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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.

March 2020

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5

Dear Redeemer Family:

It is to the above text, for this Passion Sunday, a vision of disciples remade in the mind of Christ, that all of Lent builds. The season of baptismal preparation provides a rich palette of biblical texts in which the people of God both strive and fail to live faithfully into the mind of Christ. The grace of God provides a never-ending spring of encouragement. From the contrasting prayers of the hypocrites and those who pray in secret, through the amazing but flawed faithfulness of Abraham and Sarah, to the over-enthusiastic woman at the well and the reticent parents of the one given sight, we see Sunday by Sunday just how complicated and difficult it is to cultivate and live into the sacrificial, servant mind of Christ. Like a steady drumbeat, Romans provides a solid theological commentary on abundant human sin and abundant God given grace throughout the season.

At the same time, one need not scratch too deeply beneath the surface of these lessons of baptismal preparation to find the living waters. In these forty days of dry bones and lack of vision, God points us toward the paschal mystery on the horizon and the saving waters that await our renewal. Gracious encouragement abounds. Through the God who so loved that world that the self-emptying Son has given, our hope is encouraged in the living waters of a Samaritan well, in the water flowing from the rock, in the horn of oil and the mighty outpouring of the Spirit, in mud and washing.

Through a sublime and tightly woven symphony of stories across this season of Lent, we see God’s ancient people mirroring our own lives: the equivocation of Adam and Eve, laid against the faithfully following Abraham. Nicodemus comes with bold questions to Jesus but only under the cover and safety of darkness. The Bethany sisters both accuse and confess. In all their complexity, these characters despair and hope, work and wonder, live and die as we ourselves do. And our only real hope is every bit as complex and mysterious: the waters of baptism toward which the Church of the self-emptying Christ moves. They are waters of death, then life; of dying, then rising. Of sin swallowed up, then life given and renewed.

The Season of Lent is truly a season of textual complexity, mystery and beauty. Enjoy it this year.

In Christ,

Pastor Rose

February 2020

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”  Luke 2:29-32

Dear Redeemer Family:

                A few points to ponder, the text above is part of our liturgy which we sing in this part of the year. It forms what is called the “Nunc Dimittis,” or more commonly, “Simeon’s Song.” The event of the words we celebrate on February 2nd, “Presentation of Our Lord.” Forty days after the birth of Christ we mark the day Mary and Joseph presented him in the temple in accordance with Jewish law. There a prophet named Anna began to speak of the redemption of Israel when she saw the young child. Simeon also greeted Mary and Joseph. He responded to the presence of the consolation of Israel in this child with the words of the Nunc Dimittis. His song described Jesus as a “light for the nations” (read an Epiphany).

                Because of the link between Jesus as the light for the nations, and because an old reading for this festival contains a line from the prophet Zephaniah, “I will search Jerusalem with candles,” the day is also known as Candlemas, a day when candles are blessed for the coming year. Now, if you hear the word Candlemas, you know what it means.

                Another candle, if you will, which we celebrate this month is on February 14th. No, not St. Valentine’s Day (although almost everyone forgets that he is a saint), but Cyril, monk who died in 869; and Methodius, bishop, who died in 885; missionaries to the Slavs. These two brothers from a noble family in Thessalonika (remember St. Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians?) in northern Greece were priests and missionaries. After some early initial missionary work by Cyril among the Arabs, the brothers retired to a monastery. They were later sent to work among the Slavs, the missionary work for which they are most known. Since Slavonic had no written form at the time, the brothers established a written language with the Greek alphabet as its basis (but, they also changed some letters; try reading Russian, same alphabet). They translated the scriptures and the liturgy using this Cyrillic alphabet (it was mainly Cyril’s work). The Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Bulgars regard the brothers as the founders of Slavic literature. The brother’s work in preaching and worshiping in the language of the people are honored by Christians in both East and West.

                And another light, February 18th, Martin Luther, Renewer of the Church, died on this date in 1546 at the age of 62. For a time, he was an Augustinian monk, but it is his work as a biblical scholar, translator of the Bible, public confessor of the faith, reformer of the liturgy, theologian, educator, and father of German vernacular literature that holds him in our remembrance. Live in the light!

Pastor Rose