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- Category: Worship
"For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." -- Isaiah 9:6
This year continues to bring us face to face with things we will miss and opportunities to build new traditions. We will miss being in person for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. Yet in the midst of the grief and challenges of this pandemic, God’s grace with it’s persistent nature of blessings, is doing new things.
We hope that you are able to gather with us for Christmas Worship. Our Christmas Worship opportunities are:
- 7:00pm Christmas Eve - This festival Service of Holy Communion will include a re-telling of the Christmas Story by our youth, all recorded and edited remotely. And we are inviting everyone who can to have at least one candle (or one for everyone in your household) ready to light when we sing Silent Night together on Christmas Eve. We may not be able to hear each other sing, but if we all turn our video on for at least that portion of worship, we can be joined in a tangible sign of togetherness and a sea of beautiful light.
- 10:30am Christmas Day - We'll gather for a service of the Word with more Christmas Carol singing, and our wonderful family musicians.
The irrepressible nature of God’s blessings spills over into this world through our Savior’s birth and remains a constant inviting us to constant praise as we remember that Jesus, Emmanuel, is indeed “God with us.”
Greening of Sanctuary
With the season of Advent upon us, we begin preparations for Christmas and the celebration of Christ's birth and these preparations include the greeening of the sanctuary. If you wish to help beautify the sanctuary and offset the cost of Christmas flowers, you can do so by purchasing poinsettias or submitting a donation toward Christmas wreaths.
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- Category: Worship
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Romans 15:13
Prayers & Inspiration
We offer these short recorded video messages of prayers and inspiration so that you may be filled with God's hope, joy, and peace.
Today's Bible Passage
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Job 39:13-25
13"The ostrich's wings flap wildly,
though its pinions lack plumage.
14For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15forgetting that a foot may crush them,
and that a wild animal may trample them.
16It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
17because God has made it forget wisdom,
and given it no share in understanding.
18When it spreads its plumes aloft,
it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19"Do you give the horse its might?
Do you clothe its neck with mane?
20Do you make it leap like the locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrible.
21It paws violently, exults mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.
22It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
it does not turn back from the sword.
23Upon it rattle the quiver,
the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25When the trumpet sounds, it says 'Aha!'
From a distance it smells the battle,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
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- Written by Redeemer
- Category: Worship
Be a part of God's saving story
For Lutherans, worship matters. In fact, worship lies at the heart of how we understand ourselves together. While some of the approaches to worship
may differ from one congregation to another, we hold certain things in common.
There is a basic pattern for worship among Lutherans. We gather. We encounter God’s Word. We share a meal at the Lord’s table. And we are sent into the world. But we do not think about worship so much in terms of what we do. Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God’s action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Think about it like this. God’s Spirit calls us together. God speaks to us through readings from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, through preaching, prayer, and song. God feeds and nourishes us in a saving way. And God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world.
Taken together, the Word proclaimed and the sacraments-- both Holy Baptism and Holy Communion -- are called the means of grace. We believe that Jesus Christ is present in these means through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we describe worship as a “gathering around the means of grace.” This is a way of saying that we trust that God is genuinely present with us in baptism, in preaching, and in sharing the bread and wine of Holy Communion. In that sense, Lutherans believe that God’s presence permeates all of Christian worship.
The cross is the central symbol that marks our worship spaces and when Lutherans worship, singing fills the air. The voices of all the people joined in song and the participation of all the people in the worship is a witness to our conviction that in worship we are being drawn in to God’s own saving story.