Tag: Light

February 2021

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:
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

February 2019

On: By: Rev. G. Michael Rose

“A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Luke 2:32

Dear Redeemer Family:
The Season of Epiphany is the “Season of Light.” God’s light breaks into our world in His Son Jesus Christ. And now, we are to bear that light into the world. So, this month, let’s look at some of those light bearers who are commemorated this month, so that we may see what that might entail.

First, St. Ansgar, Bishop of Hamburg, missionary to Denmark and Sweden, he died on February 3rd, 865. Where I grew up, one of the Lutheran churches (there were three) was St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church. So, he has always been of interest to me. Ansgar was a monk who led a mission to Denmark and later to Sweden, where he built the first church. His work ran into difficulties with the rulers of the day, and he was forced to withdraw into Germany, where he served as a bishop in Hamburg. Despite his difficulties in Sweden, he persisted in his mission work and later helped consecrate Gothbert as the first bishop of Sweden. Ansgar had a deep love for the poor. He would wash their feet and serve them food provided by the parish.

On February 14th, we commemorate St. Valentine (who I won’t go into), but also St. Cyril, monk; and St. Methodius, bishop and missionaries to the Slavs. St. Cyril died on this date in the year 869, St. Methodius in 885. These two brothers (yes, they were brothers) were from a noble family in Thessalonika, a province of Greece. Both were priests, as well as 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. It is still in use, known as the Cyrillic Alphabet. They translated the scriptures and the liturgy using this Cyrillic alphabet. The Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Bulgars regard the brothers as the founders of Slavic literature. The brothers’ work in preaching and worshiping in the language of the people are honored by Christians in both East and West.

And finally, some guy named Martin Luther, Renewer of the Church. On February 18th in the year of 1546, Martin Luther died at the age of 62. For a time, he was an Augustinian monk (of the Minor Order), 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. In Luther’s own judgment, the greatest of all of his works was his catechism, written to instruct people in the basics of faith. And it was his baptism that sustained him in his trials as a reformer.

These are but a few whom the Church remember in February. May we learn from their lives and examples, and carry on their work in our lives, in our ways, to the glory of God. Share the light of Christ.

In Christ,
Pastor Rose