Happenings, February 28, 2020

Before I begin my Happenings thoughts, let me first pass on my condolences to the family of Milton Malkus Jr.  Mr. Milton passed away early this morning.  His funeral arrangements are pending.  Please check the Thomas Funeral Home website for details as they become available. 

Happenings

I was wrong.  Sort of!

Last Wednesday night at the Ash Wednesday service, instead of preaching a simple message in the middle of the worship, I presented a collection of portraits of Jesus and we talked about them for a little bit.  Here are a few of the portraits I shared.

A well-known portrait of Jesus at Gethsemane by Heinrich Hoffman

Another portrait by Heinrich Hoffman

The Head of Christ by Da Vinci

Rembrandt’s Head of Christ

And one of the most popular portraits, the Head of Christ, also called the Sallman Head, is a 1940 portrait painting of Jesus of Nazareth by American artist Warner Sallman (1892–1968). As an extraordinarily successful work of Christian popular devotional art, it had been reproduced over half a billion times worldwide by the end of the 20th century. Enlarged copies of the work have been made for churches, and small pocket or wallet-sized prayer cards bearing the image have been mass-produced for private devotional use.  The painting is said to have "become the basis for [the] visualization of Jesus" for "hundreds of millions" of people.

And finally, there were a few other portraits, some of which were more contemporary and informal, some of which, as some said, made Jesus look like a movie star.

However, the one which seemed to be the most polarizing was Jesus Laughing.  It was originally called, “Jesus Christ Liberator,” and later called, “Jesus Laughing,” and was created by Willis Wheatley, in 1973. 

And this is where I was incorrect.  I said it was the first portrait of a laughing Christ and was published in Playboy in the late 1960’s.  It was not.  However, the magazine did, in December 1969 publish an article with this portrait of a laughing Christ by Bill Berger. 

I enjoyed sharing my very limited collection of artwork and even more enjoyed the conversation it started.  Thank you to all who all attended and shared their thoughts about the artwork.

Lessons from Scripture

            Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7
            Romans 5:12-19

            Matthew 4:1-11

Pastor Dale

THIS SUNDAY’S LEADERSHIP TEAM:

Presiding:  The Rev. Dale Krotee

Music Director and Organist: J. Curtis White

Immanuel Church Chancel Choir

Pianist:   Lynne Breil, Tina Lyte        

Acolyte:  Andrew Albert

Ushers:  Philip Jackson, Kyle Jackson, Kate Deckenback, Janice Haller

Nursery Staff:  Stephanie Carmine

Nursery Assistant:  Amanda Bair

Sound System:  Jack Breil, Keith Malkus, Tom Wilkison

This Week at Immanuel:  (Office hours  M-F, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.)

Sunday          9:00am              Sunday School

                      9:15-11:30am     Nursery Care

                     10:00am              Worship

                     11:00am               Fellowship in the Narthex

                                                 Hosts: Connie & George Barnett

                                                 Sherry Hoefer, Bette Adams

Tuesday      12-1:00pm             Lenten Lunch at Grace UMC  

Thursday      6:30pm                Choir Practice

Saturday      4:30pm                 German Dinner

GERMAN DINNER: Saturday, March 7th, 4:30-7pm.  If you purchased Tickets for the Oktoberfest 2019, you may use them for the German Dinner.

BINGO:  The CE Board will be doing their Family Bingo on March 28th. Doors open at 5:00pm and Bingo will begin at 6:00pm.  This is a fun

evening for the entire family so plan to join us.

LADIES PRAYER BREAKFAST:  March 21st, 8:00am at IUCC in Fellowship Hall.

EASTER FLOWERS:  Now accepting orders for Easter flowers. Order forms are located on the table in the Narthex and in your March newsletter.  Deadline:  April 5th.

The Dorchester Faith Alliance invites you to our community’s LENTEN LUNCHES from noon to 1pm at Grace United Methodist Church, 501 Race Street, Cambridge, MD.  Theme:  “How can we, the faith community of Dorchester County, begin to act more effectively as “peacebuilders.”    Speaker for March 3:  Katie Day.  Lunch provided by Seventh Day Adventist Church.