Friends of Immanuel,

We’re about halfway through this season of Lent, talking regularly about the journey we are on together and the challenges of this wilderness that we are journeying through. I have personally so appreciated the opportunity to reflect on the different aspects of this journey – for me personally, for each of you individually and as couples and families, and for us as a congregation.

Ash Wednesday we began this journey together talking about this being A Secret Journey – how we’re called to live out our faith, not trumpeting everything we do for all to hear and see, but to give to those in need, to pray, and to fast (and lots more that we do as followers of Jesus), as the Lord leads us. Our lives certainly don’t have be secretive, but it’s a reminder to us to have a heart-check – if our hearts are in the right place, desiring to follow Jesus and to live lives that honor, glorify, and point people back to Jesus, that is what our Lord desires.

We talked about this being A Spirit-Led Journey. This should be a given for us, but it’s important that we remember we are to constantly seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance in our lives. We know the Spirit will always take us back to Jesus and keep us in Him. So even when we falter or head the wrong direction or make poor decisions, the Spirit is always here to lead us back to Jesus!

A Simple Journey was something I wrote about a couple weeks ago. In our following Jesus, let that simple message of the Gospel continue to resonate in our ears and hearts. Seek simplicity for our lives and try not to complicate everything. Solitude, quiet, simple times spent with the Lord can yield beauty, encouragement, and growth in our faith.

The most difficult part of our journey is what we thought about last Sunday as we considered A Sorrowful Journey. The bottom line is that this journey we are on, it is in the wilderness. And this journey can be very hard at times, filled with challenges, struggles, sadness, and sorrow of all sorts. But through it all, we know that we’re not on this journey alone. Our Lord has promised us, no matter what we may be going through, that He is here – listening, caring, present. And it’s important that we are here for one another as well – we are brothers and sisters in Jesus!

There’s much more still to come in this journey of Lent. This Sunday we’ll be thinking about this journey as A Sacrificial Journey – both what our Lord did for us and the invitation for us to follow Him with a humble attitude of sacrifice. This will take us right up to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, starting March 29^th, which is a special journey in and of itself.

I’m honored to be on this journey with all of you! What an amazing place Immanuel is. We live His promise that is found in our name – knowing with certainty that “God IS with us!” Thank you for calling Immanuel “home,” and for the many ways that so you give and serve and pray and worship together. I appreciate your faithfulness and the faith-filled way in which we journey together!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

Yesterday in worship we commissioned our leadership team for our newest ministry campaign, Run with Perseverance. We’re in the early stages of this campaign, a campaign where we are looking to bridge our financial gaps as we look to make strides forward in strengthening our school ministry and solidifying our financial position as a congregation.

We have a great Leadership Team who is leading our campaign. I introduced and commissioned them in worship, but in case you missed, here is the team and their respective positions (and the pictures are all as they are listed here):

Campaign Director: Becky York

Campaign Coordinator: Annette Bures

Communications Director: Justin Logston

Communications Team: Julie Geary, Kurt Holdorf, Josh Hubble

Prayer Coordinators: Paul and Gail Hein

Hospitality Coordinator: Kathy Schlecht

Connection Coordinators: Paul and Donna Gorky

Children’s and Youth Leader: Emma Hubble

Financial Coordinator: Dave Ritter

Fulfillment Coordinators: Jerry Austin and Bill Busacker

If you have a chance to say thank you to any of these individuals for their willingness to help lead this important campaign, please do so! We are so blessed with many amazing people here at Immanuel!

While the Communications Team has been filled out (a team that has been working hard for the past two months already, designing our awesome logo, and working on lots and lots of other communication pieces), there are still lots of teams that are needing to be filled with lots of work that needs to be done.

To that end, below is an initial survey/questionnaire that I would appreciate EVERYONE filling out, either using the QR code and filling out the brief online form, or printing a copy of the form, filling it out and dropping it off in the church office. It would be great to have these all completed this week and brought in by next Sunday. If you need help or want a paper copy, you can contact us at the church office and one of us will be happy to assist you (970-667-4506, ChurchOffice@ImmanuelLoveland.org).

In the meantime, I invite you to already be praying for this campaign, for our leadership team, and for Immanuel’s elected leadership, as we all continue working and serving together for the furthering of our Savior’s Kingdom! More information is coming with the Information Phase and Inspirational Phase of the campaign just around the corner.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

The worship theme of “simplicity” over this entire week (including both Sunday’s and Wednesday’s worship focus) has really resonated with me. Yesterday at our midweek Lent worship, we spent our time in Psalm 46. The first and last verses of Psalm 46, as well as the refrain used in this psalm, serve as powerful reminders of our Lord and His promises, as well as the invitation He holds out to us: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear… Be still and know that I am God… The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

In between those verses, the psalm-writer expresses troubles – wide ranging and world altering troubles. We can add our own into that mix as we read and consider what God is saying to us here in His Word. The ongoing challenges we face with our finances, the desire to grow our school enrollment, difficult decisions to be made regarding potential school funding, all the way to the current and very serious conflict in the Middle East, specifically with Iran. Add to all this our own personal troubles of health, finances, relationships, stress, job, etc., and we’re reminded that life in this world is not easy!

And it’s in times like this (or more realistically, all the time!) that we need to return to simplicity, to stop, pause, be still. That we remember He is God and all that means for us, including the truths that He is almighty, He is with us, He is our fortress, our refuge, our strength, an ever-present help in trouble. And taking all these simple, yet profound truths to heart, to take Him up on His invitation – “Therefore we will not fear.”

With the troubles we face and the troubles in our world, it’s not a matter of just sitting back and letting everything happen as it happens. There is a faith/engagement tension. We trust the Lord and His promises, His faithfulness. And we are also to be engaged in our world and with our troubles, using all that God has given us to work toward healing or resolution or fixes or whatever may be needed. It’s not a matter of either/or – “either” we have faith in God to help us in our troubles, “or” we work hard to engage and bring about better outcomes. It’s always both/and – these are happening at the same time.

For the Lord’s ministry here at Immanuel (and it is HIS ministry!), all of you who call Immanuel home are amazing, faithful, prayer-filled people who love the Lord and who want nothing but the very best for His ministry here. Remember that as we see each other in the atrium, as we gather for worship, as we sing and confess and pray together to our Savior – we are all God’s beloved children, in need of His grace and forgiveness, seeking His love and help and blessing.

I am grateful for our leadership teams – the Executive Council, the Board of Christian Day School, the Board of Elders, and the Finance Team. The people serving in these important leadership roles, elected by all of us, are giving generously of their time, praying mightily over decisions that need to be made, wrestling with all the matters before them, loving the Lord and His ministry here at Immanuel, and, as volunteers, seeking what the Lord desires for us. When you have opportunity, thank those who are serving in these roles – it’s not easy! And more than anything, pray for them, for the Lord’s wisdom, discernment, and guidance.

Immanuel Lutheran Church and School is an amazing place filled with amazing people. Perfect? No! But we are here as God has led us to be His people in this time and in this place – as we read in the book of Esther, “for such a time as this!” What will it mean? What do we need to do? There are a lot of questions that are still unanswered as we journey by faith, following Jesus. We’re preparing for our ministry campaign as one step forward. There are also many, many more discussions happening with our leadership teams, prayerfully working toward resolutions and answers.

Thank you for calling Immanuel your home. We’re on this journey together, and what a joy and a privilege that is because we are not alone. Together, let’s continue to “be still and know that [He is] God,” leaning into His promises, His faithfulness, and His love.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

In yesterday’s sermon I mentioned that I would have a few more thoughts regarding solitude and simplicity. When it comes to solitude, I said that you don’t need to set aside hours and hours of time but that it could be even minutes – which would be a good start. Having said that, I don’t want to diminish the value of setting aside specific time each day for quiet time, or solitude, where you might spend time reading God’s Word, devotional material, and prayer. That, too, is important! But as conditioned as we have been by our culture, it can feel like we don’t have time to stop or pause or seek that solitude and time with the Lord. It’s in that spirit that I encourage you to start wherever you are and make time, even a few minutes here and there throughout the day.

Remember the purpose of solitude: “We enter into solitude first of all to meet our Lord and to be with him and him alone” (from Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart). And it’s to hear from our Lord the promises and assurances He desires to speak into our lives. He loves you! And He wants to have time with you to listen, to talk, and to be in relationship.

The examples I gave near the end of the message yesterday were a combination of solitude and simplicity:

• Perhaps not giving up our warm, comfortable homes but going out, taking a prayer walk/prayer hike in the woods or the mountains or your neighborhood or taking advantage of some of the many walking trails and parks we have. Doing this regularly might help us see God in a fresh way and help reset our perspectives.
• How about putting your smartphone away for a day? Or even for an hour or two? That too could help give a different perspective on God and our relationship with Him, as well as on life and faith.
• Even turning off our music or podcasts or the radio, sitting silently in God’s presence for even a brief time might be a form of simple wilderness worship that restores your soul more than you realize.

When it comes to resources to use during those times of solitude or quiet, there are many possibilities.

• There are Immanuel’s Bring It Home devotions that can be emailed to you six mornings a week or you can use the paper copies that are inserted in the worship folders each Sunday. These daily devotions are connected to Immanuel’s worship series and specifically the weekly theme from each Sunday. They are written by members of our congregation, which I edit and then publish.
• We are currently using the devotions supplied with this series, Worship in the Wilderness, by Engage Worship, five devotions each week that are available both in paper copy as well as emailed.
• Another excellent resource is from Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM.org) who have daily devotions that you can read or receive in a podcast.
• Other solid devotional materials include Portals of Prayer and Our Daily Bread, both of which have been around for many years.
• If you are desiring to read through the Bible in a year, I encourage you to check online for a multitude of resources and suggested formats for doing that. There are many resources that offer a variety of different reading schedules.
• There are also many different ways to listen to Scripture available online. I am currently using an app called Streetlights, which uses the New Living Translation read by multiple voices over a high-quality urban soundtrack. Bible Gateway and the YouVersion Bible app also offer the option to have the Bible read with literally several thousand versions available to choose from.

The Lord’s desire is that we spend time with Him – and the easiest way to do that is to be in His Word and in prayer. As St. Paul put it in Romans 10:8-9, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Might there be some value in the simplicity that Jesus showed us – in His Word and in His actions – that can transform us, bring us closer to Him, strengthen us in our faith, and help us walk this journey, taking our Savior’s hand and letting Him lead us, teach us new ways, and take us to places He wants us to be? Let’s continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, to keep our hand in His, and to follow His simple lead with the journey we are on in the wilderness.

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

On February 18^th, 1931, a small group of Lutherans in Loveland met to worship together for the first time. It was Ash Wednesday and the group met in a small Loveland home. And so, on Ash Wednesday this past week – February 18, 2026 – Immanuel celebrated her 95^th birthday! Wow and Praise God! In light of that, I’m going to share a little bit of Immanuel’s history from Pastor Al’s book, The Story of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School, a book he started in celebration of Immanuel’s 75^th anniversary and finished in 2009. Read on and enjoy a bit of the early history of Immanuel, giving thanks to God for His work over the course of so many years and through so many people to bring us to the place we are today!

“Memory has it that the first gathering for worship of people who became Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Loveland was on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 1931. John and Anna Maria Bernhard opened their home at 215 Factory Avenue, now Madison Avenue. Other homes on Loveland’s east side hosted worship and meetings the next weeks… [my note – you can see pictures of these homes, along with other historic photos, on the walls in the west atrium] The divine design for this new church began earlier.

The story begins a quarter century before with Paul B. Fritsche, who would be called to serve as Immanuel’s first pastor. This servant of the Lord came to serve Trinity in Greeley, the first LCMS congregation in Northern Colorado, 1905-1907…

German Lutheran farmers who fled the Bolshevik revolution in Russia were migrating to Northern Colorado… What brought these and so many other Germans from Russia to this area? Loveland, founded in 1877, boasted that it is, “Where the beauty of the mountains meets the bounty of the plains.” By the turn of the century the labor of some forty years of developing ditches to bring precious water from the mountains was coming to fruition. Without water in this arid land nothing grew… In the Loveland area one would see sugar beets, cherries, fruits and vegetables, and some wheat and barley growing… The Great Western Sugar Company built the beet processing plant in 1901. For the next ten years farmers and farm laborers flooded in from the Midwest, and German immigrants came from Russia, where they had been occupied with similar agriculture. The German churches were founded to serve them…

In a letter to Immanuel at its 50^th anniversary celebration, Pastor Loessel reminisced, “I recall when my good friend, John Gruenewald Sr., a member of Trinity Church in Berthoud at the time, made me aware of the concern and invitation our Lutheran folks in Loveland were ready to bring to me. And so we started our church work in Loveland. We had our worship services in the various homes. I shall never forget the thankfulness and the acapella singing at these services – good voices, good harmonies, and love for the good old Lutheran hymns! “GOD WITH US,” indeed! And with the Loveland parish added to my schedule, I enjoyed conducting four services during the week at four different places!”

Pastor Loessel organized Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church on Sunday, March 8, 1931… This was likely in the little church at 1202 E. Fourth. They called Paul B. Fritsche from Pueblo. He was first installed as pastor at Trinity in Berthoud on June 14, then as pastor of Immanuel two weeks later, June 28, in East Side Park of Loveland. This is where the library, Chilson Center and Foote Lagoon are today. Immanuel joined the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in 1933.” (The Story of Immanuel Lutheran Church & School, pages 10-12)

We truly are blessed to be Immanuel, which we know means, “God with us.” His presence, His leading, His guiding, is what we have been about these 95 years and, God-willing, for another 95+ years of sharing Jesus and His love, and furthering God’s Kingdom here in Loveland, Colorado!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

The season of Lent began last Wednesday as we observed Ash Wednesday. The Loveland Reporter-Herald asked if they could come to our afternoon service and capture some pictures of churches like Immanuel who observe Ash Wednesday. On Thursday morning, the paper included a couple great pictures and some nice captions highlighting our congregation. I included both pictures below.

Our Lent series this year is Worship in the Wilderness and throughout this season we’re talking about both the wilderness (a significant metaphor that God uses throughout His Word that has both positive and negative implications), and about the journey we are on.

As we talked about yesterday, our journey of faith and trust in Jesus will not necessarily be an all-exclusive mountaintop experience. As Christians we are not exempt from the devil’s tactics of temptations, chaos, confusion, and isolation, to name a few. On this side of eternity, we live in a broken, sinful world, knowing we are broken, sinful people ourselves, people in need of a Savior.

In that light, my encouragement to all of us this week is this: no matter where our current journey is taking us, whether it’s on a mountaintop or in the wilderness or somewhere in-between, take to heart who we are as children of God. We are loved, we have been given the promises that our Lord will never leave us and that we are never on our own, His promises of forgiveness that come to us by way of His sacrifice on the cross, and the hope we have because of His victorious resurrection from the dead. Take those promises to heart, especially if you’re travelling through the wilderness right now, with challenges and struggles that may feel overwhelming. You are not alone – the Lord, our God and Savior, is right here with us, taking us by the hand!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

One of the great things about Immanuel is that we have opportunities for people of all ages to learn, grow, serve, and be engaged in the Lord’s ministry here. We have people across all age demographics represented – and that is awesome! Today I want to highlight our senior adult ministry, the Young At Hearts (YAH). This is such an active group – you see the various activities and events regularly in these email updates. Jim Found leads the charge of this ministry (among others!) and seems to be a man of endless energy. So what’s happening with the Young At Hearts? Read on!

Tomorrow, THIS Friday, February 20^th at 1:00pm here at Immanuel, Justin and Jordan Logston, members of Imanuel and YOUR missionaries, will speak to Immanuel’s Young At Hearts group (YAH) and will share about the Lord's work across Latin America and the Caribbean. Their new role at the regional office based out of the Dominican Republic has been very eye-opening in how the Lutheran Church has grown in almost every country in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Come and learn more – all are welcome. Any questions can be directed to Jim Found (inquirer.jim@gmail.com, 970-663-5490).

Another big event for the YAH is coming up on Sunday, March 1^st – an annual luncheon for all of retirement age. Last year there were 55 people who joined together for a free lunch right here at Immanuel after the late worship service. If you are considering attending this event, please note that the deadline for registering is THIS Sunday, February 22^nd, so plans can be made for enough food and enough tables and chairs. It was a fun event last year, being able to hear some of the many ways our Immanuel senior adults are involved in so many ways in sharing their faith and sharing Jesus’ love in our greater Loveland community. Thank you to all those who have already registered! To register, you may contact Jim Found by phone or email, put a note in Jim’s church mailbox, or use the sign-up on the table in the atrium.

In addition, there are all of these upcoming opportunities:

• Thursday, February 26^th, 11:30am – Eat together at Doug’s Diner (29^th Street)
• Tuesday, March 3^rd, 7:00pm – Christ our Savior Lutheran Church at 640 Alpine Street is hosting a Guest Speaker on Islam named Rev., Hesham Shahab. He was raised as a Muslim in Lebanon, and is now an LCMS pastor.
• Friday, March 20^th, 1:00pm at Immanuel – Nolan Wittrock speaking about legal aspects of estate administration
• Friday, April 17^th, 1:00pm at Immanuel – Slide show by Jon Kindschy of his nature pictures
• Friday, May 15^th, 1:00pm at Immanuel – Ronnie Gray speaking about working with people in prison

What a blessing to have so many opportunities like these! And what a blessing to have a leader like Jim – thank you, Jim, for your love for Jesus and for your desire to help people grow together in Him!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen

Friends of Immanuel,

On Wednesday we begin a new season of the Church Year – the season of Lent. Historically, the season of Lent is a more somber and reflective season. The traditional themes of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (helping, serving, and giving to those in need). Lent is 40 days, not counting Sundays (which are always “little Easter” celebrations), beginning on Ash Wednesday and going through Easter Saturday.

Ash Wednesday begins the season on Lent, and we will have worship services at 1:00pm and 7:00pm which will include the Lord's Supper as well as the Imposition of Ashes. You may be wondering why we use ashes and what their significance is. Ash Wednesday is intended to be a bold confrontation with death—“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19) The ashes, a sign of death, are put on our forehead not in a random pattern but in the shape of a cross which changes everything. We will die, but when baptized into Christ’s death, we will also rise with Christ (Romans 6:5). Death is our enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26), but we need not fear death as nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:39).

Ash Wednesday will also mark the beginning of our new Lent worship series. This year we’re going to Worship in the Wilderness. Our desire to live as Jesus did must involve us following Him into the wilderness. He invites us to journey with Him through forty days of testing, prayer, reflection, and transformation. This series and the accompanying Personal Devotions book are designed to help each of us walk though this Spirit-filled, sacrificial, and surprising journey together.

In Scripture, wilderness does not have one simple meaning. Instead, it is a rich metaphor which holds various things in tension. On the most basic level, the desert was a dry, lifeless, and lawless place, which made the Israelites confront their fears, frailty, and mortality. Their experience after the Exodus, when they persistently disobeyed God and were punished, also added a layer of guilt and repentance to their mental picture of the wilderness.

Along with these negative associations with the desert, the Israelites also saw it as a place of provision, transformation, and encounter with God. Countless characters including Jacob, Hagar, Job, David, and Elijah met with God in the wilderness. This leads Jenny Phillips to write:

“The wilderness of the Bible is a liminal space—an in-between place where ordinary life is suspended, identity shifts, and new possibilities emerge. Through the experiences of the Israelites in exile, we learn that while the biblical wilderness is a place of danger, temptation and chaos, it is also a place for solitude, nourishment, and revelation from God.” (Jenny Phillips, “Jesus and Wilderness” http://bibleresources.americanbible.org/resource/jesus-and-wilderness)

And Michael Card, one of Kathy’s and my favorite artists and song-writer, wrote a song called, “In the Wilderness,” which speaks powerfully to what this series is about. Here’s a link to this song if you’d like to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssI7iudTwm8&t=68s. In a book he wrote in 2005, entitled A Sacred Sorrow (page 24), Card wrote:

“The wilderness is still the place of worship. But for you and me it is not a matter of dunes and dry ground; in fact, it may be deceptively green. Our hunger and thirst are more spiritual realities than physical ones. The desolation we often experience involves our yearning for a more palpable feeling of the Presence of God. We need spiritual bread every bit as much as they needed the manna in the wilderness. Our deep need for Living Water is just as intense as any thirst their parched throats ever knew.”

I’m looking forward to our journey together into the wilderness where, I pray, we will grow in our faith, in our appreciation for our Savior and His love for us, and in better understanding how we can walk together through the wilderness of this world!

Serving together in Christ alone!
Pastor Glen