Greeting from Lutheran Campus Ministries in Montana

Another Christmas greeting - from Campus Pastors Tim Spring (MSU) and John Lund (U of M).

Don't forget to invite your friends and family to join you for worship tonight at 6pm or 9pm - and tomorrow morning at 11am.

A blessed Christmas!

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas (almost)!
Christmas Eve worship here at CtK will happen at 6pm and 9pm. We also have a service on Christmas Day at 11am. And don't forget there's ONLY ONE SERVICE this Sunday, the 27th, also at 11am.
May God bless us with trust in the presence of Christ this Christmas!

Here's the Christmas message from our Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson.

The First Annual Strike of the "Cookie Ninjas"

We had a great time last night, baking up a storm, getting silly with icing, wrapping plates of cookies and then making stealth deliveries all over town between 11pm and nearly 12:30am. We felt a little bit like spies or ninjas, getting let into very secure buildings after dark. All those night-shift folks who work to keep our community safe and cared for really appreciated the goodies. Way to go CtK youth!

Join us for caroling

If you want to lift your voice in song and bring a little Christmas cheer to patients and staff at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, join us for a late afternoon of caroling on Saturday, December 19th at 4 p.m.

We will rendezvous at the main entrance (by the cafeteria and chapel) and travel from floor to floor. We plan to carol for one hour.

Weekend Events

It's a big weekend here at CtK...

The kids are gathering for their Christmas Program Rehearsal. And the program is tomorrow morning at 10am! It's going to be great, you don't want to miss it! (Plus, I remember how it was always neat when I was little to see lots of "church-people" at our Sunday School program, besides our parents. If you're in the show your parents pretty much have to show up, but the rest of the grown-ups? That's different. So please come and support our children and youth with your presence!)

One of the annual favorite fellowship events is tonight, the Candlelight Buffet, beginning at 6pm. Cost is $5, to cover the cost of the meant, and after that it's a potluck. Yours truly signed up to bring a dessert - there is baking in my very near future... Even if you didn't sign up, please come! Bring a favorite dish to pass: veggies, bread, dessert, potatoes, whatever. The white elephant gift exchange is always a riot, and the evening's entertainment is always fun, too.

Tomorrow is the Third Sunday of Advent - we'll be lighting three candles on the Advent wreath and hearing more about John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. See you in worship!

Earl, this one's for you...

Last Sunday my sermon began with a bit of an introduction to the Gospel according to Luke, since we're just beginning a new liturgical year with the season of Advent and our Gospel for the year is Luke. I know I covered a little more ground than was helpful for some folks - but several people also said they were actually going to go home and READ Luke. Not too bad. It is the longest of the gospels, but it's still only 24 chapters - you can do it!! I also promised to write a blog post with what I shared about Luke's Gospel, so here you go:

The same author who wrote Luke also wrote Acts, so it's not a bad idea to read them together. They were written anonymously, but tradition holds that a Gentile convert to Christianity, a physician named Luke wrote them. Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul (see Colossians 4:14, 2 Timothy 4:11 and Philemon 24) and in parts of Acts the narration shifts from third person to first person plural - "we." These passages are Acts 16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-18 and 27:1-28:16.

The Gospel according to Luke can be outlined broadly in four sections plus the wonderful ending. Chapter 1 - the middle of chapter 4 tells of predictions of births (John and Jesus), the births (John and Jesus) and has people breaking into song all over the place- kind of like a Broadway musical.

The second section, from the middle of chapter 4 through chapter 9 tells about Jesus' ministry in Galilee.

The pivotal verse in Luke is 9:51, when Jesus "set his face to go to Jerusalem." From then on there's no turning back from the cross. Many of our favorite parables and stories about those Jesus came to save - the lost, least, little, last and dead - are told in this section, from 9:51 - to the middle of chapter 19.

From Luke 19:28 to the end of chapter 23 Luke tells about Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, his last meal, betrayal, arrest, trial and execution.

Good thing the story doesn't end there! Chapter 24 tells about the empty tomb, men in "dazzling clothes," Jesus joining disciples on the road to Emmaus and his ascension into heaven.

Seriously, the best way to "get" the story is to read it! Or find someone to read it to you!

Other things that make this Gospel unique: the geneology of Jesus lets us know that Luke understands Jesus as the savior of ALL people, not just Jews, since he traces Jesus' lineage down to Adam (unlike Matthew, who starts with Abraham and gets to Jesus). In Luke, people call Jesus "Master," a Greek title, not "Rabbi," which means "teacher" in Hebrew.

All those rulers who get listed over and over are meant to help us know WHEN things happened, since there was more than one calendar operating at the time. Some are Roman rulers, some are Jewish political leaders, some are Jewish religious leaders.

I could keep going, but have a feeling I could get boring...
I suggest:
1. Read Luke
2. Then read Acts
3. If you don't have a study Bible with good introductions to each book and good foot notes, get one. I use The New Oxford Annotated Bible and The Lutheran Study Bible from Augsburg Fortress. Grant mostly uses the Harper Collins Study Bible.
4. If you're really intrigued, consider a commentary. Pastor Grant and I might be willing to loan you one...
5. Join a Bible study - and if we don't have one that fits your schedule, let me know and we'll start one that will!
6. Check out Enter the Bible, from Luther Seminary. It's a great site to learn more about the Bible generally, and specifc passages more particularly. And if you want to hear some of what we use in sermon preparation, check out Sermon Brainwave, also from Luther Seminary.

Rooted = Blogger of the Day at Pretty Good Lutherans

I just received an email from someone I'd never heard of, who writes a blog I'd never heard of, either: Pretty Good Lutherans. It is "an independent news site of veteran religion reporter Susan Hogan."
I have no idea how she found us, but there we are on the right under "ELCA BLOGGERS." Huh. Maybe I'll check out a few of the other ELCA-types who are writing in the blogosphere...