Pastor Bitter

Text: Luke 2:41-52

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Christmas is over.  The gifts have been opened, and for many of us, relatives have gone home.  Now you can pack up the tree and lights and decorations and you won’t be called a Grinch.  For students, Christmas vacation is already half finished.  Many people will go back to work tomorrow already.  Sure, the New Year’s celebration is still coming, but that doesn’t seem like too much after Christmas. 

Pastor Schroeder 

Text: John 1:1-18

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The gospel reading for Christmas is without a doubt one of the most well-known, well-loved gospel readings that there is.  In Luke chapter 2, of course, we have the Christmas story.  And everyone is right where we expect them to be.  Caesar Augustus is in Rome taxing the people, and Cyrenius (or Quirinius, depending on which translation we use) is the governor of Syria, and Joseph and Mary are on their journey to Bethlehem, and the baby is born and wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger, and the shepherds are doing what shepherds do until the angels show up and sing…

Pastor Leyrer

Text: Luke 1:39-55

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Dear Friends in Christ, Whether they were actually sung or chanted or just spoken is immaterial, but did you know that within the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke are four different songs, or hymns?  I’m going to give you a few seconds to think if you can name them.  Here’s a hint:  all of them have to do with the Advent and Christmas season.

Pastor Leyrer

Text: Psalm 130

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Dear Friends in Christ, Tonight we conclude our Advent devotions based on selected Psalms.  Just a word or two about the Psalm before us tonight…

Pastor Bitter

Text: Luke 3:7-18

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What was your first sign of the approach of Christmas this year?  I think for me, it was a radio commercial advertising Black Friday shopping and it ran a few weeks before Thanksgiving.  But even before that, I think I saw Walmart put some Christmas decorations on display for purchase already in October.  And you probably have more examples of your own. 

Pastor Leyrer

Text: Psalm 24

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Dear Friends in Christ, There are some special names for Jesus that we customarily reserve mostly for this time of the year.  They appear on our Christmas cards; they punctuate our worship; they are sprinkled throughout our seasonal songs and hymns.  We talk about Jesus as the Babe of Bethlehem, or our newborn King, or Immanuel, or the Prince of Peace.  All of these names and titles are wonderfully descriptive and beautiful and accurate.

Pastor Eric Schroeder

Text: Luke 3:1-6

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If someone asked you to come up with a list of the greatest, most influential or important people who have ever lived in the history of mankind, who would be at the top?  I would imagine that many of us would begin with the same name.  For any true Christian, of course there is only one man who has ever lived who is worthy of spot number one: Jesus Christ is in a class all by himself.  But who comes next? 

Pastor Bitter

Text: Psalm 25

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Once there was an elderly woman who wasn’t looking forward to Christmas.  Health problems, the death of her husband, fading strength, and a number of other factors beyond her control had forced her to move into assisted living.  In years past, she had always hosted her kids for Christmas, but now as she looked forward to one of her favorite times of the year, she knew that her children would still come to visit her, but it just wouldn’t be quite the same.  The inevitable decay of her health attacked like a relentless enemy, and there was no hope of it stopping.  The situation appeared hopeless.