Pastor’s Monthly Article
Pastor Bill Mugnolo Zion Lutheran Church
September 2026 Calendar Article: “Cosmic Collision”
Now that we have entered into the Autumn months, we have also come upon that annual extravaganza known as Football Season. Whether on a High School, College, or Professional level, we are, by and large, captivated by this sport. But even as we are so enamored by football, it doesn’t take long before we see, as the injuries pile up, just how rough it really is. While it is certainly a contact sport, football goes beyond that as it has been described as being a “collision sport”. Even with all the impacts that take place in a typical football game, there are certainly more serious collisions out there. Think of what happens in a car accident or in a train wreck. Or how about the atomic collision that takes place in a nuclear weapon such as the ones that exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. But even these cannot compare to what I’ll call the “cosmic collision” that once took place almost two-thousand years ago on a hillside just outside of Israel’s Holy City of Jerusalem. There, at the site of a Roman execution by crucifixion, the profound evil of all the sins of the world collided with the perfect righteousness of God in His Son, Jesus Christ. The latter alone could prevail, as surely, He did. But for six excruciating hours at the cross on that Good Friday, those two forces hit head on within the Christ, who, thankfully for us, happened to be the God-man as well. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, St. Paul describes this cosmic collision and it blessed result as he tells us, “For our sake He (God) made Him (His Son, Jesus Christ) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Christ, that very righteousness collides with our own sinfulness. This continual “cosmic collision” is very much a part of the Christian life for all who have been born of God and been given the right to be called His children (John 1:12-13). But, in the end, we too are meant to prevail, “Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord” (Romans 7:25).
Your Brother in Christ, Pastor Bill
Pastor Bill Mugnolo Zion Lutheran Church
August 2026 Calendar Article: “Born Under His Reign”
On our yearly calendars, we have now entered the month that was once known, in the Latin Language, as Sextilis. August, in this part of the world, is still a month that is hot, but by the end of it you can feel that Fall is on its way. It would be renamed, in the Year 8 B.C., for the man who was then one of the most powerful in world history.
Born as Gaius Octavius in 63 B.C., Caesar Augustus would become the first Roman Emperor while in his mid-30s. His predecessor as Roman ruler, his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, had created the Julian Calendar. One of the months in it, July, Julius had named for himself. But wanting similar glory for his own reign, Augustus had Sextilis renamed in his own honor. Legend has it that Augustus, not wanting to be seen as less than his Uncle Julius, made sure that the renamed month also had thirty-one days in it.
But shortly after this renaming, a child was born under this reign of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1). This took place in an obscure part of the empire during a census that Augustus had ordered. Unlike the many emperors that would follow Augustus, this child was not born in a palace but in a lowly stable, of all places. But this child, who would be put to death under Roman rule while only in His mid-30s, would go on to become the single most influential figure in world history.
Unlike Augustus, He commanded no armies. Nor would He venture very far from His birthplace in Bethlehem of Judea and from where He would grow up in Nazareth of Galilee. He would be in the public eye for only three years—less than ten percent of the time that Augustus ruled as Roman Emperor. But by His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus of Nazareth established a Kingdom that will have no end (Luke 1:33).
Caesar Augustus, during His reign, ruled by brute force. Jesus, the Christ, extends His rule to us by persuasion and love. The Apostle John tells, “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). We name no month for Him, but the years since His birth have become known, from that Latin Language, as Anno Domini (A.D.)—the Year of Our Lord. May this year, in whichever month we are in, be the Year of Our Lord—for you!
Your Brother in Christ, Pastor Bill
