St. Mark Lutheran Church (Wheeling, WV)

09/06/2026

Today, we kicked off the Sunday School year with Rally Day. Over 100 people enjoyed a beautiful day together.
During Sunday School,  children’s laughter filled the air, as they reunited with church friends and enjoyed the playful bounce house and breakfast on the front lawn.
During the service, our amazing choir returned to the loft and shared their beautiful music. Pastor Tim reminded the children and the adults in his sermon that Jesus loves us, and we should love our neighbors - a simple message that holds so much meaning.
After service, a delightful catered meal from Bob’s Lunch awaited the crowd. A picnic style lunch with watermelon-themed decor provided a wonderful time for fellowship.
Thanks to the Events and Planning Committee and the Women of the Church for organizing the lunch.  It was a great day for our church family!

09/05/2026

See you tomorrow!

09/01/2026

Check out Pastor Tim's sermon from this Sunday!

Pastor Tim preaches at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Wheeling, WV.

08/31/2026

Yesterday, Pastor Tim’s sermon was based on Matthew 16:21-28 and Romans 12:9-21.
Peter went from getting it right with claiming that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of the living God to getting it wrong and telling Jesus he should not be killed and then raised on the third day.
We are often like Peter. We sometimes fool ourselves into doing what is better for us rather than what God wants us to do.
Paul best describes what we as Christians should do:

9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Faith is more than words. We need to practice active love, not passive love. We must live a life of true and genuine love!

08/29/2026

Please join us tomorrow, the 14th Sunday after Pentecost!
Services at 8:00 and 10:15 and led by Pastor Tim Crummitt

First Reading: Jeremiah 15:15-21
Jeremiah’s delight in the word of the Lord is contradicted by the heaviness of God’s hand upon him and God’s seeming unfaithfulness. God’s tough love to Jeremiah says that if he repents, he will be allowed to continue in his strenuous ministry. Jeremiah is strengthened by the simple words, “I am with you.”
15 O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance do not take me away; know that on your account I suffer insult. 16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice; under the weight of your hand I sat alone, for you had filled me with indignation. 18 Why is my pain unceasing,
my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
like waters that fail. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord: If you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth. It is they who will turn to you, not you who will turn to them. 20 And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. 21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
A: The Word of the Lord
C: Thanks be to God.
Psalm: 26:1-8
1 Give judgment for me, O Lord, for I have lived with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
2 Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind.
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you.
4 I have not sat with the worthless, nor do I consort with the deceitful.
5 I have hated the company of evildoers; I will not sit down with the wicked.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, that I may go in procession round your altar,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting all your wonderful deeds.
8 Lord, I love the house in which you dwell and the place where your glory abides.

Second Reading: Romans 12:9-21
Paul presents benchmarks for faithful relationships with Christians and non-Christians. Love is the unflagging standard of our behavior. When we encounter evil, we do not resort to its tactics but seek to overcome it with good. While Christians cannot control the actions and attitudes of others, we seek to live at peace with all people.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
A: The Word of the Lord
C: Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

Gospel Announcement
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
C: Glory to you, O Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28
After Peter confesses that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (16:16), Jesus reveals the ultimate purpose of his ministry. These words prove hard to accept, even for a disciple whom Jesus has called a “rock.”
21 From that time on, [after Peter confessed that Jesus was the Messiah,] Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27 “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. 28 Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

08/29/2026

September 6th is just around the corner!

08/23/2026

Today, Pastor Tim’s sermon was based on Matthew 16:13-20. Jesus asks his disciples who others think He is and who the disciples think he is. Simon Peter confesses, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Just as people then wondered who Jesus was, people today often wonder who Jesus is. Why do we question that God can do something new? Jesus proclaimed the church will be built on the rock of Peter’s confession. Hope is not something that changes or is discredited. We can boldly see that good was done and continues to be done by God!

08/22/2026

Please join us tomorrow, the 13th Sunday after Pentecost.
Services at 8:00 and 10:15 and led by Pastor Tim Crummitt

Word
God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song.
First Reading: Isaiah 51:1-6
Just as God had called Abraham and Sarah and given them many descendants, so now God offers comfort to Zion. God’s deliverance will come soon and will never end.
1 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah, who bore you, for he was but one when I called him,
but I blessed him and made him many. 3 For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from me and my justice for a light to the peoples. 5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly; my salvation has gone out, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment,
and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.
A: The Word of the Lord
C: Thanks be to God.

Psalm: 138
1 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your name, because of your steadfast love and faithfulness; for you have glorified your name and your word
above all things.
3 When I called, you answered me; you increased my strength within me.
4 All the rulers of the earth will praise you, O Lord, when they have heard the words of your mouth.
5 They will sing of the ways of the Lord, that great is the glory of the Lord.
6 The Lord is high, yet cares for the lowly, perceiving the haughty from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies; your right hand shall save me.
8 You will make good your purpose for me; O Lord, your steadfast love endures forever; do not abandon the works of your hands.

Second Reading: Romans 12:1-8
In response to God’s merciful activity, we are to worship by living holistic, God-pleasing lives. Our values and viewpoints are not molded by the time in which we live but are transformed by the Spirit’s renewing work. God’s grace empowers different forms of service among Christians, but all forms of ministry function to build up the body of Christ.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8 the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
A: The Word of the Lord
C: Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

Gospel Announcement
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
C: Glory to you, O Lord.
Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20
At a climactic point in Jesus’ ministry, God reveals to Peter that Jesus is “the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus responds with the promise of a church that will overcome the very gates of Hades.
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

08/17/2026

Check out Pastor Tim's sermon from this Sunday!

08/16/2026

Pastor Tim’s sermon today was based on Matthew 15 and the story of a Canaanite mother who approaches Jesus for help with her child. Pastor reminded us of how we sometimes give people the “silent treatment” to get a desired reaction, but silence doesn’t work in this text that showcases a courageous woman’s faith.

In a manner uncharacteristic of Jesus, he seems to respond in a hostile, harsh, even offensive way to the woman’s frantic request to heal her daughter. At first, Jesus doesn’t answer her. Then, he told his disciples he was only sent to help the lost sheep of Israel. Last, he uses an analogy about taking food from children and giving it to dogs, thus insulting the woman.

Not to be deterred, this tenacious woman went toe to toe with Jesus. She didn’t accept this and go away in silence. Instead, she replied, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” She understands that she is viewed as “less than” because she is a Gentile, but she needs and deserves mercy, too.

Was Jesus testing her faith all along? Was he a fully human person making a mistake?

For us, we see that Jesus’ message would eventually make it to all nations and people of any social status, including the Canaanite women. Our community can always be expanded. God’s kingdom is offered to all, so whom should we invite?