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.