Category: Pastor’s Monthly Message

“The Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Dear Redeemer Family,

October is here already! Hopefully, the extreme heat of summer has passed, and we can now enjoy a gentle autumn. October holds a special place for Lutherans. At the end of the month, we celebrate the Reformation, or at least its beginning. It’s a meaningful celebration because it reminds us of Martin Luther’s gift of returning Scripture to the people through his Bible translation (I have a copy on my desk now), and the restoration of the Gospel in its pure form to all believers. In essence, we are freed.

What are we freed from? While we live in the “Land of the Free,” true freedom concerning the next life is different. We face what are called the “ancient enemies,” better known as the “unholy trinity” of sin, death, and the devil. By nature, we are not free from them; in fact, we are enslaved, and there is nothing we can do about it on our own!

But God has acted on our behalf. Through the work and merit of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we have been freed from these ancient enemies by God’s grace, through our faith in Him. That, in a nutshell, is the Gospel! Sometimes it’s called the Lutheran Banner or Slogan: By Christ, we are freed. And this time, we are truly free!

To celebrate this, on Reformation Sunday, October 25th, we will have only one worship service at 10 am so our entire congregation can celebrate together. Following worship, we’ll enjoy a special “Octoberfest” potluck in the Fellowship Hall. Sorry, no beer-this isn’t that kind of Octoberfest. So mark your calendars or set a reminder on your cellphone, and come prepared to celebrate the 509th anniversary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation!

In Christ,
Pastor Rose

“Make known the deeds of the LORD among the peoples. Hallelujah!” Psalm 105:1, 45

Dear Redeemer Family:

Proclamation! Proclaiming what God has done. That is the task of the Church. It always has been. But what deeds? Well, the obvious one is Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. That should always be on our lips and minds. Our salvation is secured by that incredible work of God. We may also bring up the leading of the Israelites through the sea, and into the Promised Land. Those are also great deeds, which saved His people. What about other ones? There is the making of Creation itself. I mean, think about it, if God hadn’t created the universe, and us, we wouldn’t even be here to talk about it.

Yes, those are all great deeds of God. But the psalmist didn’t write, “great deeds.” He wrote, “deeds.” That would indicate everything that God has done. What “regular deeds” can we make known among the people? Martin Luther used to yell out of his window every morning, “I am baptized.” Aren’t most of us reading this? That is something which we might take for granted. But for Luther, it was something which he was sure of, and it was a rock of his salvation. It is of ours as well. Have we told anyone lately?

We are now in September. We are just about through a very hot summer. Many days were in the 90’s, and I saw an occasional 100 on thermometers. We are back to Creation. We made it. God got us through a couple of miserable days, and sometimes some nasty storms. I did hear some people talking about the weather saying, “Oh God!” But that doesn’t really count. And as we enter Autumn, we will get to see, and share, the prettiest season of the year here. Maybe that would make it easier to speak of God’s deeds to the peoples.

There might even be something as simple as saying grace as we eat out in public. Our food is a deed of God as well. God created the seed, the soil, the water, the farmers, workers, all. And all to sustain us.

Yes, it is not difficult to “make known the deeds of God among the peoples. Hallelujah!” We just have to remember them as such. And we are told to do so.

Pastor Rose