Lutheran Reflection

O Little Town of Bethlehem

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Guest blogger this week is LWML Senior Pastoral Counselor, Rev. Robert Mundahl. He and his wife, Peggy, recently traveled to the Holy Land. My best wishes to all of you for a week of safe travel and joyful preparations for Christmas, family visits and Jesus’ birthday. – Patti

O little Town of Bethlehem is one of my favorite songs at Christmas, but after traveling to Israel last month my perspectives have changed. Bethlehem is no longer the little town of Jesus’ day. Instead of being a town of 300 to 1,000 people when He was born, Bethlehem has grown to envelop almost 76,000 people within its borders. It is quite easy to sit in Jerusalem and see Bethlehem in the distance. It reminds me of our spreading metropolises where every town simply runs into the next. The six miles Mary and Joseph journeyed to the Old City for Jesus’ purification is now filled in with walls, homes, and businesses. It’s hard to imagine that old little town anymore.

No matter the size of this town, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is considered to be the place where Jesus was born. Even though the Church is currently under renovation our tour group had the opportunity to enter down into the place set aside for His birth. Many paintings depict the cave like place understood to be where it all happened.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 2:11-12).

I’ll still sing the song with reverent joy as I celebrate His birth again this year. Bethlehem is the place. The Savior was born there. Jesus is still God’s gift to us. I was blessed to see and touch and mark the place where the Word became flesh.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks be to God – Joy to the World!
Rev. Robert Mundahl

Lutheran Women in Mission

Learning How to Let Go

Sometimes you have to let go! We’ve all faced time of letting go. Letting go of our children as they go to school, from grade school to college and beyond. We have to let go of our family traditions as our families move far away geographically—think of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We have to let go of the idea that our children will want our china and crystal someday! You can add your own.

What does this have to do with my thinking about LWML this week? I have to tell you, if a woman in my congregation came up to me and said she wanted to start an additional LWML group in my church, after I picked myself up off the floor, I would be so excited! If they wanted to meet once a quarter, or have Bible study and collect mites only, or do activities with their small children, I would be so excited! If they wanted to have an LWML as a service group alongside a women’s ministry group already in existence in their church, I would be so excited!

Yet I received two inquiries from women interested in starting LWML groups who met opposition because they are proposing an alternative look for an LWML group. Isn’t that sad. When we “mentor” women in LWML that doesn’t mean we make them do exactly what we have been doing in our LWML group over the years. If we are comfortable in our group and how it operates and when it meets, and don’t want to change, why not encourage formation of another LWML group? They, too, want a group that they are “comfortable” in. Why not try letting go?

I hope you will take it as a mentoring opportunity should some women in your church want something different in their LWML group and are proposing to start one with a different look. Teaching with love and encouragement can be a great example of “serving the Lord with gladness.”

Believing that God has molded each of us individually with love should help us let go. Individual molds means no two are exactly alike. Can’t we let go and let God guide the women to celebrate LWML as it meets their needs? Be a positive mentor. Just think how exciting it would be to have more than one LWML group in all our congregations!

I [Paul] therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift (Ephesians 4:1-7).

Love to you!
Patti

Me and the LWML office staff at a session on, “Effective Mentor-ship”.

Lutheran Women in Mission

School Day!

I play Mahjong with a group of women from Lutheran churches in Tulsa. One of our players is a young woman who teaches 8th grade in a public school. Kristin is amazing. She has a lot of patience, a great sense of humor and empathy for the situations her students are in at home and at school. She struggles with lack of materials and low pay as many of our public school teachers in Oklahoma do. But she is making such a difference in the kids’ lives!

So many of our LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission women are getting ready to begin a new school year this month. Many are blessed to teach at our Lutheran schools. Many are blessed to teach at public schools. All are blessed to be a blessing to the children they teach. I remember all of my teachers. Mrs. Hoover, my first grade teacher, eased my fears as a terribly shy girl starting school. Mrs. Gray, second grade, was a joy-filled teacher who also played piano and we sang a lot! Mrs. Grimsley taught us penmanship in 3rd grade. Mrs. Lemon in fourth grade was very strict. I thought I was going to have to confess to hiding Peggy Smith’s shoes in the ditch during recess until another child found them and returned them saving me the confession. And so it went through college—teachers making a difference and making a place in memories.

I’m sure a lot of you young moms will feel like I did. After seeing my oldest child on his first day of school waiting for the bus, seeing that huge bus pull up and the tiny child reach up the big steps, and see it drive off, I headed into the house and cried for half an hour. I know moms will be blessed if when their kids get off the bus there is an LWML woman waiting in their classroom!

I salute all of you LWML women who work or used to work in schools with children. As representatives of the love of Christ for children, who could be more important an influence on their lives outside of the home? I never had the patience to be a teacher. I’ve always admired those who could do that.

So, blessings to all of you who are getting ready to begin a year of school. You are important. You are appreciated. You are valued. You are a woman in mission!
I’m sending my youngest granddaughter to Kindergarten this year. You’re gonna need that patience!

Love, Patti

“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them (Mark 10:14-16).

LWML Convention

Young Woman Representatives

2017 Convention LogoWe were privileged to welcome 81 Young Woman Representatives to the Albuquerque Convention. I’d like to share a message written by one of those young women following her return from convention. Lisa Rhonemus attended her second LWML convention (her first was when she was 12 in Tampa, Florida). She cites the joy her grandmother had working in LWML and attending conventions as motivation for attending.
Enjoy!
Patti

My sisters in Christ, I was extremely blessed to be able to represent our district as one of the Young Woman Representatives (YWRs) at the National LWML Convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was there that I got to serve the Lord with gladness alongside other young women from across the country as we collected and sorted the plethora of ingathering items. I got to hear the testimonies of former and current LWML grant recipients and hear how our “Mighty Mites” have helped build schools, provide tutoring to at-risk kids, provide for the physical and spiritual needs of refugees in Lebanon, train pastors, and oh so much more. More importantly, I got to watch as we voted to fund 22 national mission grants which will impact so many lives during the next biennium.

As I have returned to the real world and reflected on my experience; I was surprised by how long it took me to really adjust and grasp what we have done for 75 years and what we do as an organization. I think there are others who struggle with explaining who we are and what we have done as well. In the same way that the Church is made up of people who have been touched by the love of Jesus, the women of the LWML have been touched as well. As Lutheran Women in Mission we are active in the Mission of the Church in reaching the lost and the erring.

By ourselves we are women who deal with the ups and downs of our various situations and try to make a difference in the world. By ourselves we deal with grief and heartbreak while trying to pull up those who have woes much greater. By ourselves we donate a few dollars each month, maybe just two pennies. By ourselves we can cook a meal, give a hug, teach a child, and make a blanket. By ourselves we might be a hand, or a foot, or an eye, accomplishing one task alone. But together?

Together we are Lutheran Women in Mission. Together we can walk to the ends of the world, seeing the needs of God’s people, and reach out with a loving hand (or hug). Together we can raise $1,582,250 for mission grants and together we can change the world by spreading the love of Christ. Together, by the guiding of the Spirit and with God’s grace, we can serve Jesus Christ above all. Together we are the LWML.

Lisa Rhonemus

Pictured, Young Woman Representatives at the 37th Biennial LWML Convention in Albuquerque

LWML Convention

Gifts From the Heart

Tomorrow my LWML group will be boxing up 93 quilts to take to the Albuquerque Convention! Sunday we prayed in church for the recipients of these quilts with all our members. They are one of the Gifts From the Heart donations brought to convention by convention goers. I’m not sure historically, when LWML conventions first started having people bring items to convention for distribution to local and national agencies. If someone knows, please write to me. I do know that like our mite offerings, where an individual’s small but Spirit-led contribution is added with those of others to bring about a tremendous offering, so, too, these gifts will combine for a huge “gift” at the convention center!

Organizations receiving our shared material blessings are Albuquerque Christian Children, a privately funded foster care that emphasizes Christianity; Care Net, a pro-life group working with unplanned pregnancies; Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a Lutheran organization focusing on international disaster relief and sustainable development; and Ysleta Lutheran Mission, providing ministry and human care in the El Paso/Juarez border area.

Our quilts will go on one of two trucks that LWR is bringing. Other items such as new baby kits, school kits, health kits, sheet sets, children’s underwear and, of course, gift cards will make a definite impact in caring for God’s children in need in the immediate Albuquerque area and worldwide. This is so much a part of the heart of LWML! Women who identify needs and work to fulfill those needs. They take to heart the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:40, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Buses, cars, suitcases and purses will be carrying Gifts From the Heart—an apt name for gifts given with heartfelt gratitude for the blessings received from our gracious God. If you’d like to add yours, find someone going to convention and send it along with them!

What to bring or send? Click here http://books.cph.org/lwml-gifts-from-the-heart

Gotta run get my gift cards purchased!
Love, Patti

Pictured is Patti and baled quilts at LWR warehouse. 35 quilts per bale.

Lutheran Reflection

Happy Mother’s Day!

No one denies the ups and downs of motherhood! We are called upon to make changes in our lives sometimes daily because of our own mothers and our own vocation as a mother. Changes are hard and we kid about Lutherans having difficulty with change! But let’s face it! We have adapted to changes throughout our lives whether it is as a child with a mother or as a mother ourselves.

When toddlers change from those who want to snuggle to those who at the age of four want independence and then again to adolescents who prefer to walk several steps behind you, we continue to love them and take care of them (although done in secret at times). Then as they morph into adults, we have to change our attitude about how we are seen by them.

As women caring for mothers who may now be dependent on us instead of the other way around we face that change and have to adapt. No longer do they care for us but we are caring for them. These changes coming with aging mothers are very hard to deal with as they are generally thought of as negative. However, this is a chance for us to show our love and care for someone who may not be able to reciprocate as they did before. What a privilege to care for them as they advance in age.

Jesus and Mary at the crossJesus made caring for His mother a priority during his agony on the cross. He not only died for her sins but made provision for her physical care. So we are called to care for our mothers’ physical and Jesus Heals a Childspiritual needs. Just as Jesus wanted the little children to come to Him and healed many children, so we mothers want to provide spiritual and physical care for our children.

Don’t let anyone tell you that we have difficulty with change! As mothers and daughters we do it all our lives! One thing we can depend on through all these changes is our changeless, Triune God who loves us, forgives us and helps us in our daily lives. Together with Him we are able to celebrate and adapt to motherhood and all that it encompasses.

Happy Mother’s Day from me to you!

Love, Patti

[The Lord God] will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Isaiah 40:11