Messiah Lutheran Church, Knoxville TN

Twenty-Third Annual WELCA Convention

September 10-12, 2010

The twenty-third annual convention of the Southeastern Synod Women of the ELCA will be held Sept. 10, 11, and 12, 2010, at the Hilton Marietta Convention Center in Marietta, Georgia. The theme of the convention is “Wind of the Spirit” from John 3:8. Representing Messiah at the convention will be Denny Blalock, delegate, and representatives Lynn White, Bonnie Pederson, Gloria Nelson, and Anne Tinker. If you are interested in attending, please talk with Lynn White.

WELCA Morning Bible Study

The WELCA Morning Bible Study will be held at 10:00 am Tuesday, Sept. 7. We will follow the study from the magazine Lutheran Woman Today entitled “The People of God: Unity in the Face of Diversity.” The main text for this study is Romans 15:1-4. Doris Featherston will lead the study. Please join us.

WELCA Afternoon Bible Study

The WELCA Afternoon Bible Study will be held Thursday, Sept. 2. We are studying the book Giving to God by Mark Allan Powell. We will start at 12:30 pm with a brown bag lunch and begin the study at 1:00 pm. Lynn White will lead the study. Please join us.

Service Project & October General Meeting - Monday, Oct. 11

We have become aware that in keeping with Knoxville’s Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, many of the new residents at Guy B. Love Towers in north Knoxville are folks who are coming in from living off the streets and as such are in need of household items. Think of this as an opportunity to clear out your cabinets and donate household items that you don’t use anymore such as dishes, pots & pans, drinking glasses, linens, etc. We ask that you bring your donations to our general meeting on Monday, Oct. 11. These items will be greatly appreciated by the residents at Guy B. Love Towers.

Craft Fair - November 6, 2010

A Craft Fair will be held here at Messiah on Nov. 6 from 9:00 am-3:00 pm. The fair will include a bake sale, craft items from Lutheran World Relief, a WELCA table, and outside crafters who will set up tables. So far, the outside crafters include such items as wood-burned gourds, painted and holiday gourds, holiday items, photography, bookmarks, note cards, paintings, silk flower arrangements, wreaths, knitted scarves and washcloths, jewelry and soy candles. Think of this as a great opportunity to do some holiday shopping. If you have any questions, please contact Lynn White.

Love Offering

Love offering 2010/Southeastern Synod WELCA is designated for the Southeastern Synod Disaster Relief Fund.  Our own synod is in need of help due to recent flooding in Nashville, tornados in Mississippi and the oil spill on the Gulf Coast.  During the month of September, we will be “Counting our Blessings” by using a special calendar and bag to collect our coins. They are available in the narthex and we invite you to help with this worthy cause.

WELCA: Cooking for the homebound

Even though we can’t seem to break the heat outside, we are going to turn up the heat inside. On Sunday, Sept. 26, WELCA’s Witness and Service Committee will do some old-fashioned soup-cooking to share with Messiah’s homebound, sick and elderly. All women of the church are invited to join us beginning at 12:30 pm.

If you have a favorite soup recipe you would like to whip up, you can bring it along, or simply drop it off in the kitchen by noon on Sept. 26. We’ll be dividing the soup into serving size containers. If you are not a soup maker but love to bake, then we’d love for you to bake up some mini-loaves of your favorite bread and bring those to the kitchen on Sept. 26 by noon.  We will clean up all your dishes and mark them ready for pick-up the following Sunday.

If cooking isn’t your fancy, that’s okay. Please just take a moment and pray for Messiah’s homebound sick and elderly. To borrow from the popular book series, your prayers are like “chicken soup for the soul.”