Crisis Discipleship

Watch the service on Youtube :   https://youtu.be/HNKABFbm-BM 

 I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that we have been in a crisis moment in our country lately.  The pandemic has put us all in crisis mode as we learned new ways to work, worship, go to the grocery store, and educate our children.  The racial unrest in our country reignited a crisis moment as we reevaluated “things we have done and things we have left undone” when it comes to systemic and individual changes.  The political divide at our Capitol revealed a crisis of conscience as we realized our democracy is simultaneously frail and resilient.  In all of these instances crisis might seem to have a negative connotation.  Certainly the characters that make up the word in Chinese would believe that because the first is translated as “danger.”  The second, however, is best translated as “turning point.”  As we turn the page on a new year, as we turn the pages of history, Jesus also calls us to turn.  He calls us to turn away from fear and toward him in hope.  He calls us to turn away from sin and toward him in repentance. He calls us to turn away from idols and bad news and toward him and the good news of the kin-dom of God.  For in our moments of deepest crisis, God-with-us calls us to be his disciples and to catch others with God’s reign of justice, peace, resurrection, and love!

Title:  Come and See

You can watch the Youtube video of this service at: https://youtu.be/YljYjxGsfeA

The reading This week is: 1 Samual 3:1-6, The Gospel Is: John 1:43-51 

It is perhaps the best invitation you could give or receive – come and see!  It is simple, non-threatening, open-ended, and intriguing. In John’s Gospel Jesus uses these words to invite his first disciples to follow him and then some of those disciples repeat it as an invitation to others. We hear part of this contagion in our scriptures for this Sunday. Later in John the phrase is used by the Samaritan woman at the well and at the raising of Lazarus. With these simple words, we too have been invited to come and see the amazing things God is doing! We, in turn, are called to invite others: Come and See our Worship Where You Are this week, Come and See our Women’s Prayer & Devotion, Come and See our amazing CDC program!  On the surface of things 2020 would not seem a year where there would be much to “come and see,” but as I flip through the pages of our Annual Report I am blown away by the way God’s work is flourishing even in the midst of a pandemic! I hope you will join us for the Annual Meeting on January 31st at 12PM and for our pre-meeting workshops on the 17th & 24th at 10AM. While we can’t serve you BBQ like we did last year for our first annual “meat”ing, you are welcome to BYOB (Bring Your Own BBQ)! While we can’t gather together physically, we can gather together virtually to give thanks for all that God is doing in our midst and through our congregation. Come and See how God is Growing a Generous Faith right before our very eyes!

Title:  Torn Apart, Brought Together

You can find the video version of this service at Youtube link:  https://youtu.be/uST0iLDAcgQ 

Wednesday morning I was in the TLLC Sanctuary preparing for Worship Where You Are. Since this Sunday is Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, my thoughts were focused on baptism and in particular of Mark’s description that Jesus saw the “heavens torn apart” during his baptism by John. I did not expect the flow of news that would come in the hours that followed as we saw the fabric of our nation straining; some might even say “torn apart”. To me though, it differed greatly from the tearing apart done by God in baptism, which is done out of love rather than anger and out of a desire to bring us together rather than separate. The tearing apart at the Capitol differed from the tearing apart done by Jesus in his ministry, which was done peacefully and non-violently.

 And so we pray for our country and its leaders:  Gracious God, in this time when anxiety is infectious and anger runs rampant. Help us to tear apart the barriers of mistrust that divide us, end violent protests, and open doors of conversation between disparate groups. Grant us all peace and reassurance, healing and hope, strength and wisdom in the days ahead. We ask this through Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. 

Worship Where You Are!

Join us to Worship Where You Are this Sunday at 9AM & 11AM.  The scriptures for this Baptism of Our Lord Sunday are Isaiah 64:1-5a, Acts 19:1-7, and Mark 1:4-11.  As you gather at your home altar bring a bowl of water to represent baptism or a piece of fabric that you can tear to represent God tearing apart the heavens to reach us. As we celebrate Holy Communion, remember to bring your own bread and wine/juice to your home altar or you may pick up consecrated elements at the church on Saturday 10:00-11:30. We give thanks to this week’s WWYA Worship Leaders, Kelly Condon, Evan Kephart, and Beth Gonzalez, Production Crew, and Musicians.

First Sunday of Christmas

This Sunday we sing perhaps the oddest of Christmas carols, Simeon’s “Lord, Now Let Your Servant Go in Peace” (the Nunc Dimittis). Luke’s account of Simeon’s troubling song hauntingly hints at the specter of his own death, not to mention his piercingly prophetic aside to Mary about her child’s future. Alongside the other Christmas carols we still sing this first Sunday of Christmas, this one sounds odd, even dissonant.  But just as the specter of the cross cast a shadow over the manger, the specter of death still casts a pall over this pandemic Christmas.  Perhaps then it is not so out of place, not so dissonant after all. So yes, we sing of death just a few days after our Christmas celebration of life so that by naming death, it may no longer control, terrify, or diminish us and the life this birth intended for us.  For in the birth of the Christ-child so long ago, and each time we gather around word and meal, we too have seen and heard, tasted and touched, God’s steadfast and tenacious commitment to be both with us and for us…forever! 

Worship Where You Are! 

Join us to Worship Where You Are this First Sunday of Christmas.  The scriptures for December 27th are Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, Galatians 4:4-7, and Luke 2:22-40.  As we celebrate Holy Communion, remember to bring your own bread and wine/juice to your home altar.

ADVENTageous Magnifying in the Wilderness

Youtube video link of this Service:  https://youtu.be/WwzOjTM6Lno

On the fourth week of Advent, we celebrate our annual Lessons & Carols service. Among the lessons, anthems, hymns, and carols, we will hear the song of Mary’s Magnificat. She must have felt a sense of wilderness wandering as the angel proclaimed the holiness about to be birthed inside her, and yet she sings to her cousin Elizabeth about how her soul magnifies the Lord. On this Sunday, we sing along with Mary, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices to God my Savior.” Our worship magnifies the Lord, and this is a great week to further magnify the Lord by sharing our worship links with family, friends, and neighbors! Our serving magnifies the Lord. Our Advent preparations magnify the Lord as we share hope, joy, peace, and love in our community. Each year we join Mary in song, but this year in particular we can perhaps sense the wilderness in which she sang. Yet when we join in magnifying the Lord, it is ADVENTageous to us and the world.

Title: ADVENTageous Reflecting in the Wilderness,

Readings:

Psalms 126

1 Thessaalonians 5:16-24

Gospel Reading:

John 1:6-8, 19-28

Discription:

On the third week of Advent, John the Baptizer renews his call to us from the wilderness (perhaps because it is one we are so reluctant to heed. Most of us would prefer to stay in the comforts we are accustomed too, but each year John appears to beckon us again into the wilderness. It is a place that requires us to rely more on God than on ourselves. So each time we dare to journey into the wilderness it is ADVENTageous to our spirits as the stripping away of our comforts make us palpably aware of God’s abiding love through the Lord’s coming.

ADVENTageous Journey in the Wilderness

The Youtube Link for the video of this service: https://youtu.be/_L4EFtY9U3Y

What do you think of when you hear the word wilderness?  Perhaps you think of a desert or wide wasteland. Perhaps you imagine a barren tundra or an arid expanse.  I doubt you  think advantageous, but every year John reminds us that the wilderness is indeed ADVENTageous.  On the second week of Advent, John the Baptizer appears in the wilderness.  Most of us would prefer to stay in the comforts we are accustomed too, but each year John appears to beckon us into the wilderness.  It is the place where Israel wandered for 40 years. It is the place where we wait for 4 weeks of Advent.  It is not the place we would volunteer to go especially in a year that has been wild with wilderness already.  Yet each time we dare to journey into the wilderness, it is ADVENTageous to our spirits as John calls us to repent – or turn around – as we prepare for the Lord’s coming.  It is ADVENTageous to our faith because the wilderness places – where we are stripped of our comforts, provisions, and facades – is where God always shows up.

Worship Where You Are!

Join us to Worship Where You Are this Sunday at 9AM & 11AM.  As we gather together, on this Second Sunday of Advent, bring an Advent wreath or two candles to your worship space to light as we illuminate the sanctuary Advent wreath.   We give thanks to this week’s WWYA Worship Leaders: Davis Perron, Kay Mueller, Janis Coltin, Dave Seddelmeyer, Tim Holck, Sara Burden-McClure, Deb Hilton, Laura Gonzalez, Courtney Petiprin, Mike Wendling, Mark Funderburk, Garry Durante, and Eric Daub and our tireless Production Crew: Sara Burden-McClure, Ian McClure, Reed Rinn, Jeff Buchle, and Matthew Wagner!  The scriptures this week are Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 and Mark 1:1-8.

ADVENTageous Journey to Christmas

If you’ve never made or bought an Advent wreath, this might be the year to do so!  If you want to make one, here are a few ideas and notes:

The wreath can be as simple (or elaborate) as you like. Typically it has 4 candles in a ring and 1 candle – The Christ Candle – in the center. 

Don’t get too hung up on the colors.  The 4 candles can be blue (representing the sky before dawn) or white (representing purity).  Purple (the color of royalty), once used in Lutheran churches and still used in the Catholic tradition, works too! Even the more secular color red works. 

Any shape will do!  While the ring represents eternity, Advent logs are common too, and typically place The Christ Candle at the center.

Greenery is a great addition to a wreath or log as its ever-green nature offers a sign of hope in the midst of the bleak midwinter.  Red berries also remind us of Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Whatever shape or color your wreath takes, the important thing is that as the light grows successively each week, we remember John’s words, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.”  As The Christ Candle is lit at Christmas, we remember the best gift of Christmas – Christ, The Light of the World!  So make an Advent wreath for your home altar as you continue to Worship Where You Are.  Having followed this tradition in every phase of my life, I can promise you that it will be ADVENTageous to your spirit!

Christ the King!

This Sunday we celebrate the last Sunday of the church year – Christ the King Sunday.  You can view the service on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/m2LF_I3aY6w

                                          Worship Where You Are!

Join us to Worship Where You Are this Sunday at 9AM & 11AM. As we gather together, on this Christ the King Sunday, bring something that represents Christ as King to your worship space. We give thanks to this week’s WWYA Worship Leaders, Pastor Armin, Bennie Engelke, and Gale Pattison, our WWYA Musicians, and our WWYA Production Crew! Scriptures this week are Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46.

As we celebrate Holy Communion, remember to make or buy your own bread and wine/juice

What do Toilet Paper, Talents, and Trees Have in Common

Presented by Triumphant Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas.

with:

Pastor Danielle Moore Casey

Video Link to this service can be found on youtube at link: 

 https://youtu.be/y-qtSmI7x-M

You’ll have to tune in to this Sunday’s Worship Where You Are to find out!  But here’s a hint: it has something to do with Stewardship.  Hopefully by now you have received your 2021 Stewardship Letter and Commitment Card in your mail box.  As our weekly Temple Talks from Jonas Ellwanger, Mary Halaney, and Bennie Engelke attest, at Triumphant Love Lutheran Church we are transforming lives by Forming Faith from Roots to Fruit in each person to whom we minister. Every day, whether you are an infant in the beginning of your life journey or an octogenarian with all the wisdom of your years, we offer you the opportunity to be more deeply rooted in Christ, branch out through new learning, and bear good fruit in the world by planting the seed of faith in others.  So take some time to pray about your commitment to our ministry for 2021, complete your commitment card (on paper or online), and return it to the church.  Through your generosity we are able to adapt our ministry to the ever-evolving circumstances of the pandemic and continue sharing the good news of Christ wherever we are!