January 2013 - Kinsmen Lutheran Church

P AGE 2
A Note From Pastor Jeff...
Dear Friends,
At the beginning of
every new year God gives everyone the
same number of gifts no matter what
our age, gender, economic status, or
political persuasion. The 8760 hours
that make up the year are the building
blocks of a year yet to be determined.
And those hours are gifts --- those of you
who have fought illness know and
teach us that better than anyone else.
How many of those gifts will you invest
in worship, community building, and
sharing grace? In some measure,
Christmas Eve and Easter worship are
especially inspiring because of the
number of people who make worship a
priority. On Christmas Eve, 1184 made
their way to hear again the story of the
Word becoming flesh --- a slight increase
from the last two Christmas Eves. Since
many of you have asked, attendance
was as follows:
4 PM Family and Children ..... 375
6 PM Contemporary ............... 287
8 PM Traditional ....................... 391
10 PM Traditional ...................... 131
How much more inspiring would
weekend worship be, if almost as many
made worship an every weekend
priority! Please don’t forget that we
have an informal Saturday evening
service with Communion where we sing
a variety of songs and traditional hymns
led by Timothy Browning, and on the
first Saturday of the month we use
Holden Evening Prayer as the setting.
I shared on Christmas Eve that I was
gifted with a gentle reminder that serves
as a wonderful commentary that
Kinsmen is a community that values all
people, especially children. After an
evening of caroling, I was ready to go
home. My friends, 1st grader, Dylan and
3rd grader, Laura, were not. After
caroling their family had made plans for
dinner. But Dylan and Laura wanted to
eat here with their friends --- really
wanted to eat here. Her mother told me
that her kids always want to be here. I
said to Deanna, it may have been the
briefest moment of discomfort them, but
for her pastors and staff it was a moment
of pure ecstasy. And the Porters ended
up eating dinner at Kinsmen. We have
received over $40,000 in gifts for both
playgrounds and need roughly $47,500
more. If you would like to make a 2nd
mile gift simply write “PLAYGROUND” in
the memo line of your check to Kinsmen.
With whom will you share grace in
2013? Hope to see you January 6, at
the Epiphany Potluck!
In Christ,
Jeff
P.S. We received yet again, another
thank you from someone who
appreciated our on-line services:
Dear Kinsmen,
I recently made a very small
donation as a way of saying thank
you for posting your services online
on the internet.
I married my wife in August. She is
Pentecostal, and some of the beliefs
the Pentecostal church emphasizes
are not consistent with what I
believe should be emphasized. I'm
Episcopalian but my wife disliked
the formal nature of the
Episcopalian service.
Searching for something that might
work for both of us, I came across
the contemporary ELCA services.
And wanting to see what an ELCA
service was like, and though I have
no ties to Texas, I found Kinsmen
and watched a service several
months ago. I've been hooked
since. Since I'm in Iraq working as a
U.S. Foreign Service Officer
(diplomat) while my wife is in
Ukraine, I haven't been able to
attend a ELCA service in person.
However, I now try to watch the
contemporary Kinsmen service
every week (one week delayed
since I watch on Saturdays).
We'll be moving to the Washington
DC area in June and will try some of
the ELCA churches there once we
arrive. In the meantime, thank you
for being my temporary church
home and providing virtual
Christian fellowship to me these
past several months and for the
months to come while I'm in Iraq.
Merry Christmas and best regards.