Immanuel in the Palatine Community

Pastor Warren was with the Immanuel crew at the Palatine St. Patrick’s day festivities last Saturday. He’s here as a guest blogger to share those experiences…

The sounds of bag pipes marching past Immanuel Lutheran Church and School down Wood Street, lined with a sea of green-garbed Palatine residents ushered in spring 2012 on a day where everybody is Irish. On a day overflowing with sunshine, Immanuel volunteers were joining in on the festivities on St. Patrick’s Day by passing out free green lemonade to the delight of parade-goers.

I’m personally grateful for our Immanuel family who made sure that our church and school had a significant presence at the St. Patrick’s Day Festivities by setting up a tent at Durty Nellies parking lot.

School children and their parents handed out cups of ice-cold green lemonade to passersby. The word of our tasty lemonade must have spread like wild-fire to the parade-goers, as we were passing cups out hand over fist, and couldn’t pour it fast enough. Much thanks to the staff at Durty Nellies for allowing us to set up in their parking lot, and giving us access to cold water for refills.

It was also great to see Lutheran Church Charities on the scene with a few of their Comfort Dogs, who always seem to draw folks to our tent, giving us an opportunity to hand out brochures about our church and school, and to simply share a smile, a cool drink, and the love of Christ.

With this being only the second year for the Palatine St. Patrick’s Day parade, it seems as though this is fast becoming a favorite event in our community, and a great opportunity for the people of Immanuel to be active participants in our great town. Last year, we handed out hot chocolate, this year it was ice-cold green lemonade. I can’t wait to see what next year will bring!

In Christ,
Pastor Warren
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