THE IMMANUEL MESSENGER January 2019

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1 Immanuel Lutheran Church Lutheran Church Missouri Synod 673 Weston Road Manchester, NH (603) immanuel-mnh.org Pastor Rev. Donald Colageo Administrative Assistant Tammy Wilkie Elders Doug Gootee Kent Freshour Jim Mange Dan Blakeman Church Council Congregational Chairman: James Wilkie Congregational Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Board of Finance: Hans Larsson Treasurer: Kathy Mange Financial Secretary: Wendy Wilkie Congregational Recording Secretary: Ray Brown Board of Immanuel Christian Preschool: Bonnie Bell Board of Property: Don Bell Board of Evangelism: Vacant Board of Stewardship: Vacant Board of Activities: Karen Colageo and Cindy Grenier, Co-chairs NEWS, NOTES & TIDBITS 2019 Offering Envelopes Please pick up your new offering envelopes in your narthex mailbox. The Lutheran Witness Magazine Immanuel members are invited to subscribe to the 2019 edition of The Lutheran Witness through the church discounted group rate of $ If you want to subscribe, make your check out to Immanuel Lutheran Church and write Lutheran Witness on the memo line. You can use the Lutheran Witness envelope in your 2019 offering envelopes. Please place your envelope in the offering plate by Sunday, January 27, If you wish to subscribe and do not have a Lutheran Witness envelope, please mark an envelope with Lutheran Witness add your payment, your name, mailing address, phone number, and place it in the offering plate. Altar Flowers Chart The new 2019 altar flowers chart is now up on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall entryway. You can sign up for your special dates or just sponsor the altar flowers for any Sunday. If you wish to make a dedication, please fill out an Altar Flowers form and leave it in the church administrative assistant s mailbox. Merrimack Flower Shop will send you a bill for payment. Portals of Prayer The January March edition of Portals of Prayer has arrived. The booklets are in a basket on the counter under the mailboxes in the narthex. Please feel free to take one.

2 Every One His Witness! This LCMS evangelism Bible study is in progress. Participants bring their own lunch. Please contact Pastor for more information and to confirm the next meeting. Sunday Morning Bible Study If you haven t tried the 9 a.m. breakfast hour, Knowing the Love, you are missing out. You may say, What s the point of joining the group when they re already ¾ done? Here are the subjects left to cover: Called to love the Holy Church; Why is part of the Church on earth? How does the Church live on earth? What is the Office of the Keys? What is the Church s future? Love lasts forever the last things; Death; What is heaven? The second coming of Christ; The resurrection; The judgment: Knowing the love in the endless world to come. Come! There are 30 to 50 of us rowdy Lutherans on any given Sunday. The food is good too! People serving at Divine Service in January 2019 Date Usher Acolyte 1/6/2019 1/13/2019 1/20/2019 1/27/2019 Joel Applegate, Jim Wilkie, Marilyn Plummer Doug Gootee, Helgard & Marina Kirsch Rita Hennessy, Ken & Rosanna Koehlert Rick Otte, David King, Jim Wilkie Gabriel Robinson volunteer Kevin Mange Volunteer Communion Assistant Lector Greeters Altar Care Doug Gootee, Kent Freshour Howard Helwig, Jim Mange Dan Blakeman, Jim Wilkie Doug Gootee, Kent Freshour Joyce Ackerman Marina Kirsch Kent Freshour Rick Otte David & Katherine King Dick & Maria Love Rev. Mark & Gwen Oien Jim & Wendy Wilkie Karen Colageo, Marcia Blakeman Donna Houle & Marina Kirsch Rita Hennessy, Cynthia Grenier Wendy Wilkie & Roseann Helwig 2

3 Pastor s article Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3 6 I ve been thinking lately about that phrase, from the first day until now. This past Epiphany Sunday was the 8 th Epiphany Sunday we have shared together. Can it be? Where has the time gone? Some 420 services together around the gifts of our gracious Lord, and even now, when things are supposed to have cooled down, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, I am still encouraged by your hunger for Jesus, your thirst for His word, and your joy in serving Him by caring for each other. Anyone who visits Immanuel lands at once in a place of Joy, where grace is at home and Jesus is ever central. Are there challenges? God help me, that old Adam, still dragging and riding the brake and clinging on for dear death is always my biggest obstacle. Jesus help me to read more and pray more, that I might be a useful under-shepherd of saints You have bought with Your own blood. But I believe the same thing for me that I believe for all of you, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Is this world around us going to make it any easier for us in the days to come? H-E- double hockey sticks NO! But remember, these Scripture texts from which we take our hope were not written from Easy Street! The above joyful encouragement Paul wrote was from his dungeon! Because he had the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life, and they can t take that! So, for the eighth year I will joyfully watch you serve your Lord, come up with great plans for reaching people with the gospel, come up with great plans for loving one another fervently, forgive sins (mine especially!), hand out clean slates recklessly and joyfully both in the Household of Faith and in this lost world that needs to see Jesus so desperately. Is everything perfect? Not yet. But it s going to happen. Against all odds, the Almighty God is perfecting all of us until we see Perfect Love welcome us Home. In Jesus love, +Pastor 3

4 From the Elders THE IMMANUEL MESSENGER January 2019 Epiphany greetings in the name of Jesus! The season of Epiphany begins with the Magi from the East following a star to find Jesus. The Magi were essentially astrologers but were somewhat knowledgeable about the Word of God. They were watching the skies for the sign that the new King had been born. They headed out to find Him and stopped in Jerusalem. The story gets a bit more interesting in that Herod sent the Magi on their way with instructions to come back to let him know where he could go to find the child so that he might worship Him. Fortunately, God intervened and provided what the NKJV refers to as a divine dream to the Magi telling them to not return to Herod. Those Magi had certainly not been followers of God but became exactly that and went to present their gifts to Jesus and followed God s directions to protect His Son going home by a different route and staying away from Jerusalem. Since God worked that miracle through people who were not part of the Chosen Race, how much more will He do through us who have been made part of His family through Baptism? The Good News has been written down and given to us to share, not to keep for ourselves. The miracle we work is to sow the seeds of faith by sharing the Gospel with everyone. The Gospel itself provides the faith required to unlock the wonderful news. Our prayer is for you to read and share the Word every day. In His service, Doug Gootee, For the Board of Elders 4

5 Lift Every Voice At the Name of Jesus LSB #512 Text: Caroline M. Noel ( Tune: King s Weston Composer: Ralph Vaughn Williams ( ) A familiar slogan this time of year goes like this: Jesus is the reason for the Season. OK, well, that s nice but, while that is most certainly true the reason for every Season in the Church Year is Jesus. That includes His birth, earthly ministry, death on the Cross, Resurrection, Ascension, His longed for Coming again. The compilers of LSB assigned this hymn to the category End Times and this hymn does fit there but as you read or sing through the verses it fits in all the events of the Lord s existence from His presence at Creation through His time on earth to His Ascension and His presence with the Father. It sits comfortably with all we know and revere about His gracious attributes. As the Season of Advent-Christmas is more on our minds this time of year, we tend to think on the events of Jesus birth. But Christmas is more that just one day; in fact, the Christmas season in the church year is 12 days and the Church observes many other events surrounding the life of Jesus during this time. One special day is the one that the secular world calls New Years. January 1 st. That day occurs on the 8 th Day of Christmas and commemorates the circumcision and official naming of Jesus. Our Lord coming to earth to live in human form came to us through the Jewish people. As a Jewish boy, in order to fulfill all things under the Law ascribed to Israel, he underwent this ritual (see Gen, 17:12). It was at this same time he received the name, in Hebrew, Yeshua, meaning God Saves (Luke 1:31) 5

6 As we read and sing through the hymn s many verses we touch on other events in the Lord s life. Verse 2 tells of His presence at Creation (John 1:1-11); verse 3 his miraculous Birth (Phil.2: 8); His death and Resurrection, His Ascension (Acts 1:1-11). Note how the last line in verse 6 echoes the second line of verse 1. Every tongue confess Him, King of Glory NOW. (Phil. 2:5-11) and, Our hearts confess Him, King of Glory NOW. Who is the King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle (Ps.24:8). Note the emphasis on NOW: Jesus Christ yesterday, today, forever! As we look forward to the blessed time of Christmastide and Epiphany, why not add this wonderful hymn to our collection of carols, because in fact it fits all the requirements of a carol, that is, a lovely paean of praise to the Holy One of God, beloved of the Father! A Blessed Christmas to All, Dick C. 6

7 January 2019 Sunday Monday Tuesday 1/1/19 Wednesday 1/2 Thursday 1/3 Friday 1/4 Saturday 1/5 7 pm Elders Mtg. 1/6 The Epiphany of our Lord 9 am Sunday School and Adult Bible study 10 am Divine Service with Holy Communion 1/7 1/8 1/9 1/10 1/11 1/12 6:30pm Property Board Meeting(FH) 6:30 pm Choir Rehearsal 6pm Heritage Quilt Guild (FH) 1/13 The Baptism of Our Lord/First S. a. the Epiphany 9 am Sunday School and Adult Bible study 10 am Divine Service with Holy Communion 1/20 Second S. a. the Epiphany 9 am Sunday School and Adult Bible study 10 am Divine Service with Holy Communion 1/27 Third S. a. the Epiphany 9 am Sunday School and Adult Bible study 10 am Divine Service with Holy Communion 1/14 1/15 1/16 1/17 1/18 1/19 6:30 pm Choir Rehearsal 1/21 1/22 1/23 1/24 1/25 1/26 1/28 1/29 1/30 1/31 6:30pm Stamp Club(FH) 6:30 pm Choir Rehearsal 6:30 pm Choir Rehearsal When you plan your meetings and events, please contact the church office to check the calendar for scheduling conflicts. 8:30am to 11:30am Church Council Meeting (FH) 7

8 JANUARY JANUARY BAPTISMAL JANUARY BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES 1 Ray Ackerman 6 Lyn Buechsenschuetz 25 Paul & Nancy Skar Kathy Mange 19 Kathy Mange 5 Melissa Otte 28 Bradley Houle 6 Richard Love 16 Kent Freshour 24 Laura Wagenaar 28 Maria Love 29 Deb Integlia 8

9 Lutheran Church Extension Fund Have You Invested Yet? Join the other Immanuel members that have already invested in LCEF These funds are used in the New England District to make loans to our sister churches to build or remodel churches, schools and parsonages. While your money is doing this important work, you earn a competitive rate of return. This is the only investment you can make that is designated solely to further God s kingdom as we are directed by the Great Commission. All LCEF investments have two things in common: 1) LCEF loans funds to ministries of the LCMS and 2) LCEF investments pay a competitive rate of interest. Simply put, with an LCEF investment, investors get the added satisfaction of knowing that your investment supports ministry; your dollars are working to build the kingdom of God. We call this Spiritually Responsible Investing. Your investment funds not only help build churches, schools, seminaries, Synodical colleges, and more, but are also available to you and your family when you need them. Special Programs for new investors: The Young Investors Club helps teach children about Discipleship and Stewardship by making it possible to invest in church growth. This investment for investors under the age of 19 has an added incentive for saving on the first $1000 invested! The Connect PLUS! Two-Year Fixed Term Note provides a special rate for New Investors on the first $5000 invested and a great rate on anything over the initial $5000. Check the rates for details. Contact Doug and Marcia Gootee, Immanuel s LCEF Congregational Advocates at (603) for more information, or contact LCEF directly at THE-LCEF or log on to Here are the interest rates that have been set for January 2019: Term Notes (a certificate of deposit - $500 minimum deposit): Six months: 1.125% (1.130% APY) Nine months: 1.250% (1.256% APY) One Year: 2.000% (2.015% APY) Eighteen Months: 2.125% (2.142% APY) Two years: 2.250% (2.269% APY) Three years: 2.375% (2.396% APY) Four years: 2.500% (2.524% APY) Five years: 2.625% (2.651% APY) Partner PLUS! Up to $25,000 Two years: Four years: Over $25,000: 2.375% (2.396% APY) 2.875% (2.906% APY) 1.250% (1.256% APY) Connect PLUS! Up to $5, % (3.034%APY) Over $5, % (1.256%APY) Floating Rate Term Notes (A certificate of deposit - $100 minimum deposit) Thirty months: 2.250% (2.269% APY) Sixty months: 2.500% (2.524% APY) Dedicated Certificates (a savings account - $10 minimum deposit) Balance in account Less than $1,000: 0.375% (0.376% APY) $1,000 to $5,000: 0.500% (0.501% APY) Over $5,000: 0.625% (0.626% APY) (These are limited-transaction checking accounts.) Y.I. Steward Account (Young Investors under 18) $25 - $ % (3.557% APY) $1000 and over: 1.250% (1.257% APY) Family Emergency Steward Account* $25 minimum deposit: 1.250% (1.257% APY) *monthly electronic transfers required until balance reaches $10,000 Regular Steward Account ($100 minimum deposit) Less than $1,000: 0.625% (0.627% APY) $1,000 - $5,000: 0.750% (0.753% APY) $5,000 - $10,000: 0.875% (0.879% APY) $10,000 and over: 1.125% (1.131% APY) The mission of the Lutheran Church Extension Fund is to provide opportunity to make funds and services available in support of the Great Commission through the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. 9