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Proposed New Constitution 

Immanuel Lutheran Church will be voting on an amended  constitution at the Annual Meeting on January 31st at 12pm. Download pdf

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New Book Discussion 

HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by Ibram X. Kendi

 Jim Grunow here. I am a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church. I have had the privilege this past summer and fall of coordinating several book discussions dealing with the issue of racism and more specifically, systemic racism. I, along with my sisters and brothers in Christ who have joined me in these discussions, have been learning a lot about this topic. The discussions, I dare say, have been fruitful and life-changing for many of us. Many of us are learning about pieces of our country's history literally for the first time. I invite you readers to join me and others for this continuing discussion as we explore Ibram X. Kendi's book, HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST. This book has the potential of helping us to respond to the racism we are becoming aware of in us and in our culture.

This next discussion will be a 5-week journey, via Zoom, offered on two different days—Wednesdays from 6:45-8:00 p.m. and Fridays from 1:15-2:30pm beginning Wednesday, January 6 and Friday, January 8.  Both are Mountain Standard Time. We will spend the first 15 minutes each week checking in with each other and then a full hour discussing what we have read for the week. My role will be simply to coordinate the discussion. Ibram X. Kendi will be the presenter in his book. 

Here are some words by Kendi in his Introduction which caught my attention—Denial is the heartbeat of racism, beating across ideologies, races, and nations. . . The opposite of "racist" isn't "not racist." It is "anti-racist". . . This book is ultimately about the basic struggle we're all in, the struggle to be fully human and to see that others are fully human. . . After taking the grueling journey to the dirt road of anti-racism, humanity can come upon the clearing of a potential future: an antiracist world in all its imperfect beauty.

Here is some advance praise for the book on the back cover:

Ibram Kendi uses his own life journey to show us why becoming an antiracist is as essential as it is difficult. Equal parts memoir, history, and social commentary, this book is honest, brave, and most of all liberating. –James Forman, Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Locking Up Our Own.

If you are interested in participating in one of these discussions—either Wednesday evening or Friday afternoon, please email me at jamesggrunow@gmail.com or call/text me at 208-571-6309. I would like to limit the discussion groups to no more than 15 participants. Please feel free to invite a family member and/or a friend to join you. They do not have to be members of Immanuel.