Seafarers Boxes 2024 – New Time for Packing

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Men's Ministry, Women, Women's Ministry, Youth and tagged with Christmas, Church, history, news November 21, 2024

seafarers-2016-packing-1

Christmas Boxes for Port of Houston Seafarers 2024

New Time: 9:00 a.m. on Monday, November 25, 2024

You are invited to participate in this continued ministry of MLLC. The Men in Mission of MLLC initiated the caring work of Christmas Boxes for Port of Houston Seafarers. This is a congregational project this year. We have heard that the Seafarers Christmas Boxes are needed more now than ever. The total number of boxes given by all organizations for Christmas 2023 was 8,659.

Our love for these neighbors will help them to know the love of God and to make life less difficult for them. We will be collecting items and preparing the Christmas Boxes for the Port of Houston Seafarers. The goal for this year is 100+ boxes.

The Packing Day for the Boxes for Seafarers is Monday, November 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. The work will take place in the Parlor, near the church offices. All are invited to participate.

For this year, please gather items such as these for the men on the ships – you can buy things throughout the spring, summer, and fall drop these off at any time up until 9 a.m. on November 25, 2024. There is a large blue storage bin for this purpose in the room directly across from the church office.

If you have any questions, please contact Pastor David Tinker

The Port of Houston Chaplains note this about the list: Full-sized items are preferred over small travel size. Please no liquid soap, bar soaps or bottled water.

Here is the 2024 list of requested items:

Please provide new items. Consider how to love your neighbor in how you choose and give items.

Band-aids (fabric)

Body Wash/Soap

Dental Floss
Antiperspirant/deodorant
Disposable razors

Gold Bond cream
Gold Bond powder

Hairbrush or comb

Hand wipes

Lip balm
Lotion
Nail clippers/Nail grooming kit

Q-tips
Shaving cream

Shampoo/Conditioner/Body Wash – 3-in-1

Toothbrush/Toothpaste

Baseball caps (new)

Chewing Gum/Hard candy

Earbuds/headphones

Flashlights with batteries

Handkerchiefs

Key chains

Magnets

Mechanical pencils/pens

Needle and thread/sewing kit

Non-perishable snacks

Playing cards

Pocket sized notebooks

Pocket calendars 2025

Socks (new)

Texas Souvenirs

T-shirts (new) sizes M, L, and XL

Word search books/Sudoku books

Lutherhill – Blessing of Backpacks

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Children's Ministry, ELCA, Synod, Youth and tagged with back-to-school, christianity, education, news, school July 29, 2024

The weekend of August 17-18 offers a combined special event for our congregation. We will offer our annual Lutherhill Sunday and our annual blessing of students and their backpacks. Both will be offered at our regular Saturday 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. services.

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Lutherhill Sunday
We will welcome our longtime friend, Matt Kindsvatter, Executive Director of Lutherhill Ministries. For most the past decade he has joined us in August to share about Lutherhill and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with us. We are thankful for our partnership with this area ministry. Our cooperative work with our Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a major part of our support and direction of this camping and retreat outdoor ministry.

Pictured is Matt Kindsvatter at a Lutherhill Sunday some years ago.
Lutherhill Sunday 2015 Matt

Lutherhill Staff to Lead Sunday School Class
There will also be a special Sunday school class led by some of our staff friends from Lutherhill. Get your children, grandchildren, and younger friends together for a fun time of learning, prayer, and play. Sunday school is offered at 9:00 a.m. each Sunday.

Blessing of Backpacks
Blessing of Students and their Backpacks
At each of these services we will pray for students of all ages and situations. It is not required that the students bring a backpack, but, if the student has one, he or she is encouraged to bring it. This is an opportunity for students to be involved in their faith every day of the week. We connect their school life with how these students grow and learn as an extension of their connection with Jesus. We involve students of a wide variety of situations. Over the years we have involved students in preschool through various types of graduate school. We have involved students who are enrolled in public schools, private schools, and home school programs. We have involved students who are quite young through those well into their adult years. The important and joyful thing is that our students are present with us and God. We are also showing that we support them in their growing and learning.

Decorate the Tree – November 26

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth November 16, 2023

Christmas Decorating 2017 Tree

Join the Fun and Joy

We will gather after worship on Sunday, November 26, 2023, to decorate the MLLC Sanctuary for the Advent and Christmas Seasons. This will take place about 11:00 a.m. on that Sunday. We need plenty of volunteer workers of all ages to help with this fun and joyful event.

As always, we gather for worship at 10 a.m. on Sunday. We will celebrate Christ the King Sunday, the end of our Christian Church Year. Then we are invited to stay to decorate.

We also offer worship every Saturday at 6 p.m.

One of the joys of our decorating is the use of Chrismons. As part of our decorating we will hang the Chrismons for the tree. These were made following patterns suggested and offered by the originators of Chrismons (click this link for more information from the official web site of Chrismons).

Here are some of the Chrismons which were carefully wrapped for storage since last year.

Here are some photos of our crew setting up the tree and preparing the lights in previous years.

Our Olive Wood Nativity Set will be ready for set up as well.

Our pulpit will be moved to a back corner to make room for the tree and Nativity scene.

Easter Egg Hunt 2023 Candy Needed

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth March 26, 2023

MLLC Egg hunt group 2022

Egg Hunt participants in 2022

Donations Requested

Our annual Easter Egg Hunt will take place after worship on Sunday, April 9. This will be at about 11:15 a.m.

The Sunday School and Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) are asking for donations of bags of individually wrapped candy. These items need to be smaller so the candy item can be put into a plastic Easter egg.

Your donations can be brought to the Parlor (large room near offices) in the week leading up to Easter Sunday. Simply place these on the counter in the parlor.

Thank you for your support of this fun and yummy event for the youth. We look forward to seeing you at worship (10 a.m.) on Easter Sunday, April 9, and to see you at the egg hunt with you.

Egg Hunt

Souper Bowl of Caring 2023 Report

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth and tagged with A.M.E.N., Fayette County, love your neighbor, LYO, Souper Bowl of Caring, Texas March 26, 2023

Souper Bowl Cash for Web

Souper Bowl of Caring for the A.M.E.N. Food Pantry

Wow! Thank you all very much. Thanks be to God, the provider of all.

The Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) of Martin Luther Lutheran Church (MLLC) had a great year ever for the Souper Bowl of Caring. After a final accounting of all gifts given our grand total is $822.50. That means we will be giving $822.50 to A.M.E.N. (Area Ministries for Emergency Needs) Food Pantry in La Grange, the county seat of our own Fayette County, Texas.

With these donations we can help this hunger relief agency purchase food items to alleviate hunger in our community.

MLLC is in Carmine, Texas, which is at the Northeast corner of Fayette County. Our ongoing support of A.M.E.N. is in line with the mission of the national Souper Bowl of Caring. The mission statement is: “Using the energy of the Super Bowl to mobilize youth in a united national effort to care for people in their local communities who are hungry and those in need.”

This is a growing ministry of MLLC. In 2022 we gave $775.00 through the Souper Bowl of Caring to our local A.M.E.N. Food Pantry.

Thank you to all who made gifts of any amount to this special project.

Thank you to the numerous youth who gave of their time to receive the donations.

The National Souper Bowl of Caring web site is: https://tacklehunger.org/

Souper Bowl of Caring 2023

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth February 10, 2023

Souper Bowl Cash for Web

Souper Bowl of Caring

Collection Dates: February 11 and 12, 2023

The Souper Bowl of Caring is an Annual Fund Raiser for the local food pantries. All proceeds will directly and exclusively support our local Fayette County food pantry: the A.M.E.N. Pantry. The Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) of Martin Luther Lutheran Church has led this effort for many years. They continue this excellent fundraiser for hunger relief this year,

How to Participate

*Look for the LYO members holding the large soup pots after worship on the 2^nd weekend of February.

*Bring in monetary gifts for A.M.E.N.. Place these in the “Soup Pots” at the sanctuary entrances. For gifts placed in the Soup Pots, Cash or check accepted. Make checks payable to: MLLC LYO; memo line: Souper Bowl. No amount is too small or too large.

*You may give using a designation on your regular offering envelope – note: Souper Bowl.

*You can give through the mllccarmine.com web site. Here is the link to our giving page. This will provide a link to our official, secure, online giving page. At the bottom of the list of funds you will find “Souper Bowl of Caring”. That is the fund line you will use to choose your amount of giving.

*All gifts will be processed by the LYO and forwarded to the two recipient groups.

*If you will not be able to attend worship on the designated dates, or you simply forget to bring something to give on those dates, feel free to mail your Souper Bowl of Caring gifts to the church office by March 1, 2023.

The LYO has Big Plans to help our neighbors in need:

*Our goal is to collect at least $500 for our local food pantry.

*We have been generous here at Martin Luther over the years. Let’s work together to make 2023 our best year ever as we serve our neighbors in need.

*This is a nationwide effort. In recent years about $5-10 million was generated by 6,000-10,000 groups across the USA each year.

*The official web site is: www.souperbowl.org

SouperBowl-logo__981 Color

Christmas Services 2022

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth December 23, 2022

Celebrating the Nativity of Our Lord

Merry Christmas from MLLC. We look forward to you gathering with us to celebrate God’s great love in Jesus Christ.

We offer two celebrations of the Nativity of our Lord – Christmas – each year at MLLC. All are welcome as we rejoice in the annual celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas Eve 2014 Candles

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service – December 24

Worship at 6 p.m.

Our LYO – Lutheran Youth Organization – will lead this service as they have for several decades.

The message each year is a play presented by the youth.

A special highlight of service is the candle ceremony which includes the singing of Silent Night.

Christmas Day Festival Holy Communion – December 25

Worship at 10 a.m.

A joyful time of worship, singing, Word, and Holy Communion.

Christmas Decorating 2017 Tree

Christmas Worship at Waldeck

Our partner church, Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church, offers a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with Holy Communion at 11 p.m. As this year Christmas is on a Sunday, our friends at Waldeck will have their regular worship service on Sunday at 8 a.m. Waldeck Evangelical Lutheran Church is located at 6915 Waldeck Church Lane, Ledbetter, TX 78946, about 6.5 miles south of Ledbetter at the intersection of FM 1291 and FM 2145.

Christmas Program and Jesus Birthday Party – December 11

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Youth December 1, 2022

childrens-christmas-2016-cake

The Sunday School will be once again hosting Jesus’ Birthday Party immediately following the Sunday School Christmas program on Sunday, December 11th in the fellowship hall.

This year a catered meal consisting of fried pork steak, green bean, mashed potatoes, and gravy will be provided. The food is free will donation to anyone who would like to attend.

Anyone wishing to eat the meal at Jesus’ Birthday must RSVP to the Church office by December 4th to ensure the correct count for the caterer. Call the office at 979-278-3388 and leave a message with your name and the count for your group or family attending.

Worship and Fellowship on Labor Day Weekend 2022

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, Pastor's Ponderings, Women, Women's Ministry, Youth August 25, 2022

people working

Sunday Schedule for September 4

Worship at 10:00 a.m.

Fellowship and Meal at ~11:10 a.m.

Worship on Sunday, September 4, will be in the Fellowship Hall at MLLC. This is the older, white building on the north/US-290 side of the church campus. On future weeks we will resume gathering for worship in the sanctuary – the brick building on the south side of the church campus.

See below for details about worship, food, dressing the part, etc.

The Saturday evening worship service will be in the sanctuary at 6 p.m. as usual.

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Note: We will resume our normal schedule on the weekend of September 10 and 11:

Saturday Worship at 6:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary

Sunday School at 9:00 a.m.

Sunday Worship at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary

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A National Holiday

The beginning of September brings a Holy Day of sorts for all of us. Labor Day is a civic holiday to celebrate at least two things: 1 – the opportunity for work; and 2 – the American Labor Movement. As Lutheran Christians we go deeper with this and view all work as part of God’s calling and his provision of our daily bread. All Christians are doing the work of God, regardless of where or what they do in their honorable vocation in life.

Dressing the Part

To celebrate this blessing of vocation we will be taking the Sunday of Labor Day weekend to give thanks for the blessings of daily bread, of work, of school, of family, etc. To enhance our time together you are invited to wear the clothes or uniform of your current, prior to retirement, or planned for vocation (such as students or children seeking to enter a certain career). No matter what, know that we will be giving thanks for, and honoring, all that God has called each of us to do as part of his greater work in the world. Know that who each of us is and what God has called and equipped each of us to do is important. On Sunday, September 4, we will take time to give thanks for all which God calls and equips us to do.

Food and Fellowship

As part of this we will have a pot-luck lunch following worship. The committee in charge of this event will provide barbecue pork and condiments, along with beverages. You are invited to bring a side, salad or dessert to share.

Blessing of Backpacks 2022 + Lutherhill Sunday August 20-21

Posted by mllccarmine in Announcements, ELCA, Pastor's Ponderings, Synod, Youth July 20, 2022

Students and Pastor David Tinker at the blessing of backpacks some years ago.

Lutherhill Sunday

and Blessings of Students and their Backpacks

By Pastor David Tinker

The weekend of August 20-21 offers a combined special event for our congregation. We will offer our annual Lutherhill Sunday and our annual blessing of students and their backpacks. Both will be offered at our regular Saturday 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. services.

Lutherhill Sunday

We will welcome our longtime friend, Matt Kindsvatter, Executive Director of Lutherhill Ministries. For most the past decade he has joined us in August to share about Lutherhill and to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with us. We are thankful for our partnership with this area ministry. Our cooperative work with our Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a major part of our support and direction of this camping and retreat outdoor ministry.

Pictured is Matt Kindsvatter at a Lutherhill Sunday some years ago.

Lutherhill Staff to Lead Sunday School Class

There will also be a special Sunday school class led by some of our staff friends from Lutherhill. Get your children, grandchildren, and younger friends together for a fun time of learning, prayer, and play. Sunday school is offered at 9:00 a.m. each Sunday.

Blessing of Backpacks

Blessing of Students and their Backpacks

At each of these services we will pray for students of all ages and situations. It is not required that the students bring a backpack, but, if the student has one, he or she is encouraged to bring it.

This is an opportunity for students to be involved in their faith every day of the week. We connect their school life with how these students grow and learn as an extension of their connection with Jesus.

We involve students of a wide variety of situations. Over the years we have involved students in preschool through various types of graduate school. We have involved students who are enrolled in public schools, private schools, and home school programs. We have involved students who are quite young through those well into their adult years. The important and joyful thing is that our students are present with us and God. We are also showing that we support them in their growing and learning.