What she had done in the past weighed heavily on her conscience. She was living

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1 Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church th Street SW, Willmar, MN Office: (320) Parsonage: (320) Office Hours: 9:00am - 4:30pm, Tuesday - Thursday Website: MARCH 2018 God s Encouraging Word when I am burdened with guilt What she had done in the past weighed heavily on her conscience. She was living under the soul-crushing conviction that the death of her nine-year-old daughter was God paying her back for her sins. He was resigned to live the rest of his life in despair. His wife had begged him to get help for his addiction through their entire marriage. Now suddenly, she was gone and so was any opportunity to make up for being a lousy husband and father. It was too late. His head hung low as he dissolved into tears. When he looked up, he asked, What kind of person would steal from his own family? He knew the answer. That was why he was sobbing. How does your guilt feel? Does it hit you like a wrecking ball when you are confronted with the horrifying truth of how evil you really are or how much damage and pain you ve caused? Does it leave you hopeless or even horrified at the truth you have to face sooner or later? The truth that you re never going to be the person you know you should be. The truth that makes you a failure to a holy God and undeserving of anything good from him. You should know something about all those people mentioned above. They all found relief from guilt. They found it in the only place it can be found in the God who pledges, I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. You might think your sins and weaknesses define you. They don t. Not in God s eyes. You know how you highlight a phrase and then hit delete when you are editing a document? God does that with your sins. He not only doesn t see them anymore, he doesn t even remember them. He doesn t recall the worst things you ve done or your habitual failings. So your sins not only don t define you to God, they don t condemn you to his punishment either. How is that possible? God loved you with a love so amazing that he charged his Son, Jesus, with your sins and punished him in your place. All of the ways you have sinned or ever will sin, have been paid for. They are not on your record or clinging to your identity anymore. Believe it, and in Jesus live unburdened from your guilt and in the joyful freedom of forgiveness. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 Pastor Craig Engel CHURCH NEWSLETTER

2 Holy Week The Holy Triduum (Three Days) Midweek Lenten Worship The theme for our midweek services this year is: Jesus Christ Is Our Great High Priest. 3/7 Jesus Our Great High Priest Serves at a Great Altar 3/14 Jesus Is Our Perfect High Priest 3/21 Jesus Is Our Compassionate High Priest Soup Suppers These suppers will precede our m i d w e e k services in Lent. Sign-up sheets will be placed in the Narthex. Watch the bulletin for more information. The word Triduum comes from the Latin words tria and dies literally, a space of three days. A special practice of the early Christian worship was to treat the three days from Maundy Thursday evening Easter Sunday as an act of one continuous worship. In fact, the practice of the Triduum predates the 40-day Lenten season. Sadly, most people do not view these three days together as a unit. Instead, they separate them into different occasions. This thinking is most evident in the statement: I either go to church on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. There s really no need to go to both. To say or think such a thing is exactly the same as saying: I went to a play last night. There were three acts, but I only watched the first and the third. There was really no reason for me to be there for all three. But if, in fact, you did that, you d miss one-third of the play. These three days (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday) are a unit three acts of the same play. Together they recount the dramatic happenings of our Savior s suffering, death and resurrection for the salvation of the world. No more important events have ever taken place. The enormous significance of Christ s suffering, death and resurrection has always been the central focus of Christian worship. Prior to the fourth century, Easter Day itself included all three emphases but thereafter they were distributed over three days of special observance, which Augustine called the most holy Triduum of the crucified, buried, and risen Lord. In other words, one without the others is incomplete. Holy Week Schedule As we look forward to Holy Week, please keep our worship schedule in mind. 3/25 Palm Sunday Divine Service, 9:00 a.m. Sunday School children process with palms 3/29 Maundy Thursday Divine Service, 7:00 p.m. 3/30 Good Friday Divine Service, 3:00 p.m. 3/30 Good Friday: Service of the Cross of Christ, 7:00 p.m. 4/1 The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Vigil, 7:00 a.m. 4/1 The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Festival Divine Service, 10:00 a.m. The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Vigil We will use an ancient service of the church for the second time at Immanuel this year at 7:00 a.m. on Easter Sunday. A vigil is a service of Scripture lessons and prayers in which believers vigilantly and eagerly wait and watch for the celebration of the Savior s deliverance. The most well-known and historic of the church s vigils is the Easter Vigil. In fact, in its general structure, it is one of the most ancient services of the Christian Church. Early records indicate that it may have been celebrated in Jerusalem already by the second century, and soon spread to the rest of the church. From its beginnings, the Easter Vigil was closely connected with Holy Baptism. In the pagan world, a conversion to Christianity meant a clean break from one s former lifestyle. It also meant facing difficult times, perhaps even death. As a result, the instruction of adults was intensive and thorough. The instruction intensified during the season of Lent, as the students pondered not only the Savior s battle with evil but their own battle with Satan, with the wicked world and their own flesh. The instruction culminated in baptism at the Easter Vigil in light of Paul s words to the Romans: Or don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were 2 continued on page 3

3 Easter Vigil, continued from page 3 (insert page) therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5 NIVO) Typically, the Easter Vigil (also called the Paschal Vigil) consists of four parts: the Service of Light, the Service of Lessons, the Service of Holy Baptism, and the Service of Holy Communion. The service begins after darkness has fallen on Holy Saturday. Often the congregation assembles outside the nave of the church and follows the paschal candle in procession into the church. Ideally the Vigil lasts through the night, with the baptisms taking place at dawn. For practical reasons, however, an allnight Vigil is seldom held today. The Service of Light focuses on the entire Vigil on Christ, the Light of the world (symbolized by the Christ candle) who overcame the darkness of sin and death by his resurrection. The Service of Holy Baptism identifies baptism as one of God s great acts of deliverance that has been applied to each individual Christian, connects baptism with Christ s resurrection, and gives believers an opportunity to publicly confess the faith into which they have been baptized. An atmosphere of solemn anticipation and meditation (as well as relative darkness) is maintained until the proclamation, Alleluia! Christ is risen, which marks the dramatic transition from darkness to light. This is reflected in the pace of the service and the music. The tone for the rest of the service is one of joy as a harmony of the Resurrection Accounts is proclaimed. (Additional events of the Resurrection and Jesus appearing are shared on the Sundays of Easter.) In the service of Holy Communion we receive the true body and blood of the risen and victorious Christ and the assurance of his once-for-all deliverance. Perhaps Luther had the structure of the Easter Vigil in mind when he wrote the last stanza of his great Easter hymn: Then let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the bread of heaven; The Word of grace has purged away The old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed; He is our meat and drink indeed; Faith lives upon no other! Alleluia! Alleluia! Do this in remembrance of me. 3 Ms. Emily Schmidt, the Martin Luther College student who led our Bible and Music Academy last summer, will be with us again this summer. Watch for more information in the coming months. Southwest Minnesota Lutheran Area Chorale Immanuel extended an invitation to Southwest Minnesota Lutheran Area Chorale and was chosen to host one of their concerts. SW MN Lutheran Chorale performs at two to three WELS churches each year. The choir is directed by and made up of WELS pastors and members of southwestern MN WELS congregations. This is a great opportunity for Christian fellowship and a blessing to our congregation to have been chosen as a host congregation. Please mark your calendars on April 15th from 3:00-5:00 p.m. and make plans to attend this awesome celebration of praise for our Lord. As a host congregation, we are in need of volunteers to help with various duties, including welcoming them as they arrive, ushers for the concert, kitchen help, food preparation, serving, and cleanup help. Following the concert, the Women of Immanuel will be hosting a meal of pulled pork sandwiches, cakes, desserts, and salads. Please consider volunteering to bring a cake, a dessert, or a salad. A sign-up sheet will be in the narthex. Everyone is invited to attend and welcome to stay for the meal. Come be served with the Word in song and help serve your fellow Christians. If you are interested in serving in any way for this event, please contact pastor or Steve and Jodee Okins.

4 Confirmation Day Our confirmation day will be on April 22nd. We have two confirmands this year: Joe Johnson and Ella Swenson. There will be an informal reception beginning at 10:30 am and all are invited to attend. Quarterly Meeting Because of the dates of Easter, confirmation day, and the SW MN Lutheran Chorale concert, our quarterly meeting will be held on April 29th. We ll enjoy a potluck meal starting at 11:30am and the meeting will begin at 12:15pm. Bible Quiz According to Matthew s account, what was torn when Jesus died? A. Mary s headdress she tore it as a traditional Jewish sign of grief B. A Roman guard s sash Peter grabbed and ripped it in anger C. Jesus robe the soldiers divided it among themselves D. The temple curtain torn in two from top to bottom Answer: Matthew 27:51 Making the common sacred First Corinthians 10:31 (ESV) reminds us, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Author E.M. Bounds describes this mind-set as a spirit of devotion that puts God in all things not merely in our praying and churchgoing. He writes: The spirit of devotion makes the common things of earth sacred and the little things great. With this spirit of devotion, we go to business on Monday directed by the very same influence, and inspired by the same influences, by which we went to church on Sunday. The spirit of devotion makes a Sabbath out of Saturday and transforms the shop and the office into a temple of God. 5

5 Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church th Street SW Willmar, MN ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED