Welcome to St Matthew's Lutheran Church
Dear Visitor,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among (tabernacled) among us full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14).
Already when God began to create, the Word was with God and was God. We call Him, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. When He became incarnate (conceived) in the Virgin Mary’s womb, the Word became flesh. Matter is not evil. The Father made everything good through the Word. The Holy Spirit was eternally present and temporally present when God began to create. The Christian story is not that matter is evil. The Christian story is not that flesh is evil, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the Word made flesh. The Christian story is not the evil is as powerful as God. No, evil is rebellion against God, who is the definition of Goodness and Mercy.
The time after Epiphany is known as ordinary time, because the Sundays are numbered (from the Latin ‘ordinalis’). As Christ’s Church has celebrated the dawning of the Light of the world, the birth of God’s incarnate Son Jesus of Nazareth, we focus now on the Light of the world’s conquest of the kingdom of sin, death, and the devil. In the lead up to Lent and then the heart of the Christian story the death and resurrection of Jesus, we hear His call to discipleship. It is a matter of life and death, a matter of in which kingdom each of us will dwell — God’s or that of the old evil foe.
The Holy Trinity is not one among many gods, not a manufactured Middle Eastern deity like those unearthed by archaeologists. He is the One eternal God, a community of persons within Himself, with no beginning and no ending. That God, the Maker and Owner of the heavens and the earth, is the One to whom all history is proceeding. At the end of time as we know it, every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5-11).
If you know and love this God, we invite you to worship with us in person or online. If you have been away from Church for a long time, we invite you to come home. If you are curious and your heart and mind are open, we invite you to come and see. If you are indifferent or even hostile, we invite you, nevertheless, to leave your heart and mind open enough to worship online with us if not in person.
With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we exclaim: Glory to God in the Highest and peace to all people on earth!
Thanks for stopping by!
Pastor Sam Zumwalt+
szumwalt@bellsouth.net
St Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church
612 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403
(910) 791-4582
Worship Services
Saturday 6:00 PM
Sunday 8:30 & 11:00
Monday 6:00 PM