Happy New YearTHE KING’S BANNER Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas 2353 Rice Blvd, Volume 74, Number 1 Houston TX 77005 January 2020 ctkelc.org Epiphany Observance Sunday, January 5 Join us on the 12th day of Christ- Get Involved ! mas, January 5, to bless the nave, our “church house” with the blessing of the magi. At How Can I Get Involved the end of the 8:30 and 10:50 at Christ the King Church in 2020? a.m. services all will move to Each year the members of Christ the King Church generously the narthex for the inscription participate in the many ministries of our congregation. As we of the lintel for the 2020 year. celebrate our 75th anniversary year, we invite members and We will celebrate the occasion friends to fill out a survey indicating your interests. In January with king cake at coffee hour. A you will receive a catalog in your email in-box (in PDF format) printed prayer rite and chalk can which describes many opportunities for your involvement in be taken home to inscribe and our congregational life and community outreach in 2020. You bless one’s own house or door. will then receive a link to an online survey at SurveyMonkey. New Year’s Day Organ Recital com to indicate your interests. Of course, there will also be January 1, 6:00 p.m. paper copies available, both the catalog and response forms, in Don't miss New Year's Day organ recital with Mary Joy Silma- the narthex. We hope everyone will consider getting involved ro, flutist Kelly DeVany, trumpeter Bob Walp, and a cameo in strengthening our congregation’s mission to be a healing moment with Rick Erickson. Celebratory reception follows. place for one another, our community, and the world. Blues, Brews, and Good News Friday, January 24, 7:00 p.m. Enjoy this monthly community outreach worship again with The Healers as our house band, playing the Blues with authority and authenticity. Dif- ferent beers will be available again. AND we’ll enjoy a panel discussion on the theme: “A Lively Chat About Death and Dying.” How’s that for a party starter? Actually, we’ll very much enjoy a unique conversation with theological, medical, and legal perspectives about death, its meaning, how best to prepare and live instead of waiting and denying. It all informs an “abundant life” now. AND…we look forward to B,B,&GN on February 28 when “Free Wheels Houston celebrates its volunteers and adds BBQ burgers to the evening! Welcome to our New Pastoral Intern Community of Hope Lay Chaplain We welcome Sergio Rodriguez as our Pastoral Intern Training begins January 27 here at Christ the King for the calendar year of 2020. Is God Calling You Sergio is a student at Wartburg Theological Seminary. His ministry with us, as well as his taking Clinical Pas- to be a Lay Chaplain? Do you want to deepen your rela- toral Education, will complete his academic require- tionship with God? Do you want to ments for a Master of Divinity degree and advance his strengthen your ability to handle candidacy for ordained ministry in the ELCA. He comes difficult circumstances in everyday life? Do you want to us having served two congregations as a licensed to be a better listener—to God, to your own heart, lay minister, and, among many other duties, will help us reinvigorate to your neighbor? Then, the Community of Hope campus ministry with Rice University. We are excited to welcome Sergio might be for you! See page 15 and his two cats! We’ll share much more about him in the next Banner. Christ the King Lutheran Church 1 Beloved Christ the King Church Members and Friends, Happy New Year and Happy 75th Birthday the whole year long! Yes, this year we will be 75 years young! 75 years ever stronger in mission. 75 years of faithfulness, no matter some challenging times. 75 years of wonderful memories (“seems like yesterday!” to many of us). 75 years of vision. Now we begin with intention- God’s call in Christ to serve “the least of these” and to grow Pastor Duane's ality to celebrate history and, in mission, we will take on challenges asked specifically even more, to celebrate and of us, all because, we so happily know down deep, Christ World rededicate ourselves to another is the King and no one else is. Because of that greatest 75 years and more. news ever, we’ll carry on what we do well and continue to We voted in August 1945 to establish ourselves as a con- invest in newer activities. And—OF COURSE!—we’ll have gregation and were chartered the next month, September. a big blowout of a party in the fall with the next Christ the Some of us remember early days. Some of us remember King Festival in November 2020. We look forward to that well coming to Christ the King from other places. Great and weekend when history and future come together in a big warm memories loom. Other struggles dot our memory way to be remembered for the next 75 years. landscape, too. The largest narrative arc, through it all, is In the meantime, as with all the time, we are even more about God’s faithfulness and our individual and collective disciplined in giving thanks and saying “yes” to God and faithfulness in return. what God intends for us. And, yes, we have a lot more to We are strong because that is the story always central to plan along the way. Want to help? Let us know your ideas. our reason for being and central to why we worship and Bring your vision into the growing vision. Be ready soon to serve in and out. God is faithful. God is good. All the time! be asked to help with particular activities that will make this septuagesimus quintus year wonderfully “platinum.” And so we will celebrate. We have some plans already well in the making. We look forward to guest preachers and Love, Pastor Duane teachers throughout the year who with us will celebrate who we have been and how we shall be. In faithfulness to A Healing Place 75 years ago Left: Pr. Kenneth Larson - The “Laying-on-of-Hands” at the Rite of Installation, Proper. During this part the Lord’s Prayer is being prayed (in Roberts School, January 27, 1946). Right: Pr. Kenneth Larson at the door shaking hands at the conclusion of the service, January 27, 1946 in the Roberts School. 2 The King’s Banner The year was In the Beginning... 1945 first service was held June 24, 1945 in Roberts Elementary School at Greenbriar and Addison. Nine people attended: Ruth Gustafson (organ- ist), Naomi Ekman, Karen Ekman, Ellen Ekman, Gosta Birath, Elna Birath, Roland Lundelius, Harry Aurelius and Curate James M. Anderson, who 19 4 5 conducted the service. The theme of the sermon was "We Are Success- ful,” a rather insightful topic. On July 29, Enid Johnson of Assaria, Kansas reprint of an article from the King’s Banner, accepted the position of Parish Worker. On Sunday, August 12, guest March 2010, revised in the Summer of 2018, Pastor, Eric N. Hawkins (pastor of Augustana Lutheran and Deputy Home written by Christ the King member Beverly Palmer Missions Director for the Southwest), preached and conducted the first After the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on baptisms--three children were baptized: Anne Muus Eujen, Harold Bue the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Eujen and Mark Alfred Herzenberg. the U.S. was thrust into World War II, and ev- On Sunday, August 26, eryday life across the country was dramatically after the service, a con- altered. Food, gas and clothing were rationed, and gregational meeting while fear reigned supreme, Americans embraced was held to complete the sacrifices that would be necessary to attain preliminary details in victory. The country was led by President Franklin the organization of the D. Roosevelt, who in 1944 would be reelected to a congregation. Christ fourth term. The war was brutal by any standards, the King Evangelical Lu- but the year 1945 in particular has been described theran Church was ap- as the worst year in human history measured in proved as the name of terms of people killed, houses burned, buildings the new church. Then, destroyed, and high explosives set off. Amidst on September 1, mem- this darkness, a tiny light of hope and faith was bers met at the home becoming noticeable in Houston, Texas. of the Biraths for final As of the Fall of 1944, there was no Lutheran organization. They met Church in the southwest section of the city of outside under a large Houston, an area with a population of approxi- tree. At this time, Pastor mately 25,000 people. In September 1944 the Eric N. Hawkins, Deputy Board of Home Missions, through its elected Director of Home Mis- representatives granted the field to the Augustana sions of the Texas Con- Synod. The field was surveyed by members of the ference, was elected as Woman's Missionary Society of the Augustana vice-pastor, the revised Church, Houston, and by Miss Gladys Peterson, constitution of the Au- survey worker for the Board of Home Missions, gustana Synod was adopted, officers were elected, application was made in October. The survey was highly encouraging. to become a member of the Texas Conference, and a budget was set up In June 1945, a church site was purchased by for the new year.