Christmas Eve 2015

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, Uncategorized, Youth and tagged with Christmas, Christmas Eve, Lutheran Youth Organization, LYO December 21, 2015

Our Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) has been working hard preparing for Christmas Eve. As they have done for most of the past many years, they are leading the service and presenting their play. We look forward to seeing you at worship at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve, December 24. This will be a service of Word, Prayer and Song.

This will be our Candlelight Service as well. Come to hear the Good News. Come to support our youth. Come to celebrate that Jesus Christ has been born for us.

Also note: we will have our annual Festival Worship with Holy Communion on Christmas Day at 10 a.m.

Invite your friends and family.

The 12 Days of Christmas

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, Pastor's Ponderings, Uncategorized and tagged with 12 days, 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Epiphany, The Epiphany of our Lord December 12, 2015

Nativity Sacred Art NatShepherdMurillo

by Pastor David Tinker
Martin Luther Lutheran Church
Carmine, Texas

When are the 12 Days of Christmas?

The 12 Days of Christmas are the days of the Christmas Season. These are the days between the Nativity of our Lord (December 25) and the Epiphany of our Lord (January 6). There are 2 traditions of counting these 12 Days of Christmas. One tradition is that the 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day, and conclude on “Twelfth Night”, which is January 5. The second tradition is that the 12 Days of Christmas begin on December 26, and run through January 6. “Twelfth Night” would then be January 6. Despite the promotions and activity of our culture, the Christian “Christmas Season” begins on Christmas Day, rather than during the time leading up to Christmas.

Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas

Here are some ways to mark the 12 Days of Christmas in your home and daily life.
— Daily read something in the Bible about the birth and youth of Jesus. Look especially in Matthew chapters 1-2, and Luke chapter 2.
— For fun with your family sing the popular song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” — “on the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me..” Maybe do only the total number of days which have passed. Only on January 5 or 6, depending on how you count these days, would you sing all twelve verses. Another option would be to play a recording of someone singing this popular song.
— Tell others about the 12 Days of Christmas, such as in conversation, letters, e-mail, or on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
— Use 12 candles to count off the days during a meal or at devotions. One more candle is lit each day until all are lit on January 5th or 6th.
— Keep your Christmas tree up until at least January 6.
— Send your Christmas cards during this time, and possibly note the 12 Days of Christmas in your letter to family and friends.
— Attend worship at Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Carmine on the two weekends which always occur in the 12 Days of Christmas. These will be on December 27 and January 3 for this season (2015-2016). Some folks pull back from worship during this time and miss out on a joyful time of the year at church.
— Schedule Christmas Parties during this time. You will be less stressed and it will give your friends another chance to get together for joyful fellowship.

Special Days during the 12 Days of Christmas

*December 26 – The Feast of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. Read about his ministry in Acts chapters 6 and 7
*December 27 – The Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist. Read one of the books connected to his ministry, such as the Gospel of John, the three letters of John, and Revelation.
*December 28 – Remembrance of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, Martyrs. Read about these victims of tyranny in Matthew chapter 2, especially verses 16-18.
*December 31 – New Year’s Eve – a chance to reflect on God’s grace for you during this past year.
*January 1 – The Name of Jesus. On this day we remember Jesus’ 8th day. Read about this in Luke 2:21. This is when his name was announced in a public way.
*The Epiphany of our Lord – January 6
‘The People who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined.’ — Isaiah 9:2

The Epiphany of our Lord is mostly known as the celebration of the arrival of the Magi for their visit to bring their gifts of Jesus. It is much more. When we celebrate the Epiphany we are celebrating the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Epiphany reminds us about the growing glory of God in the Son of God/Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Epiphany is the manifestation, or showing, of Jesus to the world. The Magi were non-Jewish foreigners who came to worship Jesus, and are thus representatives of those who would eventually benefit from the birth, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. This visit, from Matthew chapter 2, foreshadows the mission which Jesus grants to his followers. In the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20, our Lord commands us to make disciples of all nations, not just of the Jews.

Celebrating the Epiphany of our Lord

— Attend worship on Sunday, January 3, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. as we celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord at Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Carmine.
— Read the story of the Magi in Matthew, which is told throughout chapter 2.
— Pray for Christian missionaries as they spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
— Pray for the Church around the world.
— Host an Epiphany Party.
— Give generously to people in need. Remember, as Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)
— Sing “We Three Kings” and/or “The First Noel”
— Attend worship on all or most every weekend in the season after the Epiphany.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

The gifts of the Magi to Jesus point us to who Jesus really is:

*The Magi offer Gold, a possession of kings.
*The Magi offer Frankincense, used in ritual and prayer to indicate the presence of God
*The Magi offer myrrh, an oil used at the time of death as well as for anointing priests.

By their gifts, the wise men reveal the identity of this child:

*the king before whom nations will bow down
*the anointed high priest of God
*and the suffering servant who will die for the ones he has come to serve

Christmas Program and Brunch

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, Youth and tagged with children, Christmas, The Nativity of our Lord, youth December 9, 2015

For the past several weeks the children, youth and adults of MLLC have been preparing our annual Christmas Program. Above is a photo of several of these young people rehearsing for this special event.

Children’s Christmas Program and Brunch – Sunday, December 13

Worship and Program in Sanctuary – at 9:00 a.m.

Christmas Brunch in Fellowship Hall – All Invited – at 10:15 a.m.

Join us for the fun and fellowship of our Annual Children’s Christmas Program and Brunch. Everybody is invited to both the worship service with program, and the brunch in the fellowship hall. This event is not just for the kids and the their families. In the past few years we have offered this special event we have had a great attendance by people of all ages and situations. With joy we invite you to join us on this very special Sunday.

Boxes for Seafarers – November 30

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, Men's Ministry and tagged with love your neighbor, lutheran men in mission, port of houston November 30, 2015

Christmas Boxes 2014 filling

Packing of boxes will take place on Monday, November 30, at 6 p.m. in the parlor at MLLC – the room just before the church offices.
All are invited to participate.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Martin Luther Men in Mission want very much to express our appreciation and thanks to all congregation members and friends who chose to contribute to the Port of Houston Seafarers Shoe-box Christmas project. You did a very good job last year, but you have exceeded that this year.

I know that many times it’s not wise to single out someone for the fear of missing someone who has contributed as much. However, I’ll take the chance (and if I learn that someone has done likewise, I’d gladly apologize and give them their due). About four to six weeks ago Ms. Dianne Sager told me that she and Mr. Ted Sager had applied for a $250.00 grant from Thrivent Financial for items to fill the shoe boxes. Several weeks ago she told me she had received the grant. Two weeks ago she had purchased the items and had filled the collection box, and if we needed help she would gladly help. It is hard to beat her enthusiasm.

We will be packing and wrapping the boxes on Monday, November 30 at 6:00 p.m. All congregation members and friends who want to join in the project are invited to come when they can. Again, thanks.

Yours in Christ,
Alvis Mueller – MLLC Men in Mission President

Carmine Christmas Festival – December 6

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements and tagged with Carmine, Christmas, community, love your neighbor November 10, 2015

The Carmine Community is pulling together for our annual Christmas Festival. We will gather at the Carmine Hall (300 N. Hauptstrasse in Carmine) on Sunday, December 6.

We will enjoy food, craft booths, local music, visits with Santa, and much more. The theme will be a Dickens Christmas.

Click this link for this flier for more complete information.

Please share this information with others on social media, email, or in print so more folks can enjoy this delightful annual tradition.

God’s Work, Our Hands Day 2015

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements and tagged with ELCA, God's Word, Join Hands, love your neighbor, Our Hands October 26, 2015

Join Hands–God’s Work Our Hands report (from Dianne Sager):
In April, Ted and I attended the Synodical Convention in Houston. At the convention, we became interested in the Join Hands–God’s Work, Our Hands program. I became convinced that we could make that happen at MLLC. Nancy Eilers and myself each applied for monies from Thrivent Financial– Action Teams and were approved. Nancy applied for funds for School Kits and I applied for funds for Personal Care Kits. Each team received $250.00. In September, we choose a date to take items out of original packaging and pack for the upcoming shipment to LWR, that will happen the Monday after Easter. We packed 120 School Kits and 50 Personal Care Kits. We still lack about 150 pens for the School Kits.

Here are our volunteers for this event: Dianne Sager, Nancy Eilers, Thelma Hinze, Carol Carmean, Donna Mueller, Karen Dooley, Beverly Cucuzza, Diana Wunderlich, Ann O’Hara, and Dianna Gerland.

Harvest Festival & Homecoming – October 18

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements and tagged with Carmine, community, fried chicken, harvest festival, homecoming September 21, 2015

We invite you to participate in the 2015 MLLC Harvest Festival and Homecoming. This wonderful, annual tradition at MLLC provides the community an opportunity to celebrate God’s work among us and our love for one another.

Click this link to see our main page about the Harvest Festival & Homecoming. There is a great deal of information about this event on that page. So, please click over there to find out more.

This is the 6th year for this delightful event. Each year we celebrate our life together under the grace of God. In addition to the whole Carmine community, we invite all people who have ever been part of MLLC to participate in this special event.

We will make note of Confirmation Classes from years ending in “0” or “5”. This has been our pattern for most of the history of the Harvest Festival. Next year, 2016, we will recognize classes from years ending in “1” or “6”.

This will also be a fundraiser for the congregation.

Christmas Boxes for Seafarers 2015

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, ELCA, Men's Ministry and tagged with Christmas, love your neighbor, port of houston, Social Ministry September 10, 2015

Photo: Pastor David Tinker and his son delivering the boxes last year at the Port of Houston.

Christmas Boxes for Port of Houston Seafarers 2015

We invite you to participate in this caring ministry of MLLC. The Lutheran Men in Mission of MLLC will again prepare the Christmas Boxes of Port of Houston Seafarers. This is a ministry which brings cheer, God’s love, and practical gifts to people from around the world who must be away from family at Christmas. Between now and Thanksgiving weekend 2015 we invite you to collect items for the Men in Mission to pack for the seafarers. A collection station for these items will be set up during September. Last year there were 34 boxes assembled. Here is the address to our web page article about last year’s efforts: https://mllccarmine.com/2014/12/07/christmas-boxes-for-houston-seafarers/

The men on the ships truly appreciate the love and hospitality offered by these Christmas Boxes. Think about your life. Most of us get to be home every night with family and/or near friendly neighbors. Those who work in shipping are away from home for months at a time. They are thankful for the work, but they miss their families, friends and home communities.

The Port of Houston Chaplains are our ambassadors to these seafarers. They visit the ships and bring the boxes to the crews. On their web site the chaplains tell us: “Crew sizes vary between 8 and 30, with an average number of 22 seafarers to gift per ship. In 2014, we placed 11,392 gifts on board 512 ships which had seafarers from 69 different countries! These gifts had been donated to the seafarers by 223 churches and organizations! The Christmas boxes are personally carried to each ship by your staff of Port Chaplains.” Their web site is: http://www.venturecd.net/SeafarersCenter.org/Home_Page.htm

With our work together at MLLC we can help reach even more with the love of Jesus Christ.

Here is the official notice about this program from the Port of Houston Chaplains. Click this link.

Please gather items such as these for the men on the ships:
Empty shoe boxes or purchased plastic shoe boxes to pack the items.
Address books
Band-aids (fabric)
Baseball caps
2016 Calendars
Comb
Dental Floss
Antiperspirant/deodorant
Disposable razors
Flashlight and batteries
Kleenex – small packs
Lip balm
Lotion
Nail clippers
Gold Bond cream
Gold Bond powder
Hot Chocolate (individual serving size)
Needles and thread
Q-tips
Shaving cream
Soap
Shampoo
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Gum and hard candy
Key chains
Pocket-sized notebooks
Mechanical pencils
Pens
Playing cards
Microwave popcorn
Socks
Sudoku books
Texas souvenirs
T-shirts
USB flash drives
Word search books

Photo Directory: More Appointment Times Available

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements and tagged with fellowship, people, photo directory September 2, 2015

More Appointment Times Have Been Made Available

New Photography Dates: September 15-19, Tuesday through Saturday

Click here for more information

We have had such a great response to the photo directory that we have been able to add more appointment times for your photography session. For those who have not yet set a time, please set your appointment soon. For those who have your appointment set, thank you very much for participating. For all, thank you very much for your enthusiastic interest in this program. Together we will have an excellent directory for the congregation.

We have added appointment openings on Tuesday. There are also a few later appointments on Wednesday and Thursday evenings which have been added.

Here are the ways you can make an appointment:

Three Ways to Make an Photography Appointment:
1 – by visiting the sign up table in the Narthex/Lobby before and after worship on Saturdays or Sundays
2 – by calling or stopping by the church office during office hours – M-F, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
3 – by visiting the church web site http://mllccarmine.com and then clicking on the link to the sign up web site for our photography days. Here is that same link graphic or use the same one above:

Lutherhill Weekend 2015

Posted by Pastor David Tinker in Announcements, Synod and tagged with camp, christian camping, Lutheran Youth Organization, Lutherhill, youth August 27, 2015

Joyful Weekend

We celebrated God’s love for the world and we celebrated our partnership with Lutherhill Ministries on the weekend of August 22-23, 2015. Our guest speaker from Lutherhill was Matt Kindsvatter. He serves as the Executive Director of Lutherhill Ministries. Matt is a familiar face at MLLC, since he has been a guest preacher several times over the years. Matt was the preacher at both the Saturday evening and Sunday morning services.

MLLC Kids Get in on the Act

Several of the youth from the congregation participated in the service. The Lutherhill staff members worked with the youth to prepare a skit for use in worship on Sunday. The skit reminded the congregation to share God’s love with others. Here is a photo of the MLLC Thespians in action.

Making a Joyful Noise

Lutherhill staff members lead the music on Sunday. All of the songs were ones which were sung at camp during the summer 2015. This gave us a taste of the joyful songs which the youth sang while at camp this year.

Blessing of Backpacks and Students

We continued our annual tradition of blessing our students and their backpacks. This Sunday was the weekend just before most of our students returned to school. We invite students of all ages to come forward. From year to year the age range varies depending upon who is present on the day. Some years the grade level ranges from nursery school to graduate school.

We are very thankful for the wonderful ministry we do with Lutherhill Ministries. About 15 youth from MLLC attended Summer Camp at Lutherhill this year. We look forward to an even better year in 2016. Here is a photo of three of our youth working on dining hall clean up at Lutherhill in August 2015.