LCM Returns for Spring Semester!!

If you weren’t able to attend our first Lutheran Campus Ministry meeting for the Spring Semester, here’s what you missed!

Additionally, we began working on our schedule for our upcoming activities. Keep an eye out for a calendar to be posted soon!

We will not meet next week due to the MLK holiday but will return to our regular time the next week. That’s Monday night at 6pm at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 749 Hwy 107, Sylva.

Have a great start to the semester!

Some inspirational words from the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”

“Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But…the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

Blessed Holidays

Wishing all of our students and their friends and families a peaceful Advent, merry Christmas and joyous New Year!

Godspeed in your travels and we look forward to seeing you back here in January.

 

Worship – 10/10

This evening at Lutheran Campus Ministries, Jo and Bill Gazda made the LCM group salad, chicken casserole, rice and an apple cake. We held a worship service led by Alyssa. The sermon referred to Matthew 22: 1 – 11.

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.” But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, maltreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

The sermon was about how sometimes we reject God or dismiss Him when he is calling us. He is always there when we need Him.

Reminders: Fall Break for WCU students from October 13 – October 18. No LCM on October 17. Next LCM meeting will be Monday, October 24. We will be having a Cook Out at Bill and Dee Dee’s. Contact if you need directions.

Bible Study – 10/3

A Bible Study was held this past Monday evening during our Lutheran Campus Ministry meeting. For supper we ate leftovers from the Oktoberfest. During supper, we played a Would You Rather? game along with other fun questions. Schedules for this semester were handed out and we talked about visiting a Pentecostal church this semester. Our Bible Study was about how some people are mistreated by other individuals within the church. We discussed how we as Christians should handle those kinds of situations. The questions were:

1) Do you know anyone who is “turned off” to church because of a bad experience? What do you think might change someone’s mind once they’ve had an experience like this?

2) What can churches do to minister to people who have been mistreated in the past?

3) Do you think it matters to God whether someone comes to faith early in life or at the end of their earthly life? Why or why not?

 

Worship – 9/26

This evening Lutheran Campus Ministries held a student led worship at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church. We had breadsticks, chicken alfredo from Pizza Hut, chicken casserole, and an amazing pecan cake made by Dee Dee. The Oktoberfest is this coming Saturday (October 1) at the church. It will be from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm. For our community service project, students need to arrive at the church at 4:00 pm to help set up and help clean up after everyone has left. This Oktoberfest is open to the entire community and will include  food and performances by the choir and guitar choir.

Verse of the night:

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.

Message of the Night:

Actions speak louder than words.

Bible Study – 9/12/11

Tonight’s LCM meeting was a great success. Robin and Dianne made a delicious dinner consisting of salad, “noodle crud” (basically lasagna for college students) and chocolate chip cookies. We then came up with a tentative date for the Renaissance Festival which will be Saturday, November 5. We are also thinking about visiting a mosque at some point this semester. Like the sermon yesterday, during our Bible Study tonight we discussed forgiveness. A story was read about a woman named Phyllis whose son passed away during the 9/11 attacks. She met another mother (Aicha) whose son was involved in planning the 9/11 attacks. They reached out to each other because they both suffered losing a son.

Here are the questions we discussed:

1) In your daily life, what are the offenses you find hardest to forgive? Why?

2) Does it seem unnatural for a mother to forgive the perpetrators of her son’s murder? Wouldn’t it have been more natural for her to want to get some “payback” and “her due” instead? What do you think helped Phyllis go beyond what might be “natural?”

3) If you witnessed the events of 9/11 on TV as they were happening, or since, what emotions were you feeling, and how are you feeling towards the terrorists now?

Next week we will have worship. We will meet at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church as usual. If you need a ride contact Alyssa at avammon1@catamount.wcu.edu.

First Meeting – Fall ’11

This past Monday (August 29) was LCM’s first meeting of the 2011 – 2012 school year! On our first meeting, Dee Dee Bishop (one of our advisers) made a fabulous spaghetti dinner and we celebrated Pastor Rosemary’s birthday. Everyone went around the room sharing a funny story or something interesting that happened over the summer.

The Fall 2011 calendar is updated and we have lots of things planned for this year including a new community service project. Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church is hosting an Oktoberfest for the community of Cullowhee and Sylva. The LCM students have been asked to help with the Oktoberfest which will be a great way to reach out to the community.

LCM will not meet on Labor Day – the following Monday, September 12, we will meet at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church for a Bible Study. We hope to see you there!

Need a ride or have any questions? Contact the church @ (828) 586-2084 or email at shepherdofthehills@dnet.net or Alyssa Ammon (LCM President) @ (980) 322-2748 or email at avammon1@catamount.wcu.edu.

Welcome Back Sunday and First Meeting

This Sunday, August 28th is our anual Welcome Back Student Sunday! There will be cake and goodies after our 11am worship service, so plan to attend. Directions to get to the church are here.

Need a ride to worship? Call the church before 3pm on Saturday 828.586.2084 and leave a message or send us a message.

Then it’s time for our first meeting of the semester on Monday, August 29th at 6pm. We’ll be in the fellowship hall at Shepherd of the Hills. This is a new time and location for us for this year! See the link for directions above and, just like Sunday, if you need a ride let us know before noon on Monday. Come join us for dinner and planning the upcoming semester’s activities!

The Students Return

After a long summer, it is time to go back to school!

Tomorrow is the official start of “move in” for WCU! Classes begin next week for the 2011-2012 school year and our campus ministry students will start coming in a bit at a time. Classes have already begun this week for Southwestern Community College!

Next Sunday, August 28th is our official Welcome Back Student Sunday, so we’re hoping to see quite a few that day! Worship is at 11am and there will be cake and goodies for all!

LCM this year will be on Monday nights at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church at 6pm. More on that to come but plan to join us for food and fun each week.

We also have two LCM Alumni who will begin their studies at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary as they pursue Masters of Divinity and discern God’s call for them into ordained ministry. Lucas Ladnier (whose blog is here if you’re interested) and Josh Johnson go with our prayers and hearts. Josh is not only an alumnus of LCM, he is also a member of our church and we are joyful for the opportunity to sponsor him as he follows this path.

We pray God’s peace to all students, professors and educators of all types as the new school year begins.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!

The LCM 2010-2011 academic year has come to a close. Classes have ended, exams have begun and graduation will culminate the four or more years of really hard work that several of the campus ministry students have completed. Yesterday, we had a service of Farewell and Godspeed for the students at Shepherd of the Hills as we formally bid farewell to everyone. Six graduate this year! But many will return in the fall and quite a few will be here over the Summer!

Prayer from the F & G: “God of all Hope and Peace, we give you thanks for all you have given us in the gift of these students. We turn them to your care as they depart from us, some for a season and some for longer. Guide their ways, fill them with you love and peace and return them, in the right time and as you see fit to do so, to our congregation. In Jesus name, we pray Amen”

To the students themselves: Shepherd of the Hills is proud to be a part of your lives for the time you are with us and you are forever part of our hearts.