Christmas concert concludes church’s 100th anniversary

The Zion Lutheran Church in Imperial has been celebrating its 100th anniversary over the last year. Each month there has been one or more special events to commemorate the church’s beginnings 100 years ago.
    Last Sunday was the culmination of the year-long celebration with a Christmas Carol Festival.
    Over 100 people attended the festival to enjoy an afternoon of Christmas music. The 24-member community choir, directed by Joel Grosbach, church Kantor, performed a number of Christmas songs. The audience was invited to join in the singing on several selections.
    There were a number of instrumentalists accompanying the singers as they played the piano, organ, trumpets, viola and cello throughout the program.
    The church’s bell choir provided a special performance and joined in on the final numbers for a robust finale.
    Contributing to the musical presentation were some vocal and instrumental soloists, as well.
    Rev. David Kahle kept the momentum of the program going by conveying some interesting commentaries about each song between numbers.
    During refreshments following the festival, the attendees related a sense of exuberance  that showed in their faces and  emanated from their buoyant chatter.
Year’s 100th anniversary celebration in review
    The Zion Lutheran Church first began having services on Aug. 22, 1917.
    On Jan. 8 this year, to kick-off what would be a year-long celebration of the church, 100 balloons with notes attached were released. The children of the church composed the notes that carried little messages of hope and God’s love.
    Merinda Kahle, Rev. Kahle’s wife and the secretary for the 100th anniversary committee, said the children were very excited when one of the released balloons, with a note written by Wyatt Krausnick, was found by a little boy in Kansas.
    “It was a big moment for the children,” she said.
    Jan. 15 was the first official anniversary event.
    Rev. Michael Brown of Lincoln is the Nebraska representative for Lutherans for Life. He gave an interesting presentation dealing with many topics on life issues, Kahle said. The service was followed by a potluck dinner.
    On Feb. 19, Church Kantor Grosbach presented an organ recital.
    March 11, the church sponsored a hand bell festival, inviting other hand bell choirs from Nebraska and neighboring states within a 100-mile radius.
    They provided a one-day workshop and practice, ending with a concert that evening at St. Patrick’s Parish Hall. Kahle said there were over 40 ringers in the concert.
    In April, recognition of the anniversary continued with a speaker specializing in Islamic studies.
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