With Thanksgiving coming very soon, I have a poem I would like to share.
It comes from a book titled, "Prayers for a Privileged People" by Walter Brueggemann.
Here is my prayer for all of us this Thanksgiving, 2015
At Thanksgiving, by Walter Brueggemann
Amid football,
family, and too much food,
we pause quickly and without inconvenience
to remember and to thank.
We remember ancient pilgrims
who followed dreams of alabaster cities and financial opportunity;
We remember hospitable first nation people
who welcomed them, and then lost their land;
We remember other family times
filled with joy and filled with anxiety, and old scars still powerful.
We thank you for this U.S. venue of justice and freedom,
and are aware of its flawed reality;
We thank you for our wealth and our safety,
and are aware of how close to poverty we are and how under threat we live.
We gather our impulse for gratitude today,
grateful to you and to our ancestors,
grateful to you for our families,
our health,
our government,
our many possessions.
We gladly affirm that
"All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above,"
But we yield to none in a sense of self-sufficiency,
our weariness in needing to share,
our resentfulness of those who take and do not give.
Your generosity evokes our gratitude,
but your generosity over-matches our gratitude.
We are ready to thank,
but not overly so;
We remember our achievements,
our accomplishments,
our entitlements,
and our responsibilities
that slice away our yielding of ourselves to you.
Move through our half-measure of thanks
and let us be, all through this day,
more risky in acknowledging
that we have nothing except what you give.
You have given so much - not least your only Son.
Gift us the gift of dazzlement and awe
that we may rejoice in our penultimate lives
and keep you ultimate all the day long,
relishing the wonder of your self-giving love.
Amen.
|
|
Your Synod Resource Center now has a masterful three-volume
biography of Martin Luther.
The first volume, "Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, 1483-1521," in Martin Brecht's three-volume biography recounts Luther's youth and young adulthood up to the period of the Diet of Worms. Brecht, in a clear, eloquent translation by James Schaaf, discusses Luther's education at the University of Erfurt, his monastic life, his canonical trial in 1519, the Leipzig debate, and his earliest contributions to the beginning of the Reformation. Illustrations enrich the text.
The second volume, "Martin Luther: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521-1532," covers his life from the Diet of Worms in 1521 to the death of Elector John the Steadfast in 1532.
The third volume. "Martin Luther: The Preservation of the Church, 1532-1546," offers valuable insights in Luther's latter years, an area often neglected, 1532-1546.
If you are looking for a way to better understand what led Martin Luther to being the agent of change and challenge that he became these volumes will give you much to consider!
Send me an email if you'd like to read one of these incredible books! Click here to Email Janet your request.
|
|
We continue to keep a good supply of Luther's Small Catechism pamphlets on hand.
We purchase these for you and your congregations.
With Reformation 500 approaching, this is a great time to have a class on Luther's Small Catechism.
We'll supply you with Luther's words!
To date we have sent out over 1,300 Small Catechism pamphlets.
Join the excitement, as our Presiding, Elizabeth Eaton, suggested
by "dusting off the catechism and taking another look at the basics of our faith.
As a reminder of how valuable this resource is,
Luther's Small Catechism is filled with wonders, including Martin Luther's comments on
The Ten Commandments,
The Creed,
The Lord's Prayer,
The Sacrament of Holy Baptism,
Confession,
The Sacrament of the Altar,
and Daily Prayers.
|
|
We appreciate your calls and e-mails about resources!
The Resource Center is your lending library!
You are helping us to do a better job in providing the specific resources you and others are looking for.
Keep telling us what you want, at rspselca@pacbell.net
This is how we know what to purchase.
|
|
Please note that the Synod Resource Center of the Sierra Pacific Synod
is eligible to receive Choice Dollars from Thrivent Financial.
We are sincerely grateful to Thrivent Financial and those individuals who designate their Choice Dollars to us, for their support of the Synod Resource Center.
For more information email Janet or contact your Thrivent Representative.
|
|
|
|
|
