Immanuel Lutheran Church LCMS Albany, OR

09/06/2026

Today’s service is online at www.immanuelalbany.org.

09/06/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Our Epistle reading from Romans 13 for Sunday comes at a fitting time. The mid-term elections are just two months away. In the first ten verses of Romans 13 Paul first describes our relationship with government and then our relationship with our neighbor. We know from the parable of the Good Samaritan that our neighbor can be anyone, including those who have political stances diametrically opposed to ours! Yikes! So how do we live in this politically divided world? Paul tells us to obey the government by paying taxes and respecting those in government who deserve respect. But we don’t make politics or government, our God! While we are citizens of the United States, we are members of a different kingdom—the Kingdom of God! Therefore, while we live in this society, we do so as members of God’s Kingdom by loving our neighbor, whoever he or she may be; because “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

08/30/2026

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08/29/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Contrary to the words of a popular song back in 1970, Jeremiah was not a bullfrog. He was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. His life was a textbook example of what Jesus means in our Gospel for Sunday from Matthew 16 where he says, “take up your cross and walk.” Jeremiah paid dearly for faithfully following God. He was mocked, threatened, beaten, imprisoned and, like Paul, rejected by his own people. But he was not a disconnected prophet who simply delivered God's messages and went home. There were times he wanted to stop preaching altogether, yet he couldn’t because as he described it, God's Word “is like a burning fire shut up in my bones.” You do not have to know what God is doing or understand all his ways. You only need to know the One who has gone before you, the one who claimed you in Baptism. So pick up your cross and walk with Christ all the way to heaven.

08/22/2026

Today's Message in a Minute:
Our Epistle for Sunday includes Romans 12:2 where Paul warns us not to conform to the world’s approach to living, but to let God transform our minds. There is a difference between conforming and being transformed. To be conformed is to act, often unquestioningly, in accordance with the prevailing standards of the world. The world follows a theme that says, “Focus only on yourself.” And in our brokenness we can easily be pressured into that worldly mold. But Paul tells us to be transformed, that is to be changed. Let God change your approach to life by renewing your mind. You see, God wants us to live differently. The Holy Spirit takes people who have turned inward upon themselves and turns them outward toward God and their neighbor. That means the person who once asked, “What can I get?” begins to ask, “What can I give?” May God grant that transformation among those reading this message today.

08/15/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Much of Jesus’ earthly ministry was spent in areas inhabited by Jewish people. However, in our Gospel for Sunday from Matthew 15, he and the disciples go to Tyre and Sidon, an area inhabited by Canaanites. The Jewish disciples despised Canaanites because it was they who, 600 years before, had enticed their forefathers to worship Baal. That resulted in the exile to Babylon. When a Canaanite woman repeatedly approaches Jesus, the disciples want Him to send her away. But when she kneels at Jesus’ feet saying “even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table,” he compliments her “great” faith, and restores her daughter to health. Our OT reading from Isaiah 56 would refer to her a “foreigner.” “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord. . . .These I will bring to my holy mountain.” We too are foreigners and give thanks that we too can worship in God’s “house of prayer for all peoples.”

08/08/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Our Epistle reading from Romans 10 has this famous verse: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel.” To help folks remember that line, immediately after the sermon this Sunday I am going to take off my shoes, roll up my pant-legs and help with the offering. You might wonder where the concept of “beautiful feet” comes from. It comes from 2nd Samuel 18. A watchman sees the single man running toward the city and reports it to King David who responds, “If he is alone, there is good news in his mouth.” Historically it was thought that a single runner would be bringing good news whereas many runners brought bad news, something akin to an army in retreat! Hence the “feet” of a single messenger was thought to bring good news just as a pastor brings the good news of the Gospel. On second thought maybe I won’t take off my shoes, I’ll just stay on the chancel and let the ushers collect the offering.

08/01/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Have you ever had a problem that dominated all your thoughts? The pain of an abscessed tooth can make it impossible to enjoy a beautiful day. A frightening diagnosis can crowd everything else out of your mind. A broken relationship can bring great emotional pain. That is where Paul seems to be in our Epistle from Romans 9. He has, “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” But who or what is making him sorrowful? Many of his Jewish “brothers” have rejected the Messiah and he would volunteer to himself be, “accursed and cut off from Christ” for their sake. He points out their spiritual problem precisely because he loves them. That is biblical love, not hatred. Does that mean God’s Word has failed and he hasn’t kept his promises? Certainly not. God’s grace is given to those who have faith, not those who are genetically related to Abraham. “There is no automatic in, and there is no automatic out. There are only children of the promise.”

07/25/2026

This week's Message in a Minute:
Our text for Sunday from the last dozen or so verses of Romans 8, Paul provides some excellent verses to keep in mind when life becomes a challenge. In verse 31 we hear, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And in verse 35 he asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” The answer to both questions is no one! Then in verse 38 he reminds us that “Neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God [who sent His Son], Christ Jesus our Lord.” And in our Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 125, David speaks of God’s protection saying: “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people.” Those verses mean that when uncertainty and suffering comes—as it surely will—we can look to Paul’s words, nothing—absolutely nothing—can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.