Christ Comes to Us Through His Word

At the center of every service is Jesus Christ crucified and risen for sinners. The sermon is therefore more than religious advice or inspirational reflection. Through the preaching of Holy Scripture, God exposes our sin through His Law and announces the forgiveness Christ has won for us through His Gospel. As St. Paul writes, “God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The Augsburg Confession expresses this Gospel with wonderful clarity: sinners are not justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith because Christ has made satisfaction for our sins by His death (Augsburg Confession IV). This message shapes the preaching and worship life of St. Peter’s. Our confidence rests outside ourselves, in Christ and His promises.

A Church Gathered Around Word and Sacrament

The Lutheran Confessions describe the Church as the congregation in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered (Augsburg Confession VII). That confession continues to guide our life together. Sunday worship is not simply one activity among many at St. Peter’s; it is where the Christian family is gathered around Christ and receives the gifts He has promised to give.

Following Sunday worship, adults, children, and youth are invited to continue in God’s Word at 11:15 a.m. through Adult Bible Study and Sunday School. Luther’s Small Catechism explains the Third Commandment by teaching Christians not to despise preaching and God’s Word, but to hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Worship and study therefore belong naturally together as God continues to teach, strengthen, and preserve His people.