Greetings in Christ,

I had a couple of options before me:

A) Put up a bazillion posts over the next couple of days for each of the upcoming services.

OR

B) Put up one big post that you could keep referencing for all of the upcoming services.

So I went with option B.

This weekend is the fourth and final weekend in Advent. Monday is Christmas Eve and Tuesday is Christmas Day. So below you’ll find the service folder and such for each service.

(p.s. I’ll put it up here rather than at the end… There are various sources through which you can listen to Scripture. Give the book of Luke a listen when you have time. We get a lot of the nativity narrative in Luke and hearing it can be of great benefit. Yesterday I listened to the book of Luke and Acts and discovered themes that run through Luke’s writings that never stood out to me in the past. It’s pretty awesome! Now…on to the preparations…)


Advent 4

I’ll be preaching about the Magnificat (Mary’s song in Luke 1).

Mary celebrates that God has chosen her to carry out this beautiful task of bringing the Son of God into the world in fulfillment of God’s promises. We are eternally blessed by the fruit of Mary’s womb!

As you prepare for the Divine Service this weekend, you can take a look at the Service Folder to find the readings, prayers, and other parts of the service that will help to guide your reflection and prayer.

Here’s the Lectionary Summary for the upcoming weekend that ties the themes of the weekend together:

The Lord Comes to Visit Us in Peace

The Fourth Sunday in Advent turns our attention toward the nativity of our Lord. With Mary, we await the coming of the Christ, her Son, conceived in her womb by the Spirit of God. As the Lord dealt graciously with her and did great things for her (Luke 1:48–49), so also He manifests Himself and His glory to us in mercy and gentleness. He comes to rule His people in peace, to “shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.” He comes forth not from the great capital city of Rome or Jerusalem, but from lowly little Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, 4). He comes to sacrifice Himself, in fulfillment of His Father’s will, for the salvation and sanctification of His people (Heb. 10:10). He who once visited Elizabeth while hidden in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:39–45) now comes to visit us today, hidden in the lowliness of simple water, bread and wine.


Children’s Service

Remember!!! We only have normal service on Saturday night at 5:30 and at 7:45 this weekend. The 10:15 service will be the children’s service. All are welcome but I wanted to remind you so you’re not caught off guard.

The children’s service is all about how Jesus comes From Heaven Above.

The children will remind us that this little baby of such humble birth came to save us all and give us life.

As you prepare for the Divine Service this weekend, you can take a look at the Service Folder to find the readings, prayers, and other parts of the service that will help to guide your reflection and prayer.


Christmas Eve

Pastor Troup will be preaching about the signs presented in Scripture that point us to the Christ child who is our hope and life. Jesus fulfills all of the signs that God had given to the people and Christ did it all for you!

As you prepare for the Divine Service, you can take a look at the Service Folder to find the readings, prayers, and other parts of the service that will help to guide your reflection and prayer.

Here’s the Lectionary Summary for the upcoming weekend that ties the themes of the weekend together:

The Word of the Lord Is Fulfilled in the Flesh of Jesus

Though Ahaz would not ask, the Lord gives a sign to the house of David that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14). With this promise, He signifies that salvation is by His grace alone; it is no work or achievement of fallen humanity, but the Lord’s own work and free gift. The promise is fulfilled as the Son of God is conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, and the sign is received in faith by the house of David in the person of Joseph (Matt. 1:20–24). “Incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary” (Nicene Creed), God is with us (Immanuel) in the flesh of Jesus, Mary’s Son. Joseph believes that Word of God and so demonstrates a marvelous example in his immediate and quiet obedience, taking Mary to be his wife and caring for her in faith and love. He loves her because the love of God is manifest in this, that “the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world,” “to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10, 14).


Christmas Day

I will be preaching about the beauty we hear on Christmas morning. While the world proclaims, “Santa came!” We proclaim, “Christ is born!”

God has come to be with us and has done so to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, raise the dead, and to give eternal life. He takes on flesh in order to redeem yours and mine.

As you prepare for the Divine Service, you can take a look at the Service Folder to find the readings, prayers, and other parts of the service that will help to guide your reflection and prayer.

Here’s the Lectionary Summary for the upcoming weekend that ties the themes of the weekend together:

The Living and Life-Giving Word of God Dwells among Us in the Flesh

The Lord sends out His ministers of the Gospel to make disciples “of all the nations,” so that “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” For the Lord has “bared his holy arm” in the incarnate Christ (Is. 52:7, 10). The Child in the manger, born of the Virgin Mary, is the very Word of God, the only begotten Son of the Father, “whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb. 1:2). As “all things were made through him” (John 1:3), so are all things redeemed and made new in Him. In His body of flesh and blood, we behold “the radiance of the glory of God” (Heb. 1:3), “glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He dwells among us in peace that we might have life and light and salvation in Him. For by His Word of the Gospel, we are born again as the children of God, bearing His name and sharing His eternal life.


If you aren’t able to join us for service, you can catch up now.


I look forward to seeing you this weekend!

Blessings on your day!

In Christ,
Pastor Demski

Published by pastordemski