To learn more about who we are and what we believe, visit our website at: ELCA.org
5th Sunday in Lent
March 17, 2024
To learn more about who we are and what we believe, visit our website at: ELCA.org
5th Sunday in Lent
March 17, 2024
Sunday Worship
9:00 a.m.
Mailing Address
38011 Morrisonville Road
Lovettsville, Va. 2018
Sunday Worship
11:15 a.m.
40588 Tankerville Road
Lovettsville, Va. 20180
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 307
Lovettsville, Va.
Join us for Our Online
In-Home Church Worship
WORSHIP SERVICE
Zion & Bethel Churches
click below:
Leading us in Worship
Minister: Rev. Andreas Armstrong
Musicians: Virtual
Thought for your Day
With the Grain or Against the Grain? When it comes to cutting meat it is suggested to cut against the grain to make it less stringy, less chewy, and more tender. When it comes to wood the general rule of thumb is: Always cut with the grain. With or Against, this is the question for our lives too. Our world keeps pushing us to go with the grain, to grab as much as we can before the clock runs out. Acquire more stuff, more promotions, more power, more money in the bank ... and be happy. Afterall isn't it the one with the most toys at the end who wins. Yet what can we take with us when the sands in the hourglass stop. Jesus lived against the grain of life and challenges us to do the same. Going against the grain could mean our lives and those around us might actually become more tender, loving and caring as well. Jesus says. "Those who love their life will lose it, but those who lose their lives for my sake will save it." (Luke 17) I like how Suzanne E. Sykes invites us to lose our lives: "Our failure to let go and let some things die is a primary spiritual disease, for new life can’t come without some death. The failure to forgive leads to death of relationship while anger and bitterness ravage the spirit like a cancer. Holding on to regrets strangles hope before it can lift us to new life. Trying to control events and other people leads to frustration, excessive stress, and exhaustion. Forgiveness and letting go of control are spiritual exercises in the art of dying so that new life may abound." Could it be that going with the grain in this life also sinks us into the mirey quicksand that zaps us of life itself? When "I did it my way" comes crashing down on us and we find ourselves feeling exhausted, tired, frustrated, short tempered ... Maybe it's because we are trying too hard to hang onto a life we were never intended to live. Could it be that it's time to turn around and go against the grain and find what it is we are truly created for? A life of hope, peace, joy and love that comes from living for others. Like the seed that needs to die before it can truly live ... we are called in baptism to die to ourselves and rise anew in the promised waters of eternal life with the one who created us to live in harmony with all creation. Let's learn from the master and see what we can gain from him. Let him breathe new life into our bodies, hearts and minds as we go against the grain of life. What's the meat of the message? No grain ... no gain! God loves you and so do I!
NEXT SUNDAY
Palm Sunday & The Passion of Our Lord
March 24th
9:00 a.m. - Zion Church
11:15 a.m. - Bethel Church
Bethel Church Ministry
"Steeple2people"
We come to you!
If You Would Like an In-Person
Home Worship Service
just let us know.
Email your request to:
May God bless and remind you
once again, this week
that you are His!
And He truly Loves YOU!!!
Visit us at:
On Facebook and YouTube
"Zion & Bethel Lutheran Churches, Lovettsville VA"
God loves you and so do we!
In Christ's Love,
Pastor Andreas Armstrong
Going <'////><'ing with Jesus!
Serving Zion & Bethel Lutheran Churches
Lovettsville, Virginia
Home/Office 703-624-4309
Visit us at BZChurches.org
Welcome from Pastor G. Andreas Armstrong
I am presently serving the people of Zion and Bethel Churches and what a blessing it has been! God has also blessed me with a wonderful wife and two grown children, our daughter who lives and teaches school with her husband in Costa Rica and who have brought into our lives two wonderful grandchildren, and a son who works as a bartender in California (serving others like his dad?). I have had the pleasure of serving churches in Texas, North Carolina and Virginia since 1982 as part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America before coming here. God is indeed good.
There is so much more we can do when we serve together. That blessing becomes a reality when I, the only one at Church who is designated in writing as a part-time minister, am joined by everyone else here as full-time ministers. We take that calling seriously. I pray you will too if you consider joining this wonderfully blessed team of ministers to live out your faith, hope and love through Zion and Bethel Lutheran Churches. We are called in Christ Jesus our Lord to share the love of Christ from one generation to the next. Let’s do it!
God loves you and so do I!
Email: Coolrev4jc@aol.com
Home/Office: 703-938-9444
Cell: 703-624-4309
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