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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 2018

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“You open wide your hand and satisfy the needs of every living creature.” Psalm 145:17

Dear Redeemer Family:

 

It seems that this year we have skipped spring, and jumped straight to summer. That gives us pause to have some thoughts about summer in the Church and its themes. The summer Sundays of the church year are full of readings focusing on the building up of the body of Christ. The work of the people during the ordinary Sundays of summer is to grow. The central color of the season is green in all its myriad shades, from the sharp boldness of chartreuse to the saturated depth of forest green. The vast variety of shades of green reminds us that sacred growth comes in many ways. Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual growth each have a place in the sacred community. How does our Sunday worship reflect the growth that is expected in the season of summer?

 

Summer is a time to dig into the richness of the teachings of Jesus. Summer lessons are juicy, packed full of nutritious foods for our well-being. The main focus of the season is our steady day by day growth in faith. In our lessons, worship and study we can take a cue from Jesus’ teachings. He constantly used the images of the world around him and his disciples. He was especially fond of images from nature. Think of all the simple objects from creation that Jesus infused with meaning: birds, seeds, water, waves, storms, pearls, bread, soil, and sand, to name a few. The psalms for the season, too, use descriptive and symbolic images for teaching about life in faith.

 

Summer is a time to celebrate the wonders and abundance of creation. It is a celebration of the goodness of God. “Taste and see that the LORD is good,” the psalmist jubilantly proclaims in Psalm 34:8. Summer is a time for dipping our hands into the vast abundance of God’s supply of manna; tasting and savoring the wonderful richness and juiciness of creation and feasting in celebration until our bodies, minds, and spirits are overflowing with God’s goodness. Let us enjoy the abundance of the multiplication of loaves. Let us eat in joy the manna from heaven. Let us not hoard the miracles of Christ, but share the abundance that is given so freely and lovingly from God’s hand.

 

Summer is a time to recognize the great green earth as our home. We can encourage wonder in our worship as we celebrate the marvels of creation. The season bursts with color in the variety and diversity of plants and flowers. The colors are a delight to the eyes, the fragrance of flowers and warm earth tickle the nose, the heat of the sun warms the skin, the trickling of water and the singing of birds pleasure the ears, and the sweet tanginess of fresh ripe fruits and vegetables awaken the taste buds. Summer allows us to acknowledge the wonders of nature, even glory in it. Jesus made frequent use of hillsides as sanctuaries and boats as pulpits. Jesus was no stranger to the powers and delights of nature.

 

Let God reach us through the abundance of nature. In summer the earth’s fecundity cries out for attention and thanks to God. Through all these works of creation and more, God speaks to us of grace, abundance, and goodness. Let us relax into the season and listen for God’s Word in the natural world all around us. As the seed that is planted in the ground is expected to grow and mature, so too the Word that is planted in us is expected to grow and come to fruition.

Pastor Rose

May 2018

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and they were continually in the temple blessing God.” Luke 24:51-53

Dear Redeemer Family:

 

The verses above are the last verses in Luke’s Gospel. They, of course, describe Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, and the disciples’ reaction. Ascension Day is one of the most important days on the Church Calendar. It is also one of the most ignored. That is probably because it always falls on a Thursday, forty days after Easter Sunday, and ten days before Pentecost. Thursday is not traditionally associated with Christian worship days, at least not in this country. “Wednesday, okay; Thursday, are you kidding?” Why is the Ascension important?

 

Well, one reason is given in the alternate prayer of the day for Ascension of Our Lord, which proclaims that, Christ “ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things,” yet nevertheless “abides with us on earth to the end of time.” Rather than get caught up in the cosmology of this paradox, we should delight in its implications for the Church: Christ’s mission has been entrusted to us, and though we cannot see him as before, he continues to live among us in Word and Sacrament.

 

The reason is the Incarnation. In Jesus, God becomes a human being. The divine nature of God is bound to the mortal nature of a human being. So, being divine, Christ is, like the Father, everywhere (omnipresent, and we also should throw in omnipotent and omniscient). Sharing our human nature, Christ is also with us. Indeed, what makes the Ascension important for us is really quite simple. When Christ ascends into heaven, he takes his human nature with him. He does not leave it behind. Translation: In the Ascension humanity is glorified! (Humanity is also glorified in the Incarnation. But everyone tends to celebrate Christmas)

 

We have been glorified! Now, that’s not the way that most people tend to think about things. Rather most tend to think of themselves as sinners. And, we are. But, thanks to our baptism into Christ, and our faith in Him, we are at the same time “saints and sinners.” Now, with the Ascension, we are glorified saints and sinners. That’s a big change in the human situation. More than that, but also because of that, St. Paul writes that we have now been made co-heirs with Christ, Children of God! How is that for being glorified by God?! As Jesus is both divine and human, we are now saint and sinner. I think that most people have been conditioned to think more about being a sinner. I think that it is time that we should think more about being a saint. We are currently in the Easter Season. Part of that means, and again, St. Paul writes about it, we are declared righteous now! It is time to think about those implications now. We are Christ’s ambassadors in this world now. As ambassadors, we reflect Him who has sent us. We are children of God! Dwell on, and in, that thought.

In Christ,

Pastor Rose