I've had an Epiphany!

Artwork: The prophet Elisha and the widow of Sarepta Artist: Bernardo Strozzi Date: 1640   Worship Theme: Our human inclination is to listen without faith. This can only lead us to the brow of a cliff and throwing Jesus out of our lives. But the Savior of the Nations comes with his gracious words of redemption and membership in his body. The Word of the Lord is proclaimed through the revelation of his Anointed One. In him faith is rooted, love flourishes, and salvation is known from generation to generation.   Old Testament: 1 Kings 17:7-16 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so ...

Our school exists for a very specific purpose.   Since WLS is part of our churches rather than a private school, our mission is to teach every student what our churches teach.   These teachings play a primary role in everything that happens in an out of the classroom.   For this reason, we want to give the families who are outside our congregations a “heads-up” about what our teachers and pastors are teaching and doing.   Since we have entered into a partnership with you to teach your child(ren), we feel this is important and honest. Please plan to attend one of these two-hour sessions where we will present to you an overview of what our churches teach and how that might play into the classroom or even affect you at home. Saturday, January 26, 9-11 a.m. - First Evangelical Lutheran Church , 728 Villa Street Saturday, February 2, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Epiphany Lutheran Church , 2921 Olive Street Saturday, March 16, 10 a.m. – 12 p...

Artwork: Synagogue During Torah Reading Artist: Edward Moyse Date: 1827-1908   Worship Theme: Jesus’ “going public” should not have surprised his Jewish countrymen. They had known of the coming Messiah for a long time, dating back to the promise given Abraham ( Genesis 12:3 ), even to Eden ( Genesis 3:15 ). Yet, when Jesus finally arrived, “his own did not receive him” ( John 1:10 ). He was not the kind of Savior that many were looking for. That too was foretold: “He was despised and rejected by men” ( Isaiah 53:3 ).   Old Testament: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel . 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from dayb...

John 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee . Jesus' mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." 4 "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom...

It is inevitable that you won’t always agree with your child’s coach’s choice of plays or playing time doled out to the players. It is inevitable that you won’t like the pastor or elders or another member confronting you with your lack of worship attendance. It is inevitable that you won’t always appreciate your child’s teacher contacting you about late assignments or trouble in school. We live in a time when tempers are short and nerves are raw, while at the same time that communication is easily accessible and social media is everywhere. It is very easy for us to get our feelings hurt or assume the worst and immediately think negatively and become publicly critical. Martin Luther wrote very eloquently about this very problem (minus the social media): “It is inevitable that one member occasionally jostles the other, just as a foot or a toe of our body bumps the others, or as a person injures himself. Such bumps and trials do not fail to come, especially because ...

Every Sunday in the Lord's Prayer we ask God to let “thy kingdom come.” With this petition we are asking for God’s Kingdom to grow numerically here on earth and spiritually within our hearts. Now we are actually seeing your prayers being answered as God's kingdom is growing at WLS and Epiphany.  We have seen tremendous growth at Epiphany the past few years and especially this year. We have had 17 WELS members transfer their membership to Epiphany, 5 youth confirmations, 8 adult confirmations, 5 professions of faith, and 8 child and adult baptisms. We now have 349 confirmed members and 475 baptized souls at Epiphany. Plus, we have 171 students at Wisconsin Lutheran School . 78 of those are from Epiphany! In our church and school we have seen tremendous blessings: Membership has increased; Communion attendance is up; school attendance is up; school finances have stabilized with the aid of Choice dollars; harmonious faculty; faithful pastors and leaders; etc.   ...