Epistle Newsletter
The Epistle Newsletter is Immanuel’s monthly source for church news, edited and published by Mrs. Kimberly Johnson, our church secretary and office manager. Certain portions of The Epistle Newsletter will be made available here on our Newsletter Blog. The Epistle in print is mailed out monthly to all active church households. If you would like to receive your own copy of The Epistle, submit an article or photo, or would like to update your contact information, please call Kimberly at 417-624-0333 or send an email to kjohnson@immanueljoplin.com.
Lent 2021 in a Time of Pandemic
From the Desk of Pastor Mech Immanuel Lutheran Church LCMS and Martin Luther School in Joplin, Missouri is Grounded in Christ, Guided by Grace, and Growing to Serve since 1897… NOTE: Lent 2021 begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2021. Our Season of Repentance in a Time of Pandemic — Lent 2021 As with everything else in the last eleven months, Lent 2021 will be observed somewhat differently this year. Exhibit One is our ashless Ash Wednesday. I read the…
Lent 2020 Sermon Series | Eyes On Jesus
From the Desk of Pastor Mech Immanuel Lutheran Church LCMS and Martin Luther School in Joplin, Missouri is Grounded in Christ, Guided by Grace, and Growing to Serve since 1897. Eyes On Jesus O come, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Gradual for Lent, based…
Top Ten Christmas Hymns
From The Desk Of Pastor Mech Christmas celebrations bless us with glorious music. This past season’s choir selections, instrumentalists and children’s programs kept me smiling and gave me warm memories to see me through the coming winter. One of the relatively unchanging elements of Christmas at Immanuel is our Christmas Eve festival of Readings, Carols and Candlelight. Most every year we sing the same beloved hymns, and I am fine with that tradition. Yet several people asked whether some of…
Dwelling Among Us Still
God is Dwelling Among Us Still. An encouraging word from Immanuel’s Stewardship Board. Originally published in the January 2019 Epistle Newsletter. It is no secret that God calls us to be generous with the gifts He has given us. Throughout the Bible, we read that just as God has generously given to us, so are we to give generously one to another. As Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love…
What Child Is This?
From the Desk of Pastor Mech Prepare to share glad tidings of comfort and joy, of a Savior who has been born to us, who is Christ, the Lord! Our Advent and Christmas focus will be shaped by a familiar Christmas hymn. The author of the series, Rev. Ralph Tausz, provides the context: The birth of a certain child two thousand years ago in Bethlehem prompted a poet in the nineteenth century to ask a very un common question in…
Excelling In Generosity
Excelling In Generosity An Encouragement From Immanuel’s Stewardship Board I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:8-9). Without commands or even arm-twisting, St. Paul encourages, even challenges, the Church in Corinth…
Words to Humble and Strengthen You
From the Desk of Pastor Mech These words are intended to humble and strengthen you as we approach Lent. Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations… A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. -Isaiah 42 And now the Lord says‚ … “It is too small a thing for you…
Give God Your All
A New Year and New Opportunities Stewardship Planning Give God Your All. It’s a new year. It’s a time when we take stock of the year past in order to improve the year to come. It’s a time when we sit down to plan and implement what we want to accomplish and even change. Part of that is planning our stewardship for the coming year. Often we find this difficult and daunting and even joyless. But it doesn’t have to…
Keep Christ in Christmas
From the Desk of Pastor Mech The signs started popping up in 1977, exactly forty years ago, on billboards, church lawns and other places: Keep Christ in Christmas. It was a reaction to the increasing secularization and commercializing of a Christian holiday which seemed to have forgotten Christ, a birthday celebration where they forgot the birthday boy. This message was shored up by equally clever and ubiquitous signs stating Jesus is the reason for the season. I don’t know how…