MaryBeth LaMont

April/May Mid-Week Worship

April 25, 2023

With Lent being over, we began our final theme of “Do Hard Things” for our Wednesday worship:

April 12th: Ephesians 4:25-32 “Accept Who You Are”
April 19th: Jeremiah 9:23-34 “Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em”
April 26th: John 18:10-11, Luke 23:54-62, Matthew 16:13-20 “Emotions Are To Be Messengers, Not Dictators”
May 3rd: Luke 14:25-28 “Go Forward to Growth”

Lutheran Campus Ministry meets for Bible Study at 5:00 pm in the Campus Center or via Zoom followed by a free student meal in the Campus Center at 5:30 pm (Grab N Go available). Contemporary worship is at 6:30 pm in the sanctuary–everyone is welcome!

First Communion

April 19, 2023

Pastor Gary is looking to see if there are any who would like to meet with him for instruction to receive their first communion. The typical age in the Evangelical Lutheran Church is 5th grade, although if parents think their child ready for communion parents can talk to Pastor Gary about this. Of course, older than 5th grade is fine as well. Instruction would most likely be Sunday mornings.

This Week at University Lutheran Church 4/23/2023-4/29/2023

April 19, 2023

Sunday, April 23

9:15 am Forum (Campus Center Library/Zoom)
9:15 am Choir Rehearsal (Sanctuary)
10:30 am Sunday Worship (Sanctuary or via Live Stream)
11:30 am Free Student Meal (Campus Center Library)
11:30 am Free Coffee & Refreshments (Campus Center)

Monday, April 24

8:00 pm HAA (Campus Center)

Tuesday, April 25

8:00 pm AA (Campus Center)

Wednesday, April 26

5:00 pm LCM Bible Study (Campus Center/Zoom)
5:30 Free Student Dinner (Campus Center/Grab N Go)
6:00 pm Contemporary Worship (Sanctuary)

Thursday, April 27

8:00 pm AA (Campus Center)

Friday, April 28

Saturday, April 29

ULC Young Adults Finals Study Hall (Campus Center)

70th Celebration Luncheon

April 18, 2023

The Campus Center was festive with flowers and balloons for our 70th Celebration Luncheon on Sunday, April 16, 2023. Students and University Lutheran Church (ULC) members gathered for a delicious meal catered by Perfect Pear.

Thank you to Katherine Stevens for organizing the event.

The Bible Says

April 18, 2023

The Bible says! The Bible says! Over and over, we hear this from Christians and their leadership. It is often used in a manner to cut off all further discussion or comment on some issue. What I have often noticed is when some say this the Bible does not even say or support their paraphrased quote. I remember someone telling me the Bible is against bi-racial marriage. Really? Where does the Bible say this? Where is even race of any kind mentioned?

On the other hand, there are those who dismiss the Bible as fantasy, as fairy tale, and find it irrelevant. Really? A book where there are stories of murder, lust, scheming, torture, death, evil seeming to have the upper hand? The Bible to me, at times, seems more like the front page of a newspaper (or these days news website) than fantasy or fiction.

I wonder if we approached the Bible with this question in mind, how we might see the Bible’s relevance and authority for us: “How does the Bible seem to understand human life in this world?” Might this change our perspective a bit?

Of course, we need to lift our sights quite a bit. The Bible is more than about us and our lives. It is about God and God’s record of relating to God’s people and God’s world. It is a continual saga of God hanging in there with God’s rebellious people. It is a series of stories of failure, alienation, rebellion, and redemption. Shakespeare might be able to spin better prose, but he could not improve upon many of the story lines. In fact, I tend to see the Bible as having more in common with Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye, and other such books that seem to understand some aspect of human life so well.

If I were to sum up the Bible in a single word, it would be “authentic.” It is an authentic depiction of human life long ago and today. It is the Bible’s authenticity that gives the Bible its authority. It is the Bible’s depiction of human life and a God that won’t let go of that life that makes it authoritative.

The Bible is not a law book, though many laws and expectations by God for human living are in it. Neither is it a warm and fuzzy book, which we also many times like to quote, that says all will be well. It is a picture for today of how God enters into human life often and especially at its worst and works to redeem it.

The Bible says. Yes, the Bible says God is a loving God, relating to God’s rebellious people in love.