Immanuel Lutheran Church
The Lutheran Missouri Synod3000 W. Main Street
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49006
269-345-8090
Divine Service with Holy Communion
each Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Sunday Evening Service at 6:00 p.m.
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Pastor's Letter -- Pastor's Notes I served Clyde Holy Communion one week to the day before he died in an accident. There is a reason we use a liturgy that has been designed and refined over the centuries. In the wisdom of the church-catholic a phrase has been placed into the Preface of the Service of the Sacrament, "Therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name!" I don't know when that phrase was introduced but I know why it is there, because it needs to be. We are never alone when we are near Jesus. We are always with all the "company of Heaven." We live in a very selfish and self-centered age. Because of our (relative) health we live much longer than even a hundred years ago. Maybe we think that we can live (by ourselves) forever. I have often mentioned that when I have been in California I can't remember seeing funeral homes. These, of course, are almost always at the center of a Midwestern small town and near the various churches looking at each other across main street intersections. In a culture that celebrates youth and life there doesn't seem to be a place for the old or the dead. I prefer the image of a church surrounded by "its Saints who from their labors rest." The more I experience of life the more dependent on others I have become. My experience of death leads me more strongly to the Cross. So let's be clear what our church is here for: to be a community of Jesus Christ that stands for the Gospel-- and that is a promise of overcoming death and rising with Christ on the last day. All of the other things we do are good and proper: teaching and evangelizing and worshipping and enjoying fellowship with one another and serving others in mission and ministry. This is the work of the church and it is good work. When Clyde knelt at the Communion Rail next to his wife he received the Body and Blood of Christ for the forgiveness of his sin and the strengthening of his faith. In my sermon I talked about how Jesus calmed a storm and saved his disciples (and plucked Peter out of the water) despite their fears, worries and lack of faith. The Good News was how Jesus takes care of us in our weaknesses not because of our strengths. Their (the disciples) declaration was the key, "Truly you are the Son of God!" I get really frustrated when I read web pages or advertising from new churches that brag about "relevant" messages and "upbeat and positive" music where the pastor is "authentic and approachable." Oh, and "come as you are." What they are saying is that we are "irrelevant" and "downbeat and negative" and I am neither authentic nor approachable (I wear a black shirt with a white clerical collar -- how offputting!)-- oh, and we wouldn't accept you unless you had just walked out of Macy's with new clothes. Of course that's not what is said but it is the logical conclusion of what is presented. My response is that such marketing is insulting, shallow and arrogant. Tapping into the consumerism and self- focus of our culture is exactly what the church doesn't need to do (let alone conforming to its way of business). Changing lives is hard work and needs a substantive faith refined by two thousand years of witness, service and community. Worship wasn't invented in 1995. There is no "secret" to church growth. The Gospel transforms lives by its own power through the Holy Spirit and not our will or strength. I certainly want a sermon to have some "take home" relevance. But my friend Clyde was not going to need advice on how to have a stronger marriage or be a better employee that Sunday. He had a week to live. He needed to know that Jesus loved him enough to die on a cross for him. He needed to know that he had a promise of eternal life given in his Baptism. His wife needed to know of the hope of the resurrection. His family needed the image of a man on his knees before God receiving the Eternal Christ and receiving the Promise of Eternity. What we do on a Sunday matters. Neither life nor church is a game. I gave a tour of our church to some associates at the end of July. I was asked where our "youth room" was. I took them to the kitchen. It doesn't have any slick video stuff, games or really anything cool. In fact, it's where adult Bible Studies take place. And it's where Alcoholics Anonymous meets, and church council, and about every activity that fits into that space. (Our tables even recently left the kitchen to visit Second Missionary Baptist to hold clothes for the homeless.) I commented that our young people get everything they need in the kitchen, caring adults who pour out their hearts to our youth and passionately teach the Bible and a Christian way of life. And that is where the refrigerator is (we do have some practical skills!) Again, what we do matters because the Gospel matters. I went into full-time ministry to make a difference in peoples' lives because I firmly believed that Jesus was the only answer that made a difference and lasted forever. Today I am only more convinced of this. I thank you all for the privileges of serving and for your help and for all you do to bring the Kingdom of God into this community. I thank you for warmly welcoming my brother-in-Christ Clyde into church and worship and giving him a "meal for the journey" and a "foretaste of the Feast to come." His wife Kim, my sister-in- Christ thanks you as well as does all of my family. Every day matters. Every Sunday is important. Every life matters. Everything we do in the name of Christ makes a difference forever. In Christ, Pastor David H. Sidwell 
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