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Note: News items and other materials are at the bottom of the calendar items.
LUTHERAN WOMEN'S MISSION LEAGUE
EFFINGHAM/SHELBY COUNTY ZONE
NOTE: To list your Society's events,
send email to jane@janereinheimer.com
March 2012 -- Central Illinois District -- Board Meeting -- Camp Cilca
June 2, 2012 -- Central
Illinois District Convention - Rock Island, Illinois
---- Did
you know that there are 6,300 congregations in the Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod? The Synod serves some 2.3 million members.
Only hope we find GOD again before it is too late ! !
The
following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning
Commentary.
My confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother
me even a little bit
when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees,
Christmas trees... I don't feel threatened.. I don't feel discriminated
against..
That's what they are, Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas'
to me. I don't think
they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of
like it. It
shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time
of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there
is a manger scene on display at a
key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's
just
as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being
a Jew, and I don't think Christians
like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God
are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the
concept came from, that America is an
explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in
the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should
worship celebrities and we aren't
allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I
guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of
us who are
wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of
the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little
different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's
not funny, it's intended to get
you thinking.
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings,
etc.. I think it
started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years
ago) complained
she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone
said you better not read the Bible in school. The
Bible says thou shalt not kill;
thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then
Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave,
because their little personalities would
be warped and we might damage their
self-esteem ( Dr. Spock 's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know
what he's talking about.. And we said okay..
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience,
why they don't know
right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their
classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think
it has a great deal to do
with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going
to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible
says. Funny how you can send 'jokes'
through e-mail and they spread like wildfire,
but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice
about
sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through
cyberspace, but public discussion
of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Are you laughing yet?
Funny how we can be more worried
about what other people think of us than what God
thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit.
If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this
thought process, don't sit
back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein
We are the Lutheran Women's
Missionary League
All women who are members of a Lutheran Church --
Missouri Synod congregation are members of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League. We are LWML.
We are women in
mission. Our loving arms reach all the way around the world as we raise and send out $1.825 million dollars to help folks
in need.
We are women in mission nearer our homes by raising money and supporting agencies much closer to home
in the Central Illinois District. That's not quite $100,000 but it's getting closer to that watershed amount.
And
why do we care? Because our hearts are filled with love. That's what women do best. We embrace a hurting world, a hungry world,
a sick and ailing world. We are the LWML. We collect mites in our monthly meetings. Pocket change mostly. Then we send the
mites off to the Central Illinois District. When it gets there, one-fourth of it is sent off the national organization. The
mites add up.
Oh for sure, we don't have a whole bunch of ladies who come out for meetings every month. We
pray that more of our sisters in Christ will join us. Just think how much more we could do!
We make quilts,
we put hygiene kits together, we put school kits together, we put personal kits together, we put health kits together, we
cut cancelled postage stamps to send off to a mission project, and we cut out crosses that are sent to prison ministries,
and when we lose our loved ones, Lutheran Women are the ladies who pull funeral luncheon togethers.
We
are the Lutheran Women's Missionary League. -- Jane Reinheimer
Subject: 'A Hopeful Lamentation' from President Harrison on 9/11
anniversary
To view an online version of this email, click here. http://classic.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=19137
A
Hopeful Lamentation on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On Sunday, September 11th, the world will stand
still as the first post-9/11 decade comes to a
close. As I pause
to pen this note to the church,
I'm flooded with a swirl of disparate and even
conflicting thoughts and feelings.
I recall the
progression that morning from interest that a "small
plane" should have hit the World Trade
Center, then
the shocking news of a jet airliner hitting the
first tower, by mistake?
Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison
Then the second. The Pentagon. The plane down in
Pennsylvania. Confusion. Disbelief. Fear.
Frustration. Anger. Revenge.
All of that took place
for me in the LCMS International Center from which I
write now. We all have a story.
Having visited Manhattan the week after the event,
and then Ground Zero later, speaking with our LCMS
brothers and
sisters who lost family and friends
(one dear brother shared with me, as we surveyed
Ground Zero on an anniversary
years later, that he
had lost 30 friends that day), I feel ashamed even
to write of my own insignificant thoughts.
This week
the pain that invaded the lives of thousands upon
thousands is re-lived, as though the event were just
last week. Our own struggles in the Missouri Synod
at the time cause me deep lamentation still. Lord,
have mercy
upon us all. But it is a hopeful
lamentation.
The people of the LCMS responded in overwhelming
generosity. Thousands upon thousands were assisted
through Lutheran
Disaster Response of New York
(LDRNY), to which we provided funding. We assisted
children who lost parents, provided
tuition,
counseling, care and much more. LDRNY concentrated
on help for victims' families, and was a major force
in the September 11th Families' Association, which
throughout it all has been committed to attending to
the concerns
and needs of affected families.
The Lord Jesus himself, in the face of the profound
suffering He would undergo for the sins of the
world, prayed,
"Take this cup from Me. Yet not My
will, but Thine be done" (Matt. 26:39). And so it is
human and by no
means wrong for those so terribly
hurt by the senseless carnage 10 years ago, to
lament their loss and pain even
today, and to cry
out, "Why, Lord?" Somehow, in an unfathomable way,
the Lord's hand is not shortened
and His universe is
still His, despite the carnage of a few madmen. And
like His very cross—which appeared
senseless and
pointless and an end of all hope—so this suffering
is purposeful. "My strength is made
perfect in
weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). At the last, we have one
thing to say. One thing to hope. One thing to
trust.
And that is Christ.
Let us join in prayer for the LCMS Atlantic,
Southeastern and Eastern districts, and for all
their leaders and people,
for the witness of the
Gospel in New York from Ground Zero, to the
Pentagon, to Pennsylvania and beyond. Let us
pray
for our nation, our president and the military, for
faithfulness in duty and an increase of all
honorable
vocations in public and military life. Let
us pray especially for those who still suffer the
loss of loved ones.
Grant faith, O Lord, in the
resurrection and in Your blessed Gospel. Let us pray
for our enemies, for justice and
for peace. And
finally, as we lament this sinful world of pain and
loss, let us lament in hope. Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.
"Through [Christ] we have also obtained access by
faith into this grace in which we stand, and we
rejoice in
hope of the glory of God" (Rom. 5:2).
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Matthew C. Harrison, President
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Note: The foregoing is a News Release from
the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's statement by Pastor Harrison, president.
TABLE PRAYERS
We Thank You For This Food (tune: Amazing Grace)
Dear
Lord we thank you for this food,
Your will to us make known;
Give us the strength to serve you now
And through
the days ahead.
Amen.
To God Who Gives Us Daily Bread (tune: I Know That My Redeemer Lives)
To God who gives us daily bread,
A thankful song to Him we'll raise,
And pray that He who sends our food,
Will
fill our hearts with love and praise.
Amen
Bless Our Friends (tune: Edelweiss)
Bless
our friends, bless our food,
Come, O Lord, and sit with us.
Make our Talk glow with ease,
Come with Your love
to surround us.
Friendship and peace may they
Bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Bless our friends,
bless our food,
Bless our time here together.
Amen
FLORIDA COURT SETS ATHEIST HOLY
DAY -- from Nola
In Florida, an atheist created a case against Easter and Passover Holy days.
He
hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians and
Jews and observances of their holy days. The
argument was that it was unfair
that atheists had no such recognized days.
The case was brought before a
judge. After listening to the passionate
presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring,"Case
dismissed!"
The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, "Your honor,
How can
you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas,
Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur
and Hanukkah, yet my
client and all other atheists have no such holidays.."
The judge leaned forward
in his chair saying, "But you do. Your client,
counsel, is woefully ignorant."
The lawyer said,
"Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or
holiday for atheists."
The judge said,
"The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1
states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'
Thus, it is the
opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is
a fool. Therefore,
April 1st is his day.
Court is adjourned." You gotta love a Judge that knows his scripture!
LCMS -- ELCA differ
President Dr. Matthew C. Harrison has announced that starting in January 2012, the Lutheran Church
- Missouri Synod will not co-sponsor training conferences for military chaplains with the
ELCA. It ends a cooperative ministry that began in 1941 between LCMS and the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church
of America. Those two denominations joined the former Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the ELCA in 1988,
and the cooperative arrangement continued, with some modifications. read more at this link: http://classic.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=18969
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