	Covenant Lutheran Church
	*Living in His covenant, growing in His grace*

Women's Ministries

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY

“Blessings in the Midst of Suffering”

7 pm Tuesday, May 13 in Church fellowship hall

This is the concluding session of the series “Blessed to Follow: the Beatitudes as a Compass for Discipleship.” Theme verses : “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)

Jesus’ first sermon is the Beatitudes and his last sermon is the Great Promise in Matthew 25:31-46. We are blessed to be a blessing! All women are invited to share this time of fellowship around God’s Word.

2008-2009 Bible Study beginning September

The Hidden Hand of God:

Wisdom Stories from Ruth, Daniel and Esther

Help us think about our call to discipleship in the complexity of today's world. You will see three recurring "H" themes throughout the study: hesed, heroic actions, and hidden hand. As we study these books together we pray that we grow in confidence of God's never ending love for us and that we gain courage to take the risks God may be calling us to.

"Bloom Where You Are Planted"
2008 Women's Tea

Welsh Love Spoons

The early history of Wales and some Scandinavian countries tell us that spoons were carved and given to a young man’s intended. The young man would spend hours carving the spoon with his own hands from a single piece of wood in the hope that the girl would accept it. If the girl accepted the spoon, she would demonstrate her interest in him by hanging the spoon on the wall as a message she was taken. These spoons became known as Love Spoons and the old fashioned term for courtship called “spooning.”

“I give you… the spoon!” And that’s just what happened at Covenant Lutheran’s fifth annual tea party, with the theme, Bloom Where You’re Planted … Living Our Disciple Life. Each participant was sent home with a memento of an Apostle spoon, a demitasse version of the antique spoons historically given to those of royal birth for baptism or christening.

In days gone by, to receive a spoon was regarded as a blessing and the material used reflected the wealth of the giver, such that an especially blessed child would receive a silver spoon. We determined we were all “born with a silver spoon in our mouth” since we all live like royalty, with “servants” to light our lamps and draw our water, “carriages” to quickly move us from place to place, all types of exotic foods in any season, methods of communication to keep us in touch with the entire world at any time, and we are all children of the King.

The sliver Apostle spoons we were given are to commemorate our own baptisms, when we received a far more precious gift… the gift of grace. With our baptisms we all became not just Disciples, but Apostles of Christ since the word Apostle means “someone who is sent out with a message” and we have each been given the Great Commandment and Great Commission along with our gift of Grace. Like the original 12, we will have times where we might hang back quietly or rush forward with little thought but lots of passion, be an encourager or even a Judas Iscariot.

We were also reminded that our spoons are like the gift of grace in that we, of course, have the choice to accept a gift or not, but also how we use it… to keep it hidden or use it daily and enjoy its service in our lives. Our spoons are intended to be a reminder of how loved we are… how blessed we are to live in these times… and of our ultimate gift of Grace from God. With gifts such as these… we can’t help butBloom where we’re planted!