Weekly Worship Times 
  • Sunday 8:00 & 10:45 AM - Sanctuary Services
  • Sunday Mornings - Zoom available - 10:45 AM (https://tinyurl.com/58pzvs3x )
  • Monday Evenings - 6:00 PM
  • All services in parking lot on FM 88.7
  • Services available on website - posted here after Zoom recording is finished
Bible Study Times
  • Sunday - 9:30 AM - Adult Bible Study in Fellowship Hall
  • Sunday - 9:30 AM - Children's Sunday School
  • Tuesday - 10:00 AM - Women's Bible Study in Fellowship Hall (Break from June to early August)
  • 4th Saturday of Month - 8:30 AM - Men's Prayer Breakfast in Fellowship Hall
            Weekday Bible Studies
  • Tuesday - 10:00 AM - Women's Bible Study in Fellowship Hall (Break from June to early August)
  • 4th Saturday of Month - 8:30 AM - Men's Prayer Breakfast in Fellowship Hall
Week Day Daily Morning Devotions

 

 

 

The Season of the Church Year

Our Church Year includes different seasons, starting in Advent and going through Christmas, Epiphany, The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Special Sunday), Lent, Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, Reformation Sunday (Special Sunday), All Saints' Day (Special Sunday) and after all the Sundays of Pentecost are done, we are back into Advent.

Our Current Church Year - Lent

Early in the Church's history, the major events in Christ's life were observed with special observances, such as His birth, baptism, death, resurrection and ascension.

As these observances developed, a period of time was set aside prior to the major events of Jesus' birth and resurrection as a time of preparation.

During Lent, the Church's worship assumes a more penitential character. The color for the season is purple, a color often associated with penitence. The "Hymn of Praise" is omitted from the liturgy. The word "Alleluia" is usually omitted as well.

By not using the alleluia — a joyful expression meaning "Praise the Lord" — until Easter, the Lenten season is clearly set apart as a distinct time from the rest of the year.

Additionally, it forms a powerful contrast with the festive celebration of Jesus' resurrection when our alleluias ring loud and clear.

Finally, the penitential character of Lent is not its sole purpose. In the ancient Church, the weeks leading up to Easter were a time of intensive preparation of the candidates who were to be baptized at the Easter vigil on Holy Saturday.

This time in the Church's calendar was seen as an especially appropriate time for Baptism because of the relationship between Christ's death and resurrection and our own in Holy Baptism (see Rom. 6:1-11).

This focus would suggest that the season of Lent serves not only as a time to meditate on the suffering that Christ endured on our behalf but also as an opportunity to reflect upon our own Baptism and what it means to live as a child of God.

https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs/faqs/worship-and-congregational-life#ash

 

Colors of Altar Paraments - Purple

Purple, like black, is a penitential color, in contrast to a festive one. It is appropriately used during Lent and, still in many parishes, during the season of Advent. The forty days of Lent, including the six Sundays that fall during this season, use this deep, rich color which has come to represent somberness and solemnity, penitence, and prayer.

Violet or purple was a very cherished and expensive color in the world Jesus lived. The dye used to make the color was painstakingly acquired by massaging the neck of a Mediterranean shell fish that secreted a special fluid. It was therefore afforded only by the rich and worn most exclusively by the royalty.

Jesus, the king of the Jews, wore a purple robe only once. As the soldiers mocked and tormented him, the Scriptures record they placed on him a “purple garment” in order to ridicule him and belittle the claim that he was a monarch.

Therefore, purple is used during this penitential season of Lent as a vivid reminder of the contempt and scorn he endured, and the subsequent sacrifice he made for our eternal salvation. Ecclesiastical purple should remind all Christians of their daily need to humbly give attention to leading a life of repentance.

https://www.lcms.org/worship/church-year/colors-of-liturgical-seasons

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