Gathering of the folks around the Word and Sacrament

The Rev. Gregory P. Fryer, Pastor

Warm greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our congregation was established in early 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. It is encouraging to ponder this, that even in bad times, even in the heartbreaking days of war, the Spirit of God was still breathing upon our city, renewing it, establishing new congregations like ours, and longing for people like you and me. Each of us should be pleased to take to heart the invitation of Jesus, for he means it for us too: "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." In the Church, through the divine Word and sacraments, our resurrected Lord Jesus promises to meet with us each one, for our encouragement and our strengthening in truth and virtue. That is why we are glad you have come our way, through this website and then in church, we pray, that you will be fortified in life and faith, and in being strengthened, strengthen our world too.

My rocking chair

In my pastor's study, I have a rocking chair. Many a good hour I have spent in that chair talking with people about faith and life. I have often noted that when I tell our Confirmation children that the Seventh Commandment says, "Thou shalt not steal," in the innocence of their young hearts, they say Amen! God bless them, they are ready to move on. That one should not steal seems perfectly plain and right to them. But when I say the same thing to a rookie stockbroker, burdened with college debt, perhaps with a young family to care for, then the application of the Commandment becomes more interesting. We live in a glorious city, but also a city that can be tempting, vexing, stressful, lonely, and perplexing. I believe that we all want to be faithful followers of Jesus, but sometimes wonder what that means in our modern world. Hence, my rocking chair. Also, I spend a lot of good time in email conversations with people about faith and life.

Adventure upon Adventure

North Carolina Bishop Michael McDaniel, of blessed memory, used to tell a story about an Irish saint who helped bring Christianity to Scotland. I believe the saint was Columba, though I do not recall exactly. The Scots had their own ancient religions then - perhaps nature religions. I imagine them painting their faces blue and worshiping around trees. Anyway, the saint bears testimony to Christ to a Scottish chieftain. Like King of Agrippa of old, the chieftain is almost persuaded. But before he consents to be baptized, he asks a very important question: "But if I become Christ's man, what will become of me?" And the wonderful saintly answer goes thus: "If you become Christ's man, you will be sent out on adventure upon adventure and every one of them true."

If the heart of adventure is risk and uncertainty, then we all face adventure simply to be heading out each new day before us. The interesting thing is the idea of a "true" adventure. To be Christ's man, Christ's woman, is to head out on true adventures. That is what I want for us. I want us to be Christ's woman, man, boy, girl. Even in this glorious, perplexing city, I want the image of Christ to take form in our lives.

So, I study the Bible and the Church's great tradition of Biblical interpretation. I try to remain mindful of the apostles and the Communion of Saints, that my preaching and teaching will be in harmony with theirs and with the ecumenical Church. Chief of all, I seek the mind of Christ, that my pastoral shepherding with be faithful to the true Good Shepherd.

Worship at Immanuel

We follow historic forms of Christian worship here at Immanuel. There is a certain rhythm to worship, Sunday by Sunday and throughout the various seasons of the church year. We believe that this orderly flow of the liturgy is pleasing both to God and to the people of God. If you are a newcomer to such patterns of worship, we welcome you and encourage you to make yourself at home. The weekly worship folder will help guide you through the service until, quite soon, the flow of the liturgy will become second nature to you.

Our worship book is the Lutheran Book of Worship (the "LBW"). We cherish traditional liturgical language, traditional doctrine, traditional Christian morality, and Lutheran chorales, as well we as other hymns from across the ecumenical church.

The Lutheran Tradition

"The true treasure of the Church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God."

So declared Martin Luther in his famous Ninety-five Theses of 1517. Luther, who at the time was a Roman Catholic priest, an Augustinian friar, and a university professor of the Bible, was intent upon an evangelical reform of the church's current teaching and institutional forms. Some of the medieval teaching and piety, he reluctantly concluded, had obscured and even contradicted "the most holy Gospel" of God's unmerited forgiveness of sinners for Christ's sake through faith alone. His excommunication by the Pope in 1521 eventually led to the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, based on its confession of faith presented at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530.

Neither Luther nor the early Lutherans intended to break with the catholic substance and evangelical heritage of the universal Church. And to this day, we pray for the unity of Christ's one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church on earth.

These circumstances help to account for the conservative nature of the Lutheran Church, which seeks to preserve as much of the catholic tradition as agrees with the "pure proclamation of the gospel." Centered on this Biblical Word and on the sacraments instituted by Christ himself, the Lutheran Church strives to be faithful to the "good news" that our salvation before God is purely a gift from God in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, in service to whom we find our perfect freedom.