Mission September 2012

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and Peace to your from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Immanuel makes the world a more caring place by helping people connect to God and each other. Over time the mission reflects the cultural influences of its time, because what’s going on in peoples’ lives affects how people connect to God and to one another. The need for spiritual connection is universal, and as true today as it was in the garden of Eden and will be well into the future, and reaches across the faith traditions and customs of any culture.

Immanuel is a mission post in a changing world. A mission post is by definition an organization of missionaries. Each of us is a missionary, called by God, marked with the cross of Christ forever, gathered in worship, and sent in love to serve. At Immanuel, missionaries are loved and connected, fed and nourished, equipped and sent to serve. We share a common mission to love God and our neighbors as ourselves.

Immanuel makes the world a more caring place by helping missionaries connect to God and one another. We’re best known for traditional worship and social ministry, but what we’re really about is the new commandment to love God and our neighbors as ourselves, this is our mission. Through Sundays and every day of the week, in joy and in sorrow, ILC is here to minister to your needs and to equip you to be a missionary in your daily life. It’s a mission we share with the body of Christ in the world. Immanuel reaches people in our neighborhood, in our city, in the suburbs, across Missouri and Kansas, throughout the United States, and around the world.

Over time Immanuel’s mission reflects the cultural influences of its time, because what’s going on in people’s lives affects how people connect to God and one another. We stay close to people’s needs to understand what’s in their hearts, and we have the enduring Word of God and missionaries (staff and volunteers), to bring people together in worship, education, and service. Immanuel has proclaimed the good news of Jesus since our beginning in 1898, through the first half of the 20^th century, through the baby boom, the eighties and nineties and now into the early part of the 21^st century. Congregational ministry provides a refuge in changing cultural times reflecting what’s central in our faith lives: prayer, worship, studying scripture, serving, giving, inviting and encouraging others.

The need for spiritual connection is universal – as true today as it was in the garden of Eden and will be well into the future, and reaches across the faith traditions and customs of any culture. From Immanuel’s beginning, we’ve stayed close to people’s lives, used God’s gifts of time, talent, and treasure to love God and serve neighbors, focused on authenticity and remained true to our faith values. When you need a way to celebrate, mourn, pray, worship, or serve, Immanuel, your mission post, will be there to help, whether it’s a worship service, a small group, a trained lay minister, your pastor, or a way we can only imagine today. The ways we engage and communicate as a community change with the times, but Immanuel’s need for God endures and God is with us always continually calling us into mission.

Thomas Tidings 2012

Thomas Tidings 2012 (Our Annual Family Christmas / Epiphany Letter)

Well, it’s now or never. The final days of the Christmas season are upon us. We’re gearing up for the Epiphany celebration at Immanuel on Sunday. Here’s a short note to update you on our family for the year:

Our houses:

Kansas – repaired siding and the homeowners’ association painted the exterior for us. They do it every seven years. We’ve gone from a lemon chiffon color to a butter crème.

Wisconsin –Our last renter recently moved out, and we anticipate having new renters in before the end of January. In the meantime, we’ve replaced carpeting, some paint, the bathroom floor, and the kitchen faucet. Seems like everything but the kitchen sink. We never expected to be long term absentee landlords, but fortunately, we have a good friend up there who does what we need to manage.

The kids:

Solveig – is a precocious first grader who is social and enjoys art, music, gym, recess, fashion, American girl dolls, soccer, softball, ballet, and now jazz combo classes. She's also a cookie selling Daisy. She recently went sledding with a friend and took a header into the snow. She’s very articulate and says amusing things like, “Mom, don’t have too much coffee.” “How much is too much?” “A gallon.” I can say, that I don’t drink that much!

Peder – is a fourth grader who enjoys friends, soccer, dodge ball, baseball, science experiments, computer games, and Skylander giants. He also takes piano because he’d like to start band in 5^th grade. He finished his years in scouting this Spring. He also participates in Mathletics and Lego Robotics. He reports that his arm muscles are sore after that long day of sledding.

Us:  We both turned 40 this year and we spent a few days together in Scotsdale, AZ while Vance attended a conference.

Vance – continues to work out regularly, got glasses for everyday wear (far-sighted), is looking more and more distinguished as his beard and crown take on a salt and pepper appearance. He enjoys the opportunities his job provides. He added to his responsibilities this year as he became the Director for the Master of Arts Program at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in addition to his responsibilities as the Director of the Library. He got furnishings for the library this year, and he gets to travel to Myanmar in March for 12 days to visit their sister seminary there.

Me – I still enjoy yoga, picked up reading glasses, and enjoy highlighting my hair so I don’t know if I’m graying or not. I too enjoy the opportunities my job provides. I continued to travel in Missouri and across the nation for congregation based organizing around economic issues. At Immanuel, I have an intern for the second year in a row from LSTC. Her name is Emily (like my sister) which makes conversations at home confusing at times. I don’t know what 2013 has in store for me, but I’m beginning to plan for a 2014 sabbatical.

Wishing you a blessed new year! 

Love, Jen, Vance, Peder and Solveig