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From Pastor Jay
After worship last
Sunday I was pulled to the side by a couple of members of University
Lutheran who had a deep theological question...."what in the world does
"Here I'll raise my Ebenezer" mean?"
The line "Here I'll raise my Ebenezer" comes up in the hymn "Come Thou
Font of Every Blessing" which we sang this past Sunday. The rest
of the song makes good sense, but none of us had a clue what an
Ebenezer was or why we would be raising it.
Ebenezer is actually two Hebrew words, "Eben"
(stone) and "Haazer" (helper). They
are used together in the First Book of Samuel three times, once in
chapter 4, once in chapter 5, and once in chapter 7, and they form a
story of a very dark day in Israel's history -
the story of when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Covenant after
defeating the Israelites in battle.
The Israelites got the Ark back in a
battle later on when God thundered against the Philistines which
weakened them up enough for the Israelites to win. On that day,
Samuel - the priest of Israel - took a stone
and made a memorial out of it, calling it "Eben
Haazer" or "Stone of
help".
Much later, a 17 year old named Robert Robinson was tramping around England with his drunk friends late one night. They came
across an old gypsy lady, whom they started harassing. Robinson
remembers that the old gypsy lady picked him out of the group and said,
"You will live to see your children and your grandchildren."
Today living to see your children and grandchildren, and even great
grandchildren isn't that much of a feat, but for Robinson it meant that
he was going to have to go through a change. That was the first
realization of needing a change that led to Robinson's conversion and
eventually to his becoming a pastor and the writer of the hymn "Come
Thou Font of Every Blessing".
The human life is filled with mile markers and monuments as we look
across our years. We have our own "Ebenezers".
One "Ebenezer" that Robinson looked back to was this story of the old
gypsy lady. What is yours? What is the Ebenezer that you'll
raise in thanksgiving today?
In
Christ,
Pastor Jay
Clear
Your Calendars! New and
Important
Calendar Items!
June
7th - Work Day at ULC
Clear your calendars now for a work day at ULC. We will begin at 9am. We will
clean up the outside of the church and do a few repairs. Please
consider joining us.
June 8th - The 4th
Sunday After Pentecost
- 10am - Bible Study
- We're finishing off Matthew, join us!
- 11am - Worship - A great time to raise
some Ebenezers
- During
the Announcements - Vote on ULC's
budget (should be quick).
- If
you're a Council member - We're having a meeting.
- 3pm - St. John's Episcopal - The Tallahassee Bach Parley
(which includes our own Karyl Lueck-Louwenaar) performs.
Please
Join Us For Our Work Day on the 7th!
This Saturday (the 7th of June), University Lutheran will get some of
the TLC that God's house deserves. Please consider clearing your
schedule for that Saturday and join us at 9am.
Budget
Approval This Sunday!
We will vote on the budget after
service on June 8th. A copy of
the budget can be downloaded here.
Council
Members!!! We're meeting, June 8th
Council Members are reminded that there will be a meeting directly
after worship on June 8th.
Missed a
sermon?
The
sermon text from last week, a podcast, and a couple extra blog articles
can be
found at jWinters.com
Send
a Card
Consider sending a
card or celebrating with the following people in some way this week:
- Rick
Frazier - June 7th - Birthday
- Donnie
and Cheryl Dance - June 9th - Anniversary
- Rick
and Sue Frazier - June 9th - Anniversary
- Paul
Hoover - June 9th - Birthday
- Angel
and Deb Buenrostro - June 13th -
Anniversary
Good
Stuff
In
order to make the a-frame sign that sits outside, I bought some
University Lutheran bumper stickers. You can have one if you
want, but don't expect people to say any of the following just because
you have a University Lutheran sticker on your car:
- "Don't
worry, Billy, those people are Lutherans, they must have a perfectly
good reason for driving 90 miles an hour."
- "What
a joy to be sharing the highway with another car of Jesus-filled
brothers and sisters."
- "Dad,
how can people drive like that and not get thrown in jail? Can we
get one of those University Lutheran stickers too?"
- "Oh
look! That Lutheran woman is getting a chance to share her faith
with that policeman standing by her window."
- "No,
they're not littering, I'm sure they are just throwing copies of
Portals of Prayer out so that the highway workers can read them."
- "Oh
boy am I ever in trouble, I just rear-ended one of God's cars."
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University
Lutheran Enews
June 5th
Faithful Members
Serving at Worship for
June 8th
Organist
Adam Brink
Choir Director
Bethany
Kiral
Guitar
Worship Team
Adam Douthwaite
Crystal Berner
Communion Setup
Linda Andrews
Communion Assistant
Bob Wagner
Acolyte
Please
Sign Up
Usher
Luke Barnhill
Reader
Bill Lueck
Refreshments
The McKinneys
Sound System
Bill Lueck
Forget Your Checkbook
Last Sunday?
Send
in your offering via University Lutheran's web site.
Prayer List
(Please consider including the following in your
prayer life this week)
That we may "raise
our Ebenezer" in thanksgiving to God.
That we may realize the free gift of God’s rich grace through Christ,
our Lord.
Our own Andrew Rickmers who is in the midst of basic training, and for all his friends and family as
they anxiously await to hear from him.
Thanksgiving for our Peer Ministers and the work that they do on behalf
of the Body of Christ.
Strength, wisdom, and courage for Pastor Jay who accepted the
invitation to be the Pastoral Advisor for Lutheran Student Fellowship,
a national Lutheran Campus Ministry body.
That the water bottles handed out on Sundays after worship will spur at
least one person to ask us about our faith so that we may share the
Good News of Christ.
Thanksgiving for Bret Berner, Crystal's brother, who
graduated from high school this week.
Shannon Groskreutz,
whose apartment here in Tallahassee flooded and ruined many of her
belongings.
The friends and
family of Heather Dreslin, who appears to
not have had a relationship with Jesus, and passed away this past
weekend.
For Victoria Mwegoha, who is experiencing
some problems after the dissertation committee chair left for another school.
That we might be safe as we participate in the work day this Saturday.
...and that our prayers may be joined with the prayers of all God's
saints here on earth.
Weekly
Events
Sunday @ 10am
- Bible Study - The Gospel of Matthew
Sunday @ 11am
- WORSHIP
Wednesday @ 5:30pm - Dinner at ULC
Wednesday @ 6pm -
+Vespers+ Guitar Led Worship
Series: Heroes
Click
here for ULC's Calendar of Events
Email
Links:
Pastor Jay Winters
ULC
President
Newsletter Editor
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Last
Sunday In Perspective
June
1st, 2008
11am Attendance: 49
+Vespers+: 5
Offering: $600
June 5th, 2005
Attendance: 57
Offering: $1047
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