Christmas Eve - the babe is born - 7:30 service

Is this whole thing about a little bitty baby? Well, yes! The birth of Jesus is the moment we celebrate as God truly with us, in human form, knowing human joys and sorrows, sharing human weaknesses and gifts. God's humanity is an affirmation of our humanity, and of the hope that is born with every human life.

The rituals - the candles, the carols, the tree, the gift-giving - are important when they, like Christ himself, awaken in us the best of our humanity.

This Christmas Eve, Wednesday December 24 7:30pm, St. Matthew's sings the world's joy with special music, holy bread and wine, candelight, each other, and yes - the baby Jesus, born in Bethlehem and born anew in the lives he is transforming.

O come, let us adore him!
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
stmatthewsjc.org
201.432.9319

The image is a part of the icon of the nativity in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the spot which tradition recognizes as the site of Jesus' birth. His parents rejoice, people are bringing gifts, and You can see two candles of the church lit in the foreground.

Advent & Christmas

Wednesday 12/24 7:30pm - Christmas Eve candlelight service
We celebrate the light of Christ being born into the world with special music, Christmas carols, candlelight, and holy communion.

The four weeks preceding Christmas is the time when the church prepares for the advent (or coming) of Christ. In the northern hemisphere, the days grow shorter and colder, and the church looks forward to the light of the world.

Look around the world. We know that the world we see needs transformation. In Advent especially we give voice to our longing, our need, our hope for love, for justice, for healing. The Christian story is that God loves the world. Let that love shine forth! Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Let every heart prepare the way - God's love is coming into the world.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
stmatthewsjc.org
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319
Magnificat Wallpaper by Oggy (cropped).

Season of Pentecost

From early Summer up to the gate of Winter, the church year is one long season. Sometimes called "ordinary time," the weeks between the Feast of Pentecost and Advent focus on the ministry of Jesus and the mission of the church. While the mission is extra-ordinary, it is in fact the ordinary "business" of the church to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and to practice what he preached.

As Jesus walked among his people, he preached the coming of the Kingdom of God. We know he prayed, and had a close relationship with his heavenly Father. He knew and practiced the religion of his people. Yet in this religious context, so much of his message is not what we might call religious. He spoke of the love of God, the reality of hope, and the importance of a just community.

Jesus came to heal a world in need. The people of St. Matthew's come to him each week for his good Word and holy meal. Summer services at 10am.

Together in the Holy Spirit.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Trinity Sunday - June 15 10am

O LORD our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!—
you whose glory is chanted above the heavens
out of the mouths of infants and children;
    you have set up a fortress against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,
what are mere mortals that you should be mindful of them,
    human beings that you should care for them?
Psalm 8:1-4

The psalm sings of the glory of creation and of humans' place in it, "a little less than the angels." It echoes the stately order of the creation story found in the first chapter of Genesis. It has an air of wonder at this amazing world of God's creation.

This Sunday, Trinity Sunday, the church pays attention to that theological image of God who is One, yet known in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We may not understand this Tri-Unity, but we can glory in the way three can be perfectly in-sync.

At St. Matthew's we celebrate the mystery of God by gathering together for prayer and praise in a service of the Word with Paul Bellan-Boyer leading worship and preaching. The sermon title, "How Good," is taken from the Hebrew words ki tov which recur throughout that great story of creation which opens the Bible: "In the beginning..."

Together in God's grace.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Pentecost! - June 8

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. Acts 2:1-4

At St. Matthew's we celebrate the gift of the Spirit by WEARING RED and by hearing readings in some of the languages which comprise our congregation (Spanish, German, Telugu, Russian, Tagalog, Hungarian, English). Pr. Hans Arnesen will preach and preside at Holy Communion.

Alive with Christ!
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Summer worship at 10am - June 1

Ascension commemorates the strange story where, after his resurrection appearances to his disciples, Jesus ascends to heaven. Having lost Jesus once, now they've seemingly lost him again.

But God always has a plan, a comeback. Just one week down the road there will be a new gift, a new and ungraspable yet real way of knowing God, when the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost. God has promised not to leave our side, not to forsake us, not to abandon us, but to comfort us, advocate for us, protect us, and bring us together in one great fellowship.

At St. Matthew's we will share in that fellowship this Sunday June 1 STARTING AT 10AM with Pr. Hans Arnesen preaching and presiding.

Risen with Christ!
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319

Resurrection = New Life

Easter is not just a day. For the church, Easter is the reality we have been living since that first Easter when Jesus rose from the grave.

It is also a season in the church year. During the seven weeks of Easter we focus on those first days when the disciples began to discover how God's relentless power cannot be locked away, cannot be killed, cannot be kept down. The community rooted in God's living word grows like a weed, a vine, linking us to the power of redemption.

This Easter season we gather each Sunday
to share God's gifts with one another.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church
Pastor Hans Arnesen
85 Wayne Street (btwn Barrow & Jersey Aves)
Downtown Jersey City
201.432.9319