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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.

December 2020

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.” Psalm 80:7

Dear Redeemer Family:

As we end the year of the coronavirus, we have had to learn some bitter lessons. We have had to face a new normal. And people who have refused to learn, have faced a terrible consequence. Things that we have taken for granted have been taken from us. And, we have been changed. I have had to miss the last two Sundays. The first because I was coughing so hard that my wife was afraid that I would scare some of you. I probably would have. Sometimes, it scared me. The second Sunday because the day before Ruth was notified that she was Covid positive (by the way, she has been tested several times now). And, I am currently waiting for the results of my Covid test, which I assume will be positive as well. Ironically, I’m feeling better today. But we have had to change. We have had to slow down.

We are now in the “holiday season,” and we are also asked to forgo certain traditions, like large gatherings. That is right and proper in the present circumstance. We have had to pause our “in person” worship service because of the surging numbers of this virus. We can live with that. Many of you don’t know, but since March, I’ve performed four funerals which were caused by this virus. And many of you do know I don’t like funerals. If this will prevent more tragedies, I’m in favor of it. We will get through this. We have word now of not one, but three vaccines that will be distributed soon. This is very good news. But, we have to wait.

The Church has been nice enough to provide us with a season of waiting. It is called Advent. This year, we may well be forced to actually observe it as it should be. In this season when the cultural gravity pushes us down the hill to Christmas way too fast, it’s time to apply the brakes and slow down. And this year, we will have to slow down. As counter cultural as that may seem, there’s too much to hear, too much to see, too much to experience, too much to take in to hurry through Advent. We sit with Isaiah and his people who longingly waited for the coming of the Promised One. We stand with John the Baptist as he calls God’s people to prepare the way of the Lord.

This slowing down makes room for the Spirit to show us those things in our own hearts and in our own systems that we might rather leave undisturbed and unacknowledged. The Advent scriptures urge repentance, another practice that is best not hurried through. It may not be pleasant to acknowledge the places in our lives where we have wandered; nor it is delightful to hear a word about a God who has standards and who is angry at both individual and corporate sin. Still, that word stands front and center in the Advent scriptures and begs to be heard in a culture that makes no room for such things. Perhaps this year, as all has changed, slowed and spaced out a bit, we can hear these words more fully. Doing so, perhaps we may more fully prepare for the coming of the Promised One, and receive Christ more fully into our homes. Have a blessed Advent this year.

In Christ,
Pastor Rose

November 29 Worship Service

On: By: DeSoto Redeemer

Our November 29 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. All scheduled worship services from Thanksgiving through the end of the year will be online only with minimal in-person participation to reduce COVID risks.

Click on picture to view video

The December 6 worship service will be held without in-person attendance because of the rise in COVID cases in our state. It is scheduled to be streamed live on the DeSoto Redeemer Facebook page. We will post a direct link to the recording here as soon as it is possible after the service.

We are glad to share our worship with you. Click on “Contact Us” above to find out more about our faith family and what we believe.

Sermon, November 29
Isaiah 64:1-9 | Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Corinthians 1:3-9 | Mark 13:24-37

Wake up! Or, as the text has it today, “Keep Awake!” Why? Well, for starters, today is the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the Church Year. So, we could say, “Happy New Year!” And we all know that on New Year’s Eve you are supposed to try to stay awake until midnight so you can watch the funny big ball fall in New York to usher in the New Year. Why should the Church Year be any different? Don’t we celebrate the beginning of the secular year by staying awake? Shouldn’t we try even harder for the Church Year?

Don’t we approach the secular year with expectations and hopes for a “Happy New Year!?” It is not different. We approach the Church Year also with expectations and hopes. Don’t we all make New Year’s resolutions, hoping that by keeping them, we will be better people in the New Year? True, we’ve probably broken all of those resolutions by the second week in January, or the second day, but we try, try to be better, try to be good, hoping.

I’ve just also described some of the main emphases of the Season of Advent. We enter Advent (which is very similar to the Season of Lent) with hopes and expectations. We hope and resolve to be better children of God. We also know ahead of time that we will fall short. No matter how hard we try, we know that that nasty thing called sin will step in and foul up our resolutions. We will break our resolutions, not in a week, but daily, thanks to sin. But, we have the hope of forgiveness of those sins, through the hope which has been given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ, who’s Advent we await. We must stay awake for that! His coming we anticipate, and we know the signs of its coming.

We know the signs of Advent, don’t we? Bright lights appear on people’s homes. Decorated trees show up in living rooms. Lots of glossy flyers appear in our newspapers. Television bombards us with commercials, many with the background sound of Christmas Carols. People line up at the doors of their favorite stores early waiting for the doors to open, so they can rush in for that special item, which always seems to be sold out already. I sincerely hope that has not happened this year thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. I hope people have the sense to stay home and stay safe. Buying on the internet makes a whole lot more sense this year. But, considering the emails that I’ve already received from large chain stores, there are people out there crowding into the shopping areas. Indeed, even this year, some of that started before Halloween. But, as these things become more manifest about us, we know that Advent is here. Advent is about us; that Christmas is coming, which we prepare for, at least the secular version. At least there is still a baby Jesus in there somewhere. But, that is not the signs which Jesus is talking about (nor Isaiah), nor the Advent to which he refers. Indeed, the lessons for today sound a lot like the lessons of the last few weeks, for the ending of the Church year, and the coming of the Day of the Lord, a Day of Reckoning, a Day of Judgment.

Jesus in the preceding verses of Mark 13 gave other signs, “false Christs, false prophets, false teachers to lead the elect astray.” He included, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the power in the heavens will be shaken….Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.” Jesus is speaking of another Advent. He speaks of an Advent which we are to prepare for all the more, and all of the time. These signs do not arrive once per year, sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving. No, it seems to me that these signs seem to be with us always. These signs tell us all the more urgently to prepare for the Advent of the Lord, the Second Coming of Christ. It is the Day of the Lord, that Day of Reckoning and Judgment. It is a day far more glorious than even the way we celebrate Christmas. Because that Advent of the Lord is our hope! For then, he comes in his glory, to “gather together all of elect from all of the earth.” And, we are hoping, and counting on, that we are among the elect.

Then, our full vindication is at hand. Then, we will receive fully the gifts which have been promised to us, not under a tree, but by way of a cross, “the forgiveness of our sins, everlasting salvation, and eternal life with him in his glory.” These are gifts far greater than we expect in a few more weeks; gifts that in time will wither and break. No these are the gifts of eternity, of God’s own grace, given to us in faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, prepare, and keep awake, for the Advent of Our Lord surely comes, and we are to be ready and waiting at that time. Watch for the signs!
Pastor Rose