Weekly Greeting - July 14th, 2023

Dear Bethlehem Family,

Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan once wrote about the distinction between “tradition” and “traditionalism.”

Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.  Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering where we are and when we are and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition.

These days, we are known as the “Church of the Fish Fry.”  According to Stan Tyson’s book, Catch the Spirit, the very first Fish Fry took place during the Rev. Ed Templeton’s tenure at Bethlehem.  The pastor and some of the leaders of the church were not afraid to try new things.  However, there were those in those days with misgivings about such an endeavor who made comments like. “That’s never worked in this county.”

Next week, Friday, July 21, we will hold our 48th Fish Fry.  There have been some Fish Fry’s more successful than others, and the weather has been more cooperative some years than others, but every Fish Fry has been a great event for our church and community.

Every Fish Fry gives us an opportunity to be part of a great tradition; to be connected to our past while we celebrate God’s presence with us and plan for our ministry in the days and years ahead.  I hope you are as excited as I am to take part in our 48th Bethlehem United Methodist Church Fish Fry!

Peace and blessings,

Craig

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This Sunday we continue our worship series: “Called to Belong.” Our text this week is Matthew 13:1-9, one of Jesus’ great parables. He and the disciples were in the region of Galilee during the days when multitudes of people gathered to hear him speak. Although he himself was a carpenter, Jesus told many parables and stories about farmers and growing crops.  Come this Sunday to hear about a foolish farmer with unconventional farming techniques and how God might be calling us to approach our ministry together in a new way.  Could we be called to be “foolish farmers” too?