Professional Documents
Culture Documents
January 2019
Grace Happenings
1/20 SAM
John Coy 1/1
Nicholas Gibson 1/7 1/26 32nd Annual
Wild Game Dinner Fundraiser
Makensie Williams 1/10 Serving from 4 – 7 PM
ALL YOU CAN EAT
Stella Brown 1/12 Donations: $10.00/Adult (13+)
$5.00/Children ages 4 – 12
Cindy D’Spain 1/15 FREE/Children ages 1 - 3
None
Well, it’s January and it’s 2019. Soon the Twelve Days of Christmas will be over on the 6 th
of January as we remember the coming of the Magi on the Feast of the Epiphany, the Manifestation
of the Christ to the Gentiles. So, now what?
So, now what? Time and again this has proven a very good question in my life. Hmmm,
looking back across the past Januaries of my life, I wonder if I can detect a pattern of surprise! Let’s
see, January 2019, I’m very surprised to be serving among you as your Transitional Pastor at Grace.
Let’s see, looking back a year ago in January 2018, I had my first conversation with the leadership of
Grace Lutheran Church and would soon join with you as Transitional Pastor (on the 1st of February).
January 2017 found me serving in that capacity at Triumphant Lutheran Church in Garden Ridge;
January 2016 and 2015 found me in that capacity at San Antonio’s Saint Andrew Lutheran Church;
and in January 2014, I was extremely surprised to be serving as the Transitional Pastor at
Gethsemane, San Antonio. The year before that, January 2013, I was surprised to be serving at the
Southern Regional Medical Command while beginning my last several months in the US Army
Chaplain Corps. Believing that I had things all figured out, I had every expectation of leaving the
Army and going off to live happily ever after on the ranch in Oklahoma. January 2012, I was
serving at Brooke Army Medical Center in what I truly believed would be my very last assignment
in the Army. Hmmm, looking back across the past Januaries of my life, I wonder if I can detect a
pattern of surprise! So, now what? It is a question often coming to mind at the beginning of a new
year, even as I have discovered over and over again that about the time that I think that I have it all
figured out, God is still full of surprises!
So, now what? It seems to me that the answer to the pertinent question is always the same
for the people of God together both Pastors and People. It seems to me that the answer to the so,
now what question lies in the mission which our Lord has placed into our hands, the mission of
making disciples of all nations by Baptizing and Teaching (not necessarily in that order), a mission
which begins for us in the Cowboy Capital of the Word, reaching out into Bandera County, then
Texas, and finally on to the ends of the earth. So, now what? It’s January 2019, time for embracing
God’s surprising new beginnings, time to roll up our collective sleeves, and time to get back to the
core mission of Grace Lutheran Church…
Faithfully equipping God's disciples to do God's work in our church, our community, and
our world.
Pax+
Continuing with another principle from the ‘10 Stewardship Principles’ from our ELCA resources.
How appropriate this principle is for this blessed time of year.
Principle #6: Give proportionately is our way of giving in relation to our abundance. We are
to give according to our “means”, not according to an income or budget.
“If the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has - not according to what one
does not have.” 2 Corinthians 8:12
As always, thank you for being faithful stewards to the Lord’s work at Grace. As you will see below
we were only $519 off from meeting our budget for the year. That is awesome. Shortly, we will be
putting together our plans for 2019 and ask that you keep Grace in your prayers as we strive to
continue the Lord’s work through Grace.
In His Service,
Marge Muniz
32nd Annual Wild Game Dinner
Sunday, January 13
Baptism of Our Lord
Isaiah 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22
Sunday, December 20
Second Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 62:1-5
Psalm 36:5-10
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
John 2:1-11
Sunday, January 27
Third Sunday after Epiphany