Immanuel Newsfeeds

for the week of September 25 - October 1, 2026

Sunday Worship, Church Announcements,

Community Events & Resources

Immanuel Newsfeeds is a weekly e-blast where you'll find the spiritual and the latest information about our church & community for the upcoming weeks. If you have announcements or news to share, send it to parish-admin@immanuelevanston.org.

Sunday Worship

Prelude begins at 10:20 am

Service at 10:30 am

This Sunday begins our Stewardship 2026 Mission Moment/Temple Talks. Jim Miller will present our first Talk. Masks are optional during in-person worship service. For the livestreaming Worship service, you can join by clicking on the button below. The Worship bulletin is also available.

Feeding Our Faith

Sunday Sept. 27, 2026, 9:00 am -10:00 am

Join our Adult Discussion Class on Sunday mornings. Gatherings include viewing short videos and lively discussions. You can participate either in-person (Fellowship Hall) or via Zoom.

Until Sept. 27, 2026: AI Ethics – Discussing the potential dangers and benefits of Artificial Intelligence. The new season begins with viewing a 2-minute video featuring Bill Gates, which lays the ground work for our discussions. We will focus on Pope Leo XIV’s encylical, Magnifica Humanitas (The Grandeur of Humanity-on safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence.)

Stewardship 2026-27

Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ,

Reaching Out with a Shout of Joy!

If you have worshiped at Immanuel for any length of time, you know that music is woven deeply into who we are. We sing. Our choir helps proclaim the Gospel. Organ and instruments enrich our worship. Lectors give voice to Scripture. Altar Guild members prepare a beautiful and welcoming place for worship. Our musicians, pastors and congregation together create a liturgy that connects us with generations of Christians who came before us—and sends us into the world to serve.

So it seems particularly fitting that our 2026 Stewardship Campaign takes its theme from a hymn we know and love: “Let us talents and tongues employ, reaching out with a shout of joy!”

Those words remind us that stewardship is about much more than money. God has entrusted each of us with gifts—our talents and voices, certainly, but also our time, experience, compassion, resources and capacity to care for one another.

Look around Immanuel and those gifts are everywhere. They are present in the voices of our choir and congregation and in the hands that prepare our sanctuary. They are evident in those who teach, quilt, visit, cook, repair, garden, serve on Council and committees, welcome newcomers, support our Music Outreach programs, and quietly perform countless acts that keep our community thriving. They are also present in the financial gifts that sustain our pastors and staff, maintain our beautiful church home, support vibrant worship and music, and enable ministries reaching far beyond our walls.

Our musical and liturgical traditions are among Immanuel’s great treasures. But traditions remain alive only when one generation receives them, cares for them, and then gives them forward.That is stewardship.

During this year’s campaign, we invite each of us to consider two questions: What gifts has God entrusted to me? And how can I employ them joyfully in the life and mission of Immanuel?

Our answers will differ. Our gifts will differ. But together they become something much greater than any one of us could accomplish alone. So let us indeed “talents and tongues employ”—and do so joyfully, generously and confidently, reaching outward in service to our neighbors and the world. Thanks be to God!

The 2026-27 Stewardship Team

Michael Kloster, Greg Hummel, Terri Simchak, Kathy Skelton

Midweek Adult Spiritual Growth & Study

Weekly on Tuesdays, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm, in person or online.

Join us for shared discussion of upcoming worship texts. Meet in Fellowhip Hall for in-person. Join Zoom Meeting:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86372212374?pwd=U3RwUEJpWEN2eUJydkFndXFMSTNOdz09 Meeting ID: 863 7221 2374, Passcode: 848936

Plan to attend the

Vision Keepers Dinner 2026

Sunday, October 25, 2026 (Reformation Sunday)

Hilton Orrington Hotel, Evanston

5:30 pm

Dinner Reservations are due this Sunday, Sept. 27th to the church office.

Immanuel's Vision Keepers for 2026 are Jim & Kathryn Skelton! Dinner Reservation sign-up sheets are posted posted in Fellowship Hall. Even though the dinner isn't until the end of October, dinner reservations & payment must be made now. If paying by check, make checks payable to Immanuel Lutheran Church.

You could send the following reservation info by email to parish-admin@immanuelevanston.org:

• Registrant Name
• Menu Selection: Salmon, Chicken, Vegetarian/Vegan - also note if gluten-free or if special accommodation (wheelchair) is required)
• Email
• Phone
• Payment: $90.00 per person (make checks payable to Immanuel Lutheran Church)

All reservations are due to the Church Office by Sept. 27th.

Immanuel's Vision Keepers 2026

Jim & Kathryn Skelton

Ed. Note: Some of Jim's educational experience was incorrect last week. It has been corrected & we apologize for any confusion.

Jim and Kathryn Skelton exemplify the faithful stewardship that enables a congregation not simply to endure, but to flourish across generations.

Jim has brought to Immanuel both an engineer’s disciplined problem-solving and a deep appreciation for the congregation entrusted to his care. Jim has a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern University (and a master's degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Illinois); he has long been a mainstay of Immanuel’s property stewardship, including its pioneering installation of solar panels atop Fellowship Hall. As early as 1988, Jim also helped develop the video telling the story of Immanuel’s first 100 years—preserving its past even as he helped prepare it for the future.

Kathryn’s remarkable service similarly joins creativity with care. For more than 20 years she chaired Immanuel’s Altar Guild and continues preparing the sanctuary for worship. She has created and restored paraments; sewn costumes for Christmas pageants and youth plays; made quilts and baby items for Lutheran World Relief; and created beautiful birthday and get-well cards for members of the congregation, while teaching others to do the same. She and Jim both sing in the choir. Kathy also serves as lector and, when Immanuel has faced gaps in office staffing, has simply stepped forward.

Both have served on Church Council, taught Sunday School, supported Immanuel’s Music Outreach, and raised their daughter Laura within the Immanuel family.

Across decades, Jim and Kathryn have cared for Immanuel’s history and home, worship and music, children and future. Their faithful service rarely seeks attention—which makes it especially fitting that Immanuel joyfully honors them as our 2026 Vision Keepers.

Blessing of Pets

Next Sunday, October 4, 2026, Following Coffee Hour

Celebrate our pets & all animals! The Blessing of the Animals is a tradition inspired by St. Francis of Assisi, known for his deep love of all God's creatures. Celebrated around his feast day on October 4th, the event honors his teachings on kindness and respect for animals.

Bright Stars of Bethlehem in Celebrates Palestine!

Bright Stars of Bethlehem is hosting a trip this November 2 - 11, 2026 to fully engage with the land, the people, and the culture of Palestine. Pr. Mark and Susan Sloss will join the trip.

Books to Bethlehem--Dar al-Kalima University needs books and resources for their ever-growing library. This is where you come in. Pr. Mark and Susan will pack your book purchase donations and bring them along. Or, you can donate monetarily to the Books to Bethlehem.

Visit this list at Amazon. (Please use AmazonSmile in order to give back to Bright Stars with every Amazon purchase you make!) 

• Purchase the materials and have them shipped to you
• Write your name and where you are from on the inside cover
• Bring them to Immanuel/Pr. Mark where they'll be collected until departure

You may ask, “Why not just ship it directly there?” Unfortunately, shipping books directly to Palestine is not the best option because mail and packages never arrive at their destination. Thanks for bringing needed materials to further the education of our students at the university!