Category: News

A small subset team of the First English Racial Justice Action Team was formed in January 2022 to do a focused evaluation of the whiteness of First English Lutheran Church and seek meaningful ways in which this church can strive for and embody both strategic and authentic diversity.

The FELC Diversity Development Team shared its report with the Congregation Council at their August 15, 2022 meeting. Team members also offered report highlights in Sunday worship over the summer months. We share the report with the community now.

The report encompasses the call by the ELCA to exhibit authentic diversity–demographically matching the ethnic and racial composition of our context (Austin) and recognizes that First English Lutheran Church is overwhelmingly white. While we acknowledge that there isn’t a prescribed formula for achieving an authentically diverse community, we know there are direct actions to take, within our control, to relate to and live out the gospel message with a fuller expanse of God’s beloved community and creation. Our prayer is that this effort continues to unfold throughout the life of the whole church and in this church community of First English. 

The Diversity Development Team members are: Nancy Baden, Erin McCracken, Bryan Rust, Cassi Smith, and Barbara Wiederaenders. If you would like to join in this work or have more questions, please feel free to contact Erin McCracken at: erin922@gmail.com.  

View the report at the link below:

FELC Diversity Report + “How Strategic and Authentic is Our Diversity: A Call for Reflection, Confession, and Healing Action” (ELCA, 2019)

As we form and build community, we give thanks to God for each person who participates in the life and witness of FELC in every level of connection.

On the third Sunday of each month, we will offer a prayer of blessing in worship for anyone celebrating a birthday in that month. We’ll invite those present on that Sunday to make themselves known (if they choose) and ask God’s blessing for the year ahead.

We joyfully gave thanks on Sunday, January 29 for those celebrating January birthdays.

God, our times are in your hand: Bless your servants as they begin another year of grace. Grant that they may grow in wisdom and joy, and strengthen their trust in your abiding goodness, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As we began this time of transition, we paused our livestream ministry to evaluate our online presence. This is a crucial part of our engagement and witness as a community of faith.

Livestream ministry continues Sunday, February 19 at 10:00 AM at our YouTube channel.

You can participate in livestream worship on Sunday, February 19 at this link.

We will also worship onsite at our church building each Sunday at 10:00 AM.

You can find information about the Austin Marathon this Sunday at this link.

We are grateful for your prayers as we’ve adapted our processes, which will help us facilitate and expand our online ministry. We give thanks to God for our renewed livestream team: Shannon Aguirre, Charlie Boas, Margaret Bruesch, J. P. Northcutt-Benson, and Jamie Maillart.

A grand old came down in the ice storm last week. This tree in the front of our campus welcomed folks entering the open doors of First English, provided shade for hot days, hung lights for nighttime receptions, and was climbed on by several generations of beloveds.

Nothing was parked along Whitis Avenue at that location. While it crushed our middle handrail, it avoided the light post. Most importantly, no one was injured.

Last week our neighbors at Fire Station No. 3 were “ordered” by the Fire Chief to assist us, without us asking. Personnel spent several hours moving the tree out of the street, cutting it, hauling the limbs on a flatbed trailer, and disposing of the tree. They will continue working on the tree in the coming weeks. We will have to secure professional services to remove the stump.

We are grateful for God’s creation, and our good neighbors.

On February 2 the church honors The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, a minor feast day. Forty days after the birth of Jesus we mark the day Mary and Joseph presented him in the temple in accordance with Jewish law. This feast day that mentions two major saints of the faith: St. Simeon and St. Anna, Elders and Prophets.

Yes, we don’t know much about these saints (noted at the end of Luke 2:22-40) except to say that their patience and wisdom is instructive for a humanity that too easily leans toward immediacy and easy answers. They hold up Christ in all his potential, declaring Jesus a special one. Imagine what could happen if we lifted up all children this way, not just those born in privilege. It could change the world. It has before.

Christians also bless candles today, making the metaphorical shift that the Christ is also the light of the world. The Celts, more practical, would haul out new candles today because it is the midpoint between the solstice and the equinox, and the early winter candles are now spent as we are in the belly of the snow season. But light daily grows, Beloved. Anna and Simeon knew this. St. Simeon and St. Anna are reminders that all who are fortunate become old, but not all become elders. Becoming an elder takes time, intention, patience, and a wisdom that comes from trusting promises in the face of scoffers and opposition.

So, bless your candles today. Give thanks for Jesus, the light of the world – the light of new and unending life.

Only four years after founding First English Lutheran Church, church members organized and chartered Boy Scout Troop 28 (1940). Cub Scout Pack 28 was chartered in 1951. Since the 1990’s the Pack & Troop have gone through different iterations, in part due to declining membership and in part to BSA policies. Boy Scouts of America is now “Scouts BSA”. Even though circumstances have adapted regular connections throughout the pandemic, leaders and students have continued to gather safely. 

Wyatt Hansen is our most recent Eagle Scout from FELC’s chartered Troop28.

For his Eagle project he managed the construction of a 64-foot fence at the PEAS Community Garden in June of 2022. He underwent his Eagle Board of Review in August of 2022 and celebrated his Eagle Ceremony in the FELC Fellowship Hall and received his Eagle award on December 29, 2022.

Congratulations Wyatt!

On Sunday January 22, hundreds of people, including international guests from around the world (and our Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton), gathered at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Jerusalem Old City to celebrate the ordination of The Rev. Sally Azar, as the first Palestinian woman to become ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

To read more information about Pastor Azar and the Church in the Holy Land, click here.

To see photos of this celebration, click here.

We give thanks to God for the life and ministry of James (Jim) Bennett who died Saturday, January 21 at this home in Aiken, SC. Bishop Bennett was a friend to many at FELC, and a colleague and friend to our three former pastors. He was also a friend and mentor to our current and our former music directors. After serving as senior pastor of St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Austin from 1987-1994, Jim served as the bishop of the Southwestern Texas Synod from 1994-2000.

You can read his obituary here.

We pray for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and all who love him. Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him.

Pastor Coffey’s last Sunday is January 15.  We’ll give thanks for his ministry, participate in a liturgy ending his call among us, and join together for a festive, catered reception in the fellowship hall following the liturgy.

Everyone is welcome!  At the reception, special presentations will be made.

 

“On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother”

Epiphany is a traditional time for blessing of the home with readings, prayer, and chalking above the entrance to the home with a blessing for the year. As the magi visited the dwelling of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus and brought gifts and blessings, we bless homes in the name of Christ. On January 4 & 5, Bryan Rust and Pastor Coffey made visits to homes of FELC folks.

Would you like to bless your home? Click here for the Epiphany House Blessing liturgy.

“Let your grace be with us this whole year, and your peace upon all who enter here.”