Category: News

November 6 (Daylight Savings Time Ends Nov. 5)

On Sunday, November 6, we celebrate the Feast of All Saints’ (which is November 1) – a time to remember and give thanks for saints near and far, famous and familiar only to us, those who died long ago, those we have lost recently. As part of the observance, we will read the names of those from FELC who have died during the past year.  We invite you to bring pictures/mementos of anyone who has died to place on our Remembrance Table in the Chapel of the Saints. You will be invited to write the names of anyone who has died in the past year in the Book of the Dead. Candles may be lighted in honor of deceased loved ones. This sacred space will remain in the Chapel in November. 

Join us for this beautiful and meaningful annual observance. Worship begins at 10 am in person and on livestream.

October 30, 2022

Join us for Sunday worship as we celebrate the heritage of the Lutheran Reformation and the good news of God’s grace in Christ through Word, song, prayer, and Holy Communion.

At the festival of the Reformation, we celebrate the heart of our faith: the gospel of Christ—the good news—that makes us free! By the end of the seventeenth century, many Lutheran churches celebrated a festival commemorating Martin Luther’s posting of the Ninety-five Theses, a summary of abuses in the church of his time. We pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to unite and empower the whole church in this age and in this place in its witness of love, justice, healing, and joy with and for all.  The primary color red reminds us of the fire, warmth, strength, and challenge of the Holy Spirit in the church and with the world. We encourage you to wear red as a visible sign of the Spirit’s power among us.

Beginning November 13, 2022

Once again FELC will follow the ancient church practice of a longer Advent season – usually six or seven weeks beginning after All Saints’ Sunday. Advent is about much more than preparation for Christmas. It is a time for contemplation, repentance, hopeful waiting, and eager expectation of the restored world God is bringing through Christ.

Our current lectionary (the assigned readings for each Sunday) already contains bible texts that reflect these themes. Our liturgy will begin using the primary color blue, shift to a more contemplative style, and create opportunities for reflection throughout the liturgy and season.

To begin our extended Advent time on November 13, we welcome FELC music director Bryan Rust as our preacher.

“I cannot start to find all the words to say the thank you for what you were able to do with this young man in a year’s time.”

On Sunday, October 9 we joyfully welcomed Pastor Alex LaChapelle, the 46th vicar of FELC, as our guest preacher and presiding minister in worship. We shared an internship with Pastor Alex from 2012-2013 when he was in his third year of seminary at The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Alex is currently serving as pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Harvey, Michigan.

It was a blessing to receive the word of God proclaimed, and to hear Pastor Alex’s reflections on our time together. To view his sermon on our YouTube channel, click here.

For continued connection:

The Rev. Alex LaChapelle

623 Northland Drive

Marquette, MI 49855

lachappy@gmail.com

Pastor Merle Franke was FELC’s third pastor, serving from 1963 to 1983. During his ministry he wrote books of stories and poetry. Merle and his writing were beloved by many. Merle’s daughter, Gwen Flory, has copies of his books available. If you’re interested, you can contact Gwen at gwenflory@gmail.com.

What Does It Mean for Your Faith?

This past Sunday we met for our monthly Sunday Symposium. The topic was Theology of Generosity. We had a thoughtful, engaging conversation about how we understand God as generous toward us in creation and in Christ. We shared how meaningful it is when others have been unexpectedly generous toward us, and how profound a gift it is to be able to be generous toward others.

Near the end of the conversation we discussed how the church can be a place where we learn and model generosity for each other. Who inspires you to be generous? Who have you inspired? How can we continue to build a culture of generosity in our congregation and celebrate our faith in a God who is excessively generous toward us and all people?

I hope you will ponder these questions and how your faith is meaningfully lived out through generosity. We all agreed on Sunday that generosity is about more than what we give financially. It’s about our time, our love, our forgiveness, our offering of our whole selves to others.

If you’d like to review the slides from the presentation you can find them here. At the end we viewed a powerful video about how generosity benefits our lives. You can view that video here.

Grace and peace.

–Pastor Michael Coffey

October 16 at 11:30 AM in the Parlor

What does generosity mean to you? How does your faith in God shape your generosity? When is it hard to know how to be generous? Join us for the next Sunday Symposium as we have a conversation on the theme Theology of Generosity.

Sunday Symposium is a once-a-month gathering on a wide variety of topics. We gather after hospitality in the parlor on the third Sunday of each month for presentations, conversations, and explorations on everything from social issues and theological questions to spirituality and faith. Participants will be encouraged to join in the conversation as they wish. We will emphasize respectful, open dialogue that welcomes a diversity of viewpoints. We will be open to how we might change our own views.

Join us as we learn from each other.

Lutheran Disaster Response shares God’s hope, healing and renewal with people whose lives have been disrupted by disasters in the United States and around the world. When the dust settles and the headlines change, we stay to provide ongoing assistance to those in need. 

While the first months of the hurricane season were relatively quiet, September brought damaging storms including hurricanes Fiona and Ian. Hurricane Fiona inundated Puerto Rico with rain, reminding people of the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28 with near Category 5-strength winds and rain, causing catastrophic flooding. With two months of hurricane season remaining, we can support those in need, even in anticipation of more storms in the weeks ahead.  

Visit here for more information and to give directly to Lutheran Disaster Response.

On the second Sunday of each month we will offer Healing Prayer. This is an ancient and powerful ritual of the church. It is a deeply personal encounter with our need for healing in body, mind, and spirit, and our turning to God for healing, grace, and mercy. Children and adults who desire healing prayer, which may include laying on of hands and anointing with oil, are invited to come to the Chapel of the Saints during the communion distribution. You may wait in one of the chairs until the healing prayer station is available and stand or kneel for prayer.

Sunday, October 23

The FELC young adults group will be cooking and serving dinner for the residents of Casa Marianella, the east Austin organization that provides shelter and services to immigrants and refugees.

The group will meet at the FELC kitchen at 3 PM to cook dinner, then head over to Casa to serve dinner and meet residents and staff.

All young adults are invited to join us. Contact Pastor Coffey (pastor@felcaustin.org) if you’re interested, and if you’d like to be added to the young adult email list.