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Visit our Sunday worship services at 8 or 10:30 am. Sunday school and adult Bible class at 9:15. We are "Making Christ Known" by faith, worship and witness to get the message of Jesus Christ to all people.

June 2019

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14:27

Dear Redeemer Family:

In John 14:27, we hear Jesus speak to our troubles and fears as he encourages us, “do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” In the “do not let,” Jesus calls us to engage the gift of peace he has given us in confronting the feelings of trouble and fear. We are the ones who “do not let” troubles and fears make a home in our hearts. We are the ones who “do not let” ourselves live as though Christ’s peace makes no difference. We are not simply passive recipients of this deep and abiding peace; we are users of it! In what ways are we actively receiving the Spirit of peace by utilizing its power in our lives? There are plenty of opportunities in our lives.

In his 16th century book The Prince (actually, better translated The Chieftain, but why break with tradition), Niccolo Machiavelli wrote a treatise on how to govern people. He wrote that essentially there are two ways: by love or by fear. He recommended by fear. Why? Because, he considered it safer and more effective. The world took note, and has been largely using that method ever since. You don’t believe me? Watch the news, and start counting the stories from various sources which leave you with either a said, or unsaid, feeling of “or else.” We get them all of the time. It has happened so many times that I sincerely believe that many people are either scared to death about many issues, or have built up an emotional callous to the point that they walk around emotionally numb. You’ve probably seen a large number of them. In the latter case, I believe that it has actually backfired on Machiavelli. If you are numb, you are not afraid. It is eventually a dead end means.

Our Lord on the other hand, and He has divine backing to do this, has chosen love and peace. That is a major difference between this world and the Kingdom of God. With fear, there is no peace. There is only fright. St. John even tells us in his First Epistle, 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. “ And then, a few verses later, in verse 18, he continues with, “perfect love casts out fear.” There is the friction between this world and the Kingdom of God. Fear and love cannot coexist. As disciples of Christ, and as His ambassadors to this world, we are sent out in love to share Christs love with this world. Do not marvel at this. It is our calling. Only those who live in fear, and do not know God, marvel at this. For the follower of Christ, in faith, we are always to move in love towards those around us. This isn’t an easy thing to do. But Christ has also sent the Holy Spirit to guide us through these tasks. And so, in our endeavors, to a world terribly afraid or indifferent, we proclaim Christ’s love and God’s Holy Gospel. It is a righteous calling. Go and do as Our Risen Lord has given and commanded. Amen.

In Christ,
Pastor Rose

May 2019

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

Dear Redeemer Family:

“But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” The he said to Thomas, “Put you finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”” John 20:24-29

They sat in the crowded pews and wondered whether they belonged there last Sunday. They heard the story of Christ’s resurrection – for the first time or the seventieth – and wondered what to make of it. Perhaps “they” even climbed into the pulpit last Sunday and led the congregation in the shout of “Christ is risen!” They are all Thomases, part of the community of the faithful but still not entirely satisfied with simply believing the witness of someone else.

Thomas is like us, and like him, we may be a little irritated that we, unlike so many other “true believers” that clog our airways and Bible bookstores, haven’t had a firsthand experience of Christ’s presence. Not everyone has the courage of Thomas to voice his doubts so clearly, but odds are good that everyone has had a moment of similar frustration.
Some Christians try to overcome the frustration with facts – experiments about the power of prayer or archaeological evidence for every event in Scripture – but the vast majority of believers through the ages have had little more than what Thomas had in the verses at the top of the page (the Gospel lesson for the Second Sunday of Easter): the witness of the community. It is the community, in all of its diversity and various experiences of Jesus’ presence, that ultimately gives witness and endures when this Gospel of John reaches its final chapter.

The gifts Jesus gives in person to the gathered community in John are really no different from those given to the Church in every age: the offering of Peace, the charge to forgive and be forgiven, and a physical reminder of his suffering that we can see and feel for ourselves. The body we see and touch – bread broken and a fragment of that living body of Christ – is no less real.

Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
Pastor Rose