Messiah Lutheran Church

Pastor Louis A. Florio began his ministry at Messiah Lutheran on November 26, 2007. He was officially ordained and installed on Saturday, December 8, 2007. Pastor Florio is a former six year veteran of the City of Alexandria (Virginia) Police Department where he served in midnight patrol, including as a field training officer and with their community policing efforts. Among his previous work experience, he served as a counselor at St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. Pastor Florio has also served as a volunteer with the Ecumenical Community of Taizé in France and as a chaplain with Mary Washington Hospice in Fredericksburg, VA. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and concurrently earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary & PSCE and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Virginia Commonwealth University. His wife, Kristine, is currently employed as a program analyst with the United States Coast Guard.

From our Pastor:

Welcome to Messiah Lutheran Church. We worship by lifting up our voices and hearts in unison. We live as part of the body of Christ, utilizing our talents, time and treasures to assist those within that body as well as reach out to those who remain outside the communion of the universal church.

We have but one focus, Jesus Christ, and trust that in striving to follow him, everything, even our shortcomings and missteps, will work for our good. Our fellowship is not of our own making, but a call from Christ, and we are ruled by God's Word.

We are thankful recipients of a grace-filled gift. We are humbly part of the one holy, universal Christian Church, brothers and sisters in Christ, and our unity is in Christ alone.

As the theologian Bonhoeffer once wrote, "Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another."[1]

Through one another and our shared ministry, we meet the Messiah in our daily lives.

If you feel called to such a sacred relationship and life, come and share it with us.

Peace,

Pastor Lou

[1]Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein; New York: Harper & Bros., 1954, p. 39.