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Holy Cross Lutheran Church

“Sharing the

Ointment

for Jesus’ Feet,

Giving God

our Very Best” Cf. John 12:3

Our mission statement:

Celebrating God’s love

by worshipping God,

caring for each other,

and serving in community.

BERGY’S BABBLE:

FREE LUNCH FOREVER

Vol. 18 No. 9 September

2012

The Discovery Channel is pretty clear on the concept.

In a state of nature, the object of existence is to get dinner without

becoming dinner. Hunger drives us into effort, exposure and danger.

Skillfully balancing energy expenditures we unconsciously prepare for

the next hunt by consuming the fruits of the last successful hunt. Suste-

nance taken, we kick back, belch sleepily and contentedly say, “Thank

God I’ll never have to go through that again.” And then we wake up

hungry. Because that lunch cost a lot and it didn’t last.

During one session at the recent 2012 Gulf Coast Synod

Assembly, the Bishop introduced us to a technique designed to help us

all become more comfortable with “evangelism.” We were to practice

witnessing by describing and lauding our favorite restaurant to our table-

mates on the convention floor. To show us how, the Bishop went on to

sing the praises of his favorite restaurant, exotically perched on a hillside

in Peru, overlooking a bay, with incredible ambiance, musical entertain-

ment, ubiquitous and cloyingly pleasant waitstaff, and exquisitely delec-

table food. “See, that was easy! Now go around the table and WITNESS

by telling your story about your favorite restaurant!” (That’ll give us

practice in telling people about Jesus.)

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It was checkmate, by the bishop, in one move. It is clear that no

one is going to come up with a cooler greasy spoon, not without a licit

happy ending. But Lord help us all, everyone is going to try to top that

dining experience for the next 30 minutes; unwitting sycophants in a con-

test we’ve already lost, concerning who eats the best and by association,

whose superior Jesus should be promoted and followed. Unmasked, the

game is ‘I’m cool and you’re not,’ a game too many Christians already

play, the Madison Avenue hard sell. This looks like the value system of

James and John, Sons of Thunder, that Jesus would eschew. (Sorry…

couldn’t help myself there).

The person next to me started, which meant that I had the time it

took for the tales of six beamingly epitomable bistros to be told, to decide

what I would say when my turn came. I did not want to lie about restau-

rants in my experience in an attempt to play a game of oneupsmanship on

anyone else, anymore than I would want to lie about Jesus by trying to be

oneup on any fellow servant of Christ. “My Haute Cuisine is better than

your Soup Line and my Jesus can kick your Jesus down the street and

around the corner.”

I’m having a crisis of conscience here. I must decide on the right

story. What is my truth about food, life, and Jesus?

Maybe I’ll talk about T. Pittari’s Wild Game in New Orleans. I

had an amazing meal there of wild black bear steak. It was truly tasty but

it took ninety minutes to eat, chewing each tough morsel at least fifty

times. It was a piquantly seasoned Tony Lama (toney llama?). And

they’re closed now.

Maybe I should tell of many delightful repasts at Vargo’s, listen-

ing carefully to the oral menu not daring to ask the price because if ya

gotta ask ya can’t afford it. And then, after formal dining, romantic

walks in the garden full of black and white swans and shrieking pea-

cocks. But they’re closed now, too. Or maybe I’ll talk about our engage-

ment meal when I proposed to Candy at Tony’s, 30 years ago. There the

thrill was not only the meal, but the love, the friendship, and the future.

After all, the meal, while highly touted on all 5-Star surveys, was still

noodles. Really, really, really, really special Ramens.

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But wait. All of those are just my prideful way of marking my position as

higher in the pack. They are about me, not free lunch forever, not Jesus. I

don’t want to be ego-tripping here.

I have to decide pretty soon! Maybe I’ll just blow off the truth to-

tally and go with the humor angle. I’ll tell them about the Road Kill Café,

“From Your Grill to Ours.” “You Gotta Have Guts to Eat Here!” Their

specialty is wild asparagus gathered from the ditches of the state highway.

They serve it with hollandaise sauce on a clean hubcap found in the same

ditch………...because, “There’s No Plate Like Chrome For the Hollan-

daise.”

Suddenly everyone’s looking at me, a senior pastor with thirty-

seven years on the front lines. It’s my turn and the responsibility is weigh-

ing heavily upon me. “Jim, you have to say something wise and witnessy,

fashionably cynical, post-modern, and chic, and don’t forget to lob a Jesus

bomb in at the end with your unused salad fork.”

I blurt, “Truth is, my favorite restaurant is McDonald’s!” For the

looks that comment got, I might as well have broken wind at Tony’s. Now

I had to explain myself. “Hey, based on frequency of attendance at meals

there and annual budgetary outlay, it is the clear truth that the objective

bottom line, whether I like it or not, shows that my default preference is

McDonald’s. Two McDoubles and throw away the bun of one, for a two

dollar quadruple cheeseburger with four pickles, two dashes of diced

onions and a generous dollop of ketchup. All the food groups: grain, dairy,

protein, and veggies. Plus Happy Meal toys. Sorry.”

As to how that could possibly bring my Jesus into the life of

another person….well, it is a lunch that’s fairly close to free and forever.

Jesus is not the rare, once in a lifetime meal that becomes an obses-

sion or a distant memory of good times. I don’t want my friends to feel

bad or somehow less, because they haven’t seen a burning bush or a blaz-

ing transfiguration. I want’em to feel great when they find out Jesus has

been all over their life even in the most common of circumstances and they

just didn’t notice at the time.

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I don’t want to convince anybody that they have to go to T.

Pittari’s, and chomp on Gladly, the cross-eyed bear, to be saved. I don’t

think they are missing anything at all right now. My witness is to identify

the present action of God, grace, Jesus, and the fact of salvation, that they

experience daily.

Hungry? Don’t look for Vargo’s. It’s too late. Try McDonalds. It’s

everywhere. (Over 23,000 of them worldwide.) I heard that London built

the largest McDonald’s in the world for the Olympic Village, and is tearing

it down after the Olympic Games are over. Kind of the inverse of, “I will

tear this temple down and rebuild it in three days.” But it was there when

they needed it!

For me Jesus has been a daily walk together, a constant companion,

a brother I fuss with, sometimes aggravating, sometimes exciting, some-

times boring, sometimes challenging with the stubbornness of a nemesis

God, whose grace steadfastly refuses to indulge my self-destructive will.

I do see him a lot in the faces of people that touch my life every day. I

think I know him pretty well, but the truth is, I wonder about him a lot.

There’s always more to discover.

Sorry, my Jesus isn’t the meal of hand-massaged Kobe beef, served in the

penthouse restaurant of the highest tower in Dubai, that I’ll never eat. He

is the eat-and-run-to-serve-others, always there, metabolic fuel station of

McDonalds. He’s not too rare or exclusive a personage for anyone, really

not gourmet at all, but always present, always sustaining.

Shakespeare’s Macbeth said, “Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor

player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no

more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying

nothing.” Act 5, Scene 5.

Voltaire tersely opined that, “Life is a bad joke.” John Masefield’s

opinion was, “Life is a long headache in a noisy street.” In his opening

statement at the Scopes Trial speaking against William Jennings Bryan,

Clarence Darrow compared Christians to dogs and suggested that it would

be best to strangle them when they were young. He also said, “Life to me

is an unpleasant interlude of nothingness.” My, my.

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FRIENDSHIP CLUB

Friendship Club will meet on Saturday, September 15, from 4:00 PM to

8:00 PM for games, fellowship, a great Pot-Luck dinner (at 6:30 PM) and

a guest speaker, Christine Donahue who will update us on ELCA mission

projects. These are projects here and all over the world where our mis-

sion dollars save lives, change lives and spread God's love! The hosts

will call to remind you also! Thank you! Sandra Williams

Jesus said, “I am the living bread…if any one eats of this bread he

will live for ever.” The Bread of Life, the free lunch forever, calls us into

a new reality full of grace, hope and new capabilities. Of course we’ll

get hungry. That’s an effective motivator, but with the lunch that lasts

we’ll never hunger for meaning and purpose again.

Eternal bread. The lunch that is always available and sticks to

your ribs forever. Free Lunch Forever? Now that’s food for thought!

See you in worship………………………….Bergy

July 23, 2012

Dear Chaplain Capt. James L. Berggren,

It is with sincere faith that the members of St. John’s Lutheran Church in

Mendota, Illinois will be lifting your name in prayer for 7 days with con-

fidence that God knows exactly what you need and what He wants for

your life. We are proud and grateful for the service you render to both

our country and our Lord’s kingdom. It is not often that we have the op-

portunity in our community to see or experience the presence of our mili-

tary heroes, but is our privilege to know that people like you are willing

to serve. May God bless you and your family in a special way this week

and know that hundreds of Christians are remembering you in particular

when we dialogue with God daily.

Rev. Dr. Dale Peterson

St. John’s Lutheran Church - Mendota, Illinois

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August - 2012 05 HCLC - Glory to God

12 Fredda Yurk

19 Ora Dell Dittmar

Doris Wahlberg

26 Nancy Beamesderfer

COUNCIL MINUTES - AUGUST 19, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 11:40. Present at the meeting were Nancy

Beamesderfer, Sandra Williams, Wayne Schaper, Wendy Lambeth, Pastor Jhon,

John Stokes, Pastor Jim Berggren, Sharon Wagner, Alvin Garza and Mike Appling.

Charlotte Jaster was a guest in attendance.

Pastor Jim will attend a planning meeting on August 29 for “Christmas in the

Park”.

Rally Sunday and a barbecue benefit are being planned for September 16 by the

Education and Outreach committees. Progress is being made in the planning for

a bake sale and a raffle to be held at the same time.

Friday Night Lights will continue under the leadership of Cassie Walsh. Fliers

will be handed out for the next event on August 31.

A congregational meeting will be held on December 2, and the main topic to be

discussed will be the budget.

The council welcomed Alvin Garza as the newest council member.

At the next council meeting, there will be a discussion as to whether or not to

hold both the 6:00 and 11:00 Christmas Eve services or just have one service at

6:00. Input from the congregation before that meeting would be appreciated.

Council received a report from the nominating committee on the progress they

are making on a roster of candidates for next Spring’s election.

The next council meeting will be on September 23.

Meeting adjourned at 12:29.

Submitted by

Wendy Lambeth, secretary

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SECOND FAMILY

If you can help, we need YOU! Second Family cannot meet the needs of our

congregation now. We don't have enough Care-Partners to cover all of the

opportunities to serve. So, if you have some time, this is one of your gifts and

you love being a helping hand to our church family - please consider volun-

teering.

We have 5 meetings a year and each lasts about 2 hours. We would like

for you to commit to attending at least 3 per year (we don't meet in the

summer). We offer free, professional training classes which are at your

election. You e-mail your time spent each month to Interfaith Care Partners.

The time commitment per month varies with the service you offer. Our needs

at this time are for the following:

1) Phone calls to home-bound or missing or those who have asked to be

checked on. This means a great deal to the recipients and their families but is a

weekly time commitment;

2) Someone to send cards to the home-bound and people on the prayer

chain and our Care Receivers (we provide the cards and postage) but this is a

weekly commitment and is greatly appreciated;

3) People to sit with some of our members in rehabilitation or dementia

care while they eat (to visit with them and encourage them to eat). This would

be a once a week for about 2 hours each time in the Galleria or off Kempwood;

4) People to take our church family members with dementia to The Gath-

ering and stay with them. This is a wonderful program that inspires you, but

does require a twice-a-month commitment for 4 hours at a time (but you do get

a nice free lunch and a warm feeling at the end of the day!).

5) People to take church family members to doctor appointments or

chemo/radiation therapy and bring them home. We don't provide health care

and the facilities will not allow them to leave until they are stable, but they are

often "wobbly" or ill. You need a cheery disposition and a very flexible

schedule.

We realize and appreciate that EVERYONE in our church family at Holy

Cross serves. And, that each of us serves in different ways. If this may be in

line with your service area and you will give it a try, please contact Sandra

Williams at 713-984- 9009. Second Family provides confidential care giving

to our church family.

Thank you! Second Family

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FAMILY FUN DAY

It is coming!!!! On Sunday, September 16,

we will have a CELEBRATION!!!

A combination Bring a Friend / Former Member,

Rally Day and Bar-BQ Benefit for the Coopers!!!

It will start at 9:00 am with a service of special music, thought-provoking

sermon, and hopefully a church full of people that YOU invite! Then,

Rally Day with each and hopefully EVERY organization at Holy Cross

sharing a table with an exhibit of what that group does and an opportu-

nity for folks to find out more and join them!

From Acolytes and Brunch Bunch to Via de Cristo and VBS (and ZZZs

if there is a group!).

Then, introduction of the Sunday School teachers and programs

(including the Barn collections and gifts for the kids).

Then, stay and visit with some old and new friends or try out the Adult

Forum!

At noon we will start dining on Bar-BQ - with music and some games!

The donations for the MEAL and from the BAKE SALE will all go to

the Coopers!

More information to come including some very creative invitations de-

signed by Pat Curran for all of us to mail or give out! So, start looking

around - who is missing from your pew and who of your friends and

neighbors would just love to join our family!!!

Start thinking!!!

OUTREACH COMMITTEE

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RUMMAGE SALE

Friday, October 5- 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

& Saturday, October 6 - 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Set-up will be Sunday, September 30, and continue during the week

prior to the sale. Donations needed are: clothes, shoes, purses, books,

plants, household items (dishes, décor, linens, and furniture), collectibles,

costume jewelry, toys, bake-sale items and money for briskets for lunch

at the rummage sale.

Also needed are volunteers with trucks and strong backs to pick up and

deliver heavy items to the church.

Donations can be brought to

the HCLC Family Life Center (gym)

beginning Sunday, September 30,

and ending at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, October 3.

Please call Amy Schomburg at (713) 462-5164 to volunteer to help with

the rummage sale in any capacity.

Joyce Peden - Rummage Sale Publicity Chairperson

ALPHA & OMEGA

A & O Neighborhood Circle

will meet on Sunday, September 2, 2012,

at the home of Tillie and Calvin Remmert,

3018 Teague, 713-690-9596

at 5:00 P.M.

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Who among us did not watch the spectacle of the Olympic Games in

London with fascination and wonder? Who among us did not feel a

swell of pride at the outstanding performances of America’s athletes?

Who among us did not feel a touch of regret when the Games wound

down – a feeling of “what will I fill my TV time with now?” It’s like

the end of the baseball season or the football season

One thing tends to haunt me, however. What about the athlete who

comes in fourth -- out of the medal race – or more to the point, the one

who crosses the finish line last? How do they deal with disappointment?

Or is it shame, as one might feel at falling during a gymnastic event?

How do we deal with disappointment – or shame – or frustration?

We have friends to comfort us, surely. With no intent to trivialize our

disappointments by equating them with those of highly trained athletes,

let it be said that all such feelings are real, be they experienced on the

playing field or in the privacy of our homes. We all have times when we

need comfort and assurance. We all need a willing ear, a solacing

shoulder, a route to our real Comforter.

Can you let us do that?

In Christ’s service,

Marge Carroll

Stephen Ministry Coordinator

713-467-4757

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Holy Cross members celebrating birthdays in SEPTEMBER:

ARONOFF, Raymond & Lisa

2292 Pavillion Dr.

North Tustin, CA 92705-3341

01 Melissa Storenski

Leslie Appling

02 Sig Ellerman

03 Angelica Rauda

Harrison New

05 Alma Laubenberg

Mike Johnson

Janis Vasut

06 Jo Follis

Bert Hungerford

Jim Berggren

Jocelyn Ruiz

07 Jose Gómez

Keyshawn Roberts

08 Glendeen Roemer

09 Lino Orellana

Claire Appling

10 Mike Appling

Dylan New

12 Will Byerly

Oscar Morales

13 Laverne Pivonka

14 Harriet Short

18 Pat Boessling

Jay Byerly

Ricki Finstad

19 Melina Martinez

20 Sarah Allcorn

22 Reyna Rauda

23 Betty Valites

Mitchell Walton

24 Juanita Villegas

Charlotte Jensen

25 Norma Hines

Angie Eckermann

26 Susan Giesecke

Fernando Arista

27 Ken Polzin

Alan Hernández

28 Sheldon Urwitz

Exie Hemphill

Sandra Williams

Eduardo Escamilla

29 Michael Giesecke

Julio Navarro

Evan Neumann

30 Alan Gignac

New email address:

CARROLL, Marge

marjoriecarroll33@gmail.com

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READINGS, PSALMS & GOSPEL

SEPTEMBER 2012

DATE 1st READING PSALM 2nd READING GOSPEL

09/02/12 Deut. 4:1-2, 6-9 15 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8,

14-15, 21-23

09/09/12 Isaiah 35:4-7a 146 James 2:1-10 Mark 7:24-37

09/16/12 Isaiah 50:4-9a 116:1-9 James 3:1-12 Mark 8:27-38

09/23/12 Jeremiah 11:18-20 54 James 3:13—4:3,

7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

09/30/12 Numbers 11:4-6,

10-16, 24-29

19:7-14 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50

COUNCIL MINUTES - JULY 22, 2012

This meeting was called to order at 11:36 a.m. Present at the meeting

were Carol Prokofieff, Nancy Beamesderfer, Sandra Williams, Wayne

Schaper, Wendy Lambeth, Pastor Jhon Jairo, John Stokes, Pastor Jim

Berggren, Sharon Wagner, Karen Davidson, and Mike Appling.

Pastor Jim reported that HCLC is hosting two sessions of a Lutheran

Traditions class taught by Pastor Ed Peterman.

Rally Sunday and a barbecue benefit are being planned for September

16 by the Education and Outreach committees.

Friday Night Lights will continue under the leadership of Cassie

Walsh. The next event will be held the last Friday in August. More

volunteers needed.

HCLC will host a forum on Immigration Law on August 8.

The next Council meeting will be on August 19.

Meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Submitted by

Wendy Lambeth - Secretary

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TREASURER’S REPORT

If you have any questions call

Wayne Schaper, Sr. at (713) 465-5206.

JULY 2012

Receipts $ 42,577.00

Expenses 34,590.52

Balance $ 7,986.48

Operational receipts

year to date received ……. $ 250,248.22

Expenditures year to date ……. 259,206.76

Balance …… < $ 8,958.54 >

S U N S H I N E S A I N T S

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE

JULY 2012

Sunday English Services: 109

Sunday Spanish Services: 84

Prayer Chain Telephone and E-mail

Prayer chain requests and anyone who would

like to be added to the telephone

or e-mail Prayer Chain can notify:

Alma Laubenberg 713-996-7479 or email:

CHURCH

OFFICE HOURS

Monday - Thursday

8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Friday

8:30 am - 2:30 pm

Holy Cross

Lutheran Church’s

E-MAIL address is:

hclc@holycross.us

You may sign up for Altar Flowers in the

Narthex. Suggested donation

is $40.00 and $10.00 for a rose.

Remember in prayer the

homebound, disabled, long-term ill,

and prolonged recovering.

Ella Brezina

Ora Dell Dittmar

Betty Dodson

Doris Anne Drosche

Sig Ellerman

Nancy Mendel

Doris Pannell

Doris Polker

Dorothy Storenski

Sue Vogt

Roselain Larson

albob1948@yahoo.com

Bill Alexander

Richard Collins

Ed Cooper

Fred Gardner

Freddy Gardner

Betty Griffin

Gary Gross

Barbara Hopkins

Mike Jisha

Jo Rita Kaltwasser

Jordan Kilkenny

Carol Kirsch

Betty Nichols

Jeri O’Neill

Charles Pace

Eleanor Reinhart

Laura Ruthstrom

Glen Schwartz

Nell Teschner

Vanna Teschner

Sheldon Urwitz

R E M E M B E R I N Y O U R P R A Y E R S

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“Holy Cross Lutheran Church is a community of Christians

gathered by God’s grace and reaching out through God’s love.”

TELEPHONE EXTENSIONS

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101

Church Office Sussy Basurto Office Manager & Events Coordinator

103 Rev. Jim Berggren Senior Pastor

104 Rev. Jhon J. Arroyave Hispanic Pastor

105 Karen Davidson Associate In Ministry

107 Financial Office

108 Stephen Ministry Office

109 Family Life Center

110 Nursery

111 Volunteer Office

Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Spring Branch

A Congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)

7901 Westview Dr. — Houston, Texas 77055

Tel. (713) 686-8253 Fax (713) 686-9095

E-mail: hclc@holycross.us

Web Site: www.holycross.us

YOUR CHURCH STAFF

† Rev. Jim Berggren — Senior Pastor email : jberggren@holycross.us

† Rev. Jhon Jairo Arroyave — Hispanic Pastor

† Karen Davidson — Associate In Ministry email : aimked@gmail.com

† Sussy Basurto — Office Manager email : hclc@holycross.us

WORSHIP MUSICIANS

Matthew Coffey Choir Director Cathy Elijah Organist Jo Ann Meeker Pianist Ann Crick Pianist

EARLY LEARNING CENTER

(713) 461-5535

OFFICERS OF THE CONGREGATION

Mike Appling President Carol Prokofieff Vice President Wendy Lambeth Secretary Wayne Schaper, Sr. Treasurer

SATURDAY INFORMAL SERVICE

6:00 p.m. — Narthex

SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICES

English Service : 9:00 a.m.

Sunday School : 10:30—11:15 a.m.

Spanish Service: 10:30 a.m.

Estudio Bíblico y Escuela Dominical

11:30 a.m.—12:15 p.m.