Emmanuel Lutheran Church

November 2022

On a suggestion from the Dandelion Project, at the October council meeting I asked everyone to name some good things that are happening at Emmanuel. After a short pause, the floodgates opened. These are the things church council named:

The sharing of God stories/sightings
We added the Humane Society to our list of benevolence recipients
The fellowship following services is picking up again
There are new people in church
Early service attendance is up
Choir/congregation singing new hymns from the cranberry hymnal
The High School group is an asset and their work with the Middle Schoolers
113 followers on Facebook and 73 likes
The Dandelion posts on Facebook
Our Faith Giving
The amount of “stuff” people donate when asked
The ways we reach out in our community
Collecting the McDonald’s gift cards for the Salem Police Department

I’m sure you can think of many other things not listed here. Some of these items are a direct result of the Dandelion Project and wouldn’t be on the list if it were not for the work of the Dandelion Team and your acceptance and positive response to this ministry of re-vitalizing congregations in our Synod.

To borrow from the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians: “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel…” I thank you for all the good things God is doing through you and this congregation as witnessed by council and shared above.

In this month of November, we celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. A time to remember all of the things we have to be thankful for and give thanks to God for all our blessings. A second exercise I did with council was to hand out a blank “Thank You” card to each of them and ask them to think of someone who is doing good work at Emmanuel and send them a personal thank you. The only stipulation placed on this is that it should include words to this effect “I have noticed how God is using you to….” You may have been a recipient of one of those cards. I hope receiving it made your day and gave you reason to thank God for the blessings God brings through you as noticed by a fellow member of the Body of Christ.

A member of council thought so much of this idea that I was asked if it would be OK to have blank thank you cards made available at the entrances to the church for members to take and write as they notice someone doing something good for the church. I smiled in agreement.

Beginning in November you will find these cards at the entrances to the church. Take one home if you are so moved by the Spirit to do so, and send a personal thank you to whomever you notice doing good things for Emmanuel. The only thing I ask is that your thank you includes these or similar words, “I noticed how God is using you to…” or “I noticed how God has used you to…” Remember, it is all about God, not about us. Thank you, Jesus!

Pastor Alan