First English Lutheran Church | Austin, Texas
God Loves. We Love. Everyone!
Pastor Merle Franke was FELC’s third pastor, serving from 1963 to 1983. During his ministry he wrote books of stories and poetry. Merle and his writing were beloved by many. Merle’s daughter, Gwen Flory, has copies of his books available. If you’re interested, you can contact Gwen at gwenflory@gmail.com.
This past Sunday we met for our monthly Sunday Symposium. The topic was Theology of Generosity. We had a thoughtful, engaging conversation about how we understand God as generous toward us in creation and in Christ. We shared how meaningful it is when others have been unexpectedly generous toward us, and how profound a gift it is to be able to be generous toward others.
Near the end of the conversation we discussed how the church can be a place where we learn and model generosity for each other. Who inspires you to be generous? Who have you inspired? How can we continue to build a culture of generosity in our congregation and celebrate our faith in a God who is excessively generous toward us and all people?
I hope you will ponder these questions and how your faith is meaningfully lived out through generosity. We all agreed on Sunday that generosity is about more than what we give financially. It’s about our time, our love, our forgiveness, our offering of our whole selves to others.
If you’d like to review the slides from the presentation you can find them here. At the end we viewed a powerful video about how generosity benefits our lives. You can view that video here.
Grace and peace.
–Pastor Michael Coffey
What does generosity mean to you? How does your faith in God shape your generosity? When is it hard to know how to be generous? Join us for the next Sunday Symposium as we have a conversation on the theme Theology of Generosity.
Sunday Symposium is a once-a-month gathering on a wide variety of topics. We gather after hospitality in the parlor on the third Sunday of each month for presentations, conversations, and explorations on everything from social issues and theological questions to spirituality and faith. Participants will be encouraged to join in the conversation as they wish. We will emphasize respectful, open dialogue that welcomes a diversity of viewpoints. We will be open to how we might change our own views.
Join us as we learn from each other.
Lutheran Disaster Response shares God’s hope, healing and renewal with people whose lives have been disrupted by disasters in the United States and around the world. When the dust settles and the headlines change, we stay to provide ongoing assistance to those in need.
While the first months of the hurricane season were relatively quiet, September brought damaging storms including hurricanes Fiona and Ian. Hurricane Fiona inundated Puerto Rico with rain, reminding people of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28 with near Category 5-strength winds and rain, causing catastrophic flooding. With two months of hurricane season remaining, we can support those in need, even in anticipation of more storms in the weeks ahead.
Visit here for more information and to give directly to Lutheran Disaster Response.
On the second Sunday of each month we will offer Healing Prayer. This is an ancient and powerful ritual of the church. It is a deeply personal encounter with our need for healing in body, mind, and spirit, and our turning to God for healing, grace, and mercy. Children and adults who desire healing prayer, which may include laying on of hands and anointing with oil, are invited to come to the Chapel of the Saints during the communion distribution. You may wait in one of the chairs until the healing prayer station is available and stand or kneel for prayer.
The FELC young adults group will be cooking and serving dinner for the residents of Casa Marianella, the east Austin organization that provides shelter and services to immigrants and refugees.
The group will meet at the FELC kitchen at 3 PM to cook dinner, then head over to Casa to serve dinner and meet residents and staff.
All young adults are invited to join us. Contact Pastor Coffey (pastor@felcaustin.org) if you’re interested, and if you’d like to be added to the young adult email list.
For this concert, the inspiration comes from music inspired by violence: be it war, interpersonal conflict, mass shootings, or any number of atrocities. It is our hope that the program will be thought-provoking, that the seemingly endless cycle of violence could possibly be broken… in that we are the answer to the questions and prayers, and that the work of creating peace is an active choice and endeavor. To buy tickets please visit here.
Some of the pieces include:
A Curse Upon Iron, Veljo Tormis (performed in English)
A Hive of Frightened Bees, Andrea Ramsey
Down By The Riverside, arr. Stacey V. Gibbs
Why do we love our guns? Karen Siegel
Da Pacem Domine, Arvo Pärt
Micah 6 of Austin is a ministry serving the needs of persons in our community needing assistance with food and other services. FELC was a founding member of Micah 6 in 2004, and we continue to make it one of our main ministries for benevolence and volunteering.
We are glad to welcome as our guest preacher the executive director of Micah 6 of Austin, Rev. Barry Smith, on Sunday, October 16. Rev. Smith will preach on the theme of generosity, and share a temple talk on what’s happening at Micah 6 and how you can continue to support the good work they are doing.
For more information about Micah 6 of Austin you can visit their web site here.
The Mariposa Family Learning Center annual fundraiser dinner will be on Friday, October 21st, 2022 at 6:00 PM at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. Information and registration can be found here. Donations can also be made at this website.
Mariposa provides exceptional affordable childcare and support for parents and families in southeast Austin. It is a ministry of Austin City Lutherans.
September 29 – Feast of St. Michael & All Angels
Saint Michael the archangel, captain of the heavenly hosts, is remembered on this day along with the other angels and archangels. The word “angel” means messenger, and in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, these beings have a fully spiritual nature and no physical body.
Prayer of the Day
Everlasting God, you have wonderfully established the ministries of angels and mortals. Mercifully grant that as Michael and the angels contend against the cosmic forces of evil, so by your direction they may help and defend us here, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God whom we worship and praise with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture Readings
Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3
All who are dead shall arise on the day of the Lord.
Psalm 103:1-5, 20-22
Bless the Lord, you angels, all you hosts of God.
Revelation 12:7-12
Michael defeats Satan in a cosmic battle.
Luke 10:17-20
Jesus gives his followers authority over the enemy.
Theological Reflections
Lutheran seminary professor Rev. Barbara Rossing, ThD, puts apocalyptic literature like Revelation in context, showing the way it provided hope for its first readers but functions very differently in contemporary North America. Her book is The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation (New York: Basic Books, 2004); you can find summaries, reviews, and videos of her teaching online, including (click here) a lecture given at Trinity Church Wall Street.
“Forget the vain pursuit of halo and harp. Enough of those larger than life, militant seraphim who support our propensity for war. Put aside the hierarchical, patriarchal imagery. Angels have something important to teach us about ourselves and God. Angels remind us that our material world is influenced by the world of the spirit, and that we are intrinsically capable of inhabiting both worlds with equal ease. Humanity may rank a little lower than the angels because we are flesh as well as spirit, yet through Jesus who is God’s own Word made flesh, we can rise above the angels to share in the very life of God. Observe closely, and you may experience that angels reveal God’s ways, guard and protect the vulnerable, are witness to miracles, are called to unending praise. Today we celebrate not only their achievements, but also that potential in ourselves to be and do the same.”—Miriam Therese Winter, SCMM
[Miriam Therese Winter, SCMM, in Homilies for the Christian People, 567.]
[The Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy]