OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
in the City of Baltimore

JANUARY,  2019

Sunday, January 6
THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD
FESTIVAL DIVINE SERVICE – 11:00 A.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord. This year we have the happy circumstance that January 6th falls on Sunday — I say happy because nowadays, when this great festival does not occur on a Sunday, it sadly tends to pass by all but unnoticed. I like to think of the great festivals of the Christian Year as rays of light on life’s sometimes dreary way, and so I think it a pity when these bright festivals are ignored for no good reason. And so I have throughout my ministry insisted on the observance of Epiphany no matter what day of the week it might fall on.

The Feast of the Epiphany is in a sense the climax of the Christmas season. Epiphany – which means appearing, revealing, manifestation, showing forth – celebrates the appearing of Christ as God and Savior of the whole world. Among Eastern Orthodox Christians Epiphany is kept in celebration of the Baptism of Jesus at which the heavenly Father declared Him to be His Son and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, so revealing Him to be God in the flesh, One of the Holy Trinity. Among Western Christians (among them us Lutherans) Epiphany has since ancient times been kept in celebration of the coming of the Gentile wise men to worship the Christ Child and offer Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. The coming of the wise men is both a fulfillment of ancient prophecy – “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:3) — and also itself a prophecy of the gathering of all nations into the redeemed people of God, the one holy Church. Although we Western Christians do not celebrate Christ’s Baptism as principle theme of the Epiphany festival, the Baptism of Jesus, together with the changing of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana, have continued to be a part of our Epiphany celebration as can be seen in the hymns of this festival. Dr. Luther translated from Latin into German the Epiphany hymn of the century poet, Coelius Sedulius, a hymn which has two stanzas about the magi, one stanza about the Baptism of Jesus, and one about the miracle at Cana: in all of these events the deity of our Lord is revealed, each is indeed an epiphany of His godhead. This wonderful hymn is found in all of our Synod’s hymnals: the German Church Hymnal for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (Hymn 60); The Lutheran Hymnal, the red book (Hymn 131); Lutheran Worship, the blue book (Hymn 81); and in our new hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book (Hymn 399) And we will of course be singing this hymn as part of our Epiphany celebration. In the coming of the magi to worship Him, in His baptism in the Jordan River, in His changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana Jesus appears as the Savior of the world. And if you were to ask me for some words of Holy Scripture which sum up the meaning of Epiphany, I might well refer you to the 11^th verse of the 2^nd chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Titus: “The grace of God has appeared” – the original Greek texts here reads: “epiphanee” (whence we get the English word “epiphany”) – for the salvation of all people…”

On Sunday January 27 there will be an Epiphany Service of Lessons and Carols at 4 0’clock in the afternoon. We will hear readings from Holy Scripture concerning the Epiphany of Christ and will sing hymns and carols of the Epiphany season. We will have a guest organist, Matthew Machemer, who is the Associate Kantor at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There will also be a quartet including students of the Peabody Conservatory. A reception will follow. Plan now on attending this festival and invite your friends and neighbors to come. The Choral Vespers we had in connection with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and the 125th Anniversary of Our Saviour Church was a happy occasion and I am sure that that will also be true of the upcoming Epiphany Lessons and Carols.

Those of you who remember Pastor Jason Wolter (who served as vacancy pastor at Our Saviour 2006-2007) will be happy to hear that he will be in the Baltimore/Washington area later this month for the annual March for Life and will be joining us for the Divine Service on Sunday, January 20th. He tells me he loved his time in this congregation and looks forward to seeing you.

When Our Saviour Church — then known as Jackson Square Church because of its location – left its old building near John Hopkins Hospital in 1919, the building was purchased by Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church which still uses it as its place of worship. This year they are celebrating their one hundredth anniversary and have been in touch with us asking for information about the old building. They have also sent us a copy of a page from The Lutheran Witness describing the dedication of the Jackson Square Church in August 1892 and together with that they included a wonderful full color picture of the painting which hung over the altar at Jackson Square and which our congregation then gave to Holy Trinity in 1919. I had never before seen this painting of the risen Lord; I think it is a wonderful painting. Ever since I became pastor here at Our Saviour I’ve wanted to arrange for members who are interested to visit the old building. But now that I have seen a photograph of this wonderful painting I am even more eager to arrange for that visit! Do let me know if you would be interested (410.554.9994 – charlesmcclean42@gmail.com).A suggestion has also been made that we have an artist make a copy of the painting for use here in our present Church building.

I want to take this opportunity to thank members for their Christmas cards and gifts and also thank the congregation for its Christmas gift to me. I also must thank all those who decorated the Church for Christmas and also our organist Marie Herrington who arranged substitute organists to play here while she was visiting her family for the Christmas holidays. The substitutes were John Igoe, Sergey Morozov, Kathleen Bird, and David Sexton. Marie returns on January 13^th.

Do remember in your prayers all those whose names appear in the Sunday bulletin and indeed remember all members of our congregation and those the Lord God will send to us. Queenie Hardaway is now living at what used to be called the Augsburg Lutheran Home and now is known as Augsburg Village. I always come away from a visit with her in very good cheer because she is a cheerful person. God bless her and God bless us everyone!

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

THE BELLS OF OUR SAVIOUR

You may have noticed that our lovely tower bells have not played recently. We have attempted to have the bells repaired, but the mechanism is 60 years old and is in need of a complete renovation. McShane, the company that installed our bells, has given us an estimate of about $20,000 to do the work. We are continuing to research approaches for the renovation, but in preparation, we have begun a special fund for the repairs in order to return the cherished bells to working order for decades to come. Please mark your donation for “Tower Bells.”
– Mary Techau

ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE

THE 46TH ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE will be Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.
This year’s theme is ‘Unique from day one.’ Join ‘Lutherans for Life’ at 1:00pm as the group marches up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court and Capitol Building. It’s an opportunity to meet other Lutherans from around the country and enjoy singing hymns and supporting life. www.lutheransforlife.org for more information.
– Mary Techau

WORKS OF MERCY

Regarding our Christmas food drive for needy families, donations from the congregation exceeded our goal of $330. This means that we did not have to tap into the church general fund, as the Counsel was prepared to do. We did not receive any outside funds. To our faithful and generous church members, many, many thanks for the outpouring of monetary gifts which enabled us to purchase the food gift cards, Eleven, $30 cards were purchased from Aldi’s supermarket. On Thursday, December 19, the cards were presented to the social worker at Waverly Elementary/ Middle School, where they were presented to the head of the designated families. The cards allowed the families to supplement their usual food items with a few extras of their own choosing. Hopefully, their Christmas was made merrier because of your gifts. As stated above, the giving exceeded our goal, this blessed position will give us a starting point for future Thanksgiving and Christmas giving.

Helping Up Mission: We did not make a delivery to Helping Up Mission during Christmas because there were so few grooming items since our fall delivery. It is hoped that we will have a healthy supply of items when we make our planned spring delivery. I believe that we all are aware of the stellar reputation and high success rate of this Christian based residential men’s recovery program. Towards that end, the need is ongoing for socks, underwear, washcloths, tooth paste, shaving cream, lotion, deodorant, foot power, etc. Thank you for remembering these men by continuing to provide them with a few essential items on their needs list. Because of your care and compassion this program will continue to count its successes.
– Quilla Downs

Our Saviour Lutheran Church
3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-235-9553
November, 2018

Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday, November 4th. Put your clocks back.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For more than a thousand years November 1st has been observed as All Saints Day. Here at Our Saviour we observe this festival on the first Sunday in Novembers In keeping this festival we rejoice in the “blest communion, fellowship divine” of all who belong to Christ, Because He is the risen Lord, not even death can divide the Church which is His mystical Body — the struggling Church here on earth and the Church at rest in paradise. I love these ‘words of Saint Paul:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every days For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal, (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

On this festival we remember not only the great saints of the Church, those who have been “the chosen vessels of God’s grace, the lights of the world in their several generations” but also our own loved ones now at rest with the saints. We will as always especially remember those members of our congregation who have fallen asleep in the Lord since last All Saints Day.

I think that everyone who was present on Family Day had a thoroughly enjoyable time. I thank everyone who helped make this possible, especially Bernie Knox and her family,

The Baltimore City Historical Society held its 18th Annual History Honors event here at Our Saviour on Saturday, October 27 ÜI. It was very well attended and I think much enjoyed. I had the pleasure of seeing for the first time since graduation — 59 years ago! – a City College High School classmate, Matt Crenson, now retired from teaching history at Johns Hopkins University where he also served as Associate Dean and Acting Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. I think I must read his most recent book: “Baltimore: A Political History” (Johns Hopkins University Press,) It was also a pleasure to meet Wayne Schaumburg who grew up at Our Saviour and still gets together with people who were in the Church youth group in the early ’60s. Our Church has been on the register of historic buildings in Baltimore for almost a year now. There will soon be a permanent sign taking note of this on the 33rd Street side of the Church buildings

Last Sunday we kept the Festival of the Reformation. We sang four great hymns of Martin Luther. Joshua Rystedt led the adult Bible class as he will also on the first two Sundays in November. He is doing this to fulfill some requirements which will then make it possible for him to go to seminary and prepare for ordination to the pastoral office. Joshua is leading us in a study of hope as that is taught in the Holy Scriptures. It was a joy to welcome him together with his wife and three young children! It is quite appropriate to consider the topic of hope as we now approach the end of the Church Year in which the readings from Holy Scripture direct our attention to the Last Things, to that great hope for the coming again in glory of the risen Lord to raise the dead and make all things new.

Saturday, November 10th, will be the last free flea market of this year, 9:00 A.M. to 12 Noon, We of course need winter clothing for men and women, boys and girls, also used household items. The November flee market will also have a Christmas theme. So if you have Christmas decorations or other holiday items, try to get them to Judy Volkman by this coming Sunday, November 5flh.

I’m sure we all miss the playing of the bells in the Church tower. Something has gone wrong with the mechanism that plays them and we are in fact facing a rather costly repair job, roughly $20,000. The Church Council has decided that among other things a fund will be established for this purpose. You may contribute by writing a check and plainly marking it “Bells.” We are also exploring the possibility of grants

Mention of the bells brings to mind our organist emeritus, Don Weber, who played them for more than a half century! Don now lives at 2813 Woodland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21215. His birthday is November 18th It would be wonderful if everyone could send him a birthday card! Let’s do it! We want Don to know that we love him and have not forgotten him.

We have yet to find a new sexton since the death of our very faithful Mr. Hawkins some months ago. We thought we had someone for the position but that did not work out. If you know of anyone who might be interested in such a job, please let me or Gary Watson (4100653.9290) or Paul Techau (703.531.0762) know.

Gary Watson has been working on a project to replace the single wrought iron railing at the west door of the Church with two identical railings on each side. This change will make it possible to use a portable ramp for anyone in a wheel chair. It will also make it less difficult to carry the casket from the church at funerals.

No one likes to dwell on the thought of funerals, but I want to take this opportunity to say that it is useful to put in writing whatever wishes you may have about your own funeral so that when the time comes your loved ones will know your wishes: hymns, readings from Holy Scripture, etc, I would be very glad to sit down and discuss all this if you wish. My phone number is 410.554.9994; I regularly check the answering machine.

On a happier note, several of you have suggested that we recognize birthdays, wedding anniversaries, etc, both in the Sunday bulletin and in the prayers of the Divine Service. To make this possible, we need to have everyone send this information to the church through the mail (3301 The Alameda, Baltimore 21218) or email (oslbaltirmore@yahoo.com). We unfortunately do not have all of this information readily available. So we need everyone’s help!

Thanksgiving Day this year is November 22nd. Here at Our Saviour we will celebrate our national day of Thanksgiving with Divine Service on Thanksgiving Eve at 7:30 P.M. When I was a boy, the churches were thronged with worshippers on Thanksgiving Day, but for far too many years now attendance has steadily and precipitously declined. I think we all rightly lament the always growing secularism of this exceedingly troubled age: the neglect of worship on Thanksgiving is just another example of this sad reality, Is it too much to ask that, out of the twenty-four hours of Thanksgiving, we spend just one hour in God’s house, together publicly thanking Him for all His blessings to us as a nation? If you are hesitant to drive at night, please call me (410654.9994) and I will make every effort to see that someone can drive you to Church and then back to your home In the words of Henry Alford’s (1810-1871) delightful Thanksgiving hymn, “Come, ye thankful people, come!”

The Lord’s people are in the Lord’s house for the Lord’s own service — the Holy Eucharist — every Lord’s Day.

I ask you to keep me in your prayers. You are in mine.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

WORKS OF MERCY

On October 26 we made a generous delivery of men’s toiletries and clothing items to Helping Up Mission. The gifts were provided by members of our congregation, from our Christian friends outside of our congregation, and from the proceeds collected from the Church Poor Boxes. The receiving box is now empty; to the extent that you are able, please continue to help us support the worthy and successful work conducted on behalf of recovering men at the Mission. The need is ongoing for washcloths, tooth paste, shaving cream, lotions, etc. However, it was reported that underwear, socks and deodorant are of critical need. We welcome new, but menswear need not to be new; clean, gently used items are acceptable. We are hopeful that sufficient items will be available for a Christmas delivery.

We will be collecting Thanksgiving food items for needy families within the Waverly Elementary/Middle School Community. Any nonperishable Thanksgiving food item will be set aside for designated families. We do not yet have family information, but we usually provide for 10 families during Thanksgiving and Christmas, Many thanks to all for your consistent remembrance of men at the Mission and for our neiøhbors during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
– Quilla Downs