Category: News

Marcia Houtman Kline served as vicar #24 at First English from 1989-1990.

Rev. Marcia Kathleen Houtman Kline was born on September 3, 1952, one of five children. She graduated from South Dakota State University in 1974 with Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Theater; and 1978 with a Master of Arts Degree in English Literature. Marcia then taught in several positions at colleges in Illinois and Iowa before entering seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, graduating with an MDiv in 1991. Upon receiving a call from American Lutheran Church in Castlewood, South Dakota, Marcia was ordained on February 7, 1993. Following her engagement and marriage to The Rev. Kevin H. Kline in April of 1995, she relocated to Kimball, South Dakota, where she served the Kimball Protestant Parish comprised of Immanuel Lutheran, First Presbyterian, and Kimball Uniter Methodist Churches. Even after her husband’s death in January of 1996, she continued to remain in Kimball until receiving a call to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Bishop, TX, in 2002. In 2008 Marcia left parish ministry to do advanced work in Clinical Pastoral Education with the goal of becoming a hospital chaplain. For the remainder of her ministry, and despite repeated health struggles, Marcia worked at various health care centers in the Corpus Christi area as a chaplain. In those years and beyond her retirement in 2014, she also served under contract with the congregations of St. Paul, Tynan, and Grace, Mathis. Most recently Marcia has been providing support to St. Mark’s, Corpus Christi. Marcia died in her home the week of March 20th. A memorial service was celebrated on April 26. If you wish to send personal cards and words of sympathy to family, cards can be sent to Marcia’s sister: Eleanor Enright 1077 Sycamore Avenue Brigham City, UT 84302 We remember Pastor Kline’s family and friends in our prayers and trust that the promise of the resurrection of Christ is true and sure.

Saturday, April 29, 4 to 8 PM

Everyone is invited to the longest-running community & social event of FELC (since 1964): our annual chicken BBQ, to be held in our parking lot (weather permitting)! Our pit masters will start smoking chickens in our outdoor smoker pit in the afternoon, and our potato salad and beans team will be getting the sides ready.

You’re welcome to come and visit beginning at 4 PM. BYOB.

Dinner will be served around 6 PM, and includes BBQ chicken, beans, potato salad, drinks, and ice cream. All are welcome!

To participate in set-up/clean-up: contact Randy at towbarcity@yahoo.com

To participate in preparing potato salad: contact Trish at t_karli@hotmail.com

Thank you for your input to identify organizations and agencies our community of faith will support in 2023. The task force and council considered organizations that reflect our biblical and congregational values; some organizations that are local and others that are global in their outreach and witness. The money has been approved by the congregation in the 2023 ministry budget.

At its March 18 meeting, the congregation council enthusiastically approved organizations that we will support and advocate with this year. Please click here to read this report.

photo: FELC sponsored Tailgate Tuesday at LuMin on April 18.

Holy Week and Easter 2023

Holy Week & Easter liturgies invited us into the central story of our faith: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that renews our lives. We hope you made the most of these worship opportunities for your own spiritual renewal and our community connections. Below you’ll find the worship services archived on our YouTube channel.

Palm Sunday: April 2 at 10 AM

• Palm Sunday bulletin here

Holy (Maundy) Thursday: April 6 at 7 PM

• Holy Thursday bulletin here

Holy (Good) Friday: April 7 at 7 PM

• Good Friday bulletin here

Holy Saturday, The Great Easter Vigil: April 8 at 8:00 PM

• Easter Vigil bulletin here

Easter Sunday Worship & Hospitality: April 9 at 10 AM

• Easter Day bulletin here

The Easter Season

The Easter season is the church’s fifty-day celebration of the resurrection of Christ. It is the time of greatest joy as we gather in the good news of God’s victory over death and the power to renew our lives in Christ. It is the counter-balance to the forty-day season of Lent that prepared us for such great celebration. In the tradition of the whole church, it was also the time for the newly baptized to deepen their connection to Christ through sharing in the resurrection meal of communion, and to experience the mystery of new life in Christ as a gift of grace. A Paschal candle is a central symbol in the church’s worship life. The paschal candle, newly made and lit throughout the Easter season, shines forth with the light of Christ’s resurrection, reminding us that we have new life in resurrection love.

A service in remembrance of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador will be held at Casa Marianella on Sunday, March 26 at 5:00 PM. The liturgy will be presided over by St. James Episcopal Church. Casa Marianella is located at 821 Gunter Street in Austin.

FELC has long accompanied residents of Casa Marianella who welcomes displaced immigrants and provides shelter and support services.

Archbishop Romero (1917-1980) was assassinated on March 24, 1980 while celebrating mass at the Chapel Hospital de la Divina Providencia in San Salvador. Archbishop Romero is a martyr of the faith, who strove for inclusion, liberation theology, and advocated publicly for the marginalized. Romero spoke out against social injustice and violence amid the escalating conflict between the military government and insurgents that led to the Salvadoran Civilian War.

After the service of remembrance, there will be a meal prepared and served by the residents of Casa Marianella.

For more information, please contact Todd Jermstad at tjermstad@austin.rr.com

Pilgrims from FELC journeyed to Montgomery, Alabama in February to visit “The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration” and “The National Memorial for Peace and Justice” sponsored by The Equal Justice Initiative.

Travelers will be sharing highlights of that pilgrimage in April, including:

–on Sunday, April 16: a three-minute video during Sunday worship describing the message of the legacy museum;

–on Sunday, April 23: highlights of The National Memorial for Peace and Justice will be shared during Sunday worship;

–on Sunday, April 30: an Adult Forum will follow Sunday worship & hospitality at 11:30 AM. All are invited and encouraged to attend to participate in conversation around issues of social and racial justice.

For more information on this pilgrimage sharing, contact Nancy Baden at nkab13@gmail.com.

March 17, 18, 19, 2023 at Camp Lutherhill, 3782 Lutherhill Road, LaGrange, Texas

“What is it we cannot see about racism?” is the central question of The Awakening Retreat, a 10-hour weekend entry-point to a deeper dive into racism awareness. Speakers include the Rev. Ele Clay and the Rev. Austin Nickel. Group activities, narratives, and conversations will provide participants a welcome and safe place to question their certainties as well as their doubts alongside fellow strugglers. Come and place your key within the grand circle: “… everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.” Ephesians 5:13–14 (NRSVUE) 

The retreat is a fine way to engage the reflections and disciplines of the season of Lent.

More information is at links below. You may also contact Erin McCracken at erin922@gmail.com

The Awakening Retreat Information 

Lutherhill.org

Color of Grace website

The FELC transition ministry began on January 16, 2003 and has two parts: the transition itself and then the call process.

The executive committee talked with Bishop Sue Briner of the Southwestern Texas Synod about our hopes and needs during this ministry transition. We determined that we need a part-time transition pastor, and we will consider adding additional staffing and volunteer positions to enhance our ministry.

Bishop Sue and her staff contacted several potential transition pastor candidates. Bishop Sue made a recommendation to the Church Council in early February, 2023 and the executive committee and council had Zoom meetings with that transition pastor. The transition pastor began the week of March 20.

In the time following the arrival of the transition pastor, we will form a transition committee from members and participants of the congregation. This transition committee seeks to clarify our ministry and shape our direction for the future. That process takes purposeful time and care. There will be opportunities to gather as a congregation in large and small group settings to work on this together. This is an important part of our future. From that work, a profile will be created seeking a new, called pastor.

Following the transition committee work, a call committee is formed from members of congregation by vote of the congregation council. That work will be explained in further detail as we move through this year and beyond. The call committee will offer a candidate to the congregation. As a congregation, we decide who our next pastor will be in a called congregation meeting.

FELC is a community of faith: spiritually, emotionally, and financially. We have opportunities to grow. We can dig deep in prayer and listening to form the ministry to which God is calling us in these next stages of our life.

We are not alone. The Holy Spirit holds us.

Let us pray. O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot know the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through things unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we’re going, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.