Dear Visitor,

The time after Pentecost is ordinary time, which some may think of as time when nothing special is happening. That’s not what the Church means. Ordinary time, from the Latin “ordinalis,” means numbered time. So… we celebrate each Sunday as a little Easter, and each Sunday is numbered (x Sunday after Pentecost).

Unless we celebrate a saint’s day or a lesser feast (none of these this summer), the color on the altar parament and the pastors’ vestments is green. Just as most of ordinary time occurs during the growing season, so we focus in this time on growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Beginning June 14, our New Testament readings (epistle lessons) are from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. As we track through Paul’s complex argument, we will learn more about God’s two words (law and gospel) and about the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the Church at Rome. To try to engage the hearers with such challenging content, the weekend sermons will take the major theme from a classic musical as carried in a couple of its songs and use that as a key to being “read” by God’s Word. For our older listeners, most of these will be very familiar themes that evoke fond memories. Through these “summer musicals,” our younger folks may discover “new” common ground with their elders.

Please join with us in corporate worship if you are well and not in fragile health… or worship with us on YouTube Live during these days of the coronavirus each Saturday at 6 p.m., each Sunday at 8:30 and 11 a.m., each Monday at 6 p.m. for Evening Prayer, and each Wednesday at 12 noon for the Holy Eucharist with Healing Prayer.  We also ask you to subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1n7DcvSmSFXYO51dWbdykw

If you do not have internet access but would like to hear an audio feed of our services, please dial in at the service times to 910-444-7090. You will hear a greeting and then silence until the service begins. As you are able, put your phone on speaker for ease of listening. You are permitted to be in the church parking lot during the services so long as you remain in your cars. Scroll down for more specific driving instructions and information about reception of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. You may access our service bulletins online at www.stmatthewsch.org/bulletin/

Despite the coronavirus and all the fears and limitations associated with it, we will continue joyfully to celebrate through Word and Sacraments the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ.

If you are hungering and thirsting to grow deeper into God’s Word and indeed, if you are baptized, to receive God’s Word at His Table, then we invite you to worship in person, as you are able, or online with us at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew in Wilmington. And…may you indeed grow deeper as the Holy Trinity gets His eternal life and love into you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pastor Sam Zumwalt+
szumwalt@bellsouth.net