Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore Church

On Sunday, Dec. 31, the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran Church and St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will celebrate the First Sunday of Christmas. The congregations will continue a six-part series focusing on the earliest days of Jesus, beginning with his miraculous conception and following the biblical witness of his infancy and childhood until he was 12 years old.

The holy Communion worship service gathers at 13564 St. Andrews Drive on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. All are welcome.

The sermon message will be “The Boy, My Boy…the Only-Begotten Son” delivered by the Rev. Murray D. Finck, bishop emeritus of the Pacifica Synod.

Redeemer Lutheran Church continues to collect food donations of canned and boxed foods for the hungry.

This final Sunday in December, Redeemer Lutheran will hold the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. There was the custom that the first-born male child was presented to God. There were two very old people, Simeon and Anna, at the Temple. These were people who had waited their whole lives to see this miracle and had been told by the Holy Spirit that they would be witnesses. Simeon was so contented by this gift that he praised God by saying that the fulfillment of his life was done.

This gospel story reminds all believers that Jesus and his parents were Jewish and devout in their own faith, following the rites and rituals. It is also a reminder to believers that their own faith is rooted in the Jewish faith. Christians’ faith journey began thousands of years ago and continues today and onward into the future.