He Has Done It!

A blessed 26th day of Easter to you all!  Christ is risen indeed!!  Hallelujah!

Today’s Psalm is Psalm 22:25-31:

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord,

and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it.

To appreciate the verses above, you have to understand the whole of Psalm 22.  This is the Psalm that Jesus quotes from the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”  It is the Psalm we typically read at the conclusion of our Maundy Thursday service while stripping the altar.  It is a Psalm full of sorrow and lament and anguish.

And yet, these final six verses of the Psalm seem to just burst forth with hope.  I talked a few weeks ago about the value of lament, of giving space for deep and dark sadness.  And that often in that space, hope is given room to grow.  This is another one of those Psalms.  But this Psalm adds something else to the conversation.  A relentless hope that even when we are lost in our own, deeply personal anguish and grief, God remains in control.  And from that perspective, the Psalmist confidently declares a time in the future when those yet unborn will hear of God’s power and triumph.

Whatever has you in despair today, join the Psalmist in declaring that some day God will triumph over it and a future generation will one day declare about this God of ours: “He has done it!”

*************************

Our Easter Season Worship Schedule Each Sunday:
**8:30am – worship in person, or online
**9:30am – worship on KWAD (920AM or 101.7FM)
**10am – worship in person

 

Help Pack for the Weekend Backpack Program May 6 @ 3pm
The weekend backpack program provides discreet, weekend food to kids in need every week at WDC schools.  We are filling backpacks on Thursday, May 6 at 3pmin the elementary cafeteria.  All are welcome.  Wear a mask.

Frozen Meals Available May 6, 1-2pm
Catholic Charities is holding their monthly food drop in Immanuel’s lot from 1-2pm on Thursday, May 6.  Seniors 60+ can receive up to 30 FREE meals.  A simple, one-time registration (name, address, DOB), gives you access to these monthly meals.

Geraniums
We are going to adorn the sanctuary with red geraniums Memorial weekend, May 30.  If you would like to sponsor a flower in honor or memory of a loved one, or simply as a gift, they are $5/plant.  After May 30th, the flowers will be planted to add color to our grounds throughout the summer.  Call the church office (631-2738), email church@wadenaimmanuel.org, or visit (http://bit.ly/ilcflowers) to sign up.

We’re Retooling our Prayer List
In an effort to keep a more timely and accessible prayer list, we’re making some changes.  Starting June 1, we will send our prayer list in this weekly email and will post the prayer list on our website.  We’re also changing our prayer list so that a prayer request will be added to our Sunday prayers for 4 weeks, unless a request to remove comes sooner.  Of course, you or your loved one can continue to be on our prayer list as long as you would like, but you would need to “renew” that request every four weeks.  Military prayers will remain on the list for six months, unless a request to remove comes sooner.  Email (church@wadenaimmanuel.org) or call (631-2738) the church office with prayer requests.  Or fill out this form: https://www.wadenaimmanuel.org/prayerrequest

Check out our news page to learn more and for other important announcements: https://www.wadenaimmanuel.org/announcements

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Treasure Greater Than Heaven and Earth!

Last week, we started this journey through the catechisms’ (Large and Small) thoughts on baptism.   And we remembered that baptism might seem like a human act – but is really God’s action. Today, we forge ahead with more.   After hearing such wonderful news about God’s action in baptism, about the benefits we receive, including forgiveness and the promise of everlasting life, our next thought might be that of skepticism.   So the Small Catechism leads us to ask, “How can water do such great things?”   The answer: “It is not the water that does these things, but God’s Word with the water and our trust in this Word.   Water by itself is only water, but with the Word of God it is a life-giving water which by grace gives the new birth through the Holy Spirit.” In the Large Catechism, Luther says even more on this topic: “Yes, my friend! Who does not know that water is water, … But how dare you tamper thus with God’s ordinance and rip out his most precious jewel?...
Read more

Forgive ... Forgiven

Today, we finish our brief series on forgiveness from the Large Catechism.   And our focus today is the practical application of forgiveness. There are two important parts of forgiveness.   One is the forgiveness we receive from God.   The other is the forgiveness we receive from our neighbors.   And both are essential to our faith and life in the community.   When people come to me with a guilty conscience, I ask them if they would like a word of absolution.   Sometimes, though, I can see that before they are forgiven by God, they need to seek forgiveness from their spouse, child, parent, neighbor, or friend.   Other times, they have been forgiven by the person they’ve wronged, but they cannot forgive themselves.   Other times, still, they have offered the sincerest apology they can and have not been forgiven.   And a strong word of forgiveness from God is needed – and we pray that the one they have wronged will forgive them in time. S...
Read more

Who is Worthy to Receive Communion?!!

Today is our third week on the Lord’s Supper/Communion.   So far, we have discovered that this is God’s meal, not the result of human actions or work.   Also, we discussed last week the importance of our faith that the bread and wine actually become Christ’s body and blood. Today, we focus on the question of who is worthy to receive the gifts of communion.   This is a topic of special interest to Luther.   He is especially interested in the idea that one could be too sinful to receive this gift.   For Luther, it is easy to look at your sins and shortcomings and decide you are not worthy to receive such a gift.   God’s goodness contrasts so sharply with our sinfulness, “then because of this, such people will not go to the sacrament and wait until they are prepared, until one week passes into another and one half-year into yet another.   If you choose to fix your eye on how good and pure you are, to wait until nothing torments you, you will never go” (...
Read more