NEWS BLOG

March is Colorectal Cancer Month

Facts: Colorectal Cancers are the 4th leading cause of deaths from Cancer.

What YOU Can Do: The good news is that colorectal-cancer-preventing habits are nearly identical to those that help your heart!


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Upcoming Community Connections Sessions on Human Trafficking

Join us for a discussion forum (March 10) and a bible study (March 17) on the current issue of human trafficking. What is Human Trafficking? As defined by Webster’s dictionary, human trafficking is organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited-as by being forced into prostitution or involuntary labor.

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Lenten Potlucks

The season of Lent is upon us. This year we will continue our custom of having a potluck meal at 6:00 P.M. before each of our Wednesday Lenten Services. Tea, lemonade and decaf coffee will be provided. No time to cook? Fast food is fine!


Inter-generational Build Event

Upcoming Inter-generational build event with the Board of Spiritual Development. Won’t it be fun to share your story with others about the day you helped build furniture with fellow congregants of various ages? A memory that can last a lifetime for our young ones especially. Please plan to join us on March 30th to refresh our outdoor seating space. We will be building new furniture for seating under the trees. We will have a new area to place them after Jordan VanGulick’s Eagle Scout project is completed on March 16th. (March 30th will be a Thrivent Action Team event).



Stewardship Notes for February 2019

     In our monthly articles concerning Stewardship, we have been exploring various aspects of how we use the resources that God has entrusted to our care to love God and our neighbors.    We acknowledge that God has called us to serve our neighbors, including those that are near and also those that are far away.  This month, we emphasize that we are Stewards of Global Community.  


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February is Heart Month

According to the Heart Association: Every minute in the United States, someone’s wife, mother, daughter, or sister dies from heart disease, stroke, or other forms of cardiovascular disease. Although heart disease death rates among men have declined steadily over the last 25 years, rates among women have fallen significantly less. What are the differences between men and women with heart disease?


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Special Community Connections on Hospitality

February 17,  10 AM, Peace Sanctuary
What does the Bible say about hospitality? What should we be doing to ensure all people feel welcome at Peace? Everyone, please join us for a study and discussion on hospitality. After the discussion, we will spend a few minutes going over some simple, but important changes to the usher, greeter and welcome table roles. If you serve or would like to serve as an usher, greeter or welcome table person please plan to attend.


Calling all Peace Talent and Chili Chefs

The annual Peace Talent Show and Chili Cook-Off are at 6:30 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2019. Sign up your talent for the show and/or to enter the Chili contest, on Sundays after services on February 3 or 10, in the narthex. Our Peace choir is hosting the dinner and entertainment fundraising event. Reservations and ticket sales will be at the sign-up table on the next 2 Sunday’s.

We hope to see you there!



A Picture is Worth 1000 Names

Do you ever hear a name at church and wonder if you have seen that person? To make things easier, the Board of Outreach plans to add photos to Peace’s text directory. We need your help. We need a few minutes of your time, after Sunday worship. There will be a photo backdrop, with one of Peace’s own photographers, available after each service and during community connections February 10 – March 3 for family or individual photos. Please stop by and get your photo taken. The photos will be used for the directory and you can have your photos emailed to you if you would like. 


Godly Play Training Opportunity!

Peace will be hosting one of three Saturday training sessions in February for those interested in learning more about the process or becoming a classroom guide. This is an official commuter CORE training of the Godly Play Foundation, run by a certified Godly Play trainer.

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Stewardship Notes for January 2019

     As we are beginning another year of Grace, we contemplate the work that God has called us to do, and the steps that must be undertaken, because we are Stewards of God’s Mission. God’s mission is the restoration and reconciliation of all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.  

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The Overwhelming Holidays

The opening phrase of one Christmas hymn reads, “Cold December flies away . . .”  While here in Austin, Texas, December isn’t always cold, the days, following the Thanksgiving holiday, do seem to fly by.

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Stewardship Notes for December 2018

     We hope that these monthly articles have helped you to understand that a Stewardship Lifestyle includes our whole lives.  Yes, being a good steward does involve our money, but it isn’t only about money   This month, we want to briefly discuss two ideas with you: first, that we are Stewards of God’s Grace, and second, a few practical thoughts about end-of-year financial matters, as well as what will happen during the first part of 2019. 

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Coloring as Mindfulness

In recent years there has been a growth in coloring books for adults. We are finding that this activity, that many enjoyed as children, have added benefits for adults. Coloring by adults requires our focus on the task and away from ourselves.  According to clinical psychologist Scott M. Bea, Psy.D. from the Cleveland Clinic, there are 3 benefits to coloring;

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Stewardship Notes for October 2018

The Stewardship Committee is enjoying bringing you “food for thought” about what it means to be a good steward of God’s blessings and resources in this world. This month we will focus on an area in our lives that might be too easily overlooked: being Stewards of God’s Word. I must confess there are many times that I suddenly realize that it has been a while since I devoted some focused reading time in my Bible. I do have my favorite Bible verses, and I have committed a good number of them to memory. But I find when I take the time to really read the whole story in the chapter, and/or previous verses leading up to my favorite parts, I discover new things that I might not have noticed or understood before.

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Pastor’s Corner: A place for you…

This spring I was standing in the front entryway at church when I looked down and noticed a little green sprout peeking out from a joint between window and floor…reaching a long, single stem into the rotunda…inside the building!

It’s since been removed…as I suppose is appropriate…but it made me smile. That tenacious little living thing had found its way through the cracks and up back into the sunlight again at the entrance to our building.


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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is breast cancer awareness month. Recently, there has been some disagreement about the age at which mammography should begin. The American College of Gynecologist still recommends beginning mammography at age 40 in women with average risk. 
 
The American Cancer Society suggests starting at age 45.  Some health organizations suggest that women age 40-45, should discuss this matter with their health care practitioners regarding the best time to start.  All of these organizations do recommend yearly mammograms for women age 50 -75.

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Stewardship Notes for September 2018

     In the past few months, we have focused on being God’s Stewards of His Creation, Money, Stuff, Ourselves and our Time and Talents.  This month we focus on a stewardship topic that may not be as straightforward as those in the last few months:  Stewards of Relationships.  When we think about the full circle of stewardship, we usually focus on what that includes and not usually whoit includes. We all have MANY relationships in our lives: family, congregation, community, and neighbors just to name a few. All of these relationships revolve around people and how we share the good news with them as well as receive His blessings from them.  God uses these people in our lives to teach, challenge, encourage and love us!  Likewise, we need to share everything God has taught us with all those we have relationships with. 

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Missional River Listening Team

There are ten steps in the Missional River process. While we are now working on steps 2 & 3 we want to report what we learned looking back at step 1. This step focused on building a listening team. This happened through training, coaching, developing of a purpose statement, developing a covenant, deciding on roles for team members, study, planning, and practice. Here are a few of the things we learned. Some of these may be a surprise and others may just sound like common sense.

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Announcing Community Connections 2018-2019!

This year is going to be full of rich conversation and learning together. We are so excited to see you on Sunday mornings from 10:00-10:45 am!
 
Throughout this year, we will have the chance to hear special one-time presentations on a variety of topics from many different leaders, as well as engaging in some subjects that will span multiple sessions, outlined below.
 

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Stewardship Notes for August 2018

When we consider all of the resources that God has entrusted to our care, we realize that each of us has been blessed with time and unique talents and that we are called to use these to love God and our neighbors. This month, you are asked to prayerfully reflect on how you are investing your time, and using your special abilities.
 
Here are a few pertinent passages from the Holy Bible:
“Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” (1 Peter 4:10 NRSV)
 
“We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:6-8 NRSV)

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August is Mindfulness Month

The topic for this month is Mindfulness. According to Tim Stead, an Anglican priest in Oxford, mindfulness has been called; silent prayer, contemplative prayer, the desert tradition, or mystical theology in the Christian tradition. It has been around since the time of Jesus to the present. In about the 1970’s, the study of mindfulness and its effects on health became the focus of much research. Tim Stead (2018), defines it as, “Being more fully aware of your own experience in the present moment in a non-judgmental way.” There are some who feel that mindfulness or meditation is their time to listen to God and to discern God’s will for them.


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AGE of Central Texas and Area Agency on Aging Host Free Caregiver Conference

The largest, longest-run free caregiver conference in Central Texas, the annual event helps to ease the challenges of caring for an aging family member by providing unpaid caregivers with relevant information and vital resources.  The attendees will discover local resources, acquire skills to better manage their caregiving situation, and connect with other caregivers and local experts on aging. The day also includes workshops on topics related to caregiving, with experts available for questions.    

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Stewardship Notes for July 2018

In our monthly articles, we have tried to emphasize different aspects of a Stewardship lifestyle. We hope that you have come to appreciate the depth and breadth of Stewardship and to recognize that this subject includes our whole lives.   We said previously that a steward is someone who manages another person’s property, finances, or affairs.  This month, we want to remind us all that we are stewards of ourselvesour bodies, our minds, and our spirits.  Now, you might be thinking that, if there is anything that truly and exclusively belongs to ourselves, and not to anyone else, it is our very selves!  Right?  Absolutely not!  Let us explore what the Holy Bible says.

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Stewardship Notes for June 2018

The primary purpose of Stewardship is to serve the will of God. The main goal of our Peace Lutheran Church Stewardship Planning Committee is to help all of our congregation’s members and participants to live their lives with purpose and meaning, so that God’s creating, redeeming, and sanctifying activity will flourish in our community and world. We seek to equip, nurture, and challenge all people who are connected with Peace Lutheran Church to lead a Stewardship lifestyle which encompasses all areas of living and is not limited to providing financial support for our congregation, and God’s people elsewhere.


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