Author: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God.” 1 Samuel 2:1

Dear Redeemer Family:
It is hard to believe that we are in November already. And with November, we have the end of the Church Year. It has been a quick year in many ways. And it has been definitely a better year than 2020. The pandemic has waned a bit. The Delta surge is subsiding. Let us hope that this is the ending of that chapter of history. And, hopefully, we will be able to celebrate.

In the Church, November is a month of celebrations really. We begin on the first day of November celebrating All Saints’ Day, and the following day is All Souls’ Day. We celebrate the whole Church; living, dead, and yet to come. That makes for a good-sized party. While the world celebrates the end of October with Halloween (All Hallows’ Evening), the true holiday is Nov. 1st. We commemorate all of the saints throughout history. All who have come to have faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ and whose lives have bore witness to Him.

Later in the month, we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day. Strangely, Thanksgiving is a National holiday. But, the Church has “adopted” it. The belief is simple: everyday should be a day of thanksgiving to God. On this day, in particular, we set aside and emphasize our thanks. Originally, it was a day of repentance, but it seems to have grown into literally a “Feast Day.” Among other things, it also commemorates the harvest to get us through the winter. True, many of us overeat on Thanksgiving, and possibly overindulge on football. But, the emphasis is upon giving thanks to God for mercies received. And, we all have things to be thankful for. That is reason to celebrate as we go into the “holiday season.”

And finally, we end the month with Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church Year. It is the day which celebrates Our Lord’s enthronement at the end of time. It is thus a “looking forward” holiday, looking forward to the end of the age. It is then that all things are to be but right with Christ’s final, eschatological (if you want the theological term), victory over sin, death and evil. It looks forward to the culmination of the age and Christ’s kingship over us. It is well something worth looking forward to in anticipation.

November is a time for celebration. As days turn darker and colder. We need to remember that this month, we really have a lot to celebrate and be glad in. So, I wish all of you a very happy November, with all that it brings. Our hearts exult in the LORD!

In Christ,
Pastor Rose

“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and
the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Romans
3:21-22a

Dear Redeemer Family:
It is hard to believe that we are going into October already. Of course, I’m glad that the 90
degree weather is over. In fact, as I write this, it is only in the 70s and raining! Things are changing. And
that’s important. All things change. It is the nature of all things. And October is important for that,
especially for Lutherans. At the end of this month, we will remember that Martin Luther posted his 95
Theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany. And that is fondly remembered as the
beginning of the Reformation. And what is “reformation?” Change.

All things change. Luther’s was a call to go back to the Gospel as recorded in the New Testament.
He wished to change the way that it was presented in his place and time, which had picked up a lot of
human “adiaphora” items. Adiaphora is the term that the Reformers used. It means “unnecessary.”
These were mainly things that had somehow gotten added to the Church’s tradition. Some were bad.
Some were pretty good, or nice. As Lutherans, we know that “works righteousness” was bad. If it was
something required, or demanded, it was very bad. Somethings were not so bad. Examples of not so bad
would be; stained glass windows, organ music, etc. They were “adiaphora,” but nice. They enhanced the
worship experience. They still do. So, in some ways, Luther wanted to clean house in the sense of literally
going through things which were taken for granted by the members of the Church. The question was, “Is
this necessary or not necessary?” What was absolutely necessary is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, summed
up in, “We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.” That is essential. All else was up for
review, or reform, to put it simply.

All things change. Over the last year and a half, the world has had to change, and that because of
a little tiny virus. We have had to change how we worship. How we interact with each other. How we go
out in public and distance ourselves. We are still recommending that people wear a mask in services, and
a fair number of members do. Even handwashing is now a bigger factor in people’s lives. We have joined
the “online church.” We are now in a “surge” of that little tiny virus, which is predicted to peak this
month. But, we have adjusted our lives to handle it better, to keep ourselves and neighbors safe. We
have had to move to a continual Holy Communion, individual cups only. But that is safer. We have
adapted to this current issue. We have actually been through this before. Unfortunately, that was over a
century ago, and so it was a long re-learning process. But, we reviewed. We reformed. We have kept
what is absolutely necessary, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, we have tweaked the rest. Some day,
hopefully soon, this will all be behind us. But, we will always need to review and reform as we move
forward into God’s new day. For everything changes. Everything renews. Everything reforms. Praise be to
God. For we are saved by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, not by what we do.

In Christ,
Pastor Rose