Gate of Heaven

All Saints Day

All Saints Day

November 1 2026 AD
Preacher: Rev. Philip Meyer

First Lesson: Revelation 7: 9-17
Epistle: I John 3: 1-3
Gospel: Matthew 5: 1-12

 

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SOLI DEO GLORIA!

Whenever we confess the Apostles’ Creed, we speak these words of the third article: “I believe in .. . the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints.” The original text uses the Greek word catholic with a small “c.” It means universal, world-wide.

Those words define the three-way focus of this commemoration.

I. THE PAST

All Saints’ Day begins with a backward look. We remember the saints. In the Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Church, we readily recognize the four Evangelists as well as the Apostles. It might interest you to know that the most common name for Lutheran congregations world-wide is St. Mary’s. But unlike the Church of Rome, once we get beyond these saints we find a certain reluctance to identify particular saints. But Lutherans are not pikers when it comes to naming the saints of old. Look at hymns 517 and 518 in your hymnal and you’ll see that there are 28 stanzas for saints, some stanzas doubled up, such as Sts. Timothy and Titus. At our local German Klub in Terre Haute I was able to begin an annual remembrance of St. Boniface. He brought Christianity to the Germans. We remembered him with a prayer and an enthusiastic “Prost!” For this the Lutherans and Roman Catholics agreed!

I imagine that there are photos of Our Saviour congregation at worship seventy five years ago. A photo taken from the back of the nave would reveal pews filled with people. Some of those people we might remember, perhaps relatives. Then add the good folks from St. Matthew and you would have a larger crowd than we typically have on a Sunday morning. There might even be a “Pastor’s Gallery” somewhere in the building. Immanuel Terre Haute has one of those galleries in the church library. There would be nine pastors whose photos are on the wall, not counting the current pastor.

Yet, people and pastors come and go. What struck me after my 40 years at Immanuel, as an Emeritus sitting in the pew, was how many families from the founding fathers have completely disappeared. Names of families with 8 or 9 children are gone. Only a handful remain. People die, move away, leave the church, or simply disappear. The congregation in which I was born closed almost 20 years ago. The congregation in which I grew up today has about the same attendance as Our Savior. Another city congregation has merged with St. Mark. The saints are still there but are few in number.

Some congregations wither and die. In rural areas many small congregations cannot sustain themselves. Some merge and some simply disband due to lack of members. The Lutheran Witness Reporter has such announcements every month. It happens in big cities, too. I’m a daily reader of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. While I read about my favorite teams, I confess that I also look through the obituaries. I suppose that many elderly people do. One humorist once said that he read the obituaries every day just to see if his name was there! Pittsburgh has a very large Roman Catholic population and many parishes have been closed and many others have been merged with two or three parishes using one sanctuary. I admit that there are some parishes with names of saints I’ve never heard! Some are patron saints of nations or cities. That’s understandable. It’s hard to tell the players without a scorecard! One of the sanctuaries is now a restaurant and bar. The vats for the beer are in what was once the chancel. It was de-commissioned as a holy place, thank God! But the name of the restaurant/pub is “The Church.” I have a cobalt blue beer glass from it. The logo is a stained glass window.

Please understand that the holy Christian church does NOT die! Even the gates of hell cannot destroy her. And by the way, the Holy Christian Church is never an “it,” but a “she,” the Bride of Christ. There are still saints hearing the Word of God and receiving the Sacraments. In spite of the fact that times change and situations change there is always the holy Christian Church, which is the communion of saints.

So, it’s sometimes hard to look back when other congregations are embarking on building programs because they’re bursting at the seams and our Saviour struggles.

Today we remember those who are in the nearer presence of Christ, who have lived and died in the confession of the Name of Christ. They may be famous or completely unknown. The only thing that matters is that they have confessed Christ as the only payment for their sins. They were baptized into the death AND resurrection of Christ. It’s all forward looking.

All Saints’ Day is really a time for giving thanks for the faithful who have gone on before us to the nearer presence of Christ and to imitate their example-of faithfulness. It’s a time to rejoice because important things stay the same. Change has no effect on the on what happens here. The Gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments are administered and God the Holy Spirit is present each Divine Service whether there are 25 or 250 present. Christ is the same and changes not. The Church will remain forever.

II. THE PRESENT

Just who are the saints? How does one get to be a saint? There’s quite a contrast between Lutherans and Roman Catholics on this! While the Roman Church confesses the holy catholic [universal] church, it denotes two categories.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has the following on its website:

In official Church procedures there are three steps to sainthood: a candidate becomes “Venerable,” then “Blessed” and then “Saint.” Venerable is the title given to a deceased person recognized formally by the pope as having lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life. To be beatified and recognized as a Blessed, one miracle acquired through the candidate’s intercession is required in addition to recognition of heroic virtue or offering of life. Canonization requires a second miracle after beatification. The pope may waive these requirements. A miracle is not required prior to a martyr’s beatification, but one is required before canonization.

Got that? By this definition you and I aren’t saints. We haven’t performed the required healing miracles through our intercessions nor have we performed miracles. I’ve never known one who has! In fact, we’re sinners with lots of sins. We have much to confess. We haven’t lived heroic virtuous lives. It is correct to say that the Church is full of sinful saints and saintly sinners. We Lutherans use a Latin phrase from the Confessions: we are simul justus et peccator. That is, we are justified and sinner at the same time. We are not completely holy in this earthly life. Heaven is not gained by our virtues but only by Christ’s.

So, how do we Lutherans define a saint? This short definition from the Smalkald Articles from our Book of Concord say it simply:

Thank God, <today> a seven-year-old child knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd [John 10:11-16] For the children pray, “I believe in one holy Christian Church.” This holiness does not come from albs, tonsures, long gowns, and other ceremonies they made up without Holy Scripture, but from God’s Word and true faith. [McCain, P. T., ed. (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (p. 283). Concordia Publishing House.]

You and I became saints when we were baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. We put on Christ. The Holy Spirit has brought us into the holy Christian Church. We become holy through a foreign, or alien, righteousness, namely through that of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is given through faith and thus becomes our own. In short, holiness, that is, the forgiveness of sins, is a gift, not something earned through holy works.

III. THE FUTURE

We looked at the saints in the past and in the present, so what is left is the future. We have a nifty word for that—eschatology. Eschaton comes from the Greek, which means the end times, the last day. Most people look with dread if we talk about the end of the world as we know it. They sometimes call it “Doom’s Day,” a day to be feared.

But why should it be feared if one is in the holy Christian Church? The Christian does not fear that day because it is the day that our Lord will return to reap the harvest of those who have confessed him in this present age and served him with holy works.

About those 28 stanzas of the hymn, “By All Your Saints in Warfare,” the last clause of each stanza points to heaven, like this one for St. Bartholomew, Apostle:

That by Your truth made guileless,
Your glory we may see. [LSB 518.23]

We know that a picture is worth a thousand words. A week ago last Thursday at the Lutheran Books and Bier I suggested some artwork to Paul for our bulletin cover: “The Adoration of the Lamb,” a Polyptych by Jan van Eyck and Hubert van Eyck, which is the altar piece in St Bavo’s Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. I began telling Paul where he could find the artwork online, but before I could finish, he said, “Yeah, we were just there. I have photos.” Excellent! My only regret is that the artwork is much more extensive than can be shown on a bulletin cover, but what is important is the Lamb and what we see around him, namely, the saints of all ages, of every tribe, people, and times. It is a picture of heaven itself.

The Church on earth and the Church in heaven. That’s what we’ve been looking at so far, but the question is sometimes asked: Are there, then, two churches, one on earth and the other in heaven? The third article of the Nicene Creed answers that for us:

And I believe in one holy Christian and Apostolic Church

One holy Church! One of the great hymns of Christendom answers for us. We have siug it. “For All the Saints,” a glorious summary of what today is:

Oh, blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

So the past, the present, and the future come together today and every Sunday. In the words of the Preface to the Holy Communion you hear the words spoken or chanted: “Therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name, evermore praising Thee and saying …”

And follows The Sanctus—”Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of Sabaoth …”

And at that moment the curtain between time and eternity is pulled back! The organ should play with all stops pulled! It is the musical high point of the Service of the Sacrament! In Praetorius’ Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning, the Sanctus based on Isaiah 6, is a full 6 minutes long and 25 seconds! A more glorious Sanctus you will never hear! It begins quietly and continues with antiphonal singing until the cathedral organ thunders the closing words of the prophet Isaiah, as Luther renders them in his hymn,

“His glory fills the heavens and the earth!”
The beams and lintels trembled at the cry,
And clouds of incense wrapped the throne on high.”
[LSB 960 with amendment]

And our voices join with all the angels, archangels, and the saints who are in the nearer presence of Christ! For a brief moment it is literally heaven on earth! We join with all the saints who have gone before us, the well-known saints, the unknown saints, as well as our loved ones who have departed this life in the faith. With them we are all ONE CHURCH united in praising him who was and who is and who is to come!

Truly this is a blessed celebration! We are not alone, no matter how few our numbers, but those that no one can number join with us in celebrating the beatific vision of what shall someday belong to us! God grant it for Christ’s sake!!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Gate of Heaven

Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

19th Sunday after Trinity

October 11, 2026 AD
Preacher: Rev. Philip Meyer

Old Testament: Genesis 28:10-17
Epistle: Ephesians 4:22-28
Gospel: Matthew 9:1-8

Click here to listen and subscribe to Our Saviour’s sermons on iTunes.

SOLI DEO GLORIA!

Our Old Testament and Gospel readings end with similar human reactions. Jacob awoke from his dream and exclaimed: “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

The clause is printed on the front of our Sunday bulletin each week. It’s also on the bookmarks on the top of the piano. In the Holy Gospel Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic and then healed him, and: “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”

Jacob was on the lam. His brother Esau had vowed to kill him because Jacob had stolen his birthright as the first-born. He came to a certain place, the text records. Jacob did intend to spend the night in this place but it became dark and he could go no further. He did not realize that this would be more than a place to lay his weary head. He laid on the ground and used a rock for a pillow, something we find quite amazing, given our desire for exactly the right pillow. A top of the line pillow today costs as much as $100! A rock? I suppose that extreme weariness could cause us to fall asleep in circumstances which would normally prevent us. But this certain place became a meeting place between God and Jacob.

He fell asleep and had a dream, but it was more than a dream; it was a revelation from God himself, telling him that God promised to bless him and his descendants as well as promise him the land upon which he slept. What is even more important is this promise: “…in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

One reading concerns a dream and the other a miracle. In both cases the Lord himself is present. In Jacob’s dream the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ unfolds, the Promised Savior, who was to descend from him. Here God renewed the covenant which he made with Abraham and Isaac, and repeats it now to Jacob.

When Jesus called Philip and Nathanael, Nathanael confessed, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” And Jesus replied: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” [John 1.51]

So Jesus interprets Jacob’s dream for us! Luther remarks:

This is how Christ explains this ladder. I regard this as the chief and proper explanation of this passage. And this is that great and indescribable dignity of mankind which no one can express, namely, that by this wonderful union God has joined the human nature to Himself. [AE, vol. 5: Lectures on Genesis: s, pp. 220—221]

It is the blessing of the Incarnation!

So what shall we make of these things? We have heaven and earth with Jesus above the earth and on the earth. At the Baptism of Jesus and also at his Transfiguration we see heaven opened. Matthew records the reaction of Peter, James, and John to this vision: “…they fell on their faces and were terrified.”

Jacob was afraid; the disciples were afraid; the crowds were afraid. Why?

When God appeared at Sinai with smoke, fire, thunder, and trembling of the ground, the people were terrified beyond description. When God appears human beings are afraid, even of his holy angels! Why are we afraid of being in the presence of God? Very simply, it is because of our sin. Adam’s response in Eden sums it up: “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

Adam had a keen sense of his sin. And so do we.

The call of the Gospel is to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the beating heart of the Christian faith. Forgiveness is more important than physical healing. We pray for physical healing for our bodies and minds but we know that we cannot avoid the death of our bodies. Sin has so infected them that they must perish. There is no “if,” but only “when.” To live forever in God’s presence requires the forgiveness of our sins.

In Mark’s account of this episode additional words of the scribes are included: “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [Mark 2.7] And the reaction of the crowds is interesting: “When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.”

A more accurate translation of the words “to men” is “to the realm of men,” or “among men.” We see here the promise of the establishment of the Office of the Holy Ministry. Among the gifts that Christ gives his Church is this office which actually bestows the forgiveness of sins through the voice of a man. Luke records, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” [Luke 24-46ff.]

But how is this done? Through the Office of the Holy Ministry as the vehicle by which forgiveness will be pronounced and distributed until the last day. The forgiveness of sins, being the beating heart of the Christian faith, must be distributed. There must be preaching of repentance as well as the forgiveness of sins. Law and Gospel is how we Lutherans speak of it.

So here in this place heaven comes down to earth every Sunday when the Word of Absolution is proclaimed over repentant sinners and the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” is distributed. Here is the fulfillment of Jacob’s ladder. Christ himself is present among us! You know, I actually pity those who have Christ locked up in heaven and not here in Word and Sacrament, his Real Presence! They stare up into heaven without realizing that he is here now!

The ladder in Jacob’s dream was not for him to climb up to God but for God to come down to him. Recall the words of the Nicene Creed:

who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man:

So where was Bethel geographically? As to the exact place of Bethel scholars have disagreed for millennia, but Luther liked to believe that Bethel was Mount Calvary itself. He said that even it couldn’t be proven he believed these thoughts to be godly thoughts. [AE 5, p. 243]

He goes on to say:

Yet he is alone here, and besides him there is no one else, in order that we may learn that God’s church is where God’s Word resounds, whether it is in the middle of Turkey, in the papacy, or in hell. For it is God’s Word which establishes the church. He is the Lord over all places. Wherever that Word is heard, where Baptism, the Sacrament of the Altar, and absolution are administered, there you must determine and conclude with certainty: “This is surely God’s house; here heaven has been opened.” But just as the Word is not bound to any place, so the church is not bound to any place. One should not say: “The chief pontiff is at Rome. Therefore the church is there.” But where God speaks, where Jacob’s ladder is, where the angels ascend and descend, there the church is, there the kingdom of heaven is opened. LAE vol. 5, p. 244).

And so our church buildings should properly be called sanctuaries, holy places, because holy transactions take place in them. God himself is present among us to distribute his forgiveness. This sanctuary, then, is our Bethel, the House of God, the place where God the Holy Spirit brings to us all the blessings Christ has earned in his innocent life, suffering, death, and resurrection.

The church is defined here, what it is and where it is. For where Christ dwells, there is the church, and nowhere else; for the church is God’s house and the gate of heaven, where the entrance to eternal life and the departure from the earthly to the heavenly life are open. It is not these walls per se, but what happens within them when our Lord forgives sins through his called and ordained pastors, and distributes his true body and blood to sinners who cry for refreshment. And what happens in this sanctuary is exactly what Christ did for the paralytic lying on his bed. He forgives our sins, thus opening heaven to us. It comes through Christ alone. He descends, he serves, he forgives, he strengthens us. So when sermons are preached, when the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution, and men chosen by God speak in his place and by his command, then we may joyfully exclaim:

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Parish Newsletters

Our Savoiur Parish News, October, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
October, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

November draws us ever closer to the end of the Church Year. It begins with the last major feast of the church year, All Saints’ Day, where we remember and give thanks for the faithful departed. The following three Sundays bring us to the conclusion of the Church Year and focus us on spiritual warfare in which the Church will always be engaged this side of Eternity. The last Sunday of the Month brings us a new Church Year, the First Sunday in Advent. During the season of Advent we especially remember the three advents of Christ: The first advent is His becoming incarnate in history. The second is His coming to us each week in the Divine Service through Word and Sacrament, and the third is His return in glory on the Last Day. Remembering these prepares us for the celebration of His incarnation on Christmas Day. You can learn more in ‘The Month Ahead’ at the end of this newsletter. We thank Scott Jones for providing this feature to us each month.

The Sunday Bible class this month is taking up a study of the Five Solas: Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fida (Faith Alone) Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone the Glory). We are learning that these are not a checklist invented by the reformers, but the grammar of the Gospel itself, answering specific questions about how sinners are reconciled to Christ. We meet each Sunday at 9:45 AM.

The application for the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program for our candidate, Scott Jones, was submitted to the Southeastern District office this past month. It is being reviewed by President Harmon and we are looking for it to get submitted to the seminary by the end of this month. Scott and his wife Jolanta had a wonderful visit to the seminary in Ft. Wayne this past month as a part of the application process.

We continue to remember in prayer Pastor McClean, Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Albert Bell, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Elizabeth Coats, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James; Gloria Jones, Noah Kauffman, Byron Masterson, Beth McClean, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan, and Steven Gibson.

Please see notes below from Bernie Knox about holiday gift cards and the opportunity to give electronically. As we move deeper into the Fall season, be on the lookout for information about our coming celebration of the Advent and Christmas seasons. We are still planning on praying Vespers on November 25 at 7:30 PM in observation of our national day of Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is not a celebration from the historic church calendar, it is still a good witness for Christians to be in God’s house to give thanks for all his blessings.

This past month, we also wrapped up another year of Free Flea Markets. This was our twelfth season, and it was again an opportunity for us to connect with the community of which we are a part. Please see Judy Volkman’s note at the end of this newsletter for a summary of this past year as well as the eleven that preceded it.

See you in church!

In Christ and on behalf of the Church Council,
Paul Techau, Council President

Twelve Years of the Free Flea Market at Our Saviour

Twelve years ago, the Free Flea Market at Our Saviour was founded when our small congregation sought a way to reach out to the community in Christian love. Inspired by another local church, we gathered volunteers and donations to give away to those in need.

Initially, tables were set up in the parking lot on the second Saturday of each month from May through September, operating from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Each attendee receives 10 tickets to redeem for 10 items (with sets, such as dishes, counting as a single item). The setup eventually moved indoors, allowing the market to run regardless of the weather and remain staged throughout the season.  As time went on, participants asked if they could donate items.  Our answer was a definite YES.  In the past year, we have not been wanting for donations!  Previously, when we needed items, Orphan Grain Train donated cartons of items to us.  Now, when we close for the year, unclaimed clothing items go to OGT and household goods to Savers.  We start the new year with new inventory.

The program expanded to reach a needy population.  St. Peters Learning Center in South Baltimore  was invited to attend a separate opening of the Flea Market.  They had been invited to attend the regular sessions, but many do not have transportation available on the weekends.  And the focus for the agency is to support people with disabilities to participate in community activities.  Their joy was loud and clear!

This ministry would not be possible without our faithful volunteers. Many thanks to everyone who donates their time and effort!

Free Flea Market Statistics 2014–2026 – Total Attendance: 1,883;  Items Distributed: 15,304
For 2026:  regular attendees: 228; items distributed: 1610; St. Peters: attendance: 207;  Items distributed: 2070

Pretty impressive for a small congregation like ours!  The Lord has provided for us!

– Judy Knox

Holiday Gift Cards

Again, this year, OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Certificates to needy families from Waverly School at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are including this reminder in our bulletins and newsletters now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or in an accompanying note that the funds are designated for these Gift Certificates.

Please begin now to think about making generous donations. These gifts allow us to assist those less fortunate in providing a special meal for their families at holidays.

Our gifts remind us to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and especially to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all—the birth of our Savior Jesus.

– Bernice Knox

Electronic Tithes and Offerings

Our Saviour members have the option of giving their tithes and offerings electronically if they so choose. At this time three members/families donate in this way. The offering gifts are taken directly from their designated bank account and deposited directly into our special account at the Lutheran Church Extension Fund. Both Jean West, our Financial Secretary, and I receive notification of the deposits monthly so that your giving is recorded by name and amount in her records. As treasurer, I transfer them each month to our Harbor Bank Account.

From your bank account, you may give weekly on Mondays, semi-monthly on the 1st or 15th, or monthly on the 1st or 15th.  If you are interested in this program which Synod calls Joyful Response, please let me know so that I can give you an authorization form to complete. A cancelled check is also required to confirm the giver’s account and routing numbers.

– Bernice Knox

The Month Ahead: November, 2026

Services and Their Readings

The Season: All Saints through Advent I: The End of the Year and the Coming King
November is the hinge of the Church Year. It opens with All Saints’ Day and closes with the first Sunday of a year only just begun. Between them stand the last Sundays after Trinity, which hold the Church steady in the middle of spiritual warfare, and the Last Sunday of the Church Year, which ends by pointing forward to new heavens and a new earth. The paraments run white on All Saints’, green through the Trinity Sundays, and Advent’s color at the end of the month.

November 1  All Saints’ Day
Revelation 7:9–17  •  1 John 3:1–3  •  Matthew 5:1–12
Revelation’s sixth chapter ends with a terrified question: who is able to stand? The seventh answers it. John is shown a crowd no one can number, standing before the throne with palm branches, told that these are the ones who came through the great tribulation and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Made white by blood: the paradox holds the whole Gospel. John’s letter adds that we are called children of God already, and will be like Him when we see Him. The Beatitudes describe those same saints from underneath, poor and mourning and hunted, and call them blessed.

November 8  Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity
Proverbs 8:11–22  •  Philippians 3:17–21  •  Matthew 22:15–22
The Pharisees and the Herodians, who agreed on almost nothing, agree to trap Jesus with a question about the Roman poll tax. Jesus makes them produce the coin, points to the emperor’s face on it, and tells them to give Caesar back his own. The question He leaves unspoken is the sharp one: whose image do you bear? Caesar owns the coinage; God owns you. Paul tells the Philippians, proud citizens of a Roman colony, that their citizenship is in heaven. Proverbs stands behind both, picturing Wisdom as the eternal Son, begotten before the world was made.

November 15  Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity
Isaiah 51:9–16  •  Colossians 1:9–14  •  Matthew 9:18–26
A synagogue official kneels before Jesus, says his daughter has just died, and asks Him to lay a hand on her. On the road a woman who has bled twelve years, unclean the whole time, touches the edge of His garment from behind. Under the Law both the woman and the dead girl would have made Jesus unclean. Instead the traffic runs the other way: His holiness heals them both. He calls the girl asleep, the mourners laugh, and He takes her by the hand. Isaiah’s exiles beg God to wake and fight for them, and God answers that He is their comforter. Paul thanks the Father for carrying us out of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son.

November 22  Last Sunday of the Church Year
Isaiah 65:17–25  •  1 Thessalonians 5:1–11  •  Matthew 25:1–13
Ten bridesmaids wait with torches for a bridegroom who takes longer than expected. Five bring a flask of extra oil and five do not, and until midnight nothing distinguishes them: all ten fall asleep. The difference appears only at the cry, when the torches must be relit. The wise were not the ones who stayed awake, since nobody did, but the ones prepared for a longer wait than they had planned. Paul tells the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord arrives like a thief, then turns it into comfort: you are not in the dark, but children of the day. Isaiah ends the year with God creating new heavens and a new earth.

November 29  First Sunday in Advent
Jeremiah 23:5–8  •  Romans 13:11–14  •  Matthew 21:1–9
The new Church Year takes its name from the opening words of its Introit, Ad te levavi, “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.” Advent begins on the Sunday nearest St. Andrew’s Day, and its appointed Gospel is the Palm Sunday text. That is not an error in the calendar. The Church opens her year watching the same King ride into Jerusalem to die, because the coming He accomplished guarantees the coming we await. Jeremiah promises a righteous Branch from the cut stump of David’s line. Paul says the hour has come to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

Gate of Heaven

96th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Our Saviour Church Building

Audio

95th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Our Saviour Church Building

October 6, 2025 AD
The Rev. Lucas Witt, Executive Director, Lutheran Mission Society

Old Testament: I Kings 8:22-30
Epistle: Revelation 21:1-5
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

Click here to listen and subscribe to Pastor McClean’s sermons on iTunes.

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, September, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
September, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It’s that time of year again. Our annual custom of Family Day and celebrating the anniversary of the dedication of our beautiful church building is fast approaching on October 4. Divine Service is at 11:00 AM. We will have with us as preacher and celebrant the Rev. Lucas Witt, Executive Director of the Lutheran Mission Society Compassion Place. Pastor Witt is a great friend to Our Saviour and we look forward to welcoming him and his family. We will of course have our traditional luncheon following the service. Please sign up on the sheet on the piano or call the church office by September 27 so that we may properly prepare the food.

Pastor McClean is back at Beachwood Assisted Living, Catonsville, Maryland. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

The Sunday Bible class has taken up for September a study of “The Blood of the Lamb: Understanding the Levitical Sacrificial System.” In October, we will take up a study of the Five Solas: Sola Scripture (Scripture Alone), Sola Gratia (Grace Alone), Sola Fida (Faith Alone) Solus Christus (Christ Alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone the Glory). We learn that these are not a checklist invented by the reformers, but the grammar of the Gospel itself, answering specific questions about how sinners are reconciled to Christ. We thank Scott Jones for his tireless work in preparing these fascinating studies! We meet each Sunday at 9:45 AM.

We continue to remember in prayer Pastor McClean, Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Albert Bell, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Elizabeth Coats, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James; Gloria Jones, Byron Masterson, Beth McClean, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan, and Steven Gibson.

In addition to Family Day, in October we look forward to celebrating two festivals. On October 18, we observe the Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist. St. Paul calls him “the beloved physician,” and, by the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, in his Gospel and the book of Acts, he wrote more of the New Testament than even St. Paul. We give thanks to God for the work of St. Luke on this Sunday. On the last Sunday in October (October 25) as is our custom, we celebrate the beginning of the Reformation of the Church. This was never intended by Luther or any of the Lutheran church fathers to be a founding of a new church, but rather a restoration of the true Gospel to the Church. In this way, we consider ourselves to be a continuation of the church catholic (universal), which is to say, the church of all times and all places. You can learn more in ‘The Month Ahead’ at the end of this newsletter.

Please see notes below from Bernie Knox about holiday gift cards and the opportunity to give electronically. As the Fall season approaches, be on the lookout in future newsletters for information about our coming celebration of the Advent and Christmas seasons.

See you in church!

In Christ and on behalf of the Church Council,
Paul Techau, Council President

Holiday Gift Cards

Again, this year, OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Certificates to needy families from Waverly School at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are including this reminder in our bulletins and newsletters now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or in an accompanying note that the funds are designated for these Gift Certificates.

We also use the collections taken at our Lenten Soup Suppers to help support our Food Gift Certificates. In 2025, combining the Soup Supper donations and congregational donations, we were able to provide 12 families with a $100 certificate for Thanksgiving and a $40 gift certificate at Christmas. Our four Soup Suppers this year yielded a total of $275 to begin our Gift Certificate Fund.

Please begin now to think about making generous donations. These gifts allow us to assist those less fortunate in providing a special meal for their families at holidays.

Our gifts remind us to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and especially to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all—the birth of our Savior Jesus.

– Bernice Knox

Electronic Tithes and Offerings

Our Saviour members have the option of giving their tithes and offerings electronically if they so choose. At this time three members/families donate in this way. The offering gifts are taken directly from their designated bank account and deposited directly into our special account at the Lutheran Church Extension Fund. Both Jean West, our Financial Secretary, and I receive notification of the deposits monthly so that your giving is recorded by name and amount in her records. As treasurer, I transfer them each month to our Harbor Bank Account.

From your bank account, you may give weekly on Mondays, semi-monthly on the 1st or 15th, or monthly on the 1st or 15th.  If you are interested in this program which Synod calls Joyful Response, please let me know so that I can give you an authorization form to complete. A cancelled check is also required to confirm the giver’s account and routing numbers.

– Bernice Knox

The Month Ahead: October, 2026

Services and Their Readings

The Season: Trinity XIX, St. Luke, and the Reformation
October turns a corner. We begin by observing the anniversary of the dedication of our church building. The Sunday after it falls under the shadow of St. Michael and All Angels, where the readings speak to a Church still under assault. Then two more red days: St. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of the Physician, and the Festival of the Reformation. The paraments are green for the second Sunday and red for the other three, the latter color of the Spirit’s fire and of those who confess under fire.

October 4  96th Anniversary Of The Dedication Of The Evangelical Lutheran Church Of Our Saviour
1 Kings 8:22–3  •  Revelation 21:1–5  •  Luke 19:1–10
The lessons begin by recalling the dedication of God’s original temple in Jerusalem. And, we see in that dedication, Solomon giving God the glory and acknowledging that all the gifts they received in that temple were a fulfillment of God’s promises to his people that he will be with them always. The Epistle gives us a glimpse of the Church Triumphant, where we will dwell with God for all eternity. On this day we give thanks for the beautiful edifice that God has given us and where He is truly present with us in His gifts of Word and Sacrament each week in Divine Service.

October 11  Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
Genesis 28:10–17  •  Ephesians 4:22–28  •  Matthew 9:1–8
Jacob runs for his life, sleeps with a stone for a pillow, and wakes to find that heaven has opened over him and God has promised to go with him wherever he goes. Centuries later four men carry a paralyzed friend to Jesus, who forgives his sins before He heals his legs, and the crowds go home glorifying God for giving such authority to men. That authority is still spoken here every Sunday. Paul draws the daily conclusion: in Baptism the old self was put off and the new self put on, so tell the truth and settle your anger before dark.

October 18  St. Luke, Evangelist
Isaiah 35:5–8  •  2 Timothy 4:5–18  •  Luke 10:1–9
St. Paul calls him “the beloved physician,” and almost everything we know about Luke comes from three of Paul’s verses. One is today’s epistle, written from a Roman cell with execution in view: friends have scattered, one has left outright, and Paul writes, “Luke alone is with me.” He adds that when no one stood by him at his trial, the Lord stood by him. Isaiah promises a day when blind eyes open and the lame leap like deer, and Jesus sends seventy laborers out to heal the sick and say that the kingdom of God has come near. An early writer put it well: this physician left us two books of remedies for the healing of souls rather than bodies.

October 25  The Festival of the Reformation (observed)
Revelation 14:6–7  •  Romans 3:19–28  •  Matthew 11:12–19
On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk and university professor posted Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. He was not founding a church. He was calling for an academic debate about repentance and the sale of indulgences, and the debate escaped the university. Luther was excommunicated, and the confession he could not stop making, that a sinner is justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, reshaped Europe. The festival itself was standardized only in 1667, when the Elector of Saxony declared October 31 an annual festival of the church.

The readings are chosen for bold confession rather than for argument. St. John sees an angel flying at the very top of the sky with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to every nation, tribe, language, and people, and Lutherans have long heard in that flight the restoring of the Gospel in Luther’s own preaching. Romans 3 is the passage that broke a monk and remade the Church: the Law stops every mouth and leaves the world without a defense, and then come the two words that turn history, “but now,” as God declares the guilty righteous for Christ’s sake, apart from anything they have done.

We sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” written while plague swept Wittenberg and Luther himself lay dangerously ill. We call it the battle hymn of the Reformation, but a broadsheet of 1529 called it what it was to those who first sang it: a hymn of comfort. This day is no contest between churches; it celebrates the Word no power on earth has silenced.

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, August, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
August, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The appointed readings for Divine Service in September trace what a life already touched by mercy looks like from the inside: gratitude, trust, hope that reaches past the grave, and humility before God. Each Sunday answers the same quiet question a little differently: now that God has shown us mercy we did not earn, what does it look like to live inside that mercy every day? See ‘The Month Ahead’ for September in this newsletter for a preview of the coming month.

Pastor McClean was released from Mt. Sinai Hospital several weeks ago and has moved to Beachwood Assisted Living in Catonsville. Unfortunately, he was hospitalized again this past week at St. Agnes Hospital. At this time we do not have any additional information, but please continue to keep him in your prayers.

The Sunday Bible class is concluding its study of selected readings from ‘Series A’ of the three-year lectionary at the end of August. Next month, we will take up a study of “The Blood of the Lamb: Understanding the Levitical Sacrificial System.” In this study we will learn that words familiar to us in the Divine Service such as “shed for you for the remission of sins” and “Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world” were originally given to Israel as we find in the book of Leviticus, and that the apostles wrote the pages of the New Testament assuming their readers knew that history. Please join us September 13, 20, and 27 at 9:45 AM to learn about this critical history of the church. There will be no Bible Study on September 6.

Mark your calendars now for Family Day and the 96th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour on October 4. Divine Service is at 11:00 AM. We will have with us as preacher and celebrant the Rev. Lucas Witt, Executive Director of the Lutheran Mission Society Compassion Place. Pastor Witt is a great friend to Our Saviour and we look forward to welcoming him and his family. We will of course have our traditional luncheon following the service. Be on the lookout for more information in the near future.

We are continuing to pursue the Specific Ministry Pastor program for our candidate, Scott Jones. Unfortunately, admission for this fall has proved to be impossible due to the lateness of our application and class size limitations. We have received updated application materials and are proceeding apace to get the application submitted at the earliest opportunity for admission in the fall of 2027. In the meantime, we have been fortunate to have our pulpit filled every Sunday with strong and faithful preachers who have given generously of their time so we may receive God’s precious gifts in His Divine Service and will continue to strive to have that each and every Sunday.

There is one more Free Flea market for 2026, on September 12, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Please see Judy Volkman for details or to volunteer to help.

We continue to remember in prayer Pastor McClean, Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Albert Bell, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Elizabeth Coats, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Sherry James; Gloria Jones, Byron Masterson, Beth McClean, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan, and Steven Gibson.

See you in church!

In Christ and on behalf of the Church Council,
Paul Techau, Council President

The Month Ahead: September, 2026

Services and Their Readings

The Season: Trinity XIV–XVII: Living in God’s Mercy

September carries the Church through four Sundays that trace what a life already touched by mercy looks like from the inside: gratitude, trust, hope that reaches past the grave, and humility before God. A healed leper turns back to say thank you, a widow’s jar of flour never runs empty, another widow watches her only son called back from death at the city gate, and dinner guests learn that only God decides who is exalted and who is brought low. Each Sunday answers the same quiet question a little differently: now that God has shown us mercy we did not earn, what does it look like to live inside that mercy every day?

September 6  Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

Proverbs 4:10–23  •  Galatians 5:16–24  •  Luke 17:11–19
As Jesus travels along the border between Samaria and Galilee, ten men crippled by leprosy call out to Him from a distance, the only place their disease allows them to stand. Jesus sends them to the priests, and as they go, they are healed, every one of them. Only one turns back, and he is a Samaritan, a foreigner, falling at Jesus’ feet to give thanks. Jesus asks where the other nine have gone, then tells the grateful man that his faith has saved him. Paul’s letter to the Galatians shows what that saved life looks like from the inside: not a chaotic list of sins we manage to avoid, but a single, unified fruit that the Holy Spirit grows in us, love, joy, peace, and the rest, springing up wherever faith clings to Christ alone.

September 13  Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

1 Kings 17:8–16  •  Galatians 5:25–6:10  •  Matthew 6:24–34
During a famine that has left her gathering the last sticks for a final meal, a widow in pagan territory is asked by the prophet Elijah for bread she does not have to spare. She obeys anyway, and her jar of flour and jug of oil do not run dry until the rains finally return. Jesus points His hearers to that same trustworthy God when He tells them not to be anxious about food or clothing: if the Father feeds the birds and clothes the grass of the field, He will surely care for those made in His own image. Paul closes with a practical push: because we do not know how much time remains, we should never grow weary of doing good to everyone, and especially to the household of faith.

September 20  Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

1 Kings 17:17–24  •  Ephesians 3:13–21  •  Luke 7:11–17
The same widow of Zarephath who trusted Elijah for her daily bread now watches her only son die, and in her grief she asks the prophet whether he has come only to bring her sin to judgment. Elijah carries the boy to his own room and pleads with the Lord for his life, and the boy breathes again. Years later, outside the village of Nain, Jesus meets another widow burying her only son, and where Elijah could only pray, Jesus simply speaks: “Young man, I say to you, arise.” The boy sits up, and the crowd, trembling, confesses that God has visited His people. Paul’s soaring prayer for the Ephesians asks that very God to root and ground us in a love that reaches farther than we can measure, filling us with nothing less than the fullness of God Himself.

September 27  Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Proverbs 25:6–14  •  Ephesians 4:1–6  •  Luke 14:1–11
Long before Jesus ever sat down for a meal, Solomon warned his son never to seize the place of honor at the king’s table, since it is far better to be invited up than to be publicly sent down. Jesus brings that old proverb to life at a Sabbath dinner, watching the guests jockey for the best seats before He tells them plainly: take the lowest place, for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. It is God, not the other guests, who decides where each of us finally belongs. Paul begs the Ephesians to walk out that same humility in ordinary life, bearing patiently with one another in love, eager to guard the unity the Holy Spirit has already given the whole Church: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all.

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, July, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
July, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we move deeper into the Trinity season, we see in the lessons of the church year that God shows mercy to people who cannot save themselves. In one lesson after another, we see this truth unfold. See the ‘Month Ahead’ for August at the end of the newsletter for a preview.

Pastor McClean was hospitalized again at the beginning of this month. He is at Mt. Sinai. We do not have much additional information at this time, but please pray that God would give him strength and healing.

The Sunday Bible class is continuing a study of selected readings from ‘Series A’ of the three-year lectionary each Sunday morning at 9:35 AM and we continue with the 8:30 AM Sunday spoken Matins services throughout the summer.

The need is still great to support our neighbors in need. Boxes for items for both the GEDCO Food Pantry and the Helping Up Mission can be found inside the door near the church office. Please give as you are able.

We are continuing to pursue the Specific Ministry Pastor program for our candidate, Scott Jones. That our request for his admittance to the program came late for the fall term is complicating matters, along with a change in leadership of the program and other revisions that occurred this summer. But we are continuing to pursue his earliest possible admission into the program. Look for additional updates in the coming months.

We have two more Free Flea markets for 2026. They are, according to our custom, each second Saturday of the month through September (August 8, September 12), 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Please see Judy Volkman for details or to volunteer to help.

We continue to remember in prayer Pastor McClean, Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Albert Bell, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Elizabeth Coats, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Sherry James; Gloria Jones, Byron Masterson, Beth McClean, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan, and Steven Gibson.

We are into the dog days of summer, which means it is not always comfortable in church. But compared to many Christians around the world, we are still extremely blessed in the beautiful church that God has given us. And each week we have the opportunity to receive God’s greatest gifts in His Word and Sacrament. Please do come to receive these gifts if you are at all able.

See you in church!

In Christ and on behalf of the Church Council,
Paul Techau, Council President

The Month Ahead: August, 2026

Services and Their Readings

The Season: Trinity IX–XIII: Mercy for the Helpless

August carries the Church deeper into the green season of Trinitytide, through five Sundays that hold up one truth from many sides: God shows mercy to people who cannot save themselves. We meet a manager about to lose everything, a city that squandered the day of God’s visit, a tax collector who can only beg for mercy, a deaf man who cannot even ask, and a traveler left half dead on a lonely road. In every case the Lord comes to the helpless with a kindness they have not earned. As the month closes with the Good Samaritan, that same mercy turns outward, reshaping how we handle our money, our worship, our prayers, and our neighbor.

August 2     Ninth Sunday after Trinity

2 Samuel 22:26–34  •  1 Corinthians 10:6–13  •  Luke 16:1–13
Jesus tells a story that startles everyone who hears it: a manager, caught wasting his employer’s money and about to be fired, scrambles to secure his future before his last day. Jesus does not praise the man’s dishonesty; He praises his shrewd foresight, and He presses us to be every bit as clever about eternal things, using whatever earthly wealth we have to do good. No servant, He warns, can serve both God and money. Paul adds a steadying word from Israel’s years in the wilderness: God is faithful, and with every temptation He opens a way of escape so that we can stand.

August 9     Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Jeremiah 7:1–11  •  1 Corinthians 12:1–11  •  Luke 19:41–48
As Jesus comes within sight of Jerusalem, the shouts of Palm Sunday give way to tears: the city has missed the day of God’s visit, and its King weeps over the ruin to come. He enters the temple and drives out those who had turned a house of prayer into a den of robbers, echoing Jeremiah, who centuries earlier warned the people against hiding behind the temple walls while their hearts ran after sin. Our security was never in buildings or routines; it rests in repentance and living faith. Paul reminds us, meanwhile, that the one Spirit hands out a rich variety of gifts, each given for the good of the whole church.

August 16   Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Genesis 4:1–15  •  1 Corinthians 15:1–10  •  Luke 18:9–14
Two men go up to the temple to pray, and they could not be more different. One, a respected and religious man, thanks God that he is nothing like the sinners around him; the other, a tax collector his neighbors despise, will not even lift his eyes, but only beats his chest and prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus startles His hearers by declaring that the tax collector, and not the proud man, went home right with God, for he threw himself on God’s mercy instead of his own record. Paul confesses the very same thing about himself: once a fierce enemy of the church, he is now an apostle entirely by grace, “by the grace of God I am what I am.”

August 23   Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

Isaiah 29:17–24  •  2 Corinthians 3:4–11  •  Mark 7:31–37
In Gentile country a crowd brings Jesus a man who is deaf and can barely speak. Because the man cannot hear a single word, Jesus speaks to him through touch, placing His fingers in the man’s ears and touching his tongue; then He looks to heaven, sighs over a broken world, and says one word: “Be opened.” At once the man hears and speaks clearly, and the astonished crowd can only exclaim, “He has done all things well,” unknowingly confessing Jesus as the Creator come to mend His world. Isaiah had promised this very day, and Paul assures us that the new covenant of the life-giving Spirit shines far brighter than the old covenant of stone.

August 30 Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

2 Chronicles 28:8–15  •  Galatians 3:15–22  •  Luke 10:23–37
A lawyer asks Jesus how to earn eternal life, and Jesus points him to the Law: love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. When the man asks just who his neighbor is, Jesus answers with the story of a traveler robbed, beaten, and left for dead, passed by two religious men and rescued at last by a despised Samaritan who bandages his wounds, carries him to an inn, and pays for his care. The Law’s command to do this and live only shows how far we fall short, and it points us to the true Good Samaritan, Christ Himself, who found us dying and bound up our wounds. Paul explains that God’s promise to save by faith came long before the Law and can never be canceled by it: the inheritance is a gift, not a wage we collect.