Immanuel Lutheran Church, Grand Ledge, Michigan

An old American saying goes: “Just two things are certain: Death and Taxes.” Well, Easter, this year coming one day after “tax day,” leaves only one of them for certain.

On Sunday morning, some of the women among the disciples went to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning. They were going to prepare his body for a proper Jewish burial by placing spices around it. We know what they believed was for certain. They were wondering if they would be able to push the stone away by themselves, so they were somewhat taken back when they found that the stone had already been removed.

With disconcerted hearts, they entered into the tomb with their packages of spices. We know what they believed was for certain. But no. His body was not there. Their hearts sank deeper into grief.

But two men dressed in dazzling white robes stood by them and spoke, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you…on the third day (he must) rise.

We know why we seek the resting places of our loved ones. There is one who lives among them and over them. There is one grave that is empty and full of life. There is one in whom all he calls to faith live and rise again. Jesus.

As you read, listen to our Savior’s promise, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though s/he die, yet shall s/he live. And whoever lives and believes in me, shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25,26)

So, this April 16^th, you can consider the IRS the winner if you wish. We hope you have “rendered (on time) to Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” Now give to God what is God’s! Come to Easter with hope and faith. No longer are there two things for certain. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Easter Praise Sunday is April 23 -- the Sunday after Easter. We will continue our tradition of having only the 10:30 Service of Holy Communion that day. We will all be together in praise and in prayer and at the Lord’s Table.

“Bought and Paid For”… will lead our worship that day. They sing Southern Gospel with a contemporary sound. They will lift our weary hearts up to the victorious Jesus.

Make every effort to be here and bring a friend to church! It is a good opportunity to break your silence and invite someone to worship with you.

A free will offering will be collected to cover the expenses of Bought and Paid For and to promote their ministry.

Post-Easter, Sunday, April 23 – Sunday, May 28, Pr. Rick and Pr. Paul will offer 2 different Sunday classes for adults to learn and grow.

1) Philippians: Epistle of Joy is a Bible study on this letter from Christ’s apostle to the Gentiles. Pr. Rick will lead it in his classroom during Sunday School.

2) Gospel-Centered Spiritually will be the theme of a course taught by Pastor Paul. We will explore “the recovery of the vision of God in the contemporary world,” Seeking to speak of God and of the deep things of the spirit in ways that are both faithful and meaningful. The methodology will be that of small group meetings. There will be a different topic for each of the six sessions, such as “Solitude and Prayer” and “Simplicity as a life-style.”

Your spiritual shepherds (i. e. Pastors) remind you that the First Mark of Discipleship is to “Grow Spiritually.” Being in a group study is a way to grow. Come to one of these, join a small group (call the office for a list) or form a new small group around your schedule and need.

As of the end of February, we had taken in $6,726 to repair the roof, replace the eaves and gutters and re-grade around the building to try to fix our drainage problem. The total cost is anticipated to be between $17,000 and $20,000. Please keep this project in your giving and support. Russ Riggs and Alan Goschka will keep us informed as they proceed on our behalf.

We've enjoyed the taste of Spring that has been around here and it brings to mind that we are in the time of Lent where we look forward to the Resurrection of the Lord. It is a time of renewal for us spiritually as we see the approaching of Easter.

As a group, the Healing Prayer Ministers, listened to Doug Scoggins at our March meeting as he told us of a book he'd been reading. "Amazing Grace - Vocabulary of Faith" by Kathleen Norris. All of us have read a book that had meaning to us. Some seemed to speak to us and our life as a Christian. All of our group, that wish to, will be sharing with one another something that has had spiritual meaning to us. This is part of sharing with each other and helping each other grow in our ministry and as Christians.

Another way we will learn is having speakers in. We will have Chaplain John Burrows, of Ingham Regional Hospital, Greenlawn Campus at our Wednesday, May 10th. meeting. He will share with us his experiences with healing through prayer. We will also learn how to implement some of the things he teaches in his classes on healing prayer.

These are some of the ways we hope to continue to grow so that we may reach out to you and your needs for prayer. No one is immune from having a need for prayer, whether it be for an illness, a family member or friend, for our self, in thanksgiving, or a special need. We will be there for you as we have been in the past.

We want to thank you, all of you, for whom we've had the blessing of praying. It has meant a great deal to us to be instruments of the Lord.

Let us all rejoice as we approach Easter Sunday and let us all continue to praise the Lord and thank him for all the blessings he has graciously given us. We are truly blessed for He is with us in all things and at all times -- the good times and the difficult ones. We truly never have to look for Him for he is right there, waiting for us to realize that.

A Weight-Awareness support group is forming. The group will meet every Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in the 501 building. The first meeting will be April 1st. Call Pr. Paul Pretzlaff (646-9354 ) for more details.

Monday, April 10 meet at the church at 9:30 a.m. and leave by 9:50 a.m. to go to the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society Museum to view the new exhibits and hear about their history. The tour will be led by Marylyn Smith and or Helen Holihan and be about one hour in length. Afterwards, we will go to Sweet Linda's Café in downtown Grand Ledge for lunch and a free dessert.

On Monday, May 8, 2006 we will head to Zehnder's of Frankenmuth for a noon lunch. We will meet at the church at 9:30 and carpool. Let us know by May 5th: 1) If you are coming; and, 2) If you want the family-style chicken dinner or will order form the menu. Call George/Annette Ryan or Lee/Sandra Bair.

Mark your calendar for Immanuel's annual trip to the ballpark on Friday, July 21, 2006. It's a 7:05 p.m. game with fireworks after the game. Call Orv Erickson at 645-2865, and let him know how many tickets you would like. Tickets are $8.00 each, and the money needs to be turned into Orv by June 4, 2006. It's a great time for the whole family, so come on out and join us.

As our church has grown from a small, family-centered church, the need to involve everyone and their gifts/talents becomes more important. The current committee-centered structure that we operate under necessitates that all committee members be approved by our church council and that all ministries operate through and by their appointed committee.

With the growing number of individuals involved in our church comes a growing number of ideas, talents, enthusiasm and eagerness. We believe the proposed, new structure will enable all individuals to use and implement their ministry ideas in a more efficient manner, and this is how:

RESOURCE TEAMS

Instead of having 8 committees which meet monthly (and need warm bodies to fill the positions!), we will have 4 resource teams. These teams will meet monthly, too, and will be given the responsibility of assisting individuals in their new ministries.

When an individual has an idea for a new ministry or program (such as the newly-formed prayer shawl ministry), the individual does not necessarily have to attend a meeting. The individual fills out a form stating what the ministry is (a one-time deal? an ongoing program?), what is needed (leadership? finances? building space?) and then submits the form to the appropriate resource team. The form can also be completed online.

The team reviews the form to decide how the team can help this person, whether it be through connecting the person with others with the same goals, or whether it is through obtaining the necessary funding. The resource team does not “own” the responsibility of this ministry as our committees do now. The ministries of our church will be driven by our members, what our members believe is important, what our members wish to do.

Currently our church has offered ministries which the committees could handle. Among their many responsibilities, committees had to staff themselves and then implement all of the ministries that were apportioned to it. Under the new structure, the resource teams will not “own” the ministries; the resource teams will aid the individuals who wish to “do” ministry.

Last year Pr. Rick gave a sermon on all of the jobs that were listed in the Bible as the pastor’s job. There was only one job!! Conversely, there was a wealth of jobs listed in the Bible for the members to be doing. Our hope is that this new proposed structure will help all of us use our ideas:

to help others gather in their faith in our church, or
to prepare our members to live daily their faith, or
to serve our members.

We, the church council members, believe that this new proposed structure will streamline ministry and that it will help everyone come forward to help in a way that he/she feels led by Christ.

If you have any questions or concerns, please either contact one of the council members or voice your question/concern (even if it’s anonymous) through the next church newsletter. We will respond to the question in the following newsletter.

Easter Sunday is a joyous time of the year in Christian Worship. How would you like to be one of the first to see our sanctuary decorated for this special day??? Please join on us Saturday, April 15 at 9:30am to help decorate the church. We need approximately 10-12 volunteers and it should only take approximately 3 hours. Please call Lisa Baptista at 230-6769 if you have the time to spare and would like to be a part of team.

An Easter breakfast will be prepared and served immediately after the first service Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006. We will start around 9:00 a.m. We need help with set up and clean up. If you would like to help with the breakfast in some way, please call Orv Erickson at 645-2865. There is no need to call to attend the breakfast. Just come, enjoy and help celebrate our Risen Lord Jesus!

Reserve Saturday, April 22 & Saturday, April 29 to come help clean-up the church yard. This year there will be two clean-up days. Come to one or both. Time to be announced. Food will be served!!

We’re trying to get an early start on the Advent & Christmas seasons this year. Would you be interested in helping plan for our church’s celebrations? We are looking for individuals with a variety of gifts, which could be used:

Pastor Rick will have his sermon themes available so that you can create ideas around them. Various materials will be provided to work from, as well as any you may have.

This is a great opportunity to help with a project and not have to a committee. If this appeals to you, please contact Pastor Rick or any member of the Worship Committee (Lisa Baptista – 230-6769; Jim & Carol Espie – 626-6775; Bill & Barb Paulins – 645-2914). Thanks.

…From Pr. Rick: My dear sisters and brothers, It was in February 2005 that we hit our lowest point of 17,000 in the red after more than two years of increasing deficits. We have turned this around. For the second month in a row, our congregation’s General Fund has been in the black. We have accomplished this in far less time than I or the Church Council expected since no one was asked to give more. You heard the call and did it from your faithful hearts. I humbly thank you and once more praise God for you.

…From Bp. Gary Hansen to all the members of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod: “My heart is filled with gratitude…you have chosen to be generous.” 1) $70,000 more to support the Synod in ’05; 2) a successful Habitat build in Papua, New Guinea; 3) generous individual gifts to the Bishop’s Mission Endowment Fund (formally called “To Whom Shall We Go?) Note: ½ of our Lenten offerings are going to this; 4) over $55,000,000 was given to Tsunami, Katrina and ELCA World Hunger!

Thank you so much for your prayers of healing and health. Your cards are so lovely and a great comfort. May I ask you to continue your prayers?

I would like to thank everyone who helped and attended the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper. A special thank you to the Gehlhaar’s for their griddle, the pancake flippers, the servers and the dish washers. Thank you to all the youth for their hard work waiting and clearing the tables, we could not have done it without them. Your efforts are applauded, and I appreciate it greatly.

Thank you to the vocal and handbell choirs for the wonderful Spring Concert. Thank you for all the hours of practice and the wonderful desserts. A big thank you to everyone who came and your generous donations.

The youth attending The Gathering in San Antonio
Brandt Ayoub, Lindsay Bryant, Maggie Burnham,
Ashley Erickson, Hanna Espie, Amber Lund,
Nick Morrall, Michelle Pitchford, & Allison Sterling