Redeemer Lutheran Church, DeSoto, MO

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:1-3

Dear Redeemer Family:
It was so good to see so many of you in the worship service last Sunday, and stay for our delayed Annual Congregational Meeting. The pandemic, hopefully, is winding down. Let us hope that it goes away completely. But now, many of us have been vaccinated. I know this, because many of you have told me the side effects that you had from receiving the vaccine. Don’t feel badly. It wiped me out for a day as well. But, it was better than having Covid. That had me trying to cough up both lungs for two and a half weeks. And then, there was the recovery period which went on for weeks. God has led us beside still waters. That “still waters” is often misinterpreted. Yes, they may look peaceful. But, remember the adage “still waters run deep.” The ancient Hebrews feared the still waters. They were a place of danger. And, it didn’t help that many people then didn’t know how to swim! Being “led beside still waters” means that God is there guiding us and protecting us in times of danger. I believe he has. As bad as the pandemic has been, it could have been much worse. The speed at which vaccines were discovered and produced, it can be argued, was miraculous. Again, some people forget that God can also work through medicine.

And now we can begin to move forward. “He restores my soul.” It has been restoring to my soul to see many of you, and often without the need of a mask, again. If you were at the Congregational Meeting, you know that the longest part was the reading of the minutes from the last meeting, a year and a half ago. And those minutes were six pages long. Most of them were committee reports of what we did in the year prior. The next minutes will be a lot shorter. There was not much that we could do under the circumstances. But, as we begin to move forward, we can once again become an active force for doing God’s service in this community. We have a hard act to follow, ourselves. At the Congregational Meeting, I also showed and read the award that the congregation received from the De Soto Chamber of Commerce for our service to the community. Ironically, we received the award while we, and everyone else, was shut down. Now we are beginning to slowly, and cautiously, reopen our activities, and reach out to the community at large. We do this to demonstrate our love of God, and our gratitude for all that God has done for us. God leads us in these endeavors. He leads us in right paths for his name’s sake. As we become more active, everything that we do, we will do to God’s glory and for His name’s sake. Let us enjoy our new life in Christ, and our new life in this world as well.

In Christ,
Pastor Rose

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Dear Redeemer Family:
We are indeed surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. And that fits with the themes and declarations during this season of Easter. And, as in May we shall celebrate the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. I thought that it is important that we consider some of the witnesses that ever surround us whom we shall remember during the month of May. Although, their remembrance may not fall on a Sunday.

May 1st, “May Day,” we remember the Apostles Philip and James. Philip was one of the first disciples of Jesus, who after following Jesus invited Nathanael to “come and see.” He is considered one of the first evangelists because of this. According to tradition, Philip preached in Asia Minor and died as a martyr in Phrygia. He was originally buried in Ephesus, as were his four daughters. James, the son of Alphaeus, is called James the Less; meaning “short” or “younger,” to distinguish him from the other apostle James, who is commemorated in July. We remember Philip and James on May 1st, but not for the usual reason. This is not the day of their deaths. Rather, they are commemorated together on this day because the remains of these two saints were placed in the Church of the Apostles in Rome on May 1st in the year 561.

On May 2nd, we remember St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, who died on this date in 373. Athanasius attended the Council of Nicea in 325 as a deacon and secretary to the then bishop of Alexandria. At the council, and when he himself served as bishop of Alexandria, he defended the full divinity of Christ against the position of Arius, the leader of the early heresy of Arianism, which believed that Jesus was only human, and for his obedience, God basically adopted Jesus. The Arian position was held by the emperor, some of the magistrates and other theologians. In fact, Arius was a very close friend of the emperor. Because of Athanasius’ defense of the divinity of Christ, he was considered a troublemaker, and was banished from Alexandria five times. I read somewhere that he only actually served in Alexandria as bishop for a couple of months total. The rest of the time he was in banishment. But, it is for his defense of Christ’s divinity that the Athanasian Creed is named after him, for it reflects his understanding of the faith, and our own. In addition, as bishop, one of his paschal letters to surrounding bishops gives a list of books that should be considered scripture. He lists all twenty-seven books that are now included in the New Testament.
These are just three of the great witnesses that surround us. Enjoy their company!
Pastor Rose