The last day for Sunday School will be May 22. Special thanks to all our wonderful Sunday School teachers who gave of their time and talents for our youth this year.
They are: Molee Enko, Rhonda Gassen, Ellen Parson, Brenda Kumm, Kathy Boehmer, Jill Oakleaf, Lisa Hansen, Kate Conrad, Kristi Velicer, Derek Gummier and Patti Winkler.
Thanks, too, to Ellen Wilcox who led Alleulia for the first and second grade classes.
Time to roll up your sleeves and get the job done at Immanuel!
A spring work day is set for 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 21, with lunch provided.
Items on the to-do list include a range of tasks, some of which require more energy than skill.
Here’s what’s planned:
Sign up on the bulletin board if you’re interested in lending a hand.
Easter Sunday at Immanuel begins with an Easter Vigil service at 6 a.m. The candlelit service moves us from outside darkness around a bonfire to Easter light inside. A continental breakfast follows.
Festival worship is offered at 8:15 a.m. and includes Holy Communion and the return of the alleluias.
The Magnificent Easter Breakfast will be served by Immanuel’s youth starting at 8 a.m.
Festival worship at 10:30 a.m. begins with a ceremonial re-dressing of the altar, hearkening back to the somber Maundy Thursday service when the altar was stripped. The alleluias return, and Immanuel Brass provide a thundering reminder of the triumph of Christ over death.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Grace and peace to you this Easter season. Now the green blade rises. Love lives again! This favorite hymn, ELW 379, will be the hymn of the day on the Third Sunday of Easter, May 8. Our choir director, Linda Martin has brought this anthem to our worship planning, and it will be glorious, with the Joy Choir, Immanuel Choir, Immanuel Brass, organ, and congregation singing God’s praises and announcing the resurrection hope that we’ve been harboring.
While outdoors, the grass is rising new and the leaves on the trees are unfurling, reminding us of resurrection from death and darkness to new life and light. The longer daylight hours serve as a reminder of God’s light shining in our lives. And what about that wind: it is another image for the Holy Spirit moving in our lives.
Ministry is blooming at Immanuel. We enter the season of Easter. We move out from introspection and reflection on the psalms during the season of Lent to service and singing, “Jesus is risen, Alleluia!”
The season of Easter will take us to Pentecost on June 12 when four young people will affirm their baptism in the rite of confirmation: Nam Ahrens, Stella Atzenweiler, Parker Winkler and Simon Hogan.
Hope abounds between these festivals of Jesus’ resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s coming. There are many opportunities for newness.
It’s been a year since we began our discernment process around where God is calling us as a congregation, and the draft of the plan is finished, thanks to the dedication and hard work of the Vision for Ministry Task Force. The final task of this team is to host opportunities for the congregation to hear more about this plan before it is voted on at a special congregation meeting in June.
Another thing to look forward to in 2011 is the return of the intern (formerly vicar) program. A generous gift by the estate of Arla Baird has provided the opportunity to train future pastors at Immanuel through the intern program for two years beginning in the fall of 2011. As mentioned elsewhere, our intern is Micah Sievenpiper from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
More newness and light is reflected in the Oromo ministry development at Immanuel. Melaku Tizazu received a scholarship from the Leaders for Mission Fund of the ELCA in 2010. The ministry is growing with worship on Sunday mornings and evenings as well as Bible studies throughout the week. Melaku’s online ministry continues to flourish, and he is progressing nicely in his TEEM studies. He will be at Luther Seminary at the beginning of June for another class.
Conversations with others this month continue the ground work for being a more welcoming congregation. A meeting about the Reconciled in Christ movement is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at church. With churchwide policy changing to welcome lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons, Immanuel is continuing to increase our own hospitality, pastoral care and rituals. We are situated in a diverse neighborhood and community, and we are called to invite our neighbors to worship with us. You can sign up individually to be an RIC Lutheran. Brochures will be available in the church following the May 12 meeting or you can go online to lcna.org to sign up.
A key piece of hospitality at Immanuel is the greeting you receive when you call or walk through the doors. The personnel committee is working to hire a part-time secretary to share the position with Vivian Gilbreth. Until then, Tom Gear is serving as an interim secretary. Having two part-time secretaries will provide additional hospitality to those who touch Immanuel throughout the business week. Descriptions of the position are available at church or on www.npconnect.org.
In my own professional development and opportunities, I have been named by Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) to PICO’s Clergy Leadership Council which will provide a training for clergy in New Orleans in November.
This month we bid farewell to Tim Hager as our outreach coordinator. Tim has lived in the parsonage this year while working at Kaw Prairie Church and with us. We appreciate his willingness to help with community service, building upkeep and security and overall humble service. We wish him well as he moves to Lenexa and to work full time at Kaw Prairie Church as their full time youth director. Immanuel has been a strong partner in his formation for this ministry.
May Jesus’ Easter Resurrection be a reality in your life. Daily we experience little deaths and little births, endings and new beginnings. May this season be filled with more hope than despair, with more joy than sorrow, and with the peace, love, and understanding that comes from God alone. Now the green blade rises. Christ will come again! Alleluia!
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Jennifer Thomas
Immanuel offers two Good Friday services today. The midday service at 12:15 p.m. is the Liturgy of the Cross, a simple service of readings, prayers and songs.
The evening service at 7 p.m. is the Adoration of the Cross, a reflective service of shadows, strings, silence and the words of salvation. Child care is provided.
In addition, the sanctuary will be open for prayer from 2 to 5 p.m.
Thursday, April 21, is Maundy Thursday, marking the start of the Triduum, or Three Days, which span the end of Lent and Easter Sunday.
Immanuel will offer two services today.
Midday worship with Holy Communion begins at 12:15 p.m.
Evening worship, also with Holy Communion, begins at 7 p.m. The Joy Choir, Immanuel’s choir for students in third grade and older, will sing and be worship leaders.
The evening service includes First Communion for five Immanuel youngsters.
It will conclude with a ceremonial stripping of the altar, and silent departure from the sanctuary.
Child care is available.
If you were one of the Immanuel members who identified spiritual growth as a priority during the visioning process, you’ll want to mark Saturday, Sept. 24 on your calendar.
That’s the date for a prayer retreat with Sister Constance Krstolic, OSB. The theme is “Living Gratefully.” The retreat is sponsored by Immanuel’s prayer team.
The retreat runs from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at First Lutheran Church, 6400 State Line Road, Mission Hills. It begins with fellowship at 9 a.m., and also will include an opportunity to walk a portable labyrinth.
Cost is $20 per person and covers refreshments, the speaker and materials.
Sister Connie travels throughout the Midwest and beyond each year, conducting dozens of retreats. Her topics range from “Celebration of Life’s Journey” to “Balancing Your ‘Act’ in Life” to “Gratitude Takes Nothing for Granted.”
She holds bachelors and masters degrees in religious studies, is a spiritual director and holds a number of positions at Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kan.
Watch for more information about the retreat in upcoming newsletters.
Micah Sievenpiper has been assigned as Immanuel’s intern for the 2011-2012 school year. He will arrive this summer.
Sievenpiper, 24, is a student at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
A native of Waukesha, Wis., he is single and enjoys distance running, recreational sports, reading, open-source programming and amateur graphic design.
Sievenpiper attended attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind., where he studied theology.
He writes of his experience there, “My faith was challenged and expanded, and with it my sense of call grew. Through the Institute of Liturgical Studies, an annual pan-Lutheran liturgy conference held at Valparaiso University, I fell in love with the liturgy, and through my position as a residential minister, got to experience the joys of self-directed ministry.”
He also writes, “I was born into the Church through my baptism when I was an infant, and the Lord has blessed me in countless ways ever since. Spending much of my youth in small, struggling congregations with limited resources, I have grown to appreciate how important priorities are.
“When I was still in elementary school, the congregation of which I was a member was closed, and before the pastors left to follow their own callings, they encouraged me to be open to what the Lord had in store for me. With that advice in mind, I have been conscious of discerning my baptismal calling, and while there have been trials and tears, there has also been great joy, and it eventually became clear to me that God was calling me to ordained ministry.”
Immanuel’s church council appointed five people to serve on the intern support committee: Janie Fee, Pam Edvalds, Kevin Fewell, Don Arney and Sharyl Serafin. In addition, Sievenpiper will be able to add two committee members as he gets to know the congregation.
Immanuel’s Sunday school students raised more than $200 to help families in poverty around the world purchase chicks that could help them become more self sufficient.
The chicks were purchased through the ELCA’s Good Gifts program, at a price of $1 per chick. According to the Good Gifts website, chicks begin laying eggs within a few months of birth. The eggs provide nutritious meals for growing children and extra eggs generate income, helping families grow a small business.
Immanuel will conclude its adult education year with two multi-session studies.
Interested in a real life, real time conversation about the book of Revelation? Join us in the adult forum at 9:15 on May 1, 8 and 15 for this conversation with Don Arney and Carolyn Wilson. Meanwhile, dust off your Bible and put your own spin on the book. Over the years the book of Revelation had caused persistent theological questions, frequent consternation and much confusion in the church. Its interpretation has caused some splinter groups to predict the end of the world. When the end does not arrive, the date is recalculated only to frighten people for a future date. It’s hard to see how this is the Good New of Jesus Christ.
Melodee Blobaum will lead the six-week study of “The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-Third Psalm” by Harold S. Kushner at 9:15 a.m. on Sundays in the prayer room, starting May 1 and continuing through June 12. The group will not meet on Sunday, May 29, because of the Memorial Day holiday.
Each session will cover several chapters of the book, corresponding to the six verses of the Psalm. The weekly reading load averages about 35 to 40 pages.
The book is available online from www.amazon.com for $10.40 plus taxes, shipping and handling, and in store at most Barnes and Noble locations for $10.42 plus taxes. It is available in Nook and Kindle versions, as well.
Immanuel’s youth and youngsters have several opportunities to make lifetime memories as they experience the joy that comes with church camp.
Hollis Day Camp runs from Monday — Friday, June 13 —17 at Hollis Renewal Center near Bonner Springs.
Students who have completed kindergarten through sixth grades are eligible to attend this outdoor adventure that provides healthy activity, crafts, Bible study and nurture.
Staffed by trained counselors from Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, the traveling staff makes the five day camp a wholesome and enjoyable experience.
Cost is $75 for the first camper and $65 for a second camper in the same family. Registration, fees and health forms should be mailed directly to Hollis.
Loved camp when you were a kid and want to revisit the memories? Small enjoyable volunteer tasks are available for several adults. For questions, please call Ministry Coordinator Carolyn Wilson.
In addition to the Hollis camping experience, the Lutheran church offers several resident summer church camp opportunities. Two are Camp Tomah Shinga in Junction City, Kan., and Camp Carol Joy Holling in Ashland, Neb.
There are brochures and instructions on how to register for the resident camps can be found on the hallway table under the bulletin board marked Youth.
Phase III/OPUS, Immanuel’s group for active senior adults, will meet at Immanuel at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 18, to carpool to the Cultural Center for the Deaf in Olathe. Lunch follows at Granite City. If you do not need to carpool, meet us at the school at 455 E Park St in Olathe.
In June, the group will meet at the church at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, travel to and tour the National Archives. The building is adjacent to Union Station and we will be accompanied by Patti Winkler. Patti is a historian whose interest in this site spawned the trip. Lunch will follow the tour.
Callers will be taking reservations and if you are not on a list but would like to attend either event, please call the office at 816-931-8483 one week before each event.
It’s a great privilege to visit a church in which you are not known and the worship is styled differently than in your home church.
On my desk is a pair of earplugs which were given to me by a friendly usher as I entered the auditorium at Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colo., last month. My hosts understood my curiosity and simply said, “The music can get loud.” They were not kidding.
But I resisted the earplugs because I wanted to appreciate fully what these Christians had worked hard to prepare and to offer.
The earplugs have become a sign of hospitality, a gift, from a group of strangers.
The cover story of the April issue of The Lutheran was about evangelicals. “Who are they?” the author asked.
While noting that ELCA Lutherans call themselves evangelical, Donald McCoid, does a clear job defining our conversations with Christians who do not worship like us or place the same emphasis on faith defined by creeds, the sense of sacramental theology and who are amazed when we cannot tell them when we were saved.
He does not mock, but calls these conversations an opportunity to witness to what we believe.
We differ, to be sure, but McCoid advises us to think critically about what is good about these churches.
He admires the emphasis the evangelicals place on the Bible and gives us the well-known statistic that Lutherans are not prone to invite anyone to church. Statistically, we invite once every 23 years. It sounds like a bad joke when we profess that we have been entrusted with Good News too good not to share.
The Flatirons pastor was remarkable in his sharing of the good news. Clearly and distinctly, he was on target with the Gospel’s message. He was comforting when he said no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, Jesus died for you. He told us that in the Flatirons Church there was no us versus them, no insiders, no outsiders but just people who had by the Spirit’s guiding, come to worship and perhaps to join Flatirons.
“Join us,” he said. The invitation was sincere.
We could have long conversations about what we do or do not like about this kind of worship and in no way am I proposing we install four permanent screens in the chancel. The Flatirons music was annoying to me, but some folks seemed to be moved by it.
Worshipping in a converted K-Mart falls short of holy space for me and even if I lived close-by, I would not choose this church.
But I learned something about a group we frequently smirk about. They are really not a different species.
As your summer unfolds, take a chance and visit a church and enjoy how others worship. A point of caution: if the friendly usher gives you earplugs, don’t use them. You might miss hearing something important.
With you, for Christ,
Carolyn Wilson
An ambitious strategic plan adopted more than a year ago outlines steps to improve student achievement and fiscal responsibility in the Kansas City, Mo., public schools.
But parents and the community have received very little news about progress toward those plans, which affect the long-term viability of the entire metro area.
Superintendent John Covington and members of the KCMO school board will be called on to answer specific questions about district progress and plans from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, June 9, in Tighe Hall at Visitation Catholic Church, 51st Terrace and Main Street.
The event, designed to spark improvements in how district officials communicate with constituents, is sponsored by local organizing committees from Immanuel, and from Visitation and St. Peter’s Catholic churches. KCMO high school students affiliated with the Kansas City Urban Youth Center also will participate.
The Urban Youth Center and the three participating congregations are among groups affiliated with Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO), which works to bring people of all faiths together to build relationships, develop strong leaders and improve the quality of life in our communities.
Immanuel’s organizing committee is involved with the June 9 event because congregation members and neighborhood residents voiced a common concern about factors that diminish the well-being of children, especially those in Kansas City elementary schools, during a listening session late last year.
Mark your calendar for June 9 and plan to be there to hold district officials accountable. Contact Linda Fewell with questions.
-- Linda Fewell, Immanuel Organizing Committee
The Men’s Ministry has met six times, recruited a few new participants and had some fruitful conversations around topics such as business ethics and vocations.
The discussions are about real life issues and carry with them relevant Biblical passages.
The group will meet again at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 11, in the Gathering Space for breakfast, study and fellowship.
Join us in the Spong Room starting at 9:15 a.m. Sunday, May 15, to sample Fair Trade food items.
Joan Gedraitis, Pam Edvalds and Janie Fee will host this sampling event.
Tea, coffee, chocolate and more are available to taste and to purchase. Every purchase benefits a grower or producer by giving him or her a larger share of the profits.
In this time of world-wide political, economic and physical turmoil and disaster, it’s important to realize the Lutheran church pushes on to be in contact with partners around the world spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On Saturday, April 9, the Companion Synod Team gathered at the Central States Synod office to meet and exchange ideas with Pastor Giegere from Papua New Guinea.
As a member of our congregation’s Global Mission Team, I represented our congregation at this meeting of 10 people from around our synod dedicated to realizing a partnership with missionaries and pastors from Papua New Guinea and Russia.
Here are some ways you can get involved in partnering with Christians in far-off places:
--Connie Benolkin, Immanuel Global Missions Team
Immanuel’s consultant in the Vision for Ministry long-range planning process cautioned members that putting the plan into place will mean change, and that change can lead to anxiety.
But during his weekend visit March 12 — 13, Pastor Rick Rouse said that not changing is not an option.
“Congregations need to reinvent themselves,” Rouse told the 36 Immanuel leaders and others who met in a Saturday morning retreat.
He said the average lifespan for a congregation is 20 to 25 years. Unless it reinvents itself, the body begins a downward spiral. Most mainline congregations, he said, are either maintaining members or losing them.
But those that reinvent themselves with a focus on mission are gaining members, he said.
“Doing church the way we’ve always done it is not working so well anymore,” Rouse said during his Sunday morning sermon. He offered contrasts between congregations that are simply trying to maintain membership, and those with a focus on mission, suggesting that the mission model is the preferred model for growth.
For example, he said maintenance-focused congregations focus on how many visits the pastor makes while mission-focused congregations focus on how many disciples they’ve made.
Maintenance congregations are focused on being true to their past, while mission congregations are focused on being faithful to their future, Rouse said.
Members of maintenance congregations say to newcomers, “Let me introduce you to our members,” while those in mission congregations say, “Let me introduce you to our pastor.”
Maintenance congregations ask how many Lutherans live within 25 miles of the church and search for ways to get people to support their congregation, while mission congregations ask how many unchurched people live within 25 miles of the church and look for ways to support their community.
During his Sunday morning adult forum, Rouse reviewed the characteristics of churches based on average worship attendance. With an average of 220 people attending worship, Immanuel falls in the “program” category.
Such congregations are made up of small groups like choirs, Bible study groups, fellowship groups and so on. New members are intentionally assimilated into the congregation, and the church offers options for ministry programs including a variety of worship services. Program-size congregations are characterized by healthy, committed leadership with a team of clergy, staff and lay leaders working toward a common mission.
The pastor’s role in a program congregation is one of motivator and trust-builder, with a focus on staff and core leaders. Pastoral care is redefined to be a program rather than a person, and often Stephen Ministers step into that role. Administration becomes a big part of the pastor’s job.
Barriers to growth, Rouse said, come when 80 percent of the sanctuary’s choice seats are full for worship, and when the congregation is unclear about a vocation that calls it to make room for neighbors and serve a growing community.
In addition, he said growth is difficult when congregation doesn’t have the ministry structure or staff needed to grow.
As a rule of thumb, he said congregation’s need one full time program staff member for every 100 members who worship to maintain membership. They need to add a staff member for each 100 members they’d like to add. Interns, he said, should not be counted as program staff.
The good news is that additional paid program staff pay for themselves through membership growth and giving in about 12 to 18 months.
Rouse encouraged those at the adult forum to be optimistic.
“God’s not done with you yet,” he said. “God has a preferred and promised future for you.”
Spiritual formation, financial viability and worship are top priorities for Immanuel leaders and others who attended a March 12 long-range planning retreat with consultant Rick Rouse.
After reviewing the fifth draft of Immanuel’s developing long range plan, the 36 people who attended the Saturday morning gathering identified their top priorities by placing dots on the ministry areas and mission objectives.
The mission objectives that received the most votes were:
Sally Baehni, chairwoman of the Vision for Ministry task force that is guiding the process, said the priorities could shift, if members identify other areas they’d like to see as the focus for the first 12 to 18 months of the plan.
Speaking at the adult forum held March 13, Baehni invited members to call or e-mail task force members if they have other objectives that are priorities.
In addition, Immanuel members are likely to have three more opportunities to weigh in on the plan at focus groups or forums to be held in May.
Once that final input has been gathered, Baehni said a final draft of the plan would be handed off to the church council and then presented to the congregation for affirmation, probably in early June.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This season of Lent we are immersing ourselves in the Psalms. The Psalms offer us guidance in our prayer life, a road map for daily living and a peek into the historical context of the Hebrew people who have shaped our faith, worship life and daily living through many generations.
In midweek Lenten worship, we’ll be using the Psalms for song and meditation. In study, we’ll be using the scriptures for education and faith development.
In addition to immersing ourselves in the psalms we also are exploring hymns that are focused on discipleship and cultivating our lives of faith.
For example, not only in midweek services, but also on the fourth Sunday of Lent, we will use Marty Haugen’s “Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery” (ELW 334) as a communion distribution hymn. The verses are:
Tree of Life and awesome myst’ry, in your death we are reborn;
though you die in all of hist’ry, still you rise with ev’ry morn, still you rise with ev’ry morn.
We remember truth once spoken, love passed on through act and word;
ev’ry person lost and broken wears the body of our Lord, wears the body of our Lord.
Christ, you lead and we shall follow, stumbling though our steps may be;
one with you in joy and sorrow, we the river, you the sea, we the river, you the sea.
Give us eyes to see you clearly; make us children of your light.
Give us hearts to live more nearly as your gospel shining bright.
This desire to live more nearly to God’s will for us as individuals and as a corporate body is coming through, loud and clear, in our vision for ministry process. When leaders gathered last Saturday, they set spiritual formation as the highest priority for the congregation with financial viability and worship as second and third priorities to work on in the coming year.
I’m asking some questions, and I imagine that you have some of your own. What does it mean that we value spiritual formation as a congregation? What does it mean that we want to develop ministries in this area? As disciples of Jesus Christ, many of us have a longing to discover how we can best serve God and our neighbors in our daily life, especially in contexts where our mainline Protestant values are not shared by many in the culture around us. How do I demonstrate my love for God in my workplace? How do I practice forgiveness and reconciliation? How do I… (fill in the blank)?
Our consultant, the Rev. Rick Rouse recommended a book by Pastor Mike Foss — “Power Surge” — as a resource for making and developing disciples.
PoWeR SuRGe is an easy way to remember the marks of discipleship – both internal and external involved in the spiritual development of followers of Christ. We are called by God to Pray, to Worship, and to Read Scriptures. We are then sent to Serve, to be Relational, and to Give.
While it’s been a few years since I read this book, I want to expand on the marks of being relational and giving. Relationships in the body of Christ are about inviting and encouraging others in this walk that we share following Jesus our Savior and Lord. And giving isn’t only about the money we give to support the church, but about whole life stewardship. Giving encompasses our selves, our time and our possessions, not only to the church, but the whole world. Vocation, our calling, our purpose, is about sharing our gifts and desires with the world’s greatest needs. This is an important intersection.
So, while, you are contemplating your call to discipleship, join Immanuel on the journey where we are centered in praying, worshipping and reading scripture, and sent in love to serve, invite, encourage, and give.
May the disciplines that you adopt in this season renew your faith. And may God reveal his grace and mercy for you and for the world as you share the good news.
This newsletter is for the whole of April, not only the season of Lent, and so while I am reflecting on marks of discipleship, I want to point to the good news of Easter. The journey is worthwhile and proclaims:
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Jennifer Thomas
“Servants of Grace”
(1) It is a story that is both tragic and inspiring. Ben Larson was a seminary student at Wartburg Seminary who was doing what he loved most—serving the underprivileged in Haiti—when he was killed in that island’s devastating earthquake last January. Ben had what many would call “a servant’s heart”. He joyfully lived out his baptism—his life was an outpouring of love in response to God’s first loving him. Ben’s love of God and others was evident in all that he did—sharing his gift of music, passionately serving others especially the less fortunate, and learning from and loving the poor and disadvantaged. (2)
Most of the people who died in the deadly earthquake in Haiti were among the poorest of the poor. Ben went there in his senior year of seminary to teach theology and Bible in the new Lutheran Church of Haiti; but more deeply to learn from these people, to share his joy, and to give them hope. (3)
His wife, Renee, and cousin, Jonathan—also senior seminary students—joined him in his ministry in Haiti for the month of January. When the earthquake occurred, the three of them were on the fourth floor of the St. Joseph Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince. Two floors crashed down, trapping them, but Renee and Jonathan somehow managed to claw their way on to the collapsed roof. Ben was not so fortunate. As he lay dying, crushed from the rubble, Renee could hear him singing a hymn. His last words were “Lord Jesus, you bear the sins of all the world away. God’s peace to us we pray.”(4)
Ben was united in death with the bodies of the poor whom he loved. His life joined with those dear beloved people of God. Now his young widow, Renee, and cousin Jonathan, have vowed to continue his legacy of love and service; and are making plans to return to Haiti. At the Wartburg Seminary graduation ceremony last May, Ben’s life was celebrated once again; and Renee picked up two diplomas—one for her and one for her deceased husband. Her courage, faith, and determination were evident in her remarks: “This experience has given me a more profound understanding of the need for the Gospel message in our world today.” (5)
Called to Be Servants
Our lessons for this first Sunday in Lent have a clear message. We are called to be servants of GRACE and partners with Jesus Christ in God’s redemption of the world. (6) In our second lesson from Romans, we find the Gospel in a nutshell. We are saved by grace through faith. It is God’s gift to us through the sacrifice of His only Son on a cross that we might have eternal life. As we begin our journey toward the cross and the resurrection, the message is clear just as Martin Luther once proclaimed: It is faith alone. It is grace alone.
(7) The temptation of Jesus shows just how far Satan will go to bury that message and divert Jesus from his appointed mission of salvation. He is bold, this Lucifer, Christ’s nemesis on earth, to confront God’s Chosen One. He dares to sabotage God’s plan of redemption. Does he really think he is more clever than God’s Son? Nonetheless, he presents Jesus with the classic temptations of wealth, power, and fame. But Jesus does not bend nor break.
(8) He offers a true servant’s response to each. When Satan suggests he turn stones into bread, he could just as well be talking about the Midas touch. If Jesus could conquer the problem of hunger—not only for himself but for others—he would be rich indeed. Jesus counters that one must instead be spiritually rich—centered in God’s Word—the true bread of life. When Satan offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he but bow down and worship, the Son of God reminds him that God is the only one worthy of worship. Finally, when Jesus is tempted to throw himself off the temple so that God’s angels will come and save him in some grand show of glory and fame, the Son of God once again shows he remains God’s faithful servant and true to his Heavenly Father’s mission of salvation; Jesus turns the tables on Satan, saying that one must not tempt the Lord.
(9) We are called in our baptism to live a life of service and to partner with Christ in the healing and redemption of the world. We too face temptation and may find we are easily distracted from our appointed mission. We may seek to pursue wealth, power, fame, or other dreams. Today’s gospel reminds us the only cause worth giving our life for is to be servants of God’s grace.
Jesus calls us as individuals and as a church to live as servant disciples. He enables us to do that by his Word and by sacrament. He empowers us to live our lives for him – to become more Christ-like along the way. Every Sunday we get a new start through Christ’s body and blood at the table of grace. We begin again as disciples with wholeness and new life. He assures us that our sin is forgiven and forgotten, so that we can start all over with a clean slate. He gives us the strength to overcome all things so by his power we can daily live out our baptism as generous disciples of Jesus.
Embracing a Ministry of Giving and Service
(10) One of the untold stories of servanthood is the witness of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church located at Ground Zero in New York City. This spring Beth and I visited this amazing congregation that has been engaged in ministry for over 200 years. (11) On September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Towers collapsed there was damage to all the surrounding buildings except St. Paul. Across the street, not even one stained glass window was cracked. (12)God had a purpose for this church in this time of tragedy. It was to show an unwavering spirit by bringing hope and healing at Ground Zero.
St. Paul’s opened it’s doors to become a place of rest and refuge for all the rescue workers. (13) Today you can see evidence in the church of their ministry of hospitality and welcome. (14) Through this act of service, they sought to restore bodies and souls. (15) This revitalized the congregation and gave them a new sense of mission and purpose. (16) Before 9/11, it was like looking in a mirror and seeing distorted images, uncertain about their future in the city. (17)
Now they see clearly where God has led them. Just as a new tower is being built, (18) so the people of St. Paul are rising to the challenge of being God’s servant church in New York City. Today they welcome thousands of pilgrims a day who come to pray and to remember. (19)
God’s Vision of a Church in Mission
There are two bodies of water in Israel. One is the Dead Sea, so called because there is no outlet for the water it receives. It only takes so cannot sustain life. The other is the Sea of Galilee teaming with life and that empties out into the Jordan River giving nourishment to the land. As a church we are called to exemplify the later. To give ourselves away in love for the sake of Jesus. To remember that as a community of faith, we exist not just for ourselves but for the sake of others—for all those Jesus came to save.
There is evidence that doing church the way we’ve always done it before isn’t working anymore. Many of us have come to realize that we must return to God’s vision for the church as described in the New Testament.
We are called to be a church in mission—reaching out to bring people into Christ’s loving embrace and to make disciples. So what is God up to here at Immanuel? Is not God calling this congregation to be transformed into a church that exists not for itself but for others? To adopt a missional or discipleship model. To be a servant church? One that reaches out to welcome the stranger, the newcomer, the unchurched? Here are ten examples of what this might look like. (20)
Like the first disciples, we have our preconceived notions about God, about the church, about the Christian life. About the way we think things are supposed to be. Then God’s Spirit comes along and turns it all upside down. We are called in our baptism to be transformed—to die to our old way of life and open ourselves to a new way of thinking and believing. By grace, we are encouraged to embrace the change God offers us, to put on Christ; to take on the mind and heart of a faithful, loving disciple.
When we tell ourselves, “I can never change.” Or “That will never happen,” we presume too much or believe too little. In Jesus Christ, God tenders all of our conclusions as premature and all of our inevitabilities as simply bad faith. In Christ, God opens closed doors, brings resurrection, reclaims the lost, changes the unchangeable, and reveals new possibilities. Thanks be to God.