True North VBS

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I’m still basking in the glow of Sunday’s time of worship together and, throughout this week, I’ve been reflecting with some other staff members about it. I’ve heard several comments about how we should have just a single, combined worship service more often. And at the same time, after the worship service was over, I caught up with and spoke to some families who have been recently visiting with us who were out-of-the-loop and came at the normal 10:30 time for worship only to discover they had missed it.

With that introduction, I want to open the door to hear more from all of you on this topic. I’m going to share some of the pros and cons that I recognize,  and then would ask all of you to give me some feedback.

I want to start with the positives because all of our combined single services over the last several years have been so energy-filled. And that’s one of the first pros – with one service, we bring both Classic Grace and Contemporary Joy worshipers together. A relatively full sanctuary means full-voice responses in the Call to Worship, prayer responses, and more. It means the singing is more robust. It can enhance the sense of community and togetherness. There is a beautiful “cross-pollination” that occurs, allowing people who typically attend different services get to see each other and worship together. It was awesome having so many children gathered together up front for the children’s message.

When it comes to the cons, here are some of the challenges that come with a combined worship service. The biggest challenge is communicating the change in time. We try our best to do that through my email updates, the website, announcement screens, and text messages. But not all our visitors or even regular worshipers are in our database to receive these reminders, and even some who do still miss the time change. Every time we’ve had a single service, there have been people I know who have missed it. The difficulty of this is it can create a “club mentality” – not intentionally but as a by-product. If you’re not on the “inside,” you miss out.

Another con is trying to accommodate the different musical tastes, as we are a congregation that utilizes two different styles of music consistently each week. While Kathy does a great job of incorporating some contemporary or modern music into Classic Grace, as well as incorporating traditional hymns into Contemporary Joy, having both together presents a real challenge. What music can we use in worship that both can sing and appreciate? How much organ gets used, or drums, guitars, and keyboard, or just piano? Kathy recognizes the importance of differing “heart languages” when it comes to music and what speaks to different people, and she works hard on a weekly basis with the two services, as well as when we have a single service, to be sensitive to that with the selection of music.
Having more single services creates another challenge with the time-factor. Typically, we do not have Education Hour Sunday School or Bible study classes on single-service Sundays. If we had more single services, we would need to figure out when Education Hour would be, either before or after the worship service. And, finally, a con that is not a con just yet (but we’re not far from it) is that people like their space in worship. How do you feel about that—would you prefer to have a full sanctuary, even if it means it may feel crowded, or would you prefer a little more space around you? Let us know!

I’m guessing that many of you could add to this list of both pros and cons – and I would ask you to do just that! Both our Worship Planning Team and our staff will be doing an intentional and broad evaluation of these single services, discussing whether or not to continue them and, if so, whether to consider adding more of them to the worship schedule. As a reminder, this past year we had three combined worship services--a single service the Sunday after Labor Day weekend at the conclusion of outdoor worship before beginning our regular Fall Schedule, a single service the Sunday between Christmas and New Years, and this last one which took place on Confirmation Sunday, right before the start of our summer schedule.

The Worship Planning Team and I would greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts about this – both pros and cons. We are open to considering making changes to what we currently do, with either more or less of these combined services. Your voice is important to us. Please email your feedback, input, ideas, pros, cons, and other thoughts to me (gschlecht@immanuelloveland.org), by June 1^st so we receive your comment ahead of our next Worship Planning Team meeting. Thank you in advance for your responses!

In the meantime, don’t forget the change in worship times THIS Sunday, as we transition to our summer worship schedule of 8:00am and 9:30am, both indoors, through the month of June.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Yesterday was such a fun and glorious day as we worshiped together in one service and, as part of that day celebrated 5 of our youth who confirmed their faith in Jesus! From Revelation 21, we thought deeply about “a new heaven and a new earth,” and how God tells us, “I am making everything new!” It’s important for us to realize that God provides this vision for us of what is still to come when Jesus returns again, but also how He is very much at work right here and now. His work of restoring, re-creating, forgiving, and saving is definitely part of God’s ongoing work of “making everything new.”

As we talked about on Sunday, God is not and will not be making everything “brand new,” but He is restoring everything and making everything new again – that’s the meaning of the word John used when he recorded this part of the vision he was given. That’s what St. Paul was referring to in Romans 8:18-22 in reference to all of creation waiting in anticipation of this coming new heavens and new earth. And that new heavens and new earth will be accompanied by the promises of Revelation 21:4, where “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”

Part of the beautiful mystery of this life in Christ is that even now we get glimpses of the wonders and the glory that is coming. Even though we live and have to deal with the realities of the brokenness and messiness of life—the heartaches, the struggles, the difficulties that we all face—this life is not intended to be all doom and gloom! Those glimpses we catch of what is coming include glimpses of God’s grace, God’s miracles, His comfort, peace, strength, and so much more – and God is even here to wipe the tears from our eyes right now! Take that to heart and let the Lord bring you the encouragement you need in these days.

Part of this time of the year includes lots of new starts, new beginnings, new seasons of life. Kathy and I were able to enjoy a number of open houses for confirmations and graduations this weekend with more coming next weekend. What a joy it is to celebrate with these young people and their families the accomplishments they’ve achieved. They are looking ahead at transitions and new opportunities, with some excitement, some anxiousness, some uncertainties with all the “new” that is coming their way – be it moving into high school, into college, into the military, into a trade or a new career. And these changes impact not just these young people but their entire families – parents, siblings, and grandparents. And so we pray for these young people as we celebrate what God is doing in their lives and with all that is yet to come.

Check out a couple of things below. I’ve included the What Now? from yesterday for you to include in your thinking and living out this coming week. There are also several pictures of our five youth who confirmed their faith, including the processional at the start of worship, when their parents gathered around them promising to continue to pray for them and walk with them, placing the red stoles around their necks, and a couple pictures of the group. Our confirmands this year include Camden Hanft, Bella Odegaard, Brody Roberts, Sarah Speidel, and Tristan Stull.

What Now?

Let the Lord’s promise of “a new heaven and a new earth,” along with that time when “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” be an encouragement to you with any challenges or heartache you may face, to remind you of the hope we have in Jesus.

One last item. A Zoom call is set up for later this afternoon with representatives from the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) Loan Resolution group to meet with our leaders and anyone who is interested from Immanuel to speak to us about restructuring our current mortgage debt. The meeting will be held here at Immanuel, Monday, May 19^th in room 112 starting at 5:00pm, or it can be accessed by clicking on this Zoom meeting link – https://lcef.zoom.us/j/81588581905?pwd=k20aSjmBLKMF2kh1YiExnPxk0yzRYT.1&from=addon (Meeting ID: 815 8858 1905; Passcode: 359040).

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We are definitely in the midst of what the month of May typically brings – graduations, end-of-year wrap-ups, lots of school field trips, school programs and all the rehearsals that go along with those programs, attention spans shrinking as the weather gets warmer and summer gets closer, trip and vacation planning, spring sports finishing and summer sports starting, gardens being planted, flower pots and flower boxes and hanging flowers and all the God-given beauty is being planned and executed to give a splash of color to yards and homes – in other words, lots and lots of change!

That’s been happening here at Immanuel, with all our preschoolers “graduating” on Wednesday, and our 8^th graders graduating tonight (see the article below if you’d like to come!), plus lots of the other things I mentioned above!

From a ministry perspective, our eyes are already on summer and two HUGE annual events that are coming up very quickly in June – our Sweetheart City Car Show and Vacation Bible School. Many of you have already signed up to help or buy supplies or support these two ministries – and if you have, thank you!! If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to read the two articles below and see where you might get involved or how you can support the Car Show and VBS. Both of these ministries are essentially “all hands on deck,” with as large, far-reaching, and mission-focused as they are! Plus, they’re a lot of fun! So, thank you in advance for the help and support!

Another annual celebration is happening this Sunday with five of our middle school youth confirming their faith. Please take note of the worship time changes and the ways we, as a congregation, can support and encourage our young people in their journey of faith and life. It’s going to be a very fun celebration between the single service, a variety of music, Expressions of Faith by our youth, and cake!

I thank God for all of you who call Immanuel home – what a wonderful place to serve our Savior together. Thank you all for your focus on our Savior and the mission He’s given us, as well as for the generous ways you give of your time, your finances, and your resources. God is obviously at work in some powerful ways!

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I have really enjoyed digging deeper into the book of Revelation with our current Easter series, Worthy is the Lamb: A Vision of Hope and Victory, and I hope this series has been helpful to you! There has been a lot of information that I’ve been sharing each week, which has made it difficult for me to include my usual questions and the discussion time during my sermons. There are three things I want to highlight as far as following up on yesterday’s message.

The first is to say a little more about what I shared yesterday regarding this idea of “the rapture.” I stated that the Bible doesn’t speak of a rapture and that teaching about the rapture has been a very recent phenomenon – less than 200 years ago. This idea came about because of very bad theology. But the timing of its propagation coincided with a rapid push of American frontier spirituality through revivals and revivalist preachers. It is heavily Law-based, which fits a revivalist model because of the need to instill fear in people and provide some urgency to respond to their message. The timing also coincided with the publication of the Schofield Reference Bible which included study notes that furthered this bad theology, including inappropriate references to that nation-state of Israel which are all very unbiblical, but elevated Dispensationalism in a dramatic way. Lastly, the popularity of books by Hal Lindsey (The Late Great Planet Earth) and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (the Left-Behind series) captured the imaginations of many people and embedded these eschatological teachings of Dispensationalism into the American psyche so deeply that Christians from all denominations began to assume that what they were reading or watching was straight from the Bible and was truly God’s plan. But it’s not! This is not what God in His Word is telling us about what will happen at the end of time.

If you’d like more information on this, I’d recommend these references (there are many more, but these would be some places to start):

• Rossing, Barbara R. The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. New York: Basic Book, 2005.
• Middleton, J. Richard. A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2014.
• Akenson, Donald H. Exporting the Rapture: John Nelson Darby and the Victorian Conquest of North-American Evangelicalism. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2018.
• Schlecht, Kathy. Enhancing the Eschatological Understanding of Restoration at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Loveland, Colorado. Doctoral Dissertation, 2022, pages 30-34. Available from Immanuel’s Church Library at this link: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3Ab8edf0e9-e350-3edb-98ef-b1e641dbafef&viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover

The second thing I want to share is a reminder of what is coming for all of us who believe in Jesus. At the end of Revelation chapter 7, the message of the Gospel is clear and is beautiful. These are promises that we can experience in part on this side of eternity, but when we enter into the Church Triumphant, we will experience in all fullness. Take these promises to heart as the Lord’s message of love, encouragement, and hope for you and me – ¹⁵ Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. ¹⁶ ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

And third, know that you and I are part of this powerful vision/revelation the Lord gave to John. As the Church Militant, we are a Church at war in this “great tribulation,” engaged in a very real battle against sin and the devil. We are called to “fight the good fight,” to continue to carry out our Lord’s mission for us of sharing His message of hope, forgiveness, grace, and life to everyone we can. I encourage you to take this week’s What Now? to heart!

What Now?

Live this week from the perspective that YOU are one of those in white robes, standing before the throne of God, washed in the blood of the Lamb. Let that perspective speak to how you live, how you see yourself, how you treat others, decisions you make, and opportunities the Lord gives you to serve Him.

One last note – this is the lasts week of the “Love Challenge” that began on February 2^nd – “Love never fails.”

What Now?

Print out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (provided below). Each week for the next 16 weeks, take one of the characteristics of love and look for ways to express it – to your spouse, your kids, your friend-group. Be creative, have fun with it, talk about it, and grow in the love our Savior has shown to us as we show it to each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Love Never Fails

This kind of love goes beyond the boundaries of ordinary love. It is eternal, divine, and will never cease.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! I want to follow-up last week’s observance of National Day of Prayer with some additional encouragement regarding prayer. Prayer is such an important part of lives as followers of Jesus. Jesus Himself has shown to us how important it is simply by how much time He spent in prayer, to say nothing of all that He taught, commanded, and encouraged us regarding prayer.

First, I do encourage you to be intentional about spending time each day in prayer. I say that not out of guilt or obligation, but as an expression of the relationship we have with our Lord. We’ve been given the privilege of direct access to Him and He loves to be in conversation with us, hearing our voice, our needs, our desires, our joys and thanksgiving. Don’t complicate this gift – just talk to Him. Don’t set yourself up for failure – you don’t have to have a 15- or 30-minute sit-down with Him. Take time through the day, as needs arise, as you experience awesome things, as you hear news-bytes, and just pause and talk to God about these things for a few minutes.

Flowing from that, if you want to be part of my email prayer group, I would be more than happy to add you! This, too, has no pressure or strings attached. Let me explain briefly how this email prayer group works.

1. Many people email me, text me, and call me with prayer requests – health issues, celebrations, crises, etc. – asking for prayer. All of you are also welcome to reach out to me at any time with such requests – for yourself, your family, friends, co-workers, and others. Know that when I receive these requests, I pray!
2. I take these prayer requests and try to bundle them together so I’m not sending out an overwhelming number of emails that fill your inbox. I do send out requests pretty much every day, at times even 2-3 times in a day, depending on requests that come to me and, at times, the urgency of the requests.
3. These will primarily come from me (except when I'm out of town – then Pastor Robin typically will send them out) and will have “prayer requests [date]” in the subject line.
4. When you receive and open up the email, read through the request(s).
5. Then pause for a moment and pray over these requests, lifting them up to the Lord.
6. I try to avoid using this email group as a means to communicate “general needs” that people have, political overtones (although there will be some, for example when it comes to life issues), or a place to advertise something. I work hard to keep it simply as needs people have that they request to be prayed over.

If you’d like to be part of this group, which currently has over 200 people, just email me to let me know and I’ll get you added.

In the meantime, there’s a lot going on these days that we need to be praying about. I’ll close by urging you to keep the following requests on your prayer list: me as your pastor and the staff at our church and school; Immanuel and all our ministries, including our congregation’s elected leaders, the two LCEF studies on our school and land-use, and the strategic planning on which we are embarking; the Church-at-large to be a strong witness and proclamation of Jesus as our only hope; for the spiritual battles that are being waged over so many different issues in schools, in government, on social media, etc.; and for our country, including governing officials at every level, the many divisions that seem to be growing, and for a putting down of any evil-intentioned actions or agendas. Please pray specifically for the many battles that are being waged right now in our Colorado legislature over key issues of parental rights, freedom of speech, protection of children, and issues of gender. There are so many more bullet items I could add, but I’ll let the Lord lead you in what other matters to pray for.

Bottom line? Let’s be people of prayer, trusting our almighty, all-powerful, and all-knowing God, the God who is and who was and who is to come, the Lamb who was slain, and our reigning and ruling King and Savior with these many matters, and entrusting ourselves confidently to Him! We are blessed, beyond a doubt! And so we move forward confidently and boldly with His leading, guiding, and directing.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Worship is an amazing, powerful, and beautiful gift our Lord has given us. Our Easter series on Revelation, Worthy is the Lamb: A Vision of Hope and Victory, led us into one of the many outbursts of worship and praise that we find in the book of Revelation, and we had the opportunity to explore worship a little deeper yesterday in the message. In my article today, I want to highlight a few other aspects of worship that we value here at Immanuel.

What is foundational about worship, as is the case with almost everything we do here at Immanuel, is that worship is grounded in God’s Word and is focused on Jesus. That comes through loud and clear throughout Revelation – these regularly recurring times of worship are always the direct result of remembering and acknowledging Jesus as the Lamb who was slain who has victoriously risen from the dead and is now seated on the throne as our reigning and ruling King and Savior.

At Immanuel, God’s Word undergirds, forms, shapes, and guides every worship service and directs us straight to Jesus. The Invocation takes us back to baptism and also reminds us that we worship the Triune God of the Scriptures. Calls to Worship are either direct Scripture passages or based on God’s Word. The same can be said of our time of Confession and Forgiveness. We typically read three different sections of the Bible in worship – an Old Testament reading or a reading from the book of Acts, a reading from one of the New Testament Epistles, and a reading from one of the Gospels. It’s one or more of those readings that form the basis for the children’s message as well as my preaching. The hymns, songs, and music are all based on Scripture. The Creeds flow directly from God’s Word. The offering and prayers are responses to what God has told us about each of those important parts of our following Jesus. For the Lord’s Supper, we hear Jesus’ Words of Institution, again, straight from the Bible. Even the four questions I ask come from 1 Corinthians 11. The Benediction and Sending are from Numbers 6:24. All of worship tells the story of God’s redeeming work as revealed in Scripture.

Because worship is immersed in God’s Word, it informs us – of Jesus, of life, of Truth. I had mentioned two specific things in my message yesterday. One, worship is not just about the sermon. And two, the goal of the sermon, or of worship in general, is not just to “get something out of it.” This is clear from the times of worship in Revelation. While key parts of worship are music and the sermon, there is so much more to it! Worship is a full-bodied experience that is directed to our Triune God, who is indeed worthy of praise! We, as God’s creation, are here to echo back to our Creator and Redeemer all that He has spoken to us and poured into us. That is what we know and that is what we can do!

While my preaching informs, instructs, and helps us see how we are part of God’s Story and how God’s Story applies to each of our lives, it is not the end-all in worship. Oftentimes I ask questions and invite all of you into the sermon. That provides the opportunity for community as well as involvement of all ages, to engage with each other around God’s Word. But there may be times that you don’t seem to get anything out of the sermon. Or similarly, there may be times that you don’t particularly enjoy the music on a particular Sunday. Or for parents with young kiddos who may spend more time going back and forth to the bathroom or into the atrium or trying to keep their little ones corralled than hearing and taking in the sermon, I tell them, “That’s OK!” The end-all is not “getting something” out of the sermon or even out of worship. These parents and their children (actually all of us!), just by being present in worship, surrounded by people of all ages, are being reminded – or learning from a young age – that we are part of something far bigger than ourselves, something that is pretty awesome – the Body of Christ, a community of believers and followers of Jesus. As little or as old as we may be, we are invaluable members of the Lord’s Church! We go through seasons of life and for those parents, a time will come, as those children grow and learn and are developmentally able to sit and listen, that you will discover that being together in worship week-in and week-out, has had a profound impact on shaping and forming you into who you are as a beloved, forgiven, baptized child of God!

And so we come, week after week, in gratitude and thanks to our God, the Lamb who was slain, to remember what He has done for us – that He’s given us the victory over sin, death, and the devil, and that it’s because of Him that we have hope in our lives, no matter what we may be going through. My prayer is that this has been helpful and I encourage you to put this week’s What Now? on your bathroom mirror or in your bedroom or on your vehicle’s dashboard, and let the outbursts of worship and praise be part of your day-to-day living as a beloved child of the King!

What Now?

Ask the Lord to fill you with a renewed sense of wonder and awe, praise and thanksgiving in our times of worship together throughout this Easter series and beyond. Begin each day with these words of worship and praise to our Savior: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever! Amen!”

We also have just two more weeks with the “Love Challenge” that began on February 2^nd! Week #14 – “Love always perseveres.”

What Now?

Print out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (provided below). Each week for the next 16 weeks, take one of the characteristics of love and look for ways to express it – to your spouse, your kids, your friend-group. Be creative, have fun with it, talk about it, and grow in the love our Savior has shown to us as we show it to each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Love Always Perseveres

This kind of love endures even through the most difficult trials.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!

Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Today, Thursday, May 1^st, is the National Day of Prayer (NDP). For many, many years we have observed and been involved in the National Day of Prayer at Immanuel, knowing how foundational prayer is for our lives as Christians. The theme for this year’s NDP is, “Pour Out to the God of HOPE and be Filled,” based on Romans 15:13. Take time today to lift our nation and all its elected officials up to our risen Savior! I’ve included a couple pictures from today’s NDP service here at Immanuel over the lunch hour.

On this National Day of Prayer, we remember our Lord’s words through James (5:16), “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective,” an assurance that is true not only on this National Day of Prayer but every day of our lives! What a gift our God and Father has given us that we can come to Him with matters big and small and He stands ready to wrap His arms around us and listen to our hearts. I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to spend time in prayer today. If you need some help or direction, here are some ideas that I hold out to you that I’m borrowing from Dr. Jerry Kieschnick (former president of our church body, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod) and his weekly blog from a few years back:

• For school children and teachers.
• For husbands and wives who face every day marital stress and disharmony.
• For common sense and selfless service from political leaders at all levels.
• For healing of friends and acquaintances experiencing illness of any kind.
• For protection and safety for people on both sides of our southern border.
• For military personnel, especially those in highly dangerous assignments.
• For law enforcement officers called upon to make split-second decisions.
• For medical personnel who risk their personal health in caring for others.
• For upholding the sanctity of life—for the unborn and people of all ages.
• For children in our country and world who go to bed hungry every night.
• For Christians around the world who face daily and deadly persecution.
• For primary care givers of loved ones with chronic, debilitating illness.
• For our nation to withstand ungodly influence from within and without.
• For soaking rainfall in areas of severe or even moderate drought.
• For Christian churches, pastors, teachers, and missionaries.
• For Christian teachers and administrators in public schools.
• For people in the path of violent storms of any kind.
• For women (and men) living with abusive spouses.
• For people who struggle with gender identity.
• For comfort for those who’ve lost loved ones.
• For peace in our sorely divided nation.
• For good health—a genuine blessing.
• For single parents and their children.
• For children living in abusive homes.

Of course, feel free to add other prayers that are on your hearts and minds including prayers for family, friends, co-workers, classmates, colleagues, neighbors, as well as other situations of need and of joy. I would also ask that you pray today for our ministry together at Immanuel – for our school ministry, for enrollment for next year, for wisdom and direction, for upcoming major events of the Car Show and Vacation Bible School, for our staff, for our leaders, and for all who call Immanuel home.

What a privilege that God has given us this gift of prayer! Exercise that gift today (and every day!) as we come humbly yet confidently to our Lord with all our needs, joys, challenges, struggles, and celebrations.

I realized on Monday night that I had forgotten to include the “Love Challenge” in my Monday article – sorry about that! So here’s what I hope you’ve been practicing and working on in this week #13 – “Love always hopes.”

What Now?
Print out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (provided below). Each week for the next 16 weeks, take one of the characteristics of love and look for ways to express it – to your spouse, your kids, your friend-group. Be creative, have fun with it, talk about it, and grow in the love our Savior has shown to us as we show it to each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Love Always Hopes
This kind of love hopes for the best where others are concerned, knowing God is faithful to complete the work he started in us. This hope-filled love encourages others to press forward in the faith.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  As we’ve begun our Easter worship series on Revelation, my prayer is that our time together in this intriguing book of the Bible will bring some true encouragement, help, and hope to everyone!

As I’ve been following-up on various emails, texts, and other conversations today, it’s hard for me to not be overwhelmed with compassion that I’m feeling for so many of you dealing with such heavy issues, challenges, and struggles in your lives. For me, this has brought home just how critical it is for us to stay grounded in our Savior, in His Easter victory, and in the hope He gives us!

My encouragement to all of you today is to not give up, no matter what it is you find yourself facing. The world all around us may feel either like it’s completely falling apart or else it’s completely in the hands of the evil one. Yes, this world is a broken world, just as you and I are broken people. That’s what sin has done to us. And yes, as John in Revelation will point out, Satan is not going to let Jesus and the Gospel message go unchallenged – he’s going to continue to increase his persecution of believers and we must stand fast on the Truth of Jesus, His Word, and His promises. And while the battle rages on, we hold the victory because of Jesus – don’t ever forget that! You are not alone, and the battle has already been won!

I pray that our journey through the Book of Revelation will help us stay grounded and hope filled. If you missed yesterday’s message, you can check it out at the link at the end of this email. Yesterday was heavily introductory, laying out a lot of groundwork that is going to be helpful in understanding all that we’ll be reading and hearing in the weeks to come, but all of it is so applicable when it comes to the lives we’ve been called to lead as followers of Jesus.

God’s Word is timeless and His Vision of Hope and Victory in Revelation is a message He sent directly to you and me in our world today! I’ve included the What Now? from yesterday for you to put to work in your life this week:

What Now?

Keep calm and carry on – because Christ is risen and victorious! Put any fears, anxiousness, or concerns you face this week into the hands of our risen Savior and ask Him to replace those with the confidence and hope we know in Him.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We will continue to shout out that victory proclamation throughout the Easter season over the next six weeks! And this Sunday, we’re beginning a new series on the book of Revelation entitled, Worthy Is the Lamb: A Vision of Hope and Victory.

Throughout the Easter season we’ll be looking at some key passages in the book of Revelation. Contrary to a lot of contemporary thinking, Revelation is not a puzzle that God gave to us to figure out. It can be a puzzling book at times, however, with all the symbols and numbers and unusual imagery. The purpose of this revelation that the Lord gave to the disciple John was to share with all of God’s people a vision of hope and victory. At the time of this vision there was a great deal of persecution that God’s people and His Church were experiencing and some were feeling discouraged, were losing hope, and felt ready to give up. In this series, we won’t be focusing heavily on the symbology and numerology of this fascinating book of the Bible; rather, we’ll be taking in its powerful message of hope that comes in the victory of the Lamb, a message that continues to speak to us as God’s people and His Church today.

I hope you’ll be able to join me each of the next six weeks for this important series that will speak directly to the lives we lead as our Savior’s Easter people!

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Today I want to express a few thank yous for those who helped make our Holy Week and Easter celebrations even more amazing. Before I get there, I want to give a quick reminder about the congregational meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 6:30pm in the sanctuary. This is a follow-up to the LCEF Listening Meeting from April 1^st and an opportunity for me to share a bit more about what is happening in the bigger picture of Immanuel ministries and also field questions that you may have. All are invited to attend.

With regard to some thank yous from Holy Week and Easter. First, thank you to all who extended invitations to others to come to worship and express our Savior’s Radical Hospitality in a very real way. I want to thank Kathy Schlecht, our Director of Worship and Music Ministries, for putting together all those times of worship as well as for her musical leadership. Thank you to all of our musicians – vocalists and instrumentalists – for using your gifts and musical abilities to enhance our worship times in a beautiful and powerful way. Thank you to all who served in our many, many worship support roles, including ushering, greeting, acolyting, basket holding, reading scripture, serving communion, serving as head elder, hammering, counting and recording financial gifts, decorating, live streaming, sound and lights, screens, altar guild and preparing the Lord’s Supper and changing the paraments – you are all invaluable!

Next, thank you to Emma Giger, our Director of Christian Education Intern, for prepping and leading the awesome opportunities for the children and families, and for her amazing group of leaders (adults and youth) who helped with the Easter breakfast, including set-up, prepping, cooking, serving, and clean up. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously in supplies, food, and financial donations to help make the Easter breakfast a great fundraiser for our youth and their upcoming summer trip to the National Youth Gathering.

Thank you to all who helped with hanging banners and butterflies (including David Bongers, the co-creator of all those butterflies!) in the sanctuary and atrium, for Greg and Sandy Northrup and Greg Vibber and Cindy Eversole who beautifully decorated and kept up “the dent” in the center of the atrium. Thank you to Cindy Eversole who ordered, arranged, and cared for all the Easter lilies and flowers up front in the chancel area, and put together the planters by the front door. Thank you to all who donated toward the beautiful Easter lilies and fresh flowers, as well as all who brought fresh flowers to create this beautiful flower-cross masterpiece! Thank you to everyone who got their picture taken to help further our online picture directory, and to Pastor Robin, our picture-taker. Thank you to all of you for making Immanuel such an amazing community of faith! And finally, thanks and praise, honor and glory to our risen and victorious Savior Jesus Christ, for the gift of life, grace, and hope!

Finally, thank you to everyone who responded to my Easter message questions – “Why does Easter matter to you?” If you haven’t responded yet but are planning on it or would like to, I’d love to hear from you! Send me an email with why Easter matters to you! And then carry on with that thought, as I expressed in this week’s What Now? Plus, enjoy a few pictures from the day that Pastor Robin, our resident Easter photographer!   

What Now?

Christ is risen! How can you live this week (and beyond) like that matters? …with your words, your attitude, in your conversations, through your relationships, at your vocation, and more!

Lastly, the “Love Challenge” that we began on February 2^nd is still going and we are now on week #12 – “Love always trusts.” Keep going with this and practice this amazing gift of love that our Lord has given us.

What Now?

Print out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (provided below). Each week for the next 16 weeks, take one of the characteristics of love and look for ways to express it – to your spouse, your kids, your friend-group. Be creative, have fun with it, talk about it, and grow in the love our Savior has shown to us as we show it to each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails.”

Love Always Trusts

This love gives others the benefit of the doubt, sees the best in others, and trusts in their good intentions.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Serving together in Christ alone!

Pastor Glen