Bethany Lutheran Church Various

Psalms scholar Dr. Saleska writes, “Psalm 2 puts us in the middle of a power dispute. Who has power and who does not? What does power look like? Who gets to exercise it? Whose side are you on?” Sound familiar?! As followers of Jesus, these ancient words can help form our prayers as we wrestle with the same questions. Psalm 2 (ESV)Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,&nbs...

Jesus got angry. So, is such a thing as righteous anger? What do we do when we become angry? How do we express that anger? How do we process that anger? The Psalms give us words to help us process this universal emotion. Psalm 137 (ESV)By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.On the willows there we hung up our lyres.For there our captors required of us songs,and our tormentors, mirth, saying, &nbsp...

It is easy to look around and let our hearts grow cold and numb because of the brokenness all around us. The Psalms give us language to express the lament we experience. But the Psalms also teach us how to pray prayers of thanksgiving as a form of protest against the evil in this world. What does it mean to bring a sacrifice of praise to the LORD? The Psalms teach us how to do this. Psalm 95Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!...

What do you do when you feel as though God has deserted you? Jesus experienced this and he used the words of Psalm 22 to give voice to what he was experiencing as he was dying on the cross. Join us as we explore how to pray when we are overcome with grief, sorrow, and lament and when God seems to remain silent. Psalm 22My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, &nb...

Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray!” Jesus gave them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer. However, as a Jewish man Jesus’ prayer life would have been formed by the prayers in The Book of Psalms. Join us Pastor Jake introduces this beautiful book and how Jesus desires to teach us to pray as we learn how to Pray the Psalms. Psalm 1Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of sc...

As we wrap up our series of Meeting Jesus in John’s Gospel, we will see how Jesus meets us in our fears, doubts, and confusion but he doesn’t leave us there. Jesus invites us to follow him as he breathes his peace upon us, even when things don’t make sense and seem unclear. Only by His Spirit can we truly see and believe. John 20:1-29 (ESV)Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the ...