October 2017

“For we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.” Romans 3:28

 

Dear Redeemer Family:

This is it! This is the month! We will be celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. Inspired by the verse above, and other verses is St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, an obscure German monk of the Order of Augustinian Minors, Martin Luther, will begin a new way of viewing our salvation. Well, actually, it was the oldest way, but one that had become lost. Namely, in what will become the Lutheran Slogan, or Banner (they literally sewed this onto banners); “We are saved by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.”

 

It will begin innocently enough. Luther will nail his “95 Theses” to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg. This Spring, while on vacation, we got to see these doors. Well not the original doors. They burned down in the early 1800’s. But in a way, something better. When they replaced the original doors, the people had bronze casts of the 95 Theses in the form of six tablets, mounted on the new doors. Don and Ann Linhorst, Ruth and I, got to stand at these doors (indeed, they were right across the street from our hotel room). As I looked at them in wonder, all that I could think of was, “It started here.” And literally, the world changed from that point on.

 

The “95 Theses” weren’t what most people think. They were really just 95 points that Luther wanted to debate, publicly. They are concerned with salvation, and against the selling of the famous Letters of Indulgence (which I call get out of Purgatory free cards – see the game Monopoly). That is all that Luther wanted, a debate. That isn’t unusual. Besides being a monk, Luther was a University professor. Professors like debates. However, Luther got a very unexpected result. The Christian Church was turned upside down, and took Western Civilization with it. But the most important result was that the understanding of the Gospel itself was changed. God’s Law was pushed back, and God’s Grace was pushed to the fore, as it should be. With that, everything ultimately changed.

 

To celebrate this we are doing a couple of things. We are making new banners for the sanctuary, carrying slogans from the Reformation. We are hosting the Singspiration Service for the De Soto Ministerial Alliance on Oct. 29th at 6pm (just two days shy of the actual 500th Anniversary). We have invited people from all of the different Christian communities in our area to join with us in song to the praise of God. Singspirations are always inspiring celebrations. But to make this one special, we have invited all attend to come at 4pm on that Sunday. And in a show of hospitality, we are feeding them a special, and free, meal reflecting our German heritage, with dessert following the service, and a couple of surprises. I invite all of you attend. I also ask you to volunteer to assist in this event. We will need help. There will be work to do with the meal and with the service. But, all things worth celebrating also require some effort. I hope to see all of you there.

 

In Christ,

Pastor Rose

September 2017

“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

 

Dear Redeemer Family:

The verse from the prophet Micah above is considered to be the sum total of the message of the prophets. What does God want from us? Justice, kindness and to walk humbly with Him. I chose that verse with a sense of pride today. We just had the eclipse two days ago. Although we did not receive the overwhelming numbers of people that were predicted, and I am glad for that, we did have roughly 50 families who came and viewed the eclipse from our property. Those of us that were preparing for this event (and I am glad that it is over!) decided that we were just going to enjoy the event, show hospitality, and not try to gouge our visitors. Here at Redeemer, I think that everyone who came here thanked us for our hospitality. One person even thanked me for the eclipse. I told him that I wasn’t responsible for that. My boss is. We offered free parking. I was told today that someone up Highway 21 was charging people $35 to park in his yard. We sold food, but at very reasonable rates. And for those who came, they were appreciative. We had the building open and cool for those who came to view the eclipse in the 88 degree weather. People were very appreciative for that, especially the families from Wisconsin and Michigan. We tried to live out those words from Micah. And, I commend all of those who helped out on the 21st of August. You all did well. I believe that is what God wanted us to do. And as I wrote last month, it was really God’s eclipse. That is one big event completed.

 

The next event where we are also trying to live up to this injunction for hospitality is our 500th Anniversary of the Reformation celebration at the end of October. For that, we will be hosting the De Soto Ministerial Alliance’s Singspiration. That is very appropriate. It was Martin Luther who invented congregational singing. Prior to him, only the choir sang during service. The congregation just stood silently (yes, I said stood. Someone later invented the pews.) Indeed, he wrote the first hymn book for individuals (it contained 8 hymns which he wrote). But we are also putting a spin on it. And we will do it in classic Lutheran fashion: Food. We will be serving everyone who comes a free meal, with a total German cuisine slant. We will start that event at 4pm with the meal. Then, at 6pm we will hold the musical service. And following the service, we will be serving them dessert, again with a German slant (all of those pastries that I am no longer able to eat). We have a committee who has been working on items in preparation for this event for several months. And hopefully, we have most of our ducks in a row. But the day of the celebration, we will undoubtedly need more volunteers. If you would like to help out on this one, please let me know. We will need help especially in the meal department. We will be celebrating the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation. We will be doing it for the glory of God. And we will be reaching out in hospitality to all of those in the community who wish to join us. I think that the prophet Micah would agree with us!

 

In Christ,

Pastor Rose