St. Peter's Lutheran Church - Big Falls

06/10/2026

Psalm 100 (NRSV)

Psalm 100 invites a key question for this week: How vast is God’s pasture and who are the ones who belong within its borders? This may apply to the observance in the United States of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Who benefited from that and who did not? Further, how does that legacy impact persons living within the borders of this nation today.

Those questions challenge us further. What do borders mean when smoke from wildfires travel great distances? What about our food supply, which requires workers regardless of whether or not they carry certain documents?

“Sheep” may be singular or plural. We like the image of the lone, lost sheep being found. The shepherd—we recall Jesus’ use of the image—does, however, bring the lost one back to the flock, the whole community. The Good Shepherd is interested that all the sheep get to dwell in the Creator’s nourishing pasture.

Prayer
Thank you, O God, for the gift of this fruitful earth. Open our hearts and transform our wills so that we respect, share, and enjoy your abundance with all your children. Amen.

Paul H. Moessner ’04 D.Min.
Retired, Omaha, Nebraska

06/10/2026

06/09/2026

Registration form for VBS, July 27-30, 1-3 pm. Need not be a member to attend. Open to ages 4K-8th grade!

06/08/2026

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 588, focus on verses 3 and 4)

“For the love of God is broader than the measures of our mind,” the hymn proclaims. And yet, way more often than we’d like to admit, we struggle to believe it. Not because God’s love is lacking or finite, but because we place bounds around it—quietly, subtly, sometimes without even realizing it. We draw lines around who belongs and who does not. We magnify the requirements and restrictions while minimizing grace. We make God’s love smaller than it truly is.

But God’s love is not confined by our categories. It is wider, deeper, and more generous than we can fathom. The invitation before us is not just to believe in that love, but to live it—to “take God at God’s word” and allow our lives to reflect that same mercy and kindness. When we begin to trust the wideness of God’s love, our lives become something more: a living response of gratitude for the goodness of the Lord.

Prayer
Expansive God, open our eyes to see beyond the limits we place around your love. Your love is deeper and wider than we can comprehend. Help us not only to receive this love, but to live it out with our whole lives. Amen.

Rev. Gabriella Conklin ’21 M.Div.
Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Edinburg, TX

06/07/2026

Sunday Morning Worship 6-07-26 with Pastor Shelly Klemp

06/07/2026

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (Evangelical Lutheran Worship 588, focus on verses 1 and 2)

It is tempting to think of mercy as something that has limits—something that needs to be measured out carefully. Some of us may even wonder if there is enough grace for us, or if we have somehow gone too far to receive it.

This hymn reminds us that the idea of limited grace and mercy couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a wideness in God’s mercy, “like the wideness of the sea.” It is not small or scarce, but expansive beyond what we can imagine. There is welcome for the sinner, healing found in Christ, and grace enough not just for a few, but for “thousands of new worlds.” There is room, more room than we tend to believe.

God’s mercy is not something we must compete for or prove ourselves worthy of. It is already given and given abundantly. Today, we are invited to trust in the wideness of God’s mercy—to receive it for ourselves, and to believe that there is more than enough to go around.

Prayer
Limitless God, daily remind us that your mercy and grace know no bounds. We are never out of the reach of your love and care. Help us to hold on to those reminders and trust deeply in your wideness. Amen.

Rev. Gabriella Conklin ’21 M.Div.
Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Edinburg, TX

06/05/2026

Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 (NRSV)

In Matthew 9:18-26, two people come to Jesus out of their desperation, having nothing else to lose. One, a leader who thinks, maybe, just maybe, Jesus could raise his little girl, and the other a woman who has known suffering for twelve long years. They do not come before Jesus with certainty. They come because they have nowhere else to go, no other options.

And Jesus responds with compassion, meeting them where they are. He is quick to extend his healing power to them, restoring what once seemed lost. Jesus does not leave them untouched in their desperation and pain but answers their faithful reach with wholeness.

Faith is not about clarity or certainty, as we well know, but about simply reaching out to Christ who is merciful and full of grace. As we witness the leader and woman reaching out in faith, we are invited to trust that even at the end of our options, Jesus is still at work.

Prayer
Compassionate God, we come before you today as our most authentic, vulnerable selves, with heavy burdens on our hearts. Maybe some of us have run out of options and we have nothing left to lose. Give us the courage to reach out in faith to you, trusting that you meet us there in our pain and despair. Amen.

Rev. Gabriella Conklin ’21 M.Div.
Pastor, First Lutheran Church, Edinburg, TX