Pastor Ritter ~ April
Spring Blessings to you all! As I write this article I am preparing to go with our L.E.R.T. team to Camp Linn Haven, N.C. for a disaster response deployment. 23 members of Immanuel will be spending about a week working to help the camp get ready to welcome campers back this summer after the devastating rain and winds came through from Hurricane Helene. We are following behind a team from the Peace Lutheran Campus Center in Stevens Point who have spent a week removing downed trees, felling trees and clearing brush. They have also worked on the cabins getting them ready to welcome campers. I am told we will pick up where they have left off.
Additionally, we are hearing that the coordinator at camp was more or less thrust into her role, not because she was particularly qualified for it, but because she had a willing and servant heart. Not only has she been coordinating teams coming to her camp, she has also been helping to coordinate relief efforts for the entire county.
We are called to take on the mind of Christ who himself said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) As we embark on our trip to North Carolina, we go with a willingness to serve. We go not to be served but to serve, -yet the joy and pleasure in serving is incredibly rewarding.
Jesus poured himself out in his service to the church and then literally poured himself out as bled on the cross, bearing the full punishment for our sins. This ultimate sign of service won for us the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. His sacrifice freed us to be able to love and serve others, following in the example of Christ.
As we continue our Lenten journey this month it will bring us to Holy Week with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. From there we find ourselves in the upper room as Jesus celebrates the Passover one final time with his disciples just before he is betrayed into the hands of the Pharisees. From there we find ourselves at the foot of the cross watching as the Savior of the world takes on the punishment that we actually deserved.
Jesus does this as not only a willing servant, but as the only servant capable of accomplishing what was needed to win for us eternal life in heaven. We will leave on Good Friday in silence, in sadness over our sin…but Easter is coming!
Please join us this year for our Holy Week worship and take on the heart of the servant and invite others you know to join you for worship so that they too may discover Jesus, our Savior, Servant, and Friend!