The Immanuel Messenger July/August 2020 Invitation to Divine Service at Immanuel July 2020 announcement: We are pleased to announce our new schedule of two Sunday services. We continue to offer audio recording and live streaming. As we make our private decisions about how to attend church, while missing the presence of the entire congregation at this difficult time in history, Pastor Colageo asks us to remember “the familiar exhortation, that those who gather not question the faith of those who abstain, and that those who abstain not question the love of those who gather. - Let us make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3.” Sunday – Divine Service (without Holy Communion) Each week, please assess your health readiness to attend as described below. All attendees – both Immanuel members and new guests -- Please sign up weekly by notifying Pastor Colageo at [email protected] by noon on Saturday so he can include everyone in the assigned seating chart arranged for social distancing. It is far more preferable that guests sign up than walk-in. 8 a.m. – Attendees wear masks for the whole service. 10 a.m. -- Attendees enter and move around wearing masks but remove masks when seated if they wish. This schedule allows for a “maintenance hour” to clean between services. We have hired a sanitizing contractor who will do their first sanitizing on Saturday night for the 8 a.m. service, then between services from 9 to 9:45 a.m. for the 10 a.m. service, then will be back on Monday to sanitize again for the Tuesday Communion services. If you arrive early for the Sunday 10 a.m. service, please wait to enter until the doors are opened. Participant procedures for Sunday services: Follow the mask wearing requirement for the attended service, as stated above for 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. Hand sanitizer and masks (for people who don’t have their own) will be available in the narthex. Enter at the main Sanctuary entrance. You will find your name in a seating chart in the Narthex for each service, and pews will be marked. You will find your bulletin at your assigned pew location. 2 Services will include several empty pews in front of the pulpit so the Lector and Pastor can serve without a mask. The two hymns will be printed in the bulletin. The Introit, the Kyrie, the Gloria in Excelsis, and the two hymns will be sung, the rest of the Liturgy, including unison responses, will be spoken. After the service, exit the building out the door near the kitchen. Please read the NH State guidelines below to assess your health readiness to attend: Section 7 from the Safer at Home COVID-19 guidance (6/15/2002) from the NH State Government website: All attendees should be informed of the symptoms of COVID-19 before entering the worship facility (using signage and other forms of messaging). Risks include: a. Person has any of the following symptoms of COVID-19: i. Fever (feeling feverish or a document temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher); ii. Respiratory symptoms such as runny nose, nasal congestion, sore throat, cough, or shortness of breath; iii. Whole body symptoms such as muscle aches, chills, and severe fatigue; iv. Changes in the person’s sense of taste or smell? b. Person has been in close contact with someone who is suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 in the past 14 days? (NOTE: Healthcare workers caring for COVID-19 patients while wearing appropriate personal protective equipment should answer “no” to this question) c. Person has traveled in the past 14 days either: i. Internationally (outside the U.S.); ii. By cruise ship; or iii. Domestically (within the U.S.) outside of NH, VT, or ME on public transportation (e.g., bus, train, plane, etc.)? 3 If any of these categories describe your situation, please stay home and engage the video services provided online. If you feel uneasy about the possible risk of going out in public, even with our painstaking precautions and delays, please stay home and engage the video services provided online. Holy Communion service – Tuesdays at 1, 3, and 6 p.m. Please assess your health readiness to attend as described above for Sunday services. Please sign up by contacting Pastor Colageo, so that safety precautions can be followed for social distancing and so that Pastor can prepare the correct number of individual servings of the Lord’s Supper. Participant procedures for small group Communion: The doors will be already opened as people come in, hand sanitizer and masks (for people who don’t have their own) will be available in the narthex, and pews will be marked. The doors will be closed once those who have made appointments are in the building. Masks will be worn except to eat and drink. Pastor’s description of this brief service: “The Service will consist of the Invocation, Confession & Absolution (not required for Holy Communion, but included because of our Divine Service custom), the Lord’s Prayer, the Words of Institution, the Distribution, and The Benediction.” Communicants will be served in the front pew, individuals (or couples or family units) 6 feet apart from other individuals (or couples or family units). The bread and wine will be distributed on the ledge of the first pew on separate trays before anticipated communicants file into the pew. (The top of the Altar rail is not flat.) At the words from the Altar, “Take, eat,” and “Take, drink,” Communicants will take from their trays the Body and Blood of Christ. After the table blessing, each communicant will take their tray and place it on table near the piano. After the Benediction, everyone will maintain proper social distancing while leaving the building, once the doors are opened. Anyone new to Immanuel should read the Communion Statement below: 4 Communion Statement: We joyfully celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. We believe that we receive Christ’s body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins. As we receive this sacrament, we also give public confession to our unity in the Christian faith. We therefore invite all communicant members of any congregation of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod to commune. Guests are invited to come forward and receive a blessing. As it was with the very first disciples of Jesus, our practice is to receive instruction in the Faith leading to Holy Communion. If you would like to join our instruction class, Pastor would love to instruct you. Divine Service live streaming and recordings Church members receive the weekly Sunday bulletin and announcements through e-mail to support their worship needs at home. Immanuel members may also participate in the 10 a.m. service by telephone or computer through the Google Meet streaming service operated by one of our members. Video recordings of Pastor Colageo's sermons can be found at the following links: YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9JAKZ2-2ECuvzySjAwPUFg/videos FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pg/ImmanuelLutheranManchester/videos/ Audio recordings of the sermons will continue to be posted on Immanuel's website and will be emailed to members of the congregation. Pastor and our media team members attempt to post these recordings in a timely manner for your Sunday worship at home. We hope these recordings are a blessing to you. 5 Bible Study: Pastor Colageo is emailing his Bible Study Notes. Contact him if you’d like to be added to his email list. An audio version of the 8am service is emailed out each Sunday around 9am. Please use it and the digital bulletin to follow along each Sunday morning. 6 From the Pastor’s Pen: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Ps 116:15 Katie Palmer Entered into Glory Tuesday, July 28, 2020 The word “Precious” in that Psalm comes to mind in so many ways now, and if we ponder how that word defines our own lives and all the lives in our Lord’s Church, we can understand what it means to our Heavenly Father. We never saw this coming. Months ago, Katie had a really optimistic diagnosis. Life here was precious to her, just like the rest of us. When she was told that the prescribed aggressive treatment would give her a 94% survival outlook, she was encouraged, just like the rest of us. But this recent turn of events taught us what was really precious to her. Her Church was precious to her, Linnea, her big sister in Christ, and all those workdays with her brothers and sisters at Immanuel. Katie’s face was the first that lots of precious VBS children would see at the registration table. Precious to her were all those lunches with Gail and Paul and Phil. Her dear children Lindsey and Travis, her “people” as she 7 said on Tuesday, all together telling each other back and forth how precious they were to each other, and especially precious in Jesus. Precious means prized, highly valued. And obviously, seeing Jesus was precious to Katie. She awoke on Tuesday morning with the words, “Glory-Hallelujah!” And precious to Katie was the Sacrament of the Altar. She eagerly and joyfully waited for the body and blood of Jesus, and shortly after she ate the Bread of Life and drank the Cup of the New Testament, she fell asleep. “Now Lord, lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word.” Home at last.