Easter Light—Resurrection Light. Worship: April 5, 2026

Are you wearing a new outfit for Easter? The custom of putting on new clothes for Easter Day has a long Christian history. In the earliest centuries after the ascension of Christ, newly baptized Christians wore white garments of new linen as a visible sign of the newness that being baptized had brought into their lives. Soon it became a tradition that all the faithful would join the newly baptized in arraying themselves on Easter in a new outfit to symbolize the new life that Jesus, through His resurrection, made a reality for all believers. The new clothes were much more than a fashion statement; they were a statement of faith. No matter what we are wearing today as individuals, together we share the best eternal clothing there is!

Altogether New: New Passover. Worship: April 2, 2026

As the Lord Jesus had His disciples make preparations for the annual Passover meal, little did they know that this would be the very last official observance of the commanded remembrance of the exodus deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage in the days of Moses. For in the next three days (the Triduum), the fulfillment of that prophetic event would culminate in the deliverance of all people from the bondage of sin and death by means of the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus, the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah and deliverer. Tonight the “cup of blessing” (1 Corinthians 10:16) of the Passover meal is made to be the means of our participation in the very blood to be shed in atonement on the cross of Good Friday. Tonight this cup becomes the Sacrament of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation given to each individual believer from now on until the Lord returns on the Last Day. Tonight it is of utmost importance for all to hear and to believe in the very real presence of our crucified and risen Lord Jesus not just “spiritually” but “in, with, and under” the bread and wine we share, for the Lord Himself invites us to take and eat His body and to take and drink His blood, shed for us.

The Mind of Christ. Worship: March 29, 2026

Image Credit: Palm Sunday and was created by artist Evans Yegon

Today we enter the Great and Holy Week of our faith, the very heart and center of God’s greatest act since the Creation itself—the salvation of mankind by the overthrow of sin, death, and the devil, and the restoration of all creation through the power of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. As we join the crowds welcoming Jesus, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, we plan to get swept up in the drama of the story many know so well.

Peter wrote, “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:13). On this day “preparing [our] minds for action” makes us as contemplate and consider what was in the mind of Jesus as He entered Jerusalem to the cheers of adults and children waving palms and shouting praise. What was our Lord thinking as He gathered His disciples for the Last Supper of Passover? As He prayed in Gethsemane’s garden? When He was arrested, falsely tried, beaten, abused, and sentenced to death by crucifixion? What was in the Savior’s mind as He hung on that cross? For the obvious impossibility of our ability to know the depths of the God who says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8), there is one thing we can know for sure—He had you in mind. We know that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16).

Jesus Is the Resurrection and the Life. Worship: March 22, 2026

Bulletin Cover Image Credit: By Henry Ossawa Tanner - Musée d’Orsay https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/oeuvres/la-resurrection-de-lazare-9241

Lent is a time when God prepares His people to celebrate the Paschal Feast, the resurrection of Jesus, with sincerity and truth. In the Reading from Ezekiel 37, we see the power of the Word that transforms dry bones into living flesh with the breath of the Spirit. This same Spirit lives in us and will raise us at the Last Day, which is exactly what we hear from Paul in the Reading from Romans 8. The Spirit who raised Christ will also give life to us. Having received the Spirit in Baptism, we join with Martha in confessing boldly that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who comes to us today in His Word and Sacrament and will come again to call us out of our graves.

Jesus Turns Our Darkness into Light. Worship: March 15, 2026

 The Lord is grieved by the spiritual blindness of His people, but He does not forsake them. Instead, He promises to turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground (Isaiah 42:16). The Lord does not give up on His servant, Israel, but sends another Servant who is the light of the world (John 9:5). Jesus’ light comes to us in His Word, His water, and His Supper. These are His means for opening our eyes to see and to live as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). Baptized into Christ, we look forward to the day when these words will come pass: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Ephesians 5:14).

We Worship What We Know. Worship: March 8, 2026

It often seems that life is a debate about the things we do not know. What is truth? What is right and wrong? Where is God? None of these questions are theoretical and all of them are answered in Christ, whom we know as Savior and Redeemer. The Law reveals the depth of our need and our sinful hearts. Christ makes known the love of the Father. Gathered in worship, we meet where Christ is—in His Word and Sacraments. Faith is not about what we do not know but about what we do know. Christ is our all. He fulfills the promise of the Old Testament and completes our redemption. We confess Him who came, who comes to us now through the means of grace, and who will come again to deliver us to the Father. To know Christ is to know everything.It often seems that life is a debate about the things we do not know. What is truth? What is right and wrong? Where is God? None of these questions are theoretical and all of them are answered in Christ, whom we know as Savior and Redeemer. The Law reveals the depth of our need and our sinful hearts. Christ makes known the love of the Father. Gathered in worship, we meet where Christ is—in His Word and Sacraments. Faith is not about what we do not know but about what we do know. Christ is our all. He fulfills the promise of the Old Testament and completes our redemption. We confess Him who came, who comes to us now through the means of grace, and who will come again to deliver us to the Father. To know Christ is to know everything.

Led by the Spirit, Jesus Is Tempted. Worship: February 22, 2026

Only weeks ago, Jesus was called out by John as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Now Jesus reveals what He must do for us and our salvation. He must stand where Adam stood, tempted by the devil. This time, however, Jesus refuses to surrender His righteousness in the face of evil but preserves it so that He might give it to you and to me. With confidence in Christ’s righteousness, which we wear by Baptism, and His forgiveness, which restores us when we fall, we know that the devil can harm us no more. We belong to Christ. In the power of Christ, we are made strong before the tempter’s power, and in Him we are brought through death to life everlasting.

Remember That You Are Dust. Worship: February 18, 2026

As we begin another Lenten journey to the cross and to the empty tomb, we will pass the familiar route of Wednesday services, special devotions, and sacrificial acts. It all begins here with ashes, an old and biblical sign of repentance. From the Old Testament to the present, ashes have been an outward sign of inward contrition. While not sacramental, they are not mere ritual either; they bear witness to the internal sorrow over sin with which we come while asking for and expecting forgiveness from God. The mood of this service is somber as we reflect upon the shape of our lives of faith and recall the discipline or piety that accompanies that faith. We are dust and to dust we shall return but even in dust there is hope. The ashes are marked in the sign of that hope: a cross where Christ bore the weight of our sin so that we might be forgiven and restored to Himself.

Brilliant! Worship: February 15, 2026

Image Credit: The Transfiguration of Christ, below him various figures including the Apostles. Master of the Die Italian

After Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) Italian 1530–60

Jesus looks brilliant! As language changes, sometimes the most basic meanings of words change and expand with the times. For generations, the English word brilliant meant simply something that shines or radiates light. The word is thought to be derived from the prized gemstone beryl, which is mentioned in both the Old Testament book of Daniel (10:6) and the book of Revelation (21:20). Jesus’ garments became “white as light,” Matthew writes (17:2), in a way that mirrors Psalm 104, where the psalmist writes of God: “You are clothed with splendor and majesty, covering Yourself with light as with a garment” (vv. 1–2). As He stands on the mountaintop with Moses and Elijah, Jesus is shining, radiant, and brilliant. An expanded meaning of the word brilliant is “perfect, amazing, and wonderful.” Jesus on the mountaintop is brilliant as He discusses how He will carry out God’s plan of our salvation with two of the best coaches ever, Moses and Elijah. Jesus does not just look brilliant—He is brilliant!

The Noblest Work. Worship: February 8, 2026

Although the work of composers of church music and writers of hymn texts are often observed and even celebrated, the faithful and thoughtful work of text translators is rarely noted. One of the most gifted translators, whose work brought into English many historical and doctrinally powerful German hymns, was an Englishwoman named Catherine Winkworth. The contributors’ index in Lutheran Service Book (p. 1002) lists forty-six hymns included in the hymnal that she translated from the original German. Her chosen words have both beauty and depth of meaning. In the second stanza of Johann Mentzer’s hymn “Oh, That I Had a Thousand Voices” (LSB 811), she phrases the call to all powers to praise God with these simple words: “Your noblest work is to adore.” As we gather for worship and bring our praises in adoration to our gracious God, we are fulfilling our purpose as the crown of His creation. We are called in our worship to be joyfully carrying out the “noblest work.” It doesn’t get any better than that!