Kassie, her mom, and I went to Memorial Lutheran (LCMS) in Houston this morning. Driving into the parking lot, I noticed right away the spaces for visitor parking. Nice touch. We walked in and were greeted immediately by a very friendly woman.
The service began with a procession as the hymn “Christ Sits at God’s Right Hand” was sung. The congregation reverently faced the crucfix. One of the associate pastors presided; the order of service was from LSB, Divine Service, First Setting. We sang “This Is the Feast,” which I am no fan of, but other than that the service was reverently conducted and the people were pious. The presiding minister did not rush through the Verba, chanting slowly and deliberately. Communion was distributed in a manner confessing the doctrine of the real presence. I was at peace.
Unfortunately, the readings were from the Vatican II lectionary, so I missed the traditional lessons and hymns for the last Sunday of the Church Year. But the sermon, by the Senior Pastor, Scott Murray, was excellent. He preached on the resurrection of the body, doing a beautiful job of making it personal (referencing poignantly his own father’s death) yet solidly Biblical.
Their cantor, Janet Muth, played the organ very well, and the choir was well-prepared and sang appropriate liturgical music. The congregation sang well, including an extremely confident participation in the difficult creedal hymn “We All Believe in One True God.” It was a pleasure to worship there. I am almost always disappointed when I go to church on vacation, and today I wasn’t, even if I do have to read the Parable of the Ten Virgins myself later.
Afterward we toured the administrative and school facilities. Newly renovated, the building is stunning. An outstanding parish hall designed for teaching and music, a state-of-the-art kitchen, a youth room perfectly designed, with television screens throughout informing the congregation of coming activities. This is a confessional Lutheran congregation that clearly gets the importance of having attractive, clean facilities designed for teaching and fellowship. I kept repeating to myself, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s church facilities.”
On the way out, I noticed a bunch of parking spots marked “Reserved for seniors.” Classy.
Categories: Reports/Reviews
So, today I met an old friend from college for coffee, the brilliant jazz pianist Pamela York. Leaving there, Kassie and I were driving from downtown Houston towards Katy to visit relatives, and we just happened to be driving past Lakewood “Church,” the scene of Joel Osteen’s many crimes against the Word of God. So naturally we had to stop and pay homage.
Osteen’s name is emblazoned everywhere, but I’ve noticed all around Houston the names of pastors are extremely large - often as big as the name of the church itself. Hideously fascinating.
Categories: Humor · Reports/Reviews
Tagged: Photographs
This woman in a Houston restaurant was wearing a camoflage baseball hat with rhinestones in the shape of a cross. Part of the awesomeness of the iPhone is you can snap a pic like this very sneakily.
Categories: Humor
Tagged: Photographs
Sent in by a parishioner who wishes to remain anonymous.
Categories: Humor
Tagged: Photographs
I have no patience for hymns that have nothing Christian about them. Take this stinker from LSB (#789) by Albert F. Bayly:
Praise and thanksgiving, Father, we offer
For all things living, Created good:
Harvest of sown fields, Fruits of the orchard,
Hay from the mown fields, Blossom and wood.
.
Bless, Lord, the labor We bring to serve You
That with our neighbor We may be fed.
Sowing or tilling, We would work with You,
Harvesting, milling For daily bread.
.
Father, providing Food for Your children,
By Your wise guiding Teach us to share
One with another, So that, rejoicing
With us, all others May know Your care.
.
Seriously, what prevents a Muslim, a Jew, or a Unitarian from singing that? We will never sing it at Immanuel! Never, I tell you.
There. I got it out of my system.
Categories: Hymns · Rants
Tagged: Lutheran Service Book, Thanksgiving
November 17, 2008 · 1 Comment
It’s never good to be on the left. The left is where the goats are. Today, Jesus tells us about the Day of Judgment. When Jesus, the Son of Man, “comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them … as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” We don’t want to be on the left.
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Categories: Sermons
Tagged: Baptism, Judgment, ministry, Trinity 26
“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.” Job is not only talking about himself in those words; he is talking about us. Our days are numbered, yet in our folly we don’t count them correctly. Your days are determined; the number of your months is with God; He has appointed limits for you that you cannot pass. And so the fear of death that every man experiences is not a fear of pain in dying, but pain in life escaping, slipping away. Like a flower, man blooms, then withers and decays. Like the leaves of an autumn tree, so beautiful in vibrant color, only to fall to the earth, destined to be carried away and burned or buried.
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Categories: Sermons
Tagged: Abortion, death, Infanticide, Job, original sin, Resurrection, Trinity 25
Dear saints of God in Christ Jesus, baptized by water and the Holy Spirit unto sanctification and salvation: Today we observe All Saints’ Day. We often think of a saint as an exceptionally good person. The word “saint” simply means “holy one,” and Jesus describes one who is holy in today’s Gospel: one who is poor in spirit, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker.
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Categories: Sermons
Tagged: All Saints
For those of you new to Lutheranism, it is our custom to celebrate Reformation Sunday on the last Sunday in October. Despite the fact that we have a picture of Luther preaching on the cover of the service folder, the Reformation really isn’t about Luther, and the Lutheran Church isn’t about Luther. Luther was merely – well, there really isn’t anything “mere” about Luther. His personality was larger than life, which can overshadow his real importance: that he was merely a humble instrument of God, a preacher of the kingdom of heaven. On Oct. 31, 1517, Luther nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These theses begin, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.” Luther was a preacher of repentance. Luther was merely a preacher of God’s Word, a preacher of the kingdom of heaven.
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Categories: Sermons
Tagged: Reformation
Our wonderful interim school administrator, Mrs. Margaret Zensinger, had a pricless quote the other day: “Of course we have contemporary worship music at Immanuel. It’s called ‘Ralph Vaughan Williams.’”
Categories: Liturgy · Music
Tagged: Contemptible Worship, Margaret Zensinger, Ralph Vaughan Williams
