February 2021

“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:
The verses above are from Simeon’s Song (the Nunc Dimittis), which Simeon cried out in the Temple when Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus there for his Presentation. February 2nd is The Presentation of Our Lord Day. It falls 40 days after Christmas. The verses are a prophecy. And they also contain a very important theme for this season. That theme is light! As we will enter the “darkness” of the Season of Lent this month, we often point to the light of the Transfiguration to give us light to last the 40 days of that season. Well, actually, we have Christ’s light with us always, from the Star of Bethlehem to the glory of the Resurrection! Christ is always with us, period.

This year, this year of the coronavirus, that is especially poignant. We are approaching now a year of social distancing, masks, hand washing, quarantining, etc. Our lives have been turned upside down. As I write this, nationally, there have been just over 400,000 deaths in this year, 164 of them in our county. The United States suffered 418,000 deaths from World War II, in four years. This has been a terrible experience. People are now suffering from what they are calling “Covid fatigue.” We pray for things to return to normal. And, I would like to thank our members who have worked tirelessly to try to keep our worship services as “normal” as possible, if virtually. Thank you to Charles and Stephanie Roop who plan and record the services, Ralph and Joyce Spiker for their leading of liturgical parts, and our numerous readers and “volunteers” who sit very far apart from each other to help lead the responsive portions of the liturgy for us. They have been a blessing during this trying time.

And, we now have light at the end of this very long tunnel. The vaccines are now becoming available. I encourage everyone to sign up for them. I have already received the first shot through the hospital, since I have volunteered as an On Call Chaplain there for 30 years; I am considered a health care provider (I find that strange in a way). But, I encourage you all to register for your vaccinations at jeffcohealth.org . They will then contact you as to when you may receive your inoculations. There is a light shining through our global darkness!

I hope that all are staying safe and sound at the present time. I also hope that very soon we will be able to once more gather together to join in worship together and continue the work of being the Church of Christ here on earth. Until then, pray for each other, take care of each other as well as you are permitted. And pray for our overloaded health care worker and our “essential” workers who are striving to keep us going in this crisis. There is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
In Christ,
Pastor Rose

December 2020

“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