Sunday School News

End of another Great SS Year 
Our 2025-2026 Sunday School year concluded with a party on May 31, complete with some treats, some fun, some bible stories, and a goody bag full of fun things. Thank you children . . . Thank you parents . . .And Thank You teachers and subs for making this all happen! 

Summer Sunday School 
Our Summer Sunday School program starts June 7, and will run through August 30. This year's program is "3 in 1: Discovering Our Triune God" from Concordia. The summer program is geared mainly for the PreK-K and grades 1-3 children, but older children are welcome to attend and help with the younger children, or they are encouraged to attend the Pastor's adult Bible study. Classes start at 9:15 am in the Preschool room 205. 

Mark your Calendars! 
The new 2026-2027 year begins on Rally Day -- Sept 13! 

Finnish Lutherans convicted of ‘Hate Speech’

In 2023, the Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) — a partner church of the LCMS — and Dr. Päivi Räsänen, a medical doctor and member of the Finnish Parliament, spoke to the LCMS convention about their years-long experience of being prosecuted in the Finnish courts for confessing what the Bible teaches about creation. That prosecution stemmed from a 2019 social media post by Räsänen in which she shared a passage from Romans to question another Lutheran church body’s support of a “Pride” event.

The prosecution — and persecution — continued as a 2004 church pamphlet written by Räsänen and edited by Pohjola came under scrutiny for containing “hate speech.” The pamphlet, Male and Female He Created Them, was originally published in Finnish by Lutheran Heritage Foundation (they have since published it in both English and Spanish as well) and upholds a biblical view of marriage and sexuality. Although Räsänen and Pohjola were cleared of wrongdoing by a Helsinki district court in 2022, appeals by the Finnish government have kept them returning to court since then — first to the Helsinki Court of Appeal, where they were again acquitted, and, last year, to the Supreme Court of Finland.

Now, as the LCMS prepares for another convention, the nightmare has still not ended for Räsänen and Pohjola. In a 3–2 decision announced on March 26, the Finnish Supreme Court has found the two guilty of “inciting hatred” with the pamphlet. (The court acquitted Räsänen for the 2019 tweet and did not rule on a previous acquittal, which was not appealed, related to a radio appearance that Räsänen gave in 2019.) Both have been ordered to pay fines equivalent to 20 days of wages (amounting to thousands of dollars), as well as legal costs. Luther Foundation Finland, an organization that supports the ELMDF and that worked with Lutheran Heritage Foundation in the printing and publishing of the pamphlet in Finland, has also been fined 5,000 euros (1 euro = 1.15 U.S. dollars). In addition, the court has ordered that the pamphlet as written be permanently removed from public access.

In a press conference following the Supreme Court decision, Räsänen said she is considering appealing the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights. “It is not about my free speech alone but that of every person in Finland,” she said. “This case is not the end of the matter; it is part of a broader and ongoing discussion about the future of fundamental freedoms in Finland and across Europe.”

Food Banks Sunday: June 14th

Bridgeville Area Food Bank 
The May collection for the Bridgeville Area Food Bank is Sunday, June 14th. The “items of the month” are paper products, although any non-perishable food items are gladly accepted. Items may be placed in the wicker bin in the narthex near the coat rack. 

During the May 16th distribution, the BAFB assisted 103 local families which included 33 children, 74 adults and 79 of the elderly. Your generosity makes this possible … thank you! 

Q&A with the Rev. Dr. Christian Tiews

Q&A with the Rev. Dr. Christian Tiews 
Tiews is an LCMS missionary to Germany, where he works primarily with Persian refugees. 

The Rev. Dr. Christian Tiews was 40 years old when he first truly heard the Gospel during a service connected to his daughter’s Lutheran day care in Tomball, Texas. He and his wife, Gudula (Lula), joined the church, and eventually he studied to become an LCMS pastor. After serving two congregations in Oklahoma, Christian and Lula embarked on a new phase as LCMS missionaries to Germany. It was a welcome return, since they both grew up there. Now, Lula serves as communications specialist for the LCMS Eurasia region, and Christian works with hundreds of Persian refugees who are interested in Christianity — he has personally baptized 50 of them — and teaches online courses for future pastors through Luther Academy, based in Riga, Latvia. 

What led you to become a missionary? 
A: I was thinking about retirement and possibly returning to Germany. I contacted the Office of International Mission and said I’d be interested in missionary work. Eleven months later, I touched down in Frankfurt, Germany. For the first six months, I served in Kaiserslautern [at an English-speaking congregation]. For the last four years, I’ve been in Hamburg. The wonderful thing about working with the Persians is that they are converts, just like I was. 

What are some of the challenges of this ministry? 
A: The Persians face many challenges. For most of them, the journey from Iran or Afghanistan to Germany is extremely traumatic, physically and mentally. Some have walked to Germany. Others have been thrown into jail for months at a time. Once here, they have to go through the extremely tedious process of being granted asylum. Then there’s the mental stress of possibly being deported. When they convert, they often are the victims of hostility from other Muslims. 

But the good news, obviously, is the Good News — when they hear the Gospel and the assurance of salvation in Christ for the first time. Before, they were hounded by Islam or by the mental anguish of the law, as well as by the Mullah regime. So despite everything, in Germany they have found a peace that they’ve never experienced before. 

Do you worry that some might use Christianity to gain asylum? 
A: Out of 55 Muslim countries, only people from two — Iran and Afghanistan — are very open to the Gospel. … Matthew 28 says to baptize and teach. These people are being taught. They receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism. Some people are faster than others. My wife and I went to the Lutheran church [in Texas years ago] because it had the best day care. The pastor could have said, “You’re not taking this seriously. Please go somewhere else.” But he didn’t. He preached. He taught. And one evening, I did hear the Gospel. Tons of people go to church, from a human point of view, for the “wrong” reason. … The Holy Spirit does what He will do. That conversation takes place between that person and the Holy Spirit. 

There is a refugee studying to become a Lutheran pastor, right? 
A: Yes. Amir has been a Christian for 12 years. Even in Iran, he was teaching Christianity to fellow Iranians on the internet. I asked him, “Would you be interested in becoming a pastor to do this officially and properly?” He signed up at Luther Academy at the next opportunity. His wife is a professional translator, and she recently translated the Augsburg Confession into Farsi. We also have three more Iranians applying to Luther Academy for this fall. 

What is your hope for this work? 
A: I pray that this work, like a pebble tossed into a pond, will continue to have an impact on more and more people. But in a larger context, that Iran would open up. Maybe as many as a third of the population already believes in Jesus, but they need to be taught and baptized. I would love to be part of that bigger process by helping raise up future pastors. 

Reprinted from Lutherans Engage the World, available at engage.lcms.org 

June 2026 Newsletter

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Audio: Readings & Sermon for Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Audio: Readings and Sermon for Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Rev. Dr. Edward O. Grimenstein

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First Reading – Ecclesiastes 11:1-10 

Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth. 
If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap. 

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. 

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good. 

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. 

So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 

Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. 

Gospel Reading – John 10:22-42 
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” 

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. 

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained. And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there. 

Sacrament of the Altar 
What is the Sacrament of the Altar? 
It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink. 
Where is this written?
The holy Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and St. Paul write: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” 

In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”