Welcome! Thank you for joining us for worship today. In our services, we gather before our almighty God to receive his gifts and to offer him our worship and praise. Through God’s powerful Word and Sacraments, he renews our faith and strengthens us to serve in joy.

Some churches teach that God blesses his followers by granting prosperity and peace. Today we see how false that expectation is. The Bible explains that if we are part of the Church of God, the opposite is true – we will bear extra crosses for our faith. Believers suffer in this world, sometimes just because they are believers. We carry our crosses in gratitude for Jesus carrying his cross, one too heavy for us because it was weighted down with our sin. We carry our crosses because we know that in those moments of struggle, we are forced to turn to Christ and rely on his strength. This is the unexpected path, the one Jesus himself walked: the cross comes before the crown.