Ladies of the then Pilgrim LWML Society sport their new aprons for the 2013 Fall Rally that they hosted at Pilgrim. In the back row from left to right are Sallye Key, Sharon Sampson, Shannon Gage, Sarah Land, Elaine Navaille, and Barbara Wuthrich. In the front row from left to right are Angela Sampson and Jeanette Paetznick.
Although Pilgrim at present does not have an active society of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML), Pilgrim’s active Mary/Martha Society continues to support LWML projects through its mites, and individual women can participate in national LWML, Texas District, and East Texas Zone activities and events, including subscribing to the Lutheran Women’s Quarterly magazine.
Pilgrim’s Mary/Martha Society usually gathers after the Divine Service on the third Sunday of each month in the Parish Hall (to be sure, check the church calendar). All ladies of Pilgrim Lutheran Church and their guests are welcome.
The Mary/Martha Society takes its name from the two sisters of Luke 10:38-42, who in some ways represent the Society’s focus both on devotion to the Lord (Mary) and on service to Him (Martha). Our Lord loved both women, as He loves each one of us, dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the grave that we might be forgiven by grace for His sake through faith in Him.
Our monthly gatherings include a light lunch with encouraging conversation, discussion of any current service projects or other activities (including ingatherings for local women’s shelters and schools), and Bible Study. Presently, Pastor Galler is leading us in a study of the Women of the Bible.
At our gatherings, we collect a love offering for service that the society does at Pilgrim (in the past including such things as gifts of prayer books to those newly confirmed, high-school graduation cakes, and meat for the congregation’s Christmas Party) and in the community, and we also collect LWML Mites, which the congregation contributes to as well on the last Sunday of the month, what we call “Loose-change Sunday”.
Mites take their name from the account of the widow’s mite in Mark 12:41-44. A widow offered two small coins called mites, which was all she had. She trusted in the Lord to take care of her, and out of faith she gave what little money she had, knowing that God can do mighty things with a few small coins. We carry on the tradition of the poor widow by collecting our “mites” (loose change and more that we collect in mite boxes). We send this money to the LWML Texas District, which uses some to fund its own mission grants and forwards another portion to the national LWML to fund its mission grants (both the LWML Texas District and national LWML use other portions of the mites for operational expenses). Since 1942, LWML has gathered more than 100 million dollars that have funded mission grants all over the world! (Pilgrim’s LWML Society was founded in January of 1952.) For more information about the history of the mite box and how those mites are used, please click here.
For more information about Pilgrim’s Mary/Martha Society, you may contact our current Mary/Martha “facilitator” Teresa Gibson, or contact the Church Office using the information at right.
