New Year's Update from Pastor John Bombaro

As we kick off 2020, we are sharing updates from the Bombaro and Schultz families - the recipients of this year’s ILS Chapel offerings. Pastor John Bombaro and his family are back in Alexandria, and Pastor Bombaro was our special guest at Chapel this morning. He shared an update on upcoming missionary work in Latvia. (Please forgive the background noise due to the construction work underway on our chancel.) You can also view the latest newsletter from the Bombaro family with more information on their work online.

Learn more about our ILS weekly Chapel Services and 2019-2020 Chapel offerings.

What We're Reading - January 2020

Happy New Year! We pray that all of our families enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and a restful break. It was delightful to see everyone return this week and hear fun stories about travel, traditions, time with family, and celebrations of the season.

Kicking of the new year, we will continue our work to support and inspire intentional discussions on culture-building and culture-shaping within our school and homes. Our monthly "What we're reading..." feature includes articles and other resources that we hope you find of interest.

2020 also marks that 150th anniversary of the founding of Immanuel Lutheran Church and School. Throughout the year, we look forward to sharing more about the school’s history in Alexandria, and together looking forward to the future. We are inviting ILS alumni and their families, as well as former teachers, to share their stories and photos from your time at Immanuel. Please contact us if you have pictures or stories you would be willing to share!

We give thanks for each of our families, and the wonderful opportunity to partner with you in the important work of educating and nurturing children. Thank you for engaging with us in these ongoing conversations and for sharing items you have read that may be inspiring to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

New Year's Update from the Schultz Family

As we kick off 2020, we wanted to share some quick updates from the Schultz and Bombaro families - the recipients of this year’s ILS Chapel offerings. This week, the Schultz family checks in and shares an update from Fort Wayne, where former ILS Upper School teacher Aaron Schultz is pursuing his Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary.

Learn more about our ILS weekly Chapel Services and 2019-2020 Chapel offerings.

“I’m in my second year of seminary. This April we will find out where we will be going for vicarage. And then sometime in the summer, likely July, we will leave for vicarage. Vicarage will last for a full year, and then we’ll come back to Fort Wayne for me to complete my fourth and final year of seminary. Katie is still at home with our three youngest. We don’t call it “home school”; instead, Benjamin decided to call it, “school home”. So, Katie is doing school-home with Ben, who just turned 5 years old. Benjamin loves art and gymnastics. Canon (7) is still at Redeemer Classical in Fort Wayne. I teach at Redeemer once a week, and I thoroughly enjoy getting to still be in the classroom. Canon, like his father, loves math and is about to start his basketball season. Samuel (2) and Augustine (1) are also home with Katie. Sam lives up to his nickname quite well: Wild Man SamBam. We are currently in the throes of potty training with Sam. Auggie is pulling himself up to a stand and should be walking in no time.”
— Mr. Aaron Schultz

What We're Reading - December Edition

As we enter the final month of the calendar year, the church has begun a new year with the beginning of Advent. This penitential season of waiting finds us waiting both for the celebration of the Christ child as we also wait for the final coming of Christ our King.

As a community, we want to support and inspire intentional discussions on culture-building and culture-shaping, and we hope that our monthly "What we're reading..." feature is one way we can support this work at home and at school. This month, we include resources on Advent, celebrating St. Nicholas, and other topics of interest to our teachers and families.

We give thanks for each of our families, and the wonderful opportunity to partner with you in the important work of educating and nurturing children. Thank you for engaging with us in these ongoing conversations and for sharing items you have read that may be inspiring to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

What We're Reading - November Edition

November is here, and in this season of thankfulness, we are reminded that we have so much to be thankful for within this church and school community at Immanuel. We give thanks for each of our families, and the wonderful opportunity to work with you in the important work of educating and nurturing your children.

This community and the close relationship between home and school, is fundamental to all we do at ILS, and we want to encourage and support you in this important work. As a community, we want to foster intentional discussions on culture-building and culture-shaping, and we hope that our monthly "What we're reading..." feature can inspire, encourage and support us in this work at home and at school.

This month, we’re grateful to the PTL for inviting Brooke Shannon, founder and CEO of Wait Until 8th to join us for a conversation on smart phones and other technology. We hope you will join us on Friday, November 15th at 8:30am for what is certain to be a thoughtful and encouraging discussion.

We also love for families to pass along things they have read that may be interesting to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

Reflection on Classroom Participation

Mrs. Grace Egger (Kindergarten Teacher)

At our last team meeting, the Lower-School staff discussed the topic of participation in the classroom and how we as teachers best evaluate and assess a student’s participation. I chose to introduce this topic by discussing what a good participant looks like and why participation is an essential component to consider during the grading process, as well as the importance of participation as it pertains to vocation and the culture of the classroom.

The portrait of a good participant is a student who pays attention, listens well, answers questions and asks questions, contributes to discussion, reviews and retains content, sits quietly and raises her hand, and produces ideas based off of the knowledge she has gained.

What We're Reading - October Edition

As we enter the second month of the school year, it is delightful to watch the rhythms and routines of the school year return as the school is filled with the joyful sounds of singing, poetry, learning and laughter. We pray that our families are also finding comfort in the routines and traditions of the year, and we have so enjoyed seeing families in the mornings on the playground, at our First Friday Coffees, joining us in worship for Wednesday Chapel, and other events.

As we have noted previously, this community, and the close relationship between home and school, is fundamental to all we do at ILS. It is a privilege to serve each of our families, and we want to encourage and support you in the important work you are doing with your children. That desire to encourage inspired this blog series, our monthly "What we're reading..." feature. Here, we try to share and encourage discussions on culture-building and culture-shaping, and how we can together support this important work both at school and at home.

We hope that our ILS families and friends enjoy spending some time reading and reflecting on the articles, sermons, and news articles we share each monthl, and then join us at a First Friday Coffee or other parent program to discuss these and other topics.

We also love for families to pass along things they have read that may be interesting to others in our ILS community! Please feel free to share a link in the comments to email us any time!

Meet Us Monday: Seminarian Aaron Schultz

Weekly all-school Chapel services are an important part of our ILS culture, and we warmly invite parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends to join us for these services.

A voluntary offering will be collected at weekly Chapel services throughout the year. The offerings will be distributed to Mr. Aaron Schultz, to support him and his family as he pursues his Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary, and to Pastor Bombaro & family, for their missionary work in Latvia.

We’re using our Meet Us Monday series to introduce (or re-introduce) ILS families to Mr. Schultz and Pastor Bombaro and their families, to better understand how our prayers and offerings will be supporting them and their work this year.

After 5 years teaching at Immanuel, Mr. Aaron Schultz and his family moved to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where Mr. Schultz is currently pursuing his Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary in preparation for ordination in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. They are now beginning their second year there.

What Makes a Hymn Good

By Rev’d Christopher Esget, Senior Pastor, Immanuel Lutheran Church

Recently I made an off-the-cuff remark about a particular hymn: "I know I'm not supposed to like [this hymn], but I do." That led a parishioner to ask me what I meant by that. What makes a hymn bad, or good?

There is a subjective answer; some texts or tunes just resonate with us, or annoy us. At that level there is no bad or good, it's just a taste or style preference.

At another level, though, there are objective qualities to a hymn that we can analyze. Detailing all of those would require a long essay, or even book. But here are some of the things I look for:

Faithful to Scripture

If a text is ambiguous – or worse, teaches something false, that's a problem. On the other hand, if the text helps us understand a truth of Scripture better, that's one good reason to sing it.

An example that comes to mind is the Advent hymn Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending. The second line in the original reads, "Once for favored sinners slain." This suggests that the death of Jesus was only for some people (the favored sinners), and not for all. That's false doctrine. So we can't sing it - unless we alter the text. The version in Lutheran Service Book changes it to "Once for every sinner slain." That accords with the Biblical truth that Jesus died for all sinners, not just some.

Meet Us Monday: Pastor Bombaro & family, Eurasia Mission

Weekly all-school Chapel services are an important part of our ILS culture, and we warmly invite parents, siblings, grandparents, and friends to join us for these services.

A voluntary offering will be collected at weekly Chapel services throughout the year. The offerings will be distributed to Pastor Bombaro & family, for their missionary work in Latvia, and Mr. Aaron Schultz, to support him and his family as he pursues his Master of Divinity at Concordia Theological Seminary.

We’re using our Meet Us Monday series to introduce (or re-introduce) ILS families to Pastor Bombaro and Mr. Schultz, and their families, to better understand how our prayers and offerings will be supporting them and their work this year.

The Bombaros accepted a call from the LCMS Office of International Missions to Riga, Latvia, where they will aid in the EU and English credentialing of Latvia’s only seminary, plant an English-speaking Lutheran church in the capital, teach and mentor seminarians, and provide theological education throughout Eurasia.