Abiding Word Lutheran Church Table Talk Brenham, Texas • Friday, October 9, 2020

Our Annual Congregational Meeting will take place immediately following the worship service on Reformation Sunday, October 25th. It is typically a short meeting, but very important to the ongoing health of our congregation. The major agenda items typically include a report from the nominating committee presenting candidates to the upcoming year’s church council. Candidates for the 2021 nominating committee will also be announced. And the finance committee often provides a snapshot of our budget. A formal agenda will be posted following this coming Tuesday’s council meeting.

Our 2021 Time and Talent Sheet is Ready- Copies of the Time and Talent sheet have been placed on the welcome table. You can fill one out as though 2021 will be a ‘normal’ year and return it to the office. As we see how the new year develops, our committees will adjust the sheets to fit the reality of congregational life in 2021. If you are not able to pick one up, you can call or email the church office [[email protected]] and a copy will be sent to you (electronically or by mail). Please do not delay in this – our church has always been blessed with wonderful members willing to give freely of their time and talent. We are the stronger for it and such participation reflects the reality of our name: Abiding Word! Update on Discipleship Small Group Study Online- We appreciate John and Marilyn Watts for hosting a weekly small group study over the past few months. However, with more members feeling safe enough to get out, the Watts have decided to put the study on hold for now. Perhaps we will restart it later using a different day and time.

Caring for One Another It is so easy for Satan to discourage us. The writer to the Letter to the Hebrews knew this when he wrote: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) I know that some of our members still struggle with preexisting conditions that make it unsafe for them to participate in our live worship, others are using this time to reassess their commitment to our church and have asked us to give them the time and space to prayerfully discern what the future holds. This is difficult, but we try to respect their wishes. Still others have grown discouraged or just have gotten out of the holy habit of attending worship; Satan has pulled them away. The process can be so subtle, progressing in such small increments, that we fail to recognize the problem. Yet, it is hard to know how to encourage sometimes, but a thoughtful call or card or even an email or text can remind someone that they are dear to us and that they are missed. Perhaps God is using this season of pandemic to prune His Church, but we pray that Satan would not gain a foothold in the lives of our church family. –Pastor Martin

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8) Vision for the North American Lutheran Church… (4 of 10) We continue laying out the church-wide vision unveiled at our mission convocation in August. For each vision point, a goal has been set. Under that goal are possibilities of what may be done to reach that goal. I have added further comments to provide context to our local work. CONTINUING EDUCATION

A continuing education emphasis that supports the ongoing development of all NALC pastors and lay leaders

Goal: Expansion, coordination and promotion of available NALC continuing education opportunities, beginning in 2021

We will encourage every pastor to take part in at least one continuing education opportunity per year. We will offer learning opportunities in various disciplines (preaching, discipleship, stewardship, church-planting, etc.), including continued education for first-call pastors and experienced pastors, along with a long-term strategy for ongoing development. We will coordinate efforts to broadcast courses and training seminars throughout the NALC, and consider using the annual Pastors’ Conference and Lutheran Week as venues for continuing education offerings. We will consider offerings to encourage pastoral self-care, including emotional, spiritual and physical well-being, along with resources for maintaining a healthy family-life. We will include encouragement for salary, vacation, continuing education and sabbatical funding in the call process/pastoral call guidelines. Component Lead: Pastor David Wendel (Eric Riesen, NALS Board of Regents, Commission on Theology & Doctrine and Missions Team) ______

Lectionary Readings for this coming Sunday:

First Reading- Isaiah 25:6-9 Second Reading- Philippians 4:4-13 Responsive Reading- Psalm 23:1-6 Gospel- Matthew 22:1-14

Latest Prayer Concerns Within Our Church Family * Dennis Penkert In Rehab Center following knee surgery, Dennis hopes to return home next week Danny Johnson Prayers for relief from pain Marjorie Stark Upcoming cataract surgery Pat Stelter Finishing up last round of chemo. Pray for next steps and for God’s mercy. Ongoing Prayer Concerns… Church Family/Friends/Homebound * Milton & Evelyn Haack Rita Werner Raymond & Patsy Wegner Shirley Allen Meredith Mearns Dunaway Rick Behrend LaDonna Holding Our brave police and first responders Karla Wegner Family of Dale Walker *Please note: AWLC respects the right to privacy, please verify that we have permission to add a family member or friend to our prayer list.

Our Servants for this Coming Sunday at 10:00 am Pastor: Pr. Kris Brower (St. Matthew, Sandy Hill) Ushers: Musician: Debbie Heidemann Little Lambs: Dottie Schaer Lay Minister: Wade Seidel Audio / Video: Roy & Jan Kelm Reader: Dottie Schaer Altar Guild: Melody Perry Greeters: Set Up/Clean:

Lutheran Worship 101 If you have attended a worship service in another denomination recently you know that Lutherans have a different perspective on worship, one that is Biblically informed and shaped by a healthy appreciation of Christian history. God’s Word and Holy Sacraments make up His precious gifts to us. They are the means of grace the Holy Spirit uses to bestow on us forgiveness, life and salvation. The main purpose of Lutheran worship, therefore, is to be gathered by God around His gifts. This unique perspective explains why our brothers and sisters in the LCMS call the worship service the Divine Service; that phrase helps keep the focus on God rather than on our subjective feelings. The greatest thing we can offer Him, our greatest worship, happens outside the walls of our church during the week; as our dismissal hymn for this coming Sunday has it:

The spirit sends us forth to serve; we go in Jesus' name to bring glad tidings to the poor, God's favor to proclaim. We go to comfort those who mourn and set the burdened free: where hope is dim, to share a dream and help the blind to see. We go to be the hands of Christ, to scatter joy like seed and all our days, to cherish life, to do the loving deed. Then let us go to serve in peace, the Gospel to proclaim. God's Spirit has empowered us; we go in Jesus' name. -The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve Missouri Lutheran pastor and professor, Norman Nagel, once described Lutheran worship this way: “Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. Music is drawn into this thankfulness and praise, enlarging and elevating the adoration of our gracious giver God. Saying back to Him what He has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and sure is His Name, which He put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are His. This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service. Where His Name is, there is He. Before Him we acknowledge that we are sinners, and we plead for forgiveness. His forgiveness is given us, and we, freed and forgiven, acclaim Him as our great and gracious God as we apply to ourselves the words He has used to make Himself known to us. The rhythm of our worship is from Him to us, and then from us back to Him. He gives His gifts, and together we receive and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us His body to eat and His blood to drink. Finally, His blessing moves us out into our calling, where His gifts have their fruition. How best to do this we may learn from His Word and from the way His Word has prompted His worship through the centuries. We are heirs of an astonishingly rich tradition. Each generation receives from those who went before and, in making that tradition of the Divine Service its own, adds what best may serve in its own day the living heritage and something new.” The Lutheran Confessions teach: “The service and worship of the Gospel is to receive good things from God” (Apology, IV, 310). See how this changes the entire focus of the worship service? It is not about creating a worshipful ‘mood’ or a ‘high-energy’ service. In worship as in salvation, it is God, who calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian church on earth, comes with His gracious gifts to serve us. As we gather on Sunday morning God is providing His service for us. In the reading, the preaching, and the proclamation of his Word, in His Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, God comes to us. The work we do in worship is to receive the gift of God’s grace and respond. This shift in focus is why our order of service often looks and sounds different than other Christian churches. In the coming weeks we will offer a brief explanation of a typical Sunday worship service here at Abiding Word. (more to follow)

Family Devotionals Free Downloads- Parents, don’t forget to try out the free daily family devotional called Holy Families! With Sunday School on hold, we encourage parents and grandparents to make use of this free resource to help in discipling their children and grandchildren. Just go to: https://www.holyfamilytime.com/

Coffee and Connections Online- Do you miss visiting with one another on Sunday mornings? Catching up on events, family, & friends? Join us Tuesday mornings at 9:30 am via Zoom for Coffee and Connections Online. Just copy and paste the following link into your browser: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82252778395?pwd=ZWE0ZkVXTWxzVm10T09QakFKQkhZdz09

If you have questions or need help getting connected call Lottie Tegeler at 979-251-4982.

October 2020 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3

Charlotte Sommer

Billy & Sandy Starnes

4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Preston Perry Misti Corn Cora Legg Tom & Peggy Campbell Angela Crocker Gary & Angela Crocker

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Tom Insley Church Council Susan Davies 5:15 p.m.

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Josh Corn Bob & Charlotte Bob Rankin Smith

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Reformation Sunday Worship Committee Susan Winkelmann 5:30 p.m. Congregational Meeting Sam & Megan Sommer

Red = Adult’s Birthday Blue = Child’s Birthday Green = Wedding Anniversary