Pastor's Message for May, 2008

From the Pastor:

After spending time in Bible study, prayer and thoughtful reflection, our Church Council members who attended the council retreat at LOMC in February summarized the mission of Immanuel Lutheran Church of Earlville, IL as being "called to be reflectors of the light of Christ into the world."

We understood this statement to assume two things.

The light of Christ has come into our lives. We, the members of Immanuel Lutheran Church have been blessed by the love and forgiveness of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We are God’s forgiven and chosen children.

Our mission, then, is to reflect that loving, forgiving, light into the world around us. We are to be mirrors of our Lord and for our Lord through our words and deeds.

The next question, then, was how do we become reflectors of the light of Christ into the world? What is it that we need to do to reflect God’s love to the people around us?

Our responses to that question could have, and did, fill numerous sheets of newsprint as we brainstormed what it meant to be mirrors of God’s love in our congregation, our community, and around the world. So, again after a time of prayer and reflection, we decided on two areas of focus for our work as a council and as a congregation for the coming year.

  • Be in conversation with the Word of God. If we are to take seriously the mission of reflecting the Word of God for the world than it is necessary for us to know that Word. Bible study and conversation around the Word of God must be a priority for every member of our congregation. To that end, we encourage you to participate in one of the various Bible studies provided by our congregation. Come to Sunday School at 9:15 am on Sunday morning. Attend the adult forum on the 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:15 am. Participate in the women’s Bible study on Tuesday evening at the church. Come to Ruth Circle on the 2nd Monday evening of each month. Join us for lunch and a movie after worship on the 4th Sunday of the month. If you have other ideas, or would like to start a study for a particular group of people - Great!! Just find the time and make the effort to be in conversation with the Word of God so that together we can reflect that word to the world.

 

  • Create meaningful and spirit-filled worship experiences. Our second focus is to create worship experiences that will strengthen and inspire us to be reflectors of the light of Christ into the world. To that end we are working to provide a greater variety of music styles in worship, using different liturgies in order to keep our worship fresh, themed services to provide emphases on different topics, and weekly communion to share God’s love through the sacrament for those who desire it. The Council and Worship Committee continue to explore new ideas to make our worship services something you would want to invite your family and friends to attend with you.

It is the hope of your Church Council that by focusing on these two areas we can be strengthened to be reflectors of the Light of Christ into the world. Please join us in this mission.

In Christ,

Pastor Knowles