Category: Lent

About the meaning of Lent to Christians in the Lutheran Church and how the Lenten season is observed.

Unwrapping god's good gifts.

Online Service: Midweek Lent 5

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.†(Luke 12:6-8)

Members and friends of Immanuel:

Have you ever seen and heard a small bird flit by your window chirping happily and considered these words of our Lord? His words bring peace. We are not promised health or wealth in this life, but Jesus promises to care for us. “Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.â€

Pre-recorded audio and video of the Midweek Lent 5 Service will be available by Wednesday evening on the same websites as before. Use the links below for your preferred method of streaming.

Watch Video

Listen via Podcast

View Service Bulletin

If you would like to follow a Service outline, a PDF of the Service Bulletin is again viewable on Immanuel’s Podcast page while you watch or listen to the Service. And if you have a Lutheran Service Book at home, please speak and sing along.

Online Service Instructions

May God richly bless His Word into your hearts for the strengthening of your faith in Him.

Trusting the Jesus we don't see poster with an open book

Online Matins Service: Fourth Sunday in Lent

“My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.†(Ezekiel 37:27)

Members and friends of Immanuel:

While the current circumstances have given us more time to spend in our own dwellings, let us remember God’s dwelling place is with us: Immanuel, God With Us. He washes us with His Word and opens in us springs of Living Water which will sustain us to eternal life with Him. We can trust in the words of our LORD when He says, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.†(Matthew 28:20)

Pre-recorded audio and video of the Fourth Sunday in Lent Service will be available by Sunday morning on the same websites as before:

• Immanuel’s Podcast
• Immanuel’s Sermon Video
• YouTube
• Facebook

If you would like to follow a Service outline, a PDF of the Service Bulletin is again viewable on Immanuel’s Podcast page while you watch or listen to the Service. And if you have a Lutheran Service Book at home, please speak and sing along.

It was reported after the Midweek Lent 4 Service there was an issue viewing the PDF on iPads. We believe that issue to be fixed. Please note you may need to tap within the embedded PDF box to get it to scroll.

Online Service Instructions

May God richly bless His Word into your hearts for the strengthening of your faith in Him.

Unwrapping god good gifts' poster with a white background

Midweek Lent 4 Service

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!â€â€ (Psalms 122:1)

Members and friends of Immanuel:

Going to the house of the LORD will for us in this time be quite different than to what we are accustomed. However, our LORD is not limited by time or space when He says,
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.†(Matthew 18:20)

Pre-recorded video and audio of the Midweek Lent 4 Service will be available by 7pm this evening on the following websites:

If you would like to follow a Service outline, a PDF of the Service Bulletin is viewable on Immanuel’s Podcast page while you watch or listen to the Service. And if you have a Lutheran Service Book at home, please speak and sing along.

To listen to the audio while following along in the Service Bulletin:

  1. Select the podcast you would like to hear. The top one is selected by default.
  2. Press play on the podcast player. If you select one below, it should play automatically.
  3. Scroll down to the embedded Service Bulletin PDF.
  4. View and scroll the Service Bulletin in the embedded box or click to make the PDF full screen. The audio should still play in the background.

The instructions for viewing the video on Immanuel’s Sermon Video page are similar except on mobile the video will automatically go full screen once you begin to play. It may not be possible to view a Service Bulletin while watching on the Sermon Video page, YouTube, or Facebook unless you have more than one browser window open on a desktop to access the bulletin on Immanuel’s podcast page. Viewing experiences will vary depending on the device you use and whether on desktop or mobile.

May God richly bless His Word into your hearts for the strengthening of your faith in Him.

Unwrapping god good gifts' poster with a white background

Unwrapping God’s Good Gifts


On the last two Sundays of Epiphany—the last two Sundays before Lent begins—the Sunday Readings feature the Ten Commandments: the giving of them to Moses and Jesus expounding a few of them. This unfolded at the same time I was pondering a theme for our midweek Services of Lent, so I decided to make those Commandments the theme.

Doing so means that this year our theme will emphasize the original focus of the Season of Lent, as Lent began in the Early Christian Church as a time of instruction for those who were preparing for Baptism at Easter. The instruction of those “catechumens†focused more on Christian living than the Passion of Jesus. That will be our emphasis this year.

The wisdom of the Commandments—while Divine—can be known in part by simple human reason and should be heeded by any community, society or civilization that wishes to survive and flourish. But we see the Commandments also in the context of God’s grace in Christ, finding newer and richer meaning in them when viewed that way.

Thanks to Martin Luther and his Explanation of the Commandments in his Small Catechism, we see in the Commandments not just negative prohibitions—things we’re supposed to keep from doing—but works of love urged upon us. We can even see in the Commandments gifts God gives, wrapped in commands for their protection.

That will be my approach to the Ten Commandments on the Wednesday evenings of Lent: the gifts God gives, complete with instructions for their proper use. And the gifts are these: Family, Marriage, Life, Property, Speech and God Himself.

Please plan to gather with your Immanuel Family each of the Wednesdays in Lent—beginning Ash Wednesday, February 26—as we unwrap these good gifts God has given us and talk about their place in the Christian life. Meals will be served each Wednesday at 6:00 PM, followed by a Service at 7:00 PM.

Pastor VanOsdol

Ash Wednesday


Members & Friends of Immanuel:

The Lord be with you.

On this day the Church begins a Season of reflection on Jesus’ Passion, Cross and Resurrection. Ash Wednesday is the first day in the annual 40-day journey of Lent. Our destination is the empty tomb and arriving at Easter with glad hearts, keeping the Feast “in sincerity and truth.”

Beginning tonight, Immanuel will offer Services the next 6 Wednesday evenings. Our 2019 Midweek theme is based on the Lenten hymn, “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy,” and will explore key passages in the Scriptures that focus on Jesus Christ as the LAMB OF GOD who takes away the sin of the world. Learn more about the theme and schedule here. View the events on facebook here. Tonight’s Liturgy will offer the Imposition of Ashes and Holy Communion. Ashes are a sign of repentance, sorrow and our need for grace. Ashes will be available for all ages and are entirely voluntary.

Immanuel’s Church Council is preparing and serving a Pancake & Sausage Supper that begins tonight at 6:00 PM. The Ash Wednesday Liturgy begins at 7:00 PM.

Daily devotion booklets for Lent are available for your use on the desk in the Narthex. Or you can receive them in your email inbox by subscribing here: Lenten Devotions :: Lutheran Hour Ministries

Please join us as we mark the beginning of Lent.

O Lord, throughout these forty days
You prayed and kept the fast;
Inspire repentance for our sin,
And free us from our past.
(LSB 418:1)

Pastor VanOsdol

A blue background with a stained glass picture of a lamb.

Lamb of God – Midweek Lenten Services

The Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 6.

You are invited to join your Brothers & Sisters in Christ on this annual 40-day pilgrimage with Jesus to His cross. The theme of our midweek meditations will be Lamb of God and will be structured around the Lenten hymn, Lamb of God, Pure and Holy. Dinner will be served each Wednesday at 6:00 PM. All Wednesday Services begin at 7:00 PM.

Ash Wednesday, March 6
Lamb of God, Pure and Holy
1 Peter 1:18-19

Wednesday, March 13
Lamb of God, Crucified
1 Corinthians 1:21-25

Wednesday, March 20
Lamb of God, Patient
1 Peter 2:21-24

Wednesday, March 27
Lamb of God, Lowly
Philippians 2:5-11

Wednesday, April 3
Lamb of God, Suffering Scorn
Psalm 22:6-8

Wednesday, April 10

Lamb of God, Bearing Our Sins Away
Genesis 22

Lamb of God, pure and holy,
Who on the cross didst suffer,
Ever patient and lowly,
Thyself to scorn didst offer.
All sins Thou borest for us,
Else had despair reigned o’er us:
Have mercy on us, O Jesus! O Jesus!
(LUTHERAN SERVICE BOOK 434:1)

Pastor VanOsdol

The Gospel In 7 Words-continued


“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.†(1 Peter 3:15)

Lenten Journey

The Church’s annual 40-day Lenten journey to our Lord’s Cross and Empty Tomb continues. We continue our sermon series “The Gospel in 7 Words” for the next 3 weeks, culminating in “The Gospel in Your Words.” Join us!

Death & Life
Wednesday, March 7
Midweek Lent 4

Isolation & Community
Wednesday, March 14
Midweek Lent 5

The Gospel in Your Words
Wednesday, March 21
Midweek Lent 6

Learn more about The Gospel in 7 Words series.

The Gospel in 7 Words


“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.†(1 Peter 3:15)

Brothers & Sisters in Christ:

Imagine that a friend or family member who is unfamiliar with your Christian faith asks you to summarize the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus. She isn’t looking for a laundry list of doctrines. She has no interest in hearing you recite the Athanasian Creed. She wants you to get to the heart of the matter. “In seven words or less,†she says, “tell me what you believe as a Christian.â€

What would you say? How would you put it? Are you be prepared to confess your faith in Jesus?

To be a Christian is to “believe with your heart†and “confess with your mouth†the Good News of God’s love for us in Christ (Romans 10:9–10). Peter calls us to be prepared always to give a reason for the hope we have as Christians (1 Peter 3:15). Christians have the best news in the world to share! But are we prepared to share it?

During the season of Lent that begins with Ash Wednesday on February 14, we are going to prepare to observe all the events of Holy Week by thinking about why Christianity’s Good News is so important. In our Wednesday evening Services, we will consider many of the ways in which the Scriptures proclaim the Good News about Jesus. And, in the weeks between the Services, everyone will have an opportunity to put into their own words their own brief summary of that Good News that we all might be more prepared to share the Good News of Jesus.

The Divine Service, with the Imposition of Ashes, will be offered on Ash Wednesday at 7 PM. Vespers will be prayed each Wednesday thereafter at 7 PM. Meals will be served each Wednesday before the Services. Come and join us this Lent!

Pastor VanOsdol

The Gospel in Seven Words
Wednesday, February 14
Ash Wednesday

Preparing to Confess
Wednesday, February 21
Midweek Lent 2

Captivity & Freedom
Wednesday, February 28
Midweek Lent 3

Death & Life
Wednesday, March 7
Midweek Lent 4

Isolation & Community
Wednesday, March 14
Midweek Lent 5

The Gospel in Your Words
Wednesday, March 21
Midweek Lent 6