THE KING’S BANNER Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston, Texas 2353 Rice Blvd, Houston TX 77005 Volume 70, Number 1, 713-523-2864 ctkelc.org January 2015 Blessing of Homes at Epiphany The festival of the Epiphany offers an occasion to bless our homes where God dwells with us in our daily living. A printed rite of blessing and chalk will be supplied to all who wish to bless their home and inscribe their entrance door with 20+CBM+15. When the magi saw the shining star stop overhead, they were filled with joy. “On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother.” (Matthew 2:10-11) Festival of the Epiphany, Tuesday, January 6 Join us on Tuesday, January 6 at 6:00 p.m. to celebrate the festival of the Epiphany of Our Lord and the culmination of the season of Christmas. Worship will begin in the narthex with the blessing of the nave and inscription above the door. After the blessing, we process to the nave and celebrate Holy Communion. Following the service will be a time of fellowship with king’s cake. First Saturdays Sunday Café January 4 New to Church? Play Date at Church Chef Nathan Winston will prepare Whether you are new to the church January 3, 4:00-6:00 p.m. delicious Sunday Café meals after the in general or this church, we invite Play Date at Church is a time for all 10:50 a.m. worship service on Janu- you to join us for lunch on the first families with babies and young chil- ary 4 and 18, February 1 and 15, and and third Sundays at 12:15 p.m. in the dren to meet at Christ the King Church March 1 and 15. College and medical council room on the second floor. Get to play, visit and chat. Simply come students eat free as our guests, the cost a plate at the serving window on the on the first Saturday of each month for all others is $10. Come join us for a first floor in the ministry building and to explore the new playground or in wonderful meal and great fellowship. come upstairs. The pastors and other leaders of Christ the King Church will bad weather find a sheltering place in- Wednesday Night Alive! side. Friends are welcome. The dates be there for conversation and inquiry. Resumes January 14 We would like to get to know you for winter and spring are January 3, Eating, learning, singing, playing instru- February 7, March 7, April 11, May 2. and hear the questions you might be ments, studying, praying, writing life exploring, like “What do I seek” or stories, and so “How can I relate my journey of faith much more. to this congregation?” All interested See page 11. are guests of the congregation. Valentine Dinner: A Night at the Oscars February 7, 6:00 p.m. Friends and members of Christ the King Church are invited New Year’s Day | 6:00 pm New Year’s Day | 6:00 pm to a fabulous evening of music, fun, and a four course meal OrganOrgan & Voice & Voice inspired by our own chef Nathan Winston on February 7! Matthias Maierhofer, organist Matthias Maierhofer,organist The parish hall will be transformed into an elegant atmo- January 18 | 6:00 pm sphere where you will meet famous movie stars (dressed Calmus up by our own youth). Seating is available for individuals, Guest choral ensemble from Leipzig pairs, and small and large groups. Tickets are $40 or $70 Events are held at Christ the King Lutheran Church | 2353 Rice Boulevard (at Greenbriar) for two. Free childcare is available. Email Ben Remmert Admission is free. A free-will offering will be accepted. at [email protected] to RSVP. Proceeds will benefit See full information at www.bachsocietyhouston.org or call 713-400-0514. the youth group at Christ the King Church. Bach Society Houston is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Christ the King Lutheran Church 1 Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: A Columbarium for Christ the King Church During the long-range planning conducted in 2012 at Christ that death is part of life. That we come from the earth, we the King Church many members asked whether a colum- bear the earth in our bodies, and we return to the earth. barium could be added to the church as a final resting place The work of the church is ultimately about the meaning of life in the setting of a paradise garden. A columbarium is a burial bounded by birth and death and embraced by the presence place for cremated remains inside niches in a wall. Columba of God. This is the message of the death and resurrection of means dove, and columbarium originally refers to the housing Jesus Christ. Our lives are in God’s hands. Life is filled with compartments for doves and pigeons also called dovecote. danger. We are trapped in our own worlds. God loves us The congregation approved at our Part I Annual Meeting on and in Christ not only models the divine life, but infuses the December 8 the building of a paradise garden and colum- divine life in us through the same Spirit that drove Christ into barium to be included in the 2015 Capital Campaign Appeal. conflict with every force within us and around us opposed to My first assignment as a pastor in the Lutheran Church was to God’s justice, mercy, and love. Christian burial represents a provide pulpit supply at the Eben-Ezer Lutheran Church in the complete trust in the providence of God no matter whether Berlin community on the west side of Brenham. Eben-Ezer is we are buried at sea, in the ground, or cremated. the “mother” congregation for the churches in the Brenham Now that cremation has found widespread acceptance area. The small, beautiful building is still in the countryside among Christians, we have a new opportunity to renew the with only the parsonage next door. That is why the church ancient practice of returning our sacred remains to holy yard is still there with graves of persons born as early as the ground. We can put ashes at the church either spreading 1790’s. When I presided at a funeral, it was an unusual, if them in the paradise garden or placing an urn in a niche in not beautiful experience to leave the funeral service and the wall of the garden. The city does not regulate the place- process out of the nave directly into the church yard, literally ment of ashes. The memorial to the deceased is inscribed a paradise of oak trees and Spanish moss with grass grow- on a stone plaque visible in the garden. ing all around. There the family would bury their loved one. The paradise garden will be easy to access and provide a wel- The experience was unusual because in the 20th Century come space for all for meditation, prayer, and remembrance. there are few places where church and the cemetery are on In the life of the church we as “communion of saints” will the same land. As we have become increasingly urban, we worship and carry out our calling in God’s world in the pres- find the church and cemetery separated from one another. ence of the “cloud of witnesses” in the faith whose memory Cemeteries were moved to the outskirts of town and to the we cherish. In the life of the church we as communion of frontage roads of freeways. More significantly they were saints will worship and carry out our calling in God’s world placed under the control of the funeral industry. Cemeteries in the presence of the cloud of witnesses whose memory became “landfills” full of concrete, metal, and wood mostly we cherish. underground and designed to prevent the acknowledgment Robert G. Moore, Senior Pastor 2 The King’s Banner Serve Breakfast at SEARCH Third Wednesdays of Each Month Wednesday, January 21, 7:30-11:00 a.m. Collected at the church doors Contact Beverly Davis: at the end of worship. [email protected] or 713-400-0517 Engage Stabilize Employ Educate House SEARCH’s Mobile Out- Because of the chal- Putting people back House of Tiny SEARCH works to help reach Program travels lenges that have con- to work is a signature Treasures (HTT) individuals and fami- throughout Houston tributed to home- goal of SEARCH in This nationally accred- lies who have been to common gather- lessness, the lives helping individuals ited early childhood placed in housing to ing areas for individu- of these individuals who are homeless be- education program continue their stabil- als who are homeless and families are in come independent. provides developmen- ity and on-going work and provides on-the- chaos.Their lack of a tally-appropriate early to rebuild their lives. SEARCH offers job spot assessment, as- steady income and childhood education readiness, skills train- SEARCH currently sistance, intervention security of a home for toddler and pre- ing, employment supports 71 units of and referrals. Armed intensify whatever school age children placement assistance housing for disabled with food, water, cloth- social, physical, and while their parents at- and case manage- families and indi- ing, and blankets, they psychological chal- tend classes and begin ment to more than viduals throughout offer an important life- lenges they face. working. 500 individuals each Houston and Har- line to people who year. To effectively break ris County.