Themes of Faith: Anticipation
August 12, 2024

Anticipation is usually viewed as a positive experience. We look towards the future with excitement, anticipating events that are to come with hope. However, anticipation has a close cousin -- anxiety. Sometimes, when we look towards the future our mind wanders into anxious thoughts about negative consequences that might await us. The human body doesn't know the difference between the two. If you are excited, your pupils dilate, your heart rate quickens, and you may start to sweat. In the same way, when you are nervous about the future, your pupils dilate, your heart rate quickens, and you may start to sweat. The subtle difference between excitement and fear is simply our mindset. As people of faith, we have been given thousands of reasons to anticipate a hopeful future. Our mindset can be one of excitement because we know that the future is in God's hands and that in the end all of creation will be reconciled back to God.

 

" Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."

- Hebrews 11:1

 

As I wait, I trust in you O God. Amen.

365: The History of the Church Section 1 Part 1

By Unknown • June 16, 2026

365: The History of the Church Section 1

By Unknown • June 15, 2026
This devotional series explores key moments in church history, divided into thematic and historical sections with several parts. It is a long and winding story that began on Pentecost and continues to be written by us and by the Holy Spirit today. SECTION 1 – The Church of the Holy Spirit The church began with breath.  A violent wind filled an upper room and scattered ordinary people into the world with extraordinary news. From that first Pentecost morning, the Spirit has been the church’s constant companion, guiding, correcting, and surprising us through twenty centuries of imperfect faithfulness. The devotions in this section explore pivotal moments when the Spirit moved through imperfect people to shape the church’s story. From Paul’s dramatic conversion to the Council of Jerusalem’s radical inclusion, we see the same God who breathed life into the first disciples still breathing life into us today. We are part of this continuing story; inheritors of a wind that refuses to be contained. Nate Preisinger Bethany Lutheran Church Sent with SubsplashUnsubscribe from all emails

365: Third Sunday after Pentecost

By Unknown • June 14, 2026
Click to watch video Today is the Third Sunday after PentecostWe encourage you to join in for worship at Bethany this weekend either in person or through our livestream.   For an additional devotional reflection, we invite you to watch this reflection from Pastors Gary and Nate on the Feast Day of Peter and Paul last year.Peter the humble fisherman. Paul the privileged Roman citizen. Two wildly different origin stories, yet both were rescued, transformed, and called by God to lead the early Church. Pastors Nate Preisinger and Gary Sandberg reflect on the shared feast day of Saints Peter and Paul and what their lives teach us about grace, redemption, and purpose. Through shame and denial, pride and persecution, God rescued Peter and Paul, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of the Gospel. And that same story of rescue continues today. In baptism, in forgiveness, in community, we are rescued too. 365 Daily Devotional Bethany Lutheran Church Sent with SubsplashUnsubscribe from all emails
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