“I get a little behind during Lent, but it comes out even at Christmas.” I love this saying by Frank Butler. Yes, Lent is already here. And I wonder what it means to enter the Lenten journey. For me it means more worship services, worship planning, and sermon writing. Not to mention the personal journey to the cross that we make every year. Ugh…it seems that it means more time, more energy, and more things to do. As I sit here and wonder about what is to come in Lent – I wonder where to find such time and devotion. And yet…..
“Lent is the time for trimming the soul and scrapping the sludge off a life turned slipshod.…. Lent is the time to make new efforts to be what we say we want to be.” Taken from Sister Joan Chittister's book, The Rule of Benedict: Insight for the Ages. Okay God, I certainly don’t want to be crabby about Lent and I do need to trim off some sludge and see my life in you with fresh eyes. So I remember….
Lent begins with ashes; the mark of the penitent, a public sign that we are about to embark on a conversion of the heart. (And wow, could my heart use a conversion today! ) Lent is a time to turn to God, to repent, to prepare for the joy to come. The feeling is subdued, with a meditative hush, in awe of God, in sharp awareness of how each of us are not masters of our lives but are instead subject to the tides of life and in need of God’s grace and presence.
Larry Crabbs wrote in Shattered Dreams his interpretation from God’s perspective, “I have called you to the spiritual journey, to a process of enlarging your heart to desire Me above everything else.” Welcome to Lent – a time and place of joy and transformation. The essence of joy is living in the presence of the Lord. This is a place of opportunity in our Lenten journey as we pray, mediate, worship, sing and join together in awe of God. God wishes to draw us into Himself so as proximity to God increases, so too does joy. As we cling to faith and the stand firm on God, life becomes all about places of transformation. Joy in the presence of God is also the determination to move ahead less full of oneself and more full of Christ.
Treasure what God has given you in the secret places of your heart and determine to take the small gift and make the most of it. Move closer to the Lord with each day, with each prayer in this Lenten journey. Turn the penance of Lent to good purpose by looking on the face of the Lord. Grow in love with Him.
May we all continue to grow in His ways in fullness of heart and great joy at the assurance of His tender love for us.
Blessings,
Pastor Jennifer
Happenings @ LCr
Confirmation @ LCR on Sunday, March 6thfrom 2:00-5:00pm. Please be in prayer for all of the young people and pastors that gather to learn and discover more about our faith.
Shrove Tuesday Meal – March 8th from 6:00-7:00pm in the fellowship hall. Be sure to bring last year’s palms to burn for our ashes for Ash Wednesday worship!
Ash Wednesday Worship at 7:30pm. We begin our Lenten journey by remembering that “you are dust and to dust you shall return” as we are also strengthened by the life-giving meal of the Lord’s Supper.
Lenten Fellowship and Worship – Every Wednesday night beginning at 6:30pm and ending with the beautiful Holden Evening Prayer. We will focus our time on discussing the question: What is faith? We will work our way through Hebrews 12-13 as we learn from our ancestors in faith: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Israelites, and of course Jesus.
Deer Creek Devotions – Sunday, March 13th @ 3:30pm. Talk to Bunky Layton or Dianne Kilpatrick if you are interested in attending.
New Member Reception - Sunday, March 20th. Be sure to wear your nametags so that our new members can get to know you!
MARCH YOUTH PLANS
March 12, 10 AM, Road cleanup. Note: Parents and other adults will be needed to have an adult with each group for safety’s sake.
March 27, Serve breakfast tacos in the morning and then off to Texas State Higher Ground, prepare and serve dinner and participate in worship with Texas State students and Pastor Jaime. Leave LCR at 5PM and return at 8:30
Jr & Sr. High Education Hour
March 6th – Be sure to join us as we hear Angie Rose’s story of her travels to India. Come and see pictures as we educate ourselves about our global brothers and sisters. Please meet in the fellowship hall!
COFFEE AND FELLOWSHIP TIME
Ever see the commercial asking “who made the salad?” Well, that was the big question when the fellowship team took over this year and one of the jobs was setting up coffee and snacks for the fellowship time… Seems it was graciously done by altar guild people for a long time, but now they are short-staffed themselves and cannot do it any longer. Council set up the month of February and now is asking for help to keep the fellowship and coffee time going. You will see the snack signup sheet has a new look; adding coffee set up and clean up on it. To continue this we need help. Please take a turn and sign up to help in this area. There will be instructions posted in the kitchen to help you with this job. Thanks in advance for all those coffee drinkers willing to help.
SEASON OF LENT
LCR will begin the Lenten season with a Shrove Tuesday Pancake and Sausage Dinner on Tuesday, March 8th. We will celebrate with a Mardi Gras theme and serve from 6:00-7:00 p.m. There will be a sign up sheet in the narthex so the committee will know how many to prepare for.
Beginning March 16th there will be Lenten Services at 7:30 p.m. with a soup and sandwich supper beginning at 6:30 p.m. We will serve until 7:15 to allow for cleanup before the service begins. There will be a signup sheet on the welcome table in the narthex to bring food for these meals. There will be a free-will offering collected at each meal. The first two offerings will go to the Big Serve Community-Wide Event for the Wimberley schools. The others will be used by the committee to furnish the kitchen with supplies, such as coffee, paper goods, and necessary items for upcoming fellowship events.
The Fellowship Committee is open to suggestions for the upcoming years. Suggestions for the calendar so far include game nights, movie nights, church-wide picnic and a theme dinner night. Feel free to call Gayle Weir or put a note in her box with any other ideas.
PROPERTY update & request
The new property team is getting started with day to day business and starting to plan other projects for the year.
I would like to thank all the people that stopped at the booth during the Ministry Fair and committed some of their time.
We are changing some of the cleaning procedures in an effort to lighten the work load, spread out the responsibility and still keep the building clean. The schedule for weekly cleaning of the Sanctuary, Narthex will remain the same but the two restrooms will be added to the duties. The Fellowship Hall, Kitchen, Classrooms and Offices have been taken off the schedule and will be the responsibility of the person or group using the area.
Right now we have 11 people divided into five teams that have been handling and have agreed to continue handle the cleaning of the Sanctuary, Narthex and restrooms. Some teams do the work themselves and some pay someone to come in to do the cleaning. The cost of cleaning is $25.00. I think we owe the people a big THANK YOU. We can also help them out by taking a week and doing the cleaning (or pay to have it done) ourselves. Remember the 5 Hour Challenge?
I am still looking for someone (or two) that will take on the job of changing the A/C filters in May, August and November. The filters are at the church and we have an eight foot ladder. That is all you need and the whole job takes about an hour.
We are planning to have the annual spring cleaning and minor repairs of the church before Easter. The tentative date is April 9. More details will follow so everyone who wants to will have a chance to help. Remember the 5 Hour Challenge. Several of the team members are putting together a list of things that need to be done. If you come across something you think should be on the list, please let me know.
Ron Weir – Property Committee
Community Wide Big Serve
On Saturday, March 26th from 9:00am to Noon the Wimberley area churches (sponsored by the Ministerial Alliance) will be mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to the Wimberley Independent School District campuses. Would you like to join the fun?
You might remember in June, 2008 Wimberley experienced its first Big Serve. Over 450 people were mobilized to all the WISD campuses to work and prepare each location for the beginning of school. We accomplished great work with our fellow members of the Body of Christ. And now it’s time to mobilize again.
We will work mostly outdoors at all WISD campuses as well as KAPS. Work includes fixing up walking trails, outdoor classrooms and seating areas, as well as bulldozing a path for a new walking area. The work might be light and might be heavy. But no matter what – we could use your hands and feet to do God’s work on this day. Please see the signup sheets in the narthex to pick your campus. Youth 12 and over are encouraged to come and share their time – your hands and feet. If you need childcare for children under 12, please be sure to indicate that as you sign up. Hope to see you there!
Mission of the Month: Lutheran World Relief
This month we are invited to give some extra support to Lutheran World Relief. LWR is a non-governmental organization founded in 1945 to respond to the needs of communities devastated by World War II. Since then, it has evolved from a relief agency shipping material resources to war-torn Europe to an agency that works with partners worldwide to respond to emergencies, seek lasting solutions to rural poverty, and works for peace and justice for all. LWR works to promote equity, strengthen organizational capacity, and empower communities to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives, while continually learning to increase our impact. LWR also works to reduce poverty and injustice by helping communities increase and expand the resources they need to live productive, healthy and empowered lives.
Our church, LCR, is involved with LWR in a variety of capacities: quilting, layettes, school kits, sewing kits, and health kits. If you would like to give a monetary donation to this organization – please indicate on your envelope that the funds are to be given to LWR. Otherwise be watching the church for ways to help with in-kind offerings.
IMPORTANT REMINDER -We are looking at only 7 weeks to collect our kits and get everything ready to ship for LWR. Check out the displays in the narthex and fellowship hall for ways to contribute. The quilting group had another productive sew-in and is pushing to get about 115-120 quilts ready. As always if you have any old sheets or cotton material that you could donate, just bring it to church and talk to Colleen.
We continue to pray for all who are ill and recovering and receiving treatments or testing and for Tammy Nelms, Betty Spickler, Pam Longoria, Hugh Ellington, Zee Hickman (mother of Danny Hickman), Lorene Menger (mother of Lois Hickman), Jim Valentine (father of Jason Valentine), Kelly King LeBouef (daughter of Doris King), Dot Currie (sister of Dirk Dierking), Jill Vantine (daughter of Bobbi & Jim Vantine), Aiden Pederson (friend of Lois Hickman), Chase Hutchinson (grand-nephew of Brenda Moore), and all care givers that devote their time to care for those they love.
Please be in prayer for our family and friends who are serving our country either stateside or overseas. Pray daily for peace in our world, particularly in Cairo and Sudan, and for all who suffer the consequences of war. We continue to pray for those who are hungry and for those who serve them. Please be in prayer for the Lord to replenish the earth as He sees fit. We also lift in prayer the families that are struggling with separation and divorce.
WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH!
Thank you to……
Angie Rose, Gayle Weir, Felicia Neigut, JoAnne Miller, Beverly Ladzinski, Harriet Powell, Pastor Jennifer, Dorcy Rhea and Colleen Kaye for your participation in the Sew-In. Thank you also to Paula Johnson who continues to work on tieing the quilts at home.
Angie Rose and the youth who participated in the Souper Bowl of Caring collection. Your work (thanks to the congregation’s generosity) has made a difference at the Crisis Bread Basket.
Dear LCR Members,
I would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers while I went through my back operation and recovery. Thank you for your concern and well wishes, and all your meaningful thoughts and caring prayers, once again.
Bless all of you, John Bradshaw
Dear Pastor Fuhr and Members of LCR,
Thank you for the opportunity to use the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection meeting facilities earlier this month (January) for our annual board retreat. The chamber board is truly grateful for your generosity and community spirit. Leaders (and communities of faith) like you are what make Wimberley the best place to live, work, play and worship! Again, thank you for your time and support.
With much appreciation, Carrie Harris
Executive Director
Way to go LCR
Souper Bowl collection total in cash and change: $122.00. We also took about 95 cans of food to the Crisis Bread Basket. Good work, good and faithful servants of God.
LCR’s 2010 mission support to the Southwestern Texas Synod and it’s ministries beyond totaled $5352.27. A word from Bishop Ray Tiemann --- The Mission Statement of the SWTX Synod is “United in Christ, Diverse in People, Called by the Spirit – Equipping the people of God to be instruments of God’s love.” In the sharing of mission support gifts, we equip one another across the entire ELCA as “instruments of God’s love,” reaching throughout this synod and around the world. May God continue to bless you and your ministry as you generously share the grace and love of God with those in your neighborhood and beyond.
Ping Pong Table Users
Please remember to take down the table after you use it on Sunday. The fellowship hall is used by groups each week (Yoga) that need the entire space. Your help in this would be appreciated.
Brown Bag Ministry
Bags are available in the narthex at church. Don’t forget to grab a couple!!
PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY
Each month our devoted knitters and crocheters meet to share fellowship while they create prayer shawls for our members, family and friends. If you would care to join this group, check out the sign-up sheet on the welcome table. The next meeting will be 1:00 PM Saturday, March 12th at the home of Doris King. If you have need for a prayer shawl see Harriet Powell.
ARE YOU A PUZZLER?
A new feature in our library is a jigsaw puzzle exchange service. If you have some puzzles that you no longer want and would like to put together some new ones, check out the library. Puzzles are now available to take home and return when you are done. The puzzles will be labeled as property of LCR but only for the purpose of marking them so you know which ones are loaned from the church. There is no tracking in a book. Just take a puzzle and return it when you are done. Please make sure to separate all the pieces when you put the puzzle back in the box. Any questions, talk to Colleen Kaye.
Mexican train
An event that takes place each month at the church – and is open to all who wish to come and join the fun. In case you aren’t aware – this is a dominoes game. If you’ve never heard of it and wish to learn – come and join us. Whether you are an expert or a beginner – you will fit right in with this crowd of LCR folks. We play on the 3rd Thursday of the month, beginning at 12:30pm. The next play date is March 17th. If you would like to be on the e-mail list of dates, please contact Shirley Schliessmann.
hand & foot
It’s a card game similar to Canasta and fun to play. The second and fourth Monday of each month at 1:00 p.m. is when the group meets. If you want to be on the email reminder list, contact Colleen at 847-3386.