Our Pastor

Pastor Andrew Wehling has served at Grace since August 15, 2000.  He previously served for seven years at Grace Lutheran Church in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and raised in Palmyra, Missouri.  He graduated from Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska in 1989 and from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993.

Andrew and Miriam have three children:  Caleb, Katie, and Daniel.

Newsletter Article

When is Easter?

Figuring the date of Easter is complicated. It can be as early as March 22 or as late as April 25. This year, Easter is on April 24; next year, April 8; the year after that, March 31. The reasons behind the differences have a long history in the Christian Church, going all the way back to the Jewish calendar and the date of Passover.

Here’s the formula we use today, as explained on p. xxiii of Lutheran Service Book: "Easter Day is always the Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox on March 21. If the full moon falls on a Sunday, Easter Day is the Sunday following." If that’s still too confusing, you can do like I do and check the chart on that same page of LSB, which gives dates of Easter all the way through the year 2050.

So with the help of the chart, we know on which day of the year Easter falls. But Easter is more than just an annual celebration; it’s always been a weekly celebration as well. Since Jesus rose from the grave on a Sunday, early Christians would gather together early each Sunday to remember and give thanks together for Christ’s resurrection. That tradition has held to this day. Every Sunday worship service is a mini-celebration of Easter.

But Easter is more than just a weekly celebration; it’s always been a daily celebration as well. Daily we Christians remember that resurrection is something happening right now in you, in me. In Romans 6, we’re told that "we were buried with Jesus through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." And in Colossians 3, we’re told "you’ve been raised with Christ." Note the present tense. God is working in us right here and now, putting to death our sin and raising us each to new life. He calls us daily to repent of our sin, daily to die to sin, daily to put off the old self. And He declares to us the Good News that because of Jesus’s death on the cross, we each are daily forgiven and daily set free, raised to new life in Christ.

Easter is every day, it seems. Christ is risen! Alleluia!