I’m going to do something a little different this morning. I’d like all of you to try to go back in time and imagine yourselves at one of the first church services being held 175 years ago in that little church in the corner of the farmland in northeastern Frankfort Township. You might hear this:
Guten Morgen, Mitglieder von Immanuel! Es ist schön, Sie und Ihre Familien heute zu sehen. "Dies ist der Tag, den der Herr gemacht hat. Freuen wir uns und freuen wir uns darüber!". Die meisten von euch sind von weit gereist, um heute gemeinsam Gottesdienst zu feiern. Wir sollten alle sehr glücklich sein, hier zu sein und unsere Familien und den Glauben zu feiern, der uns trägt.
What you have heard is my fanciful interpretation of what the pastor might have said to his congregation, but with a much different meaning at that time to the attendees of the service. Imagine putting yourself in their shoes 175 years ago. You left your home, friends, and family members, and boarded a ship bound for the United States, where you had no knowledge of the language. You might be meeting friends or family that already had emigrated, hoping that you might find a place to stay and find a job, might be able to earn something to feed your family, if you already had one. You didn’t speak the language and depended on someone else to translate for you, trusting that they were telling you correctly what the situation was. The most comforting thing you might have had going for you was that now, with this small church building being completed, you had a place to go and hear a service in your own language, trusting that people you went to church with were good, trustworthy, and helpful people, people you could depend on to make the transition to living in a new environment.
The English translation of what I read before is this:
Good morning, members of Immanuel! It is good to see you and your families today. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!” Most of you have traveled a distance to worship together today. We should all be very happy to be here, celebrating our families and the faith that sustains us.
I hope that this feeling of being here in a safe environment, and with people that are actually part of a larger family that include you and your family, endures today with us, the congregation of Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church and will continue.
We need to make certain that we maintain Immanuel as the welcoming presence of Jesus for everyone, the soft-landing place for both first-time worshipers into the Lutheran faith, as well as visitors seeking a new Lutheran home to build on an earlier foundation in their church lives or to strengthen a bond that had been lost over time. We have that capacity to be the bridge for them to Jesus and his saving grace is to be extended to all.