El Paso, Texas LCMS
“Lessons for Liturgy, Lessons for Life” Pastor Emeritus Howard Patten and Pastor Stephen Heimer examine the upcoming scripture lessons for Sunday, November 15, 2020, the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost.
Scripture:
Download: “Salvation is Coming” At-Home Devotional Materials (pdf)
Learn more about Zion’s “At Home in the Word” Weekly resource.
“Lessons for Liturgy, Lessons for Life” Pastor Emeritus Howard Patten and Pastor Stephen Heimer examine the upcoming scripture lessons for Sunday, November 8, 2020, the Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost.
Scripture:
Download: “Ready for the Feast” At-Home Devotional Materials (pdf)
Learn more about Zion’s “At Home in the Word” Weekly resource.
Reformation Docu-Drama Movie Night
Get comfy and join us from home for a Reformation Movie Night Watch Party on Friday, October 30th! We will be watching Martin Luther: A Return to Grace. We will have a lighthearted conversation on Zoom at 6:00pm Mountain Standard Time and we will hit play on the docu-drama at 6:30pm through Amazon Prime Watch Party.
Contact Us to request links for the Zoom session and the Watch Party.
“Lessons for Liturgy, Lessons for Life” Pastor Emeritus Howard Patten and Pastor Stephen Heimer examine the upcoming scripture lessons for Sunday, November 1, 2020, All Saints Day.
Scripture:
Please continue to pray for all who are at risk under the current threat of COVID and all the conditions afflicting our community and families.
Many of you are working in “essential jobs” outside of the home. All of you are essential in the kingdom of God at home, to everyone in your households, and those to whom you relate from afar. This is a time to pray for and encourage those who are sick and those caring for them in homes and in the hospitals. It is a time to also reach out to those who are well but waiting and waiting and waiting with longing for normalcy. In this waiting, take some time to put into practice some of what we have been learning about Spiritually Vibrant Homes. God is with you. His Spirit is at work in your household of faith.
Spiritual conversations with the people in your household are important, but you may be having fewer of them than you think. Don Everts writes, “The latest research tells us we are having fewer spiritual conversations. In fact, [Lutheran Hour Ministries] and Barna found that a full three-quarters of all self-identified Christians have fewer than ten spiritual conversations a year. This includes a conversation with anyone about faith: a discussion at a Bible study counts, a conversation with your spouse counts, discussing the recent sermon counts. Most Christians are having less than one of those conversations per month. Most Christians are, as the researchers concluded, “reluctant conversationalists.” Our tables are pretty quiet.”
God wants us to think about things that are true and excellent (Phil 4) and talking about work, about sports, about politics, about the latest star performer can certainly fall in those categories. ALSO, and most eternally vital, God wants us to talk about His story, His promises, and our experiences in His grace.
These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Dt 6:6–7
Barna’s research learned this when examining spiritually vibrant homes:
Don Evert has a whole section in Chapter Four of his book that offers many good suggestions. Check out the book. We’ll soon be offering a small group study of the book at Zion. Let me know if you are interested in participating. A tool I’ve tried out (and mentioned in my ermon on Sunday) is the Vibrant Conversation Deck that can help if you have kids or grandkids with you (or to talk to online). The card deck contains 52 conversation starter questions in four categories: applying spiritual disciplines, extending hospitality, engaging in spiritual conversations, and food and fun. (find them here).
Some stewardship questions to consider this week: Who in your household is the hardest to talk to? Who is the easiest? Will you be driving together, eating together, doing chores around each other this week? What simple question might be a first step toward deeper conversations?
God bless your week!
in Christ’s peace,
Pastor Stephen
Want to dig deep into the research behind our fall series? The basis for our study this fall is The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors by Don Everts.
The Senior VP of Research at Barna Group explains, “The Spiritually Vibrant Home unpacks the research and what it all means for our households. This book provides Christians with a roadmap to developing intentional rhythms that nurture their spirit, honor their heavenly Father, and pass on their faith to the next generation.”
Find this book and related resources developed by the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries at https://www.lhm.org/households/
Download: “Homes of Eternal Love” At-Home Devotional Materials (pdf)
Learn more about Zion’s “At Home in the Word” Weekly resource.
“Lessons for Liturgy, Lessons for Life” Pastor Emeritus Howard Patten and Pastor Stephen Heimer examine the upcoming scripture lessons for Sunday, October 25, 2020, the Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost (Reformation Day Observed)
Scripture:
El Paso, does this well. The hospitality of El Paso households is something an army family told me last year was AMAZING about their time in El Paso. “We felt like we were part of their family,” the wife said as she told me how their neighbors invited them to all their celebrations and frequent cookouts.
Welcoming people into our homes can become a big part of how people come to know Christ. Spiritual conversations and prayer together with people outside our family as they spend time in our homes make a strong impact on the faith of everyone involved.
Showing hospitality to people outside our family and friendship circles is a very biblical way of life. (Luke 14:13-14, Hebrews 13:2, Romans 12:13, 1 Peter 4:8-9)
COVID Restrictions on hospitality challenge this powerful source of spiritual vibrance in our households. As I mentioned in my sermon this week (watch it here), there have always been situations that endanger, limit, or restrict hospitality (crisis, plague, persecution to name a few). We are in one of those “out of the ordinary” situations now, and guidelines are being updated week-to-week, region to region. Each of our households will need to consider safety while also considering the deep live-giving value of open doors. While house parties and other up-close gatherings are not options at the moment, how might we use Skype, Facetime, other internet services, or even speaker phones to bridge some gaps and build relationships with others?
Don Evert’s book, The Spiritually Vibrant Home addresses the topic of barriers to open doors in the section he titles, “Which is Better, A Safe Submarine or a Risky Rescue Ship.” It is Pre-Covid, but still provides helpful guidance. Check it out this week (see the book info down below). Other Barna Research findings about hospitality shared in Evert’s book include:
Finding 1. Hospitality is connected to God’s mission.
Finding 2. Hospitality strengthens faith formation.
Finding 3. Hospitality enlarges the extended household in helpful ways.
Finding 4. Spiritually vibrant homes rely on others.
Finding 5. Some people struggle with hospitality.
Stewardship Challenge: With at-home hospitality on our radar, what changes in routine or what home upgrades would help you have open doors in the coming year? What would enable safe connections with outsiders during this COVID crisis? What plans can you make now so that you can start new hospitality once the circumstances of COVID allow your doors to truly open up?
This week’s topic is a big challenge for us to consider engaging in during increased covid restrictions, but God’s people have never just given up just because things are hard! Keep learning, keep praying, keep loving and always remember the assurances of Romans 8:34-39:
“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
May the Lord bless your week and fill your household with His Spirit.in Christ’s peace,
Want to dig deep into the research behind our fall series? The basis for our study this fall is The Spiritually Vibrant Home: The Power of Messy Prayers, Loud Tables, and Open Doors by Don Everts.
The Senior VP of Research at Barna Group explains, “The Spiritually Vibrant Home unpacks the research and what it all means for our households. This book provides Christians with a roadmap to developing intentional rhythms that nurture their spirit, honor their heavenly Father, and pass on their faith to the next generation.”
Find this book and related resources developed by the Barna Group and Lutheran Hour Ministries at https://www.lhm.org/households/