WORSHIP

Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

Rejoice in the Lord Always! Worship: December 15, 2024 

Are you feeling the joy? At this point in the month of December, studies show that many people are not feeling joy. Many people are feeling overwhelmed as they approach Christmas, feeling stressors that include not having enough money, missing loved ones, and anticipating family conflict. No matter how we come to our time of worship today, even if stressed, distracted, and frazzled, what great timing to hear what God speaks to us in this season and each day. From all our Readings today, we hear of joy! It is a joy not based on our own momentary perspectives of how things should go, but rather a joy from God’s eternal perspective for our sake and what has freely been done for us. As our Advent season continues, may our true joy be found in the one for whom we prepare—Christ, who was born for us and who is with us and for us and is today in our midst as He comes to us in the means of grace. 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

Preparing the Way. Worship: December 8, 2024  

In this month of December, we find ourselves getting ready and preparing for many things, such as gatherings with family and friends, gifts to get and give to others, traditional treats to be made, and decorations for the season. The foremost preparation, of course, is for our Savior’s birth. Today we are reminded of another time of preparation that would be after Jesus’ birth and prior to His earthly ministry—that of John the Baptist, who would prepare for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our busy times of preparing to celebrate this season, today we draw our focus on and give thanks for the one who would raise valleys, level mountains, and make straight the paths for Him.

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

Preparing for the Savior. Worship: December 1, 2024

Though a full month remains before we turn our calendars to 2025, today we can wish a “happy new year” in the life of the church. The Advent season begins a new church year and is a time of preparation, as the Latin “Adventus” means an arrival or coming of someone. More than preparing for the coming of just anyone, here we prepare for our Savior. As we get hearts and minds ready for the Christmas crescendo to come celebrating Christ’s humble birth, we also remain prepared in this season and always as He promises to come again.  

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

Christ the King. Worship: November 24, 2024 

 The Last Sunday of the Church Year is about the last things, the day of judgment when Jesus Christ “will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,” Christ, “whose kingdom will have no end” (Nicene Creed). The last Sunday is therefore known as the Sunday of fulfillment, when all the plans and promises of God’s salvation break forth in the resurrection of all flesh and eternal life in the new heavens and earth. This year we hear the Readings appointed for what some churches call Christ the King Sunday. 

With the vision of the prophet Daniel, we are given a fascinating “apocalyptic” revelation. As such, we are cautioned against overinterpreting the symbolism of the four beasts, fiery flames, burning wheels, and the like. The clear point is that God Himself is Lord, king, and ruler over all the nations of the earth. The four nations of Daniel chapter 7 are progressively more evil than the ones before: Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Not all earthly kingdoms or nations are evil, of course. Yet evil and the devil’s madness appear here and there everywhere. Christ is the king not only over all the ancient nations of the world but also over our own! With great and glad celebration, therefore, we gather to rejoice over our assurance that Jesus Christ, the King of kings, rules ultimately over all things, always for our good, our healing, our salvation, and our destiny in the day of resurrection. 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

In Christ We Will Endure. Worship: November 17, 2024 

Photo: Aimee Munson 2024. Ellingston Newfoundland

The ending of a liturgical year speaks of the end of all things. Our Lord spoke plainly about the end of the world. There are signs the end is coming. Jesus’ teaching seems to elicit only question marks on our part. “When?” “What?” “How?” The signs He speaks of include false teachers in the church, wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes as “but the beginning of the birth pains” (Mark 13:8). The Jewish people of Jesus’ time on earth would be alarmed at His prediction of the destruction of the temple as it would mean the end of their faith and hope in God. The world is to see, however, that the loving, saving God is closer than ever in the new temple of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again for the life of the world. As the beloved hymn says, our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” No merit of our own can prepare us “when darkness veils, . . . in every high and stormy gale, . . . in the raging flood; when every earthly prop gives way.” No matter what comes we are “clothed in His righteousness alone, redeemed to stand before His throne! On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand” (LSB 575/576). 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

Christ’s All-Sufficient Sacrifice. Worship: November 10, 2024  

As the liturgical year is coming to its end, God our Father gives us great encouragement that our salvation and deliverance from sin and sorrow is complete because of the forgiveness won for us by the blood of Jesus, the one and only sacrifice for your sin and the source of daily cleansing, faith, hope, confidence, and love. This faith is certain and full of hope even if your current circumstances would have you think otherwise. As God provided for the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17), so was the widow’s offering (Mark 12) an expression of confident faith in God’s promised salvation. No clearer picture can be given of the certainty of hope in Christ our Savior than in the letter to the Hebrews as it tells of Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice that not only forgives but takes away all sin and supplies us with newness of life by His life-giving body and blood all our days! 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

The Greatest Commandments and the Greatest Love. Worship: November 3, 2024  

When you were growing up, there was most likely a time where your parents said, “Do this.” You heard them say it. You knew they said it. Yet for whatever reason, you did not do the “this” they asked you to do. Were there consequences? If there were, you can probably recall those consequences even today. Even though there were consequences, did you still know they loved you? That’s what today is all about. God tells His children in the Old Testament Reading, “Do this”—the greatest commandment. Jesus also points out the second great commandment in our Gospel. None of us has kept those commandments perfectly. That is where the Epistle comes into the picture, reminding us of God’s greater love when He sent Jesus to the cross. Have we disobeyed Him? Yes. Has He ever stopped loving us? The cross answers that question. He never has stopped loving us; His love for us is so great. 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

A Great Future Foreseen. Worship: October 27, 2024  

The prophet Jeremiah was alive and witnessed the deportation of God’s people into exile. That is not the end of the story, however. Today’s Old Testament Reading previews a day when God’s mercy and grace would be outpoured upon the remnant of God’s people who returned. The Gospel builds on this, as we see Jesus’ healing those whom Jeremiah foresaw God’s grace and mercy would one day be poured out upon in abundant measure. In the cross, we have the greatest healing of all—the forgiveness (not covering) of sins in the cross of Jesus Christ. 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

And I Will Give You Rest. Worship: October 20, 2024 

Imagine someone offering you a gift—a gift that you cannot get on your own. How do you think the giver of that gift would react if you rejected it? That is what today’s Readings are about. The children of Israel refused to go into the Promised Land. God’s response was, “They shall not enter My rest.” They had been slaves and gotten a good taste of the harshness of the wilderness. Yet they refused to go into a land where they would have rest. Today, God offers you rest through the gift of the forgiveness of sins. Do not miss out on the rest God offers you right now through Jesus. 

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Aimee Munson Aimee Munson

What Must I Do? Worship: October 13, 2024

 Jesus’ conversation with the rich man seems to point out how childish the man is. The reality is that we all are tempted like him to believe that the things of this life are our real treasures and the works we do in this life determine if we are saved. The man could not let go of either—not of his own prospect of earning the kingdom of God nor of his many possessions and wealth that secured his life. The man was disheartened by the choice between Christ and these things when in reality there is no choice at all. Our wealth is temporary and relative and our works small and insufficient. Christ is the assurance of our salvation. 

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