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St Stephen Lutheran Church Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Bearing Witness. Serving Others.
Sunday, June 8, 2025
Sunday, June 1, 2025
The Holy Communion on The Ascension of Our Lord (observed)
The Ascension of Our Lord is traditionally observed on the Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter, but we have transferred its observance to today, the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
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Sunday, May 25, 2025
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Saturday, April 19, 2025
The Great Vigil of Easter: Saturday, April 19, 2025, 6:30 pm
This is the night! From the ashes of Good Friday, a fire awakens, and from the new fire the Paschal candle is lit, symbol of Christ’s risen presence among us. The resurrection of Christ is God’s act of new creation in which he redeems all which he has made for his good pleasure. On this night the Church offers praise to God for his acts of creation, from the beginning to his works of deliverance for God’s people Israel. On this ancient baptismal festival we recall that God has given us new life by our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection; we repeat our renunciation of evil and our confession of faith and are sprinkled with water as a tangible remembrance of God’s grace to us in baptism. The Church celebrates the first Eucharist of Easter with abundant Alleluia, standing erect and rejoicing to receive the Lord’s body and blood.
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Friday, April 18, 2025
The Liturgy of Good Friday: April 18, 2025, 7:30 pm
FRIDAY: On Passion Sunday, the
focus is on the suffering (passio)
of Christ, but on Good Friday, the Crucified One is put forward as the sign
of God’s victory over sin, death, and evil. Isaiah’s depiction of Jesus as the
‘suffering servant,’ so important to the early Christians as they sought to
understand the events of Good Friday, is read as the prelude to the Passion
according to St John, who presents Jesus as the one whose glory is revealed on
the Cross.
In the shadow of that
Cross, the Church then prays for the entire world, using an ancient form of
prayer in which the leader ‘bids’ (asks) the people to silently pray for
various groups of people. The service concludes with a solemn act of adoration
as we sing both of Christ’s great love for humanity and his triumph over death.