February 2015 Beacon

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Immanuel Lutheran Church Lent 2015

THE BEACONWhen Your Children Stray from Church

Chad Bird

ames and Holly may not have been perfectparents, but they did the best they could when rearing their daughter and two sons.

The kids never had to worry about wherethe next meal was coming from. Theyattended good schools, had good friends,made some good childhood memories.More importantly, James and Holly madesure church was part of their children’s

weekly life. All three were baptized andconfirmed. They were at Sunday School,

VBS, and weekly church services. Theseparents trained up their children in the waythey should go, as Proverbs 22 says. Andnow that they are old, they have not

departed from it. Actually, only one of them hasn’t. Theiroldest son is still active in his local parish.But their youngest son and their daughter— they may go to church when Easter rollsaround, but even then, they usually stayhome. For James and Holly, it’s more thandisappointing; it’s a deep ache that won’t goaway. They stress over if and how they

failed as parents. They’re worried sick notonly about their children, but about theirgrandchildren who are growing upunbaptized, untaught, with little or noknowledge of God and what He’s done forus in Christ. These parents are far from alone. Scatteredthroughout all denominations are momsand dads whose greatest disappointment inlife is that their children have seeminglyabandoned the faith. And they’re all

wondering the same things: Why? Wheredid we go wrong as parents? And what can we do to bring our children back to church?

This is a hard struggle with no easy fix, butperhaps the following reflections will provehelpful. This is not a to-do list. It is written

for your consolation and encouragement asou bear this cross. You are welcome to

add your own thoughts in the commentsection below.• The water of baptism neverevaporates. If your children were baptized,

either as infants or when they were older,they cannot become unbaptized. God the

Father made them His children in thatGospel-saturated water. And because Hedid it, it remains a perfect, saving work.

They can try to walk away from theirbaptism, but that’s as impossible as walking away from gravity. Yes, sadly,they can deny or reject what God hasdone for them in these saving waters, buteven then, the fact they are baptized as

God’s son or daughter remains as true asever. God loves them. He baptized them.

He claimed them as His own. If and whenou can, remind them of this beautiful

truth. It is the kindness of God, it is thebaptismal love of the Father in Christ,

that will lead them to repentance and theFather’s house once more.• Even a tiny faith has the full Christ.One of the most comforting verses in allthe Scriptures is Isaiah 42:3, “A bruisedreed He will not break; and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.” Our Father isnot the kind of God who weeds peopleout of His kingdom who don’t have faith

that is quite up to par. Quite the opposite.Bruised reeds and smoldering wicks areespecially beloved of God because of theirfragility. He leaves the ninety-nine sheepto scour the hills for a single, lost lamb. Your child is precious to God. And evenif a spark of faith remains, that sparkholds within it the full fire of the Father’sforgiveness. Bruised reeds belong to Godas much as solid oaks. Do not assume thatbecause your children are not attending

church that they don’t believe anymore. I was that child once. I was fighting aninward battle with God; I didn’t like His

church or, for that matter, manychurchgoers. Outwardly, it may haveseemed that in me there was nothing but

darkness, but on the inside there was atleast a smoldering candle of faith. Andthat faith held the full, forgiving, faithfulChrist.• Even if we are faithless, Godremains faithful. One of my favorite

poems is “ The Hound of Heaven” in which the poet describes his inward flight

Our Mission is to FISH !

In order to make the Beacon

publishing dates more timely

and practical for the church

year and events around the

congregation, we’re changing

slightly the publication datesof this quarterly newsletter as

follows:

Volume 1: The week before

Ash Wednesday

Volume 2: The first week in

May


September


November.

This will help get news out in a

timely fashion around the

liturgical year. Many thanks to

Diane Allington for all her

hard work on this newsletter

as the last Evangelista.

Evangelist (A man can surelynot be called “Evangelista!”)

New Schedule for

Beacon

Continued on page 3


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The Beacon Lent 2015

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We’ve got lots of exciting things

going on as usual around the church!

If you’re bored around the church,

chances are you can jump in with twofeet somewhere!

Our organ project is well on its way

to completion, with only a month and

a half left of our matching challenge,

then only $20,000 to go and we have

the fundraising done! I am excited

about the response to this project and

look forward to getting the contract

signed and the work begun. I think

this puts us in a unique group of

congregations who completed amajor capital project while in a

vacancy. This shows your trust as a

congregation in the Lord who

provides us every good gift. We know

the Lord will bless this improved

musical instrument and any endeavor

e put our minds to as a

congregation in His name.

Even as exciting is our 2015 concert

series! We will be having several

guests here, courtesy of our corporate

sponsors and our local AGO chapter. April 26 will be our first program

ith handbell soloist Kristine Stout!

The program will be at 3 PM. We will

also be hosting a quartet of string and

ind instruments from Traverse City

here on May 17, at 3 PM as well.

They are excellent musicians and will

provide a concert similar in scope to

our brass and organ concert from last

fall. Our summer noon organ

concerts are on tap again this

summer. June 10 we will be featuring

Steven Wurst, son of Rev. Robert

Wurst of Good Harbor, who will

then be a graduate of the church

music program at Concordia

Wisconsin. The remaining programs

on July 15 and August 12 will be

played by yours truly!

Musical Meanderings

In September, the AGO chapter is

trying to get Matthew Machemer,

associate kantor at Concordia

Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, as guestcomposer and organist at our annual

hymn festival. Depending on the

organ fundraising, this could be our

dedicatory program! I am looking

forward to all these concerts and our

eekly Divine Services this year.

As for looking back at 2014, we had a

busy one. A lot of things happened

musically, including our Easter hymn

festival and the Brass and Organ

concert. But most importantly, weprovided choral and organ music for

the Divine Service where we meet

esus face to face. This should always

remain our primary focus and

priority!

In Christ,

Mark Peters, music director

Lenten Services Ash Wednesday, February 18 7:00 PM

Our congregation and choirs will be travelling down theroad to St. Paul’s, Good Harbor for Divine Service on Ash Wednesday. Please make it a point to be there to start ourLenten journey together!

Midweek Lenten Worship 7PMFebruary 25; March 4, 11, 18, 25

Our midweek services will be similar to our Adventservices, the acapella chanted order of Compline led by

Mark Peters with the theme “The Hands of Jesus.” Dinner will precede the worship services at 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM.

Maundy Thursday Worship April 2, 7 PM Join us at St. Paul’s again for Holy Communion on the

night of our Lord’s institution of the Sacrament of the Altar.

Good Friday Tre Ore April 3, 12 Noon-3PM

Join your brothers and sisters from the circuitcongregations at Trinity during the hours Christ hungon the cross for our sins. Immanuel’s choir will besinging for one of the words. You don’t have to stay forthe whole service as people come and go throughoutthe service.

Good Friday Tenebrae Service April 3, 7 PM The Tenebrae service will be held at Immanuel led by

Mark Peters. The sermon will continue the MidweekLenten theme of “The Hands of Jesus.”

Holy Saturday Worship, April 4, 7 PM Worship again with your brothers and sisters from our

circuit congregations at this special worship service which recalls God’s promise of resurrection throughbaptism from the beginning of creation. Service is heldat Trinity, Traverse City.

Easter Sunday, April 5, 10 AM The Lord is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!


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Immanuel Lutheran Church Lent 2015

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from God. “Down the night and down the days…down the labyrinthine ways,” he fled from his Father. Yet God doggedly pursued himHe showed him through life’s struggles and losses that all the happiness this man pursued was found in Him who gives all things. God ilike that. “If we are faithless, He remain faithful—for He cannot deny Himself,” (2 Timothy 2:13). He cannot deny that He is our Father. If

ou, as an earthly parent, are worried about the spiritual welfare of your children, just think of how much more your heavenly Father isconcerned. Your children mean infinitely more to Him than they do to you. Even if they are faithless, He will remain faithful in His loving

pursuit of them.• Your Christian Life Makes an Impact. When I stopped going to church, my parents did not. Although I would never have admittedit back then, the sheer fact of their continued fidelity to Christ meant something to me. Never downplay the impact that your exampleprovides to your children, even if they are grown and leading lives of their own now. You are still their mom and dad. And there is withinmost of us an eye that never completely stops looking to our parents for guidance, for love, for approval, for acceptance. Even in the worst-case scenario, if our children do not believe anymore, let us continue to believe, to pray, to be an example for them. We pray fothem, the whole church on earth and in heaven prays for them, and even Christ Himself prays to the Father in the Holy Spirit for them.• Grace and grace alone will sustain and heal both parents and children. God’s grace in Christ is not only for your children; it is foou, too. Those bruises on your soul that no one can see, where you’ve beat yourself up about your children straying from church, Christ’

blood is a healing medicine for them, too. Chances are, even if your actions had nothing to do with your children’s decisions, you still feelike you share part of the blame. The all-encompassing grace of Christ covers all your guilt, real and false. He became our mistakes, ourfailures, on the cross, so that we become in Him exactly as the Father wants us to be. Your guilt, real or imagined, is no longer yours; i

belongs to Jesus. In Him, God declares you a perfect parent, free of sin, free of guilt. Remember, you have a parent, too, a heavenly Father whose love and concern for you is boundless. You are and will ever remain His child. And your children are and will ever remain Hichildren. Be still and know that He is your Father—the kind of Father who spends all day and all night doing nothing but thinking of,smiling upon, and showering His grace down onto you.Speaking to Jerusalem, His beloved city, God says, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the sonof her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are

continually before me,” (Isaiah 49:15-16). The same is true for you and for your children. God will not, and has not, forgotten you. Theface of your children is engraved upon the hands of the Father. The nail scars in the hands of Jesus spell out your name, and the names oour sons and daughters. We are all in His hands.

Even if your children stray from church, Jesus Christ will never stray from them. Even now, He seeks them out, calling them by name, forthey are His lambs, more precious to Him than anything in heaven or on earth. I pray that love, the love of the Good Shepherd, may beour peace as well as your hope.

When Children

Stray Continued from page 1

Bearing FruitIn our location, we are very familiar with fruit trees. These beautiful trees begin each growing season with

passion, despite the winter, to produce a unique product. How ridiculous it would be to see tart cherrytrees hiding sweet cherries in their branches! Perhaps pears hanging alongside apples in the orchard? Eachtree bears specific fruit, showing visible, identifiable characteristics.

Our fruit should be apparent to all who view us! We should show identifiable characteristics as branchesof Christ. Our Lord reminds us about our produce in Galatians 5:22 “And the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.”

We need to be watchful of our tree. Where love grows, there is no room for self-service. Leaves of doubtand despair are replaced by joy and faithfulness. Discolored fruit of selfishness are removed so thatkindness, gentleness, and goodness may thrive. Finally, self-control wraps around our branches and mindsto guard against invaders and temptations. All this happens so that we might grow in grace and theknowledge of Christ.

In this spirit, the Evangelism Board has provided thecongregation with daily Bible readings based on theGalatians passage for the year. Each month we willinvestigate Bible passages on each of the fruits of theSpirit. We pray that you take advantage of thisresource and enjoy the fruits that Christ will have yougrow!

The Board of Evangelism


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The Beacon Lent 2015

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The uilter’s Den

You are welcome to come andhelp us refill the shelves. We workon Tuesday mornings from8:30AM until noon. We alwaysstop for a coffee break at 9:30AM.Come and join us!

Lenore

Continued from page 1

www.youtube.com/cantorman26

Join us on the Web for videos of yourfavorite organist playing hymns from eachseason of the church year! I’m recordingEaster music right now. Look for newvideos each Sunday! Enjoy!

LENT is about…

“The promise concerningChrist and His benefits was

first revealed to Adam

immediately after the Fall, sothat, even though he had fallenunder death and the wrath of

God, he yet might have theconsolation by which he couldknow both that God was again

and would continue to befavorably inclined toward himand that death at some point

would be overcome…

Then there is added in Genesischapter 3 a brief description of

the reign of Christ, that is inthe future, that the seed of

woman is going to crush thehead of the serpent; that is, He

will destroy sin and death.This consolation raises Adamup; he recognizes that he is atpeace with God, even thoughhe sees that he is unworthy

and unclean. He sees what waslost, but he awaits that Seed by

whom the lost righteousnessand eternal life are to be

restored to him. This trust inHis mercy pleases God. The

words that are added, that thedevil “will strike the heel,”Adam understood to mean

that Christ and the saints will

be afflicted in this life but thatChrist will nevertheless

overcome the kingdom of thedevil.”

-Phillip Melanchthon

Sunday School Corner!

Thank you to everyone whocontributed change to theSunday School children for the

Organ Fund. They collected$394.15 for the Organ Fund,which purchased 16 keys onthe organ! (They just sohappen to be the keys that areplayed the most.)Special thanks also to EstherSend for taking all that changeto the bank to be counted!

Dear Friends in Christ,

We have been overwhelmedby the wonderful supportfrom our friends at Immanuelduring this time of Sandy’s

Parkinson’s. We have feltyour love through the visits,food (often keeping us fromhaving cold cereal or cannedsoup), flowers, MOPShoagies, church videos withspecial delivery andespecially your prayers.Surely we haven’t listedeverything, but all wasappreciated. We thank youfrom the bottom of our hearts.

While we don’t exactly knowwhat the future holds for us,we do know that God willnever leave us or forsake us.Please keep our family inyour prayers.

Love,

Don and Sandy Mitchell

February 2015 Beacon

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