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.