gretchen’s Res-

taurant in Honesdale.

10 ladies gathered at noon to enjoy wonderful

meals ranging from eggplant parm, stromboli

and cranberry-walnut salad to assorted wraps

and club sandwiches.

Plans were discussed for future lunch loca-

tions including a dessert party to be held once

again at Gretchen’s.

If any woman has never attended one of our

lunches and would like to join in the fun,

please see Sue Seber for information. All are

welcome and encouraged to attend for a time

of good food, fellowship and getting to know

one another.

The Return of Fifth Sunday Out-to-Eat

If you want to take a day off from

cooking, then join our church family

and friends when we travel to area

restaurants on August 29th and Oc-

tober 31st.

The dates were chosen because these are the

dates of the last Sunday in the months that have

five Sundays.

We’ll relax, laugh, and enjoy great fellowship while

tasting good food. No sign-up is necessary; we will

take a head count before worship.

A hug is a perfect gift-One

Size Fits all and nobody

minds if you return it.

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Notes From the Session

Since the previous Church Chat Newsletter, the Session has met and contin-ued to do the work of your Church.

At the Stated Session Meeting in July, the previous meeting minutes and the Treasurer reports were approved.

Committee Reports were given and some of the major items included the fol-lowing:

The long-awaited electronic sign arrived and was installed by several men of the church. Thank you to all who helped in any way.

The project to blacktop the church parking lot has been completed.

The items in the barn that were for the Yard Sale were organized by a group of volunteers. Thank you to all who helped.

It is always a joy to welcome Christian brothers and sisters into Church Membership.

We were happy to welcome Clara Kelly as an Active Member in June.

If anyone is interested in joining the Church, please speak with Reverend Blackie or an Elder at any time.

The Session also reviewed the guidelines in place for in person worship. The change at this time is to collect the offering during the Worship Service. This will begin on the first Sunday in August.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Reverend Blackie announced that he will be retiring from Active Ministry on December 31, 2021. The Session will be meeting with a Presbytery representative in the near future to begin the process of searching for our next pastor. Please rest assured that the Ses-sion will prayerfully prepare for this transition and we ask that you keep the Elders and the Church in your daily prayers.

The Church Picnic was held at the home of Kevin and Marian Knapp. They were a wonderful host and hostess and the setting and the weather were both beautiful. All who attended enjoyed the food, fellowship and fun. Presbyterians really know how to cook and bake! We send a huge THANK YOU to Kevin and Marian for opening their hearts and home to the congregation.

The next Stated meeting of the Session will be held on Monday, September 20, 2021. Please con-tact Reverend Blackie or any Elder if you have an item to be brought to Session. Please know that the Session is made up of individuals, chosen by you, to discern the needs of and to take care of this congregation. Your input is always welcome. Let’s keep the lines of communication open!

When in doubt-

Trust in the Lord with all your heart-

Lean not to thy own understanding

In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths

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BUILDING AND GROUNDS

• Adopt-a-highway to be an-nounced for the fall.

• The new digital sign in front of the church is installed.

• The paving of the parking lot is completed.

• The painting of the parking lot spaces to be done soon.

• We picked up some chairs, tables, commercial

carpet runners, a desk and clocks from Lacka-

wanna College. Thank you to Marilyn Czapnick for

the connection and to David Czapnick, & Craig

Olver for helping to go get them.

If anybody knows of something that needs to be ad-dressed, please feel free to contact a member of the building and grounds committee. Or you can use the suggestion box, located in the vestibule. Submitted by Kevin Knapp-chair

PRAYER CONCERNS

Stanley Rolston, Robert Dyer, Tim Bell, Gretchen Erk, Marie Crocker, Bruce Hutchison, Glen Gunuskey, Shirley Olver, Marilyn Barbe, Janet Olver, Terry Lawrence, John Stepto,

Pat Watson.

New APP for the church

We have a new APP for the church that we

are trying out and all you have to do is go to

the app store and download, type in Bethany

Presbyterian church at app store. Give it a try

and let David Czapnik know what you think.

Did You Know We Have A New

Website & Facebook Page?

We invite everyone to visit our new website

www.bethanypresbychurch.com to listen to Rev. Blackie’s sermon each

Sunday.

The sermons can be seen our Facebook page and on all smartphones. UP-

COMING EVENTS from the church bulletin are being posted and in the future there may be a

photo gallery and video to keep everyone informed of church activities.

Our Daily Bread can be viewed on line and on smart phones along with allot of other great infor-

mation so check it out and see.

Dave Czapnik is continuing to post our videos on our website and Facebook page. He has no-

ticed using my Google Analytics that the viewership has dropped off and believes the reason for

this is people are starting to go back to church in larger numbers.

If anyone has any interesting information that we could put on our Facebook site please reach

out to Dave Czapnik by email [email protected] or call 570-698-5006 and he will put it

on.

http://www.bethanypresbychurch.com/

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CHURCH PICNIC

Was held Saturday, July 24 at the home of Kevin & Marian Knapp.

The weather was perfect, lots of yummy food and good fellowship was en-

joyed by all.

Right before the pandemic, the Fellowship Committee had planned an afternoon of fun with a scarf

dying activity. Here’s the info on this event.

Come spend an hour and a half making a beautiful, wearable, giftable hand-dyed 100% silk habotai

scarf. Permanent alcohol inks and sharpie pens will be used to make beautiful designs on your

scarf. Bring along a friend, daughter, and even granddaughter: youth and children love this class.

The instructor, Melissa Fredericks, of Waverly Pennsylvania is a mother of 4 boys, retired Certified

Financial Planner, Art Lover and Craft Teacher. This is a wonderful weekend activity to bring a group

of Art Lovers together for a few hours of fun.

All materials will be provided which will include 1 scarf per person, all sharpies, and all inks. If you

wish, you can bring your own favorite foam stamps to embellish and stamp on your scarf. The cost

for the session is $20. The event will be held this fall. Look for a specific date in your weekly bulletin.

You can contact Terry Lawrence if you have any questions.

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Donations Need for Local Food Pantry

The Wayne County Pantry Program is sponsored through County Government. It is oper-

ated with a Pantry Board compromised of private citizens and a lead agency-Wayne Coun-

ty Human Services. Board members are also coordinated at each of the pantry sites. The

Wayne County Pantry Program has five sites in strategic areas in the county to serve eligi-

ble residents.

Place Times

Damascus 1-3 PM third Thursday

Honesdale 10 to 1 PM second Tues.

Lakeville 11-2 PM fourth Thursday

Lakewood 12:30 to 2:30, third Wed.

Newfoundland 11-to 1:00 second Friday

Our Last Yard Sale

Preparing for our last yard sale required a morning of workers unbox-

ing and laying out yard sale items in the barn.

The Fellowship Committee decided to have one last Yarn and Bake Sale. This

final sale will be held Labor Day Weekend, Friday, September 3rd

and Saturday, Sep-

tember 4th and will include everything in the barn and the Wilder House garage. (We

will bring items from the garage and place them on tables next to the barn, so that all

the items are in one area.)

The Yard Sale will be a Bag Sale. People will be charged a certain amount de-

pending on the size of the empty bag they purchase, then they may place as many

items into the bag as they wish.

The Bake Sale will start on Friday and continue Saturday. A special table will

be set up near the barn for Bake Sale items. We ask that bakers label their baked

goods and price the items as well.

At the end of the Yard sale, all items in the barn and the Wilder House garage

will be cleared out because there are no plans of yard sales returning for the next

several years.

Intercessors for America

Intercessors for America is an active national internet group of which I have been a member about

one year. This is a description of their work. As you read through the information hopefully you can

envision yourself and/or our church getting involved. The members of the Worship and Music com-

mittee have had a report about this national group.

The following is taken from the Intercessors for America website for your information:

Intercessors for America: About us:

This is a 501(c)(3) ministry organization founded in 1973 when God impressed upon the hearts of

some Godly, respected men the necessity of prayer and fasting. The nation was experiencing a

plethora of problems at that time and other challenges were changing the way American lived and

thought.

Why We Do What We Do?

The average Christian does not have the contacts, time or energy to keep informed about most is-

sues on national, state and local levels. More and more, some of these issues appear to deny our

freedoms. Other undermine the basic moral fiber of our country. With each emerging concern, we

need to seek God’s intervention and guidance for our leaders. God’s word instructs us to pray regu-

larly for those in authority over us, according to I Timothy 2:1-4. Intercessors For America informs,

connects, and mobilizes intercessors to pray for our nation and our leaders. We desire to reach

Christians in churches and communities nationwide with information and tools to unite them in effec-

tive prayer through monthly prayer letters and weekly prayer alerts.

Vision Statement: to see God’s purpose for America Fulfilled through sustained prayer and Spirit-led

obedience.

Concerning the picture of the future we believe:

• God creates nations and tears them. (Dan. 2:21)

• Leaders of nations are subject to God’s will. (Prov. 33:12)

• We must pray for God-fearing leaders (Exod.18) and that godly government is the result of an

effective church (I Tim. 2:1-3)

• We can expect results from prayers (I John 5:14)

Mission Statement: Inform, connect and mobilize a growing community of people praying for the na-

tion.

Please prayerfully consider helping with this prayer group either as a church and/or an induvial pray-

er person.

Blessings, Helen Ward, acting chair Worship and Music Committee


Page 9

On the web at:

www.bethanypresbychurch.com

431 Wayne Street

Bethany, PA 18431

(570) 253-6316

Bethany Presbyterian

Church

Please inform the Pastor if you are

aware of anyone in the hospital or in

need of a visit

The Session

Class of 2021 Class of 2022 Class of 2023

Ron Lawrence Janet Olver John Stepto

Bruce Hutchison Pat Rine Alan Haviland

Yvonne Plastaras

Sally Rutherford

David Czapnik

Dan Gallik

Marian Knapp

Joan Green

Clerk of Session – Joan Green

Church Treasurer – Pat Rine

Church Secretary – Marian Knapp

Rev. William Blackie, Pastor Cell 570-647-9898 Email:[email protected]

Rev. Blackie’s

sermons are now available

on our website

www.bethanypresbychurch.com

Audio version will be made

available every Sunday.

Choir practice is usually held Sunday

mornings @8:30am September-May.

New members are always welcomed and

encouraged to join!

If you have any

questions see our choir

director Tim Bell.

http://www.bethanypresbychurch.com/

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Bethany Presbyterian