Weekly Newsletter of Memorial Lutheran Church                                 Houston, Texas
Memorial Messenger
19 September 2014

NEW COMMUNION SILVER TO BE DEDICATED

Sunday 28 September

A week from Sunday we will dedicate our new hand-hammered communion silver service. It will include two chalices, two patens (plates), a flagon (pitcher), and a ciborium (container). The artist is Ken Schmidt of Austin, who was trained at the Cranbrook Institute. Each piece has been fashioned from Argentium silver, which is 9.30 Silver with the Germanium. You can learn about the artistic process and the theological meaning behind this communion set in the fellowship hall between services, when Dr. Schmidt will be talking about his work. The silver will be dedicated at both services and used for the first time at both communions. 
From the Vicar
God Knows What We Deserve

Matthew 20:1-16  It is a godly thing to receive wage for one's work, to be given what was promised and agreed upon, but what we see here in this parable in Matthew (and the sin we often fall into), is an asking for something over and above the perfect and complete portion God has allotted us. 

 

We must always be careful of what we ask for from God in what we feel is "fair".  God knows what is "fair" and what we deserve; that which he has promised us in his word.  Anything we deserve outside of that is nothing but damnation.  The wage he gives, the salvation he hands out, is by grace alone for the sake of Christ.  It has nothing to do with the amount of work that we do.  Whether it was Jew or Gentile, or is a lifelong Christian versus a late life convert, we are all given the same grace through Christ; the forgiveness of sins and life eternal.

Sunday's Scripture Lessons

Old Testament: Ezekiel 2:8 - 3:11

Epistle: Ephesians 4:7-16

Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13

Replacement of Paraments
We are seeking to replace all of our paraments starting with our Advent Paraments this fall. Our paraments are starting to show their age. In particular, our Advent paraments are currently blue and we are replacing them with the more traditional violet paraments. We hope to order the Advent paraments by the end of September 2014 as they require about 8 weeks to be made and Advent will be here before we know it. Our goal is $8,000 to replace the full Advent set of chasuble, stoles, altar paraments, the veil, the burse, and 2 banners. If you can help with reaching our goal, please write your checks to MLC with the memo line "Advent Paraments" or if you have any questions, please contact Martha Fredenburg at: 
Because You Asked

What does Pastor Murray do when he is traveling for the church? Mostly, he is attending meetings as an elected official. This trip to St. Louis includes meetings of the Praesidium of the LCMS, which consists of the President of Synod, Matthew Harrison and the Vice Presidents, Herb Mueller, John Wohlrabe, Daniel Preus, Pastor Murray, Nabil Nour, and Bob Kuhn. He will also be attending a meeting of the Luther Academy, of which he is the chairman of the board. The Luther Academy is an educational mission seeking to raise confessional Lutheran understanding in the United States and around the world. Finally, he will be attending the meeting of the LCMS Council of Presidents, which consists of the President of Synod, the Vice Presidents, and the District Presidents. Please pray for successful meetings and safe travel.
If you have suggestions about things that you'd like to see in the Memorial Messenger, please let the office staff know. We would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Rev. Dr. Scott R. Murray
Senior Pastor
Memorial Lutheran Church and School
In This Issue
Let Us Pray
For Luke George, who is going through therapy for Leukemia
 
For Kim Cheng, who has undergone cancer surgery

Christian Education Night

 

Wednesdays

thru 

19 November

 

5:15 Dinner

6:00 Classes

 

2 Peter 

by Pastor Murray

 

The Biblical Foundations of the Lutheran Confession

by Pastor Pacey

VOTERS' ASSEMBLY

Monday Night 
7:00 PM
22 September in the Fellowship Hall 

Memorial Lutheran Church | smurray@mlchouston.org | http://www.mlchouston.org | http://www.memoriallutheranschool.org
5800 Westheimer Rd.
Houston, TX 77057



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