Lutheran | Lutheran Women in Mission

This summer has been quite a journey of traveling to district conventions, visiting relatives, and hosting welcome visitors. When you travel, do you enjoy the journey — or do you just focus on the destination? I hope you enjoy the journey as you look forward to the destination!

If you will, travel with me to the inner workings of my mind. Warning — you may not be able to always follow my train of thought!

Scott and I are putting a patio on the east side of the house. While in the middle of a discussion on the paver pattern, I asked him this question, “What is your ideal picnic lunch?” He stopped what he was doing and looked at me. “Are we now talking about food?” I said, “Of course.” He said, “I never know with you.” He shared that his ideal picnic would be a hotdog and potato salad. I realized that my question may had seemed to come out of nowhere, so I asked him if he worried about his wife’s train of thought. He replied, “No, but sometimes it’s an interesting journey!”

My train of thought does not follow the train tracks. I don’t want to travel so fast that I miss the sights along the way. I like the backroads, where I can stop and photograph the cows along the fence, run through the ditch and into the field to discover what crop is growing, or stop at that historical marker for a look into the past.

Here was where my brain traveled while we were discussing the paver pattern: I was envisioning the completed patio. I thought about how nice it was going to be to enjoy meals outside again (we dismantled the wrap around deck two years ago and this patio will finally bring this project to completion). I began thinking about the gourmet lunch I could make to celebrate our first meal on the patio. Then I realized Scott’s idea of gourmet food may be vastly different than mine and decided he should have input on the menu. That’s how I came to ask him about his ideal picnic!

My journey on this earth will end someday, and my destination is a place in my Lord’s house. I look forward to the peace and joy that I know will surround me as I join thousands worshiping the Lord in heaven — but I also thank God for this journey I’m on right now. He has given me His Word to guide my way, companions that encourage my steps, and an incredible world that allows me a glimpse of the glory of heaven.

We, as Christians, do look forward to going home to Jesus, but the Lord has also given us the gift of this journey on earth. This journey has a purpose — to glorify our Father and share His message of salvation with those around us. Every journey has a purpose, and I propose it is not always the destination. Let your train of thought jump off the tracks once in a while. As you travel through each day, look for the beauty in each moment and thank God for the gift of the journey.

Today, and always, we are surrounded by HIS grace,

Debbie

I was sitting in an airport last week watching a young couple with a very small child. I remember traveling with my children when they were small. I look back, not with regret but with nostalgia.

I wish I would have cherished each moment much more — just stopped and let the scene form into a cherished memory, complete with the happy feelings that surrounded the occasion. Do you ever look back and wish you could do it all over again? — not just to fix your mistakes, but to relive the really good parts of your life? — the birth of a child, touching the soft skin of a newborn, their baptism, cheering at their first soccer game, getting soaked during family water fights, my son’s excitement as he got ready for his first hunting trip, and the list goes on and on. I don’t want to live life all over again. I just wish my memory was much more vivid.

In the airport, my attention turned to an elderly man, shuffling past me with a walker and an oxygen tank. He looked tired but determined. Traveling through airports is challenging for all people, at any age and in good physical shape. I took a moment to pray for this man and ask God to give him the strength to get to his gate and the joy of a reunion with family or friends. I also asked God to give me the patience and perseverance He has shown me in this man.

Of course, I have regrets as I look back at some of my life decisions. I think we all do. But I have sought forgiveness at the foot of the cross and His grace was poured down upon me. How can someone be given so much and not want to thank God?

I didn’t feel any older when I looked at the elderly man and I didn’t feel a yearning to be young again when I looked at the young couple with the newborn baby. What I felt was blessed. I am blessed to be right where I am, right now. God gave me life and my parents had me baptized into the Christian faith. I am thankful for my past — even for all the mistakes made and lessons learned that God has used to build my character. Now, He has brought me here to this time and this place, and given my life purpose. I am thankful for this moment.

I am blessed. So are you. Let’s reflect His light everywhere, even in the chaotic airports of our lives.

Today, and always, we are surrounded by HIS grace,

Debbie

Concordia Seminary St. Louis chapel

The LWML office is moving to the Concordia Seminary St. Louis campus (CSL) this fall! This is the second part of a two-week blog. Please start by reading last week’s blog if you haven’t yet done so.

At our Board of Directors Strategic Planning meeting in October 2016 (elected officers and LWML district presidents), one of the major goals we adopted was to “Communicate a fresh image to LCMS pastors and church workers.” That was to be done by completing these objectives:

Connect and engage with pastors and church workers in a strategic manner
Intentionally invite and involve pastors and church workers in LWML events
Connect and engage pastors and church workers to LWML’s mission focus, and
Increase LWML visibility at LCMS meetings and events.

When the offer to move our offices to the CSL campus came up we found it fit well with this goal and its objectives. It will put us in a great setting for the students and staff on campus to get to know LWML and our mission a little better.

Being a presence on campus will put us visibly in their environment. It will allow our office staff to attend chapel, eat at the cafeteria, and visit with students and their families that come to visit them on campus. When new LWML resources become available they can be readily accessed. Although our staff is small—currently three full-time and one part-time, they represent the best of LWML. They are friendly, open, knowledgeable, hard-working, and love their Lord. They will be an asset to those on campus.

We praise and thank God for a faithful steward who years ago, left in their estate, two U.S. Savings Bonds for LWML. This year after reaching maturity they were cashed in on the advice and approval of the LWML Finance and Operations Committee and the LWML Executive Committee. The amount of the savings bonds will cover expenses involved in the move. The rest of the cost will be paid monthly with our rent over five years with no interest charged.

We have been blessed! Little did this donor know years ago that they would be helping their LWML make this move and enable us to move forward on one of our goals! We thank and praise God for that donor and for the generosity and support given by CSL.

Be sure to come by and visit when you are in St. Louis!

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24).

Patti

The LWML office is moving to the Concordia Seminary St. Louis campus (CSL) this fall! After years of renting at Concordia Publishing House (CPH) 3558 S. Jefferson we are moving to CSL campus. CPH has been a super landlord for us and we thank them for that business relationship, friendship, and Gospel partnership. They will continue to warehouse our resources and products for us and take care of our order fulfillment.

This first came about as a result of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, 2017. I had the honor of representing LWML riding on the Lutheran Hour Ministries Rose Parade float. I got to ride next to Rev. Dr. Dale Meyer, President of CSL. It was very much on my heart as to how we can make our pastors coming out of seminary more knowledgeable about and supportive of the mission of LWML. I asked him how we could have a bigger presence on campus and he responded, “Why don’t you move your offices to the seminary campus?” Well, I thought, why not?

I don’t know if you know the campus at all. There is a building directly across to the south from the Chapel called Loeber Hall. We are building out half of the lower level for our new office space. We estimate to move sometime late September, early October. Even as we have gone through the process of negotiations and building planning we have already been in contact with seminary students working in various roles on campus. They will get to know LWML as an integral part of our LCMS church with more contact. We are hoping to have some functions with the seminary wives, as well. Hopefully, when your new vicar, deaconess intern, or new pastor or deaconess from CSL arrives at your church next year or after, he or she will be better-acquainted with LWML!

More on this story next week!

Love, Patti

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:17).

Learn more about LWML here

Happy New Year! Our guest blogger this week is our LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor, Rev. Mitchel Schuessler. He and his wife, Penny, live in Troy, Illinois where he is pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

I pray that your 2017 went well and 2018 will be a blessing to you. Me? 2017 saw me elected to the office of LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor. WOW! Never thought it would really happen but the Lord does amazing things.

Do you have a favorite tradition you do around Christmas/New Years? Penny and I do. We make raviolis on the day after Christmas. It is always an adventure that ends in a very tasty fashion. It is amazing how, even after doing this for years, we forget what we are doing. After the first set of raviolis come out of the press, we start to remember. “Oh yeah, that is what we do,” is often said. Fun times and good eats are a part of this Schuessler/Rex tradition.

What tradition do you have in your family? One tradition that I never had in my family was the LWML. As I look back, I wish that my mom would have been involved in the LWML but she was not. I did not grow up with the LWML but I did raise my family knowing and participating in the LWML in various ways.

Penny and I have been active throughout the past 35 years, which is hard to imagine. The day we brought our daughter Rachael home from the hospital, I took her over to the church at Trinity, Harvel, IL, to meet the ladies of the LWML society. From that point on, she has been a part of the LWML, a tradition we have handed down to her and to our son Matthew. We look forward to one day passing it on to the next generation.

Happy New Year and enjoy those traditions.

Rev. Mitchel Schuessler
LWML Junior Pastoral Counselor

Pastor Mitch and his wife Penny

Visit LWML Here

My son’s family has a lovely nativity set from Italy which is displayed each Christmas on a separate table. This table is kid-friendly high. Starting with the first of three kids, the baby Jesus of the set tended to travel a lot!

Baby Jesus might end up in the hayloft of the set. He visited the dollhouse. He connected with dinosaurs, ponies and robots. He spent several days riding the train around the Christmas tree.

It was interesting that Mary or Joseph or any other character was left in place! The focus was on baby Jesus. For some reason the children focused on the Christ child in his manger. Maybe as children they related to Him being their size or having mom and dad watching over them. Maybe it was because the baby Jesus is usually portrayed with open arms reaching out to them.

It makes a point for me. Christ Jesus has come with open arms, reaching out with His love to all people. He is present everywhere, as the glorified Son of God, not simply reflected in some expensive exhibit to be admired, but there with us at our work, in our homes, during times of travel and change. He’s there among us with understanding, love and support as we experience every nuance of our lives.

Some of my friends will spend Christmas with hospitalized relatives. Some will spend Christmas feeling alone as they only have family at a distance. Some are fighting cancer, depression, or a first Christmas without a beloved spouse or mother. Whatever the circumstance, if they know Jesus by faith through the Word they can take that baby Jesus with them and treasure the joy of knowing He came for them. He is always reaching out to them and is with them wherever they happen to be this Christmas time.

My prayer for all of you is that you find that baby Jesus and focus on him. Put him in the place where you happen to be. Praise be to God for sending Baby Jesus, our Emmanuel to be with us and among us.

As LWML women we desire all people to know the peace and joy that our Baby Jesus brings to us at Christmas. That’s why we do what we do as LWML—Lutheran Women in Mission!

I hope your baby Jesus ended up in your nativity set this morning! Christmas blessings to you all!

Learn more about LWML here

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

What do you do at an Interdepartmental Meeting? Just ask an LWML committee member. Enjoy this article written by Public Relations Team member, Beth Weber, from the Rocky Mountain District! -Patti

We came from far and wide to St. Louis where we were Engaged, Encouraged, Equipped, and definitely Enjoyed our time together.

Meeting Manager, Leslie Jaseph made sure that we all had transportation, worked with an awesome hotel staff securing comfortable rooms, and fed delicious food.

As Lutheran women in mission, we brought Gifts From the Heart, mites, and purchased many LWML products and devotional materials from the LWML Store hosted by Bev England of the Public Relations Team and Karen Andersen.

We sang songs led by Carrie Brumbaugh, Chairman of the Committee on Young Women.

We met as committees, planning the activity of the LWML for the 2017-2019 biennium, focused on nurturing faith in Christ; making our faith meaningful; and sharing encouragement. To learn more about the LWML Committees’ and Teams’ Purpose Statements, visit lwml.org and click on the About tab.

LWML President Patti Ross, our very capable Captain and Navigator, led us on an exploration to discover the opportunities that God has chartered for us during the next two years. The committees and teams mapped out these possibilities by writing and presenting informative and entertaining sketches which brought much laughter to all.

The Interdepartmental Meeting closed as we gathered in worship. Rev. Robert Mundahl officiated and Rev. Mitchel Schuessler assisted with the closing service where the Word and Sacrament were offered and received. After many hugs, we departed St. Louis to return to our homes far and wide; energized, enthused, and enabled to use our unique God-given gifts in gladsome service to our Lord.

God’s Blessings,

Beth Weber, Public Relations Team 2017-2019

On the road again! LWML Treasurer Marilyn Schroeder and I traveled to New Orleans, November 16-18 to attend the Lutheran Church Extension Fund Conference, love.BOLDLY! Men and women across the country involved with LCEF met to be inspired to love, boldly, in their Christian lives. Individuals and ministries who have loved, boldly over the past year were recognized.

A ministry familiar to LWML received the Lietz Mission Project Award. Redeeming Life Maternity Home, (Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries), Sanford, Florida, a 2015-2017 LWML mission grant recipient and the founders, Rev. Ed and Sheryl DeWitt expressed thankfulness to the women of LWML for the grant they received.

There was a great lineup of guest speakers over the weekend who motivated attendees to love boldly which included Herman Cain, Gregory Seltz, Dave Dravecky, and Rev. John Nunes. Also addressing the assembly were LCMS President Matthew Harrison, Rev. Tim Carter, LCMS Southern District President Kurtis Schultz, Megan Miessler, and LCEF Board Chairman Rev. Max Phillips.

Rev. Ulmer Marshall, Mobile, Alabama, was proclaimer at the Sunday worship service.

The Rev. Max Biesenthal, LCEF Senior Vice President—Ministry Support since 2011, served as conference host and emcee, opening and closing the conference through biblical applications of the conference theme, “Love BOLDLY!” Biesenthal is the son of the late Marie Biesenthal, a dearly loved LWML sister.

LWML past presidents were also in New Orleans for meetings during the week which included the LCMS Foundation Board (Kay Kreklau, 2011-2015) and LCMS Board of Directors (Gloria Edwards, 1995-1999).

Marilyn and I were pleased and honored to be invited to attend. It was a joy to see one of “our” mission grantees receive the Lietz Award. We enjoyed meeting many of the LCMS District leaders and their wives and other LWML women in attendance. We also heard many positive comments about the mission of LWML!

And what is that positive mission? LWML loves boldly! We boldly step out of our comfort zone in service to the marginalized and those in need. We step up to fund ministries, like Redeeming Life Outreach Ministries. We step out boldly to serve on LCMS boards and committees. We love our LWML sisters like Marie who have lasting impacts on our lives.

We are Lutheran Women in Mission!

Love boldly and serve gladly!

Patti

For all the faithful women who served in days of old. So starts hymn number 855 in our Lutheran Service Book.

As we near the end of our Lutheran Women’s Missionary League’s 75th Anniversary year of 2017 (http://www.lwml.org/75) and as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving this week and take time out to thank God for his abundant blessings, I was thinking of specific things our organization was thankful for. I thought of the women who worked hard for years prior to our founding convention who struggled for recognition, put up with all kinds of criticism, derision, and still kept on until they were able to organize a national women’s organization within the synod. They are in my prayers of thanksgiving this week and in my heart.

Today we are thankful for all Lutheran women and their dedication to work that shows God’s love and forgiveness to believers and nonbelievers through our LWML. Groups in the local church, the zones and districts and the national organization put in countless hours of work and prayer as we go about our business to enable women to use their God-given abilities to serve others. (http://www.lwml.org/get-involved)

I’ll share the rest of Hymn 855, For All the Faithful Women with you and let you know that I am thanking God for each of you this week that you continue to Serve the Lord With Gladness!

For all the faithful women Who served in days of old,

To You shall thanks be given; To all, their story told.

They served with strength and gladness In tasks Your wisdom gave.

To you their lives bore witness, Proclaimed Your power to save.

O God, for saints and servants, Those named and those unknown

In whom through all the ages Your light of glory shone,

We offer glad thanksgiving And fervent prayer we raise

That, faithful in Your service, Our lives may sing Your praise.

All praise to God the Father! All praise to Christ the Son!

All praise the Holy Spirit, Who binds the Church in one!

With saints who went before us, With saints who witness still,

We sing glad Alleluias And strive to do Your will.

Patti

A Journey

Looking Back, Moving Forward

LWML Office is Moving Part 2

LWML Office is Moving

Traditions

Where’s Baby Jesus?

O Little Town of Bethlehem

LWML Interdepartmental 2017

LWML – On the Road

Thankfulness

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