Bulletins
Fourth Sunday in Advent
Sunday, December 22, 2024
Mid-week Advent # 3
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Third Sunday in Advent - Children's Program
Sunday, December 15, 2024
Midweek Advent # 2
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Second Sunday in Advent
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Midweek Advent # 1
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
First Sunday in Advent
Sunday, December 1, 2024
Thanksgiving Eve Service
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Last Sunday of the Church Year
November 24-25, 2024
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
November 17-18, 2024
Twenty Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
November 10 - 11, 2024
From Old Testament times right through to today the Lord has urged us to give to His work in the church in proportion to how He has blessed us. He has also called us to sacrificial giving, that is, giving that actually costs us something. That’s the shape of true Christian generosity.
All Saints' Day
November 3, 2024
When we gather around the altar of the Lord in His house, we pray and praise God with "all the company of heaven." Those we have lost in the Lord are not truly lost to us - they have simply entered their rest with the Lord. As we gather to worship our Lord, we gather along with them. On the Last Day everything that God has given into the care of our stewardship will fade away - everything except our brothers and sisters in Christ. Caring for one another in love and grace is our highest calling.
Reformation Sunday
October 27, 2024
The Law of God is good - it’s just that we sinners cannot save ourselves by the Law. Salvation is a free gift of God because that is the only way we could ever be saved. The Law shows us God’s holiness and thus our own sin. And now in Christ we can look at the Law and see it in a new light as well: as a guide for how to live a godly life in thanksgiving to God for His gracious forgiveness in Christ.
Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost
October 20,2024
This is Jesus' encouragement for every faithful disciple - let it encourage you today.
Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
October 13 - 14, 2024
Unbelief leads to disobedience - that is, every sin expresses the opposite of faith. True and living faith guides us into the Lord’s way and the Lord’s plan. And when we fall into sin, it’s because we are not trusting the Lord’s goodness and provision.
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
October 06, 2024
In recent years our country, along with most (formerly) Christian nations of Europe, have lost their way when it comes to marriage. We have ignored the fact that it is God who created us. We always go off-the-tracks when we forget that He made us and that everything good in this world comes from His hand. In big things and in small things, in the life of a nation or the life of an individual, things go dreadfully wrong when we ignore the Creator’s instructions for life.
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 29, 2024
So what is causing us to sin? Lust? Greed? Fear? Better to cut it off! We need the Lord’s help to do this - and you are in the right place this Lord’s Day to receive that help through Word and Sacrament!
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 22 - 23, 2024
The disciples really do hold up a mirror to our faces and force us to see ourselves: misunderstanding, afraid, confused. But the Word of God is clear if only we will listen with open ears. What was blocking the disciples’ ears? The Gospels tell us time and again: they did not expect a suffering Christ, and so when Jesus spoke of suffering, they plugged their ears and didn’t listen, so they ended up confused and scared. What about us? What’s in the Word of God that we find hard to hear and contrary to our desires and expectations? That might just be exactly what we need to hear!
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 15 - 16, 2024
Haven’t we often felt like this! And notice that Jesus does not throw the man out because of his weakness of faith: He still has pity, and He still blesses the man. But neither does Jesus leave people in weakness of faith. He blesses us and calls us to a deeper faith, as He did to the disciples in the boat on the storm-tossed sea. How does our faith grow? By hearing the Word of God. What does our faith lead to as it grows? A godly life lived in thanksgiving to our Lord.
Rally Day - Catch the Excitement
September 8 - 9, 2024
We extend a warm welcome to all our visitors today. We pray that your worship with us is rewarding. Please be sure to sign your name and address in our guest register, located in the narthex. If you are looking for a church home we would like to invite you to be a part of our Bible Based Church family.
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 1, 2024
There is no wiser, more fulfilling life than a life lived according to the Word of God. We should be encouraged by this when the world tempts us to think that the Word of God is harmful to us. Our Father loves us, so all His Word is meant to bless us. We may have to suffer for upholding the Word of God, as St. John the Baptist did. But the cross the Lord has for us to bear will be far better than any we would create for ourselves.
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 25 - 26, 2024
Each one of our vocations, in the home, in the church and in society, has a claim on our resources. The Pharisees thought that they could use the kingdom of God as an excuse to shirk their duty to their parents. But they were wrong. Of course, doing it the other way around would also be wrong. God has called us to be supportive of our families, our churches and our communities each in the proper proportion.
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 18 - 19, 2024
The wrath of a God is a real thing, and we would do well to reflect on this. We want to stay away from anything that would take us away from the Lord. As Mary replied to the angel Gabriel, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord, may it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). We are the Lord’s servants; therefore we cling to His Word.
Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 11 - 12, 2024
God gives us honest work to do so that we can be a blessing to others. That’s how so many of God’s blessings go: He gives to us so that we in turn can be a blessing to others. He graciously calls us into the midst of His own work in the world.
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
August 4 - 5, 2024
The callings we have from the Lord are our “vocations.” Here Paul talks about our vocation as Christians. We are called to be His people and to reflect His love, generosity and peace within the church.
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
July 28 - 29, 2024
We often shortchange God by failing to remember what Paul says here: God can do far more than what we can think or ask. His power, and His love, are without bound and without measure. So why do we fear to follow His Word? Isn’t it in fact fear that keeps us back from a life of joyous generosity and open-handedness? But God is able to do everything far more abundantly! So let us not be afraid to take the Lord at His Word and live according to it.
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
July 21 - 22, 2024
What all of mankind’s efforts, works and scheming could not do, the blood of Christ did: We have peace with God, and we are brought near to the Father. This life-giving sacrifice of Christ sets the pattern for the sacrifices we are called to make for others in our vocations in home, church and society.
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 14, 2024
In the book of Amos, the Lord condemns the people for their lack of kindness, charity and generosity toward the weak and lowly. God takes great offense at this because His activity toward us is built on kindness, charity and generosity. He wants us to respond in kind.
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
July 7 - 8, 2024
Paul found contentment in Christ. To be content means to accept what the Lord gives us at any given time, knowing that it is from the hand of the Father who wants to bless us. Sometimes it’s hard to see how things like hardships, calamities and insults will turn out for a blessing; but since Paul found ontentment in Christ, and not in his own wisdom, he could be content through all hardships and calamities.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
June 30 - July 1, 2024
St. Paul lifts up an example of faithful Christian generosity in the Epistle lesson today. Read those words again this week and ponder them. How is the Lord calling you to increase your generosity toward His work?
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 23 - 24, 2024
Faith means trust. If we trust the Lord, what do we have to be afraid of? Isn’t it fear that holds us back in our stewardship? Isn’t it fear that stops us from following the Lord’s Word to give generously toward His work in the church? Well ... “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” The Lord has proved His trustworthiness by His cross. You can trust Him.
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
June 16 - 17, 2024
How blessed we are to be His disciples! The Lord has indeed explained everything to us. He has told us all things plainly. Why then are we ever so foolish as to disobey His clear Word? Our fight against sin in the power of the Holy Spirit is truly a struggle. Therefore, let us receive the Lord’s help in His Word and Sacraments — and let us fight the good fight of faith and grow up into His image.
Third Sunday after Pentecost
June 9, 2024
Doing the will of God starts with trusting in His Son, Jesus Christ. Once we have faith in Him and have been reborn as new creatures through Holy Baptism, we strive to grow in this faith and in a life that agrees with our faith. Growing in generosity, in kindness and in love across our callings in the home, in church and in society is growing into the family of God, for all who do His will are His brothers and sisters and mothers.
Confirmation Sunday
June 2 - 3, 2024
We extend a warm welcome to all our visitors today. We pray that your worship with us is rewarding. Please be sure to sign your name and address in our guest register, located in the narthex. If you are looking for a church home we would like to invite you to be a part of our Bible Based Church family.
Trinity Sunday
May 26, 2024
In Holy Baptism we receive a new birth: spirit from Spirit. With that rebirth we receive new desires, new lives, new purposes. To the world, Christian generosity makes no sense: the total minus a percentage is less than the original total. But Spirit-reborn Christians know that God’s math works differently as we might expect from the Trinity!. A blessing received from God becomes more of a blessing when it is used in generosity to bless others.
The Day of Pentecost - Monday
May 20, 2024
Pentecost was the Old Testament harvest festival: a time of thanksgiving, bounty and the giving of gifts. How appropriate that in the New Testament, Pentecost takes on the meaning of a new harvest, directing us to the ripe fields of the nations and the task of bringing in the elect of every tribe and tongue to sing the Lord’s praise. Every farmer knows that it is God who gives the increase and that the harvest calls for thanksgiving.
The Day of Pentecost - Sunday
May 19, 2024
Pentecost was the Old Testament harvest festival: a time of thanksgiving, bounty and the giving of gifts. How appropriate that in the New Testament, Pentecost takes on the meaning of a new harvest, directing us to the ripe fields of the nations and the task of bringing in the elect of every tribe and tongue to sing the Lord’s praise. Every farmer knows that it is God who gives the increase and that the harvest calls for thanksgiving.
The Ascension of Our Lord
May 12 & 13, 2024
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ is ascended, and Christ will come again. We live our lives in this world in the sure confidence of the world to come. We live as people who know our Lord Jesus and who know that He is coming back. This makes all the difference in how we approach our stewardship and how we care for the things of this world.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 5 & 6, 2024
God’s commandments are not burdensome, but that’s only true for Christians precisely because we know that we are not saved by our keeping of the Law. We are saved by grace. Therefore, we are set free by grace to walk in newness of life, to grow in faithfulness, and rejoice in the Law of the Lord, loving God and our neighbor by keeping His commandments.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 28 & 29, 2024
God is interested in the fruit that we bear in good works, and He even prunes us so that we may bring forth more fruit. Trusting in our Lord’s work for us, being grafted by grace into His vine, we desire to be more like Him, to grow into His image. That’s growth in fruit bearing — and it always comes with some pruning.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 21, 2024
What does it mean to know the Lord? It starts with being known by the Lord: He claims us as His own and calls us by name. Then, once we are His, we learn to know Him, and in knowing Him, we learn to imitate Him. That is how the Christian life of good works and generosity grows from the Lord’s grace.
Third Sunday of Easter
April 14 & 15, 2024
This is the essence of our sanctification: becoming like our Lord. As St. John notes, this will only be completed in the Resurrection, but in the meantime, we strive toward that goal because we want to walk in the footsteps of our Lord. By His grace we share His destiny in eternal life, and therefore we desire to share His life of service now.
Second Sunday of Easter
April 7 & 8, 2024
The peace we have in Jesus is what makes a life of good works possible. Since we know that it is Jesus who saved us, and not our works, we are now free to do good works not out of self-interest, but for the right reasons: out of thanksgiving toward God and love for our neighbors.
Easter Sunday - The Garden Tomb
March 31, 2024
On Easter Sunday, we marvel with the women at the garden tomb—now empty—and hear the good news from the angel: “He has risen, just as he said.” All fear is gone because Jesus is alive and all faith is found in his words of comfort and peace.
Golgotha - Good Friday
March 29, 2024
In this service for Good Friday, stand at the foot of the cross on Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, where the crucified Christ breathes his last for our sake. His suffering is in plain view, as well as his great love. His death redeems us all.
The Upper Room - Maundy Thursday
March 28, 2024
In this Places of the Passion service for Maundy Thursday, we climb the stairs to the Upper Room to join the disciples in receiving the body and blood of Christ in bread and wine. We are reminded here that Jesus sets a place at the table for each of us, even though he knows all that we have done. Amazingly, we find that he is willing to give completely of himself to forgive us.
Palm Sunday
March 24, 2024
No king ever rode to war like this. But no king had ever come to wage battle by dying. In His Passion, our Lord Jesus gives everything He has and is; He does this to bring us from death to life, to make us His own people, and show us an example of self-giving love that we should follow.