Pastor’s Corner

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6 

Jesus came in human flesh. He did not come in the flesh of a duck. He did not come in the flesh of a dog. Jesus was not incarnate as a caterpillar or a goldfish. Jesus came in your flesh. The flesh of a man, of a woman, of a child. He came in the flesh of a person made in the image of God – you. 

We may wonder, “Why did He come in this way and not some other, more powerful, way?” The answer is easy, He came in human flesh to be given for you. He came in human flesh to keep God’s law perfectly in your place. He came in human flesh to rise from the dead in your place. 

During Advent and Christmas, we should always remember why Jesus Christ became man. We must remember why He came in your flesh, and not in some other way. He came in your flesh all for your sake. It is like Isaiah said, “For to us a son is born, to us a son is given.” Jesus came in the flesh to speak, and so that you could hear. He came in the flesh to suffer for you on the cross in your place. He came in the flesh to have his blood spilled for you. Jesus came in the flesh to die in the flesh. And Jesus came in the flesh to rise from the dead in the flesh, so you also might rise from the dead. 

As we prepare for Advent & Christmas, let us remember the coming of Christ and how He provides for our salvation every single day. Jesus came as a man, to suffer in our place, and He is still coming to you. Jesus comes to you cradled in a chalice and a host in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is still coming to you in the water of baptism pouring His forgiveness over you. Jesus is still coming as the Word (John 1) when we hear Christ proclaimed in preaching, heard in the readings, and sung with all the angelic voices of heaven in our hymns and liturgy. Jesus is still coming in the flesh. 

– Pastor Grimenstein 

LUTHERANS engage - Fall 2024 Issue

In February 2024, historic wildfires ravaged two communities in Chile, destroying homes and killing more than 100 people. (Read more in ‘God Is with Us in Suffering.’) As Chilean Lutherans cared for victims, one pastor noted, “On my own, I don’t have anything good to say to anybody. … [But] I realized … I could say to [the victims], ‘Through the Word of God, you are not alone.’”

This is the message Lutherans carry with them wherever they go — as they care for children who need a home, as they provide a worshiping community for isolated believers in faraway places, or as they proclaim the Gospel over the airwaves. Thank you for reading this issue of Lutherans Engage the World and for caring for those God has placed in your path.

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VIDEO: Wednesday January 15, 2025 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. (focusing on the Old Testament book of Malachi)
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.

Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
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AUDIO: Readings & Sermon for Wednesday January 15, 2025

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. (focusing on the Old Testament book of Malachi)
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.

Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of BULLETINS

Ezekiel 37:15-28 
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, take a stick[a] and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with him.’ And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. And when your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’ say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to take the stick of Joseph (that is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with him. And I will join with it the stick of Judah,[b] and make them one stick, that they may be one in my hand. When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, then say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings[c] in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 

“My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land[d] and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” 

Romans 6:1-23 
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

The Lord’s Prayer - The Fourth Petition 
What is the Fourth Petition?
Give us this day our daily bread. 
What does this mean? 
God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. 
What is meant by daily bread? 
Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. 

Happy Birthday Pastor!

Pastor,

May your day be filled with joy, love, and God's abundant blessings. Wishing you a beautiful birthday, Pastor. Your guidance and faith inspire us every day.

Happy Birthday to a wonderful pastor who brings light and love into our lives!

__________________________
Parsonage Address:
Rev. Dr. Edward O. Grimenstein
3199 Washington Pike
Bridgeville, PA 15017

Bulletin: Wednesday January 15, 2025

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study (the Book of Malachi): 2:30 p.m
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.

Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of BULLETINS

LAST CALL for Reservations - Prayer Breakfast at Zion on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025

Prayer Breakfast with “The Still Remember Project”
Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at Zion Lutheran Church
Reserve Your Spot Using Sign Up Genius

In order to make sure we have enough food and space, we’re asking interested attendees to sign up by the end of the day on Wednesday January 15th for this coming Saturday’s prayer breakfast. Thanks!

Amanda Parker is the Vice Chair of the Board for “The Still Remembered Project,” as well as the Project Lead for Still Missed. Amanda and her husband weathered five years of a wilderness journey where they lost five children through miscarriage. Those years of pain and loneliness drove Amanda to find some contentment, which she found through the Lord. Amanda is passionate about supporting those who have experienced a miscarriage or infertility, as it is a way for her children lost through miscarriage to make an impact in this world.