Congratulations to our 2019 High School Graduates from our congregation. May God always guide your path as you begin the next chapter of your lives.

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Bible Verse of the Month

Matthew 6:19-24

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rustdestroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ²³ but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Pastor Bagnall's Message for the Season of Pentecost

The Feast of the Resurrection has passed, but it has not ended. The Season of Easter has passed, but it has not ended. It is the Season of Pentecost. We have celebrated the birth of our incarnate Savior, we have celebrated His death and resurrection, and we have celebrated His ascension into heaven. We have confessed with the whole catholic church on earth the unity in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, the essence of the Godhead in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And now, we rejoice in the promise of these blessed truths. We join with the angels, archangels, and the full company of heaven living in the glorious promise of the Gospel.

The Season of Pentecost is the season of growth, as the Church celebrates the spread of the Gospel around the world. It is the time of the Church year where the Church lives out the promises commemorated in the seasons that came before. We remember that we live in the promise of Christ’s Virgin Birth, in the promise of the Savior who came in flesh and blood to save His people (us) from their sins. We remember that we live in the forgiveness of sins earned by Christ on the cross with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. And we remember that we live in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection, that just as Christ rose from the dead, so too will we. We remember that we live each moment of each day as blessed Children of God through Baptismal Grace. That we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and promised a seat at the Lord’s Holy Table in Heaven. This is the Season of life, the new life we have in Christ, the life of hope, and promise. It is the day to day living out of the Gospel, the pure unadulterated peace of our salvation at the Lord’s holy Altar. It is the season of being, of existing in the hope poured out by Christ. It is the 8^th day of creation, the season of pure grace, of receiving from the Father the fruits of His Son as His beloved children through our Baptism into Christ.

There are those who say that Pentecost is the Season of the Spirit, the season of the Church year where the Holy Spirit has His time to shine. And to some degree this is true, the Spirit does the will of the Father by pointing to the Son. But in Pentecost as in every Season of the Church Year, Christ is the one who shines, for He is the Gospel, He is your salvation, He is the embodiment of all that is necessary to save you from death and hell. And so, in the Season of Pentecost, as in the Christmas Season and the Easter, we rejoice in Christ. In His coming in flesh and blood, in His death and resurrection, in His ascension into heaven, and now in the promise of His holy altar, the life lived in His Means of Grace. It is the Season of fulfillment as the baptized receive the blessings given, shed, and offered for the salvation of their souls, in the sure and certain hope of Jesus Christ.

In Peace,

Pastor Bagnall