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, 101 North Beachwood Avenue, Catonsville, MD 21228. The house phone there is (410) 455-0492. 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.

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, June, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
June, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The beginning of the Trinity season focuses on what scholars call “the call to the kingdom of grace,” that is, God’s invitation to His kingdom, who is invited, and what it costs to refuse. These Sundays take us from the bedrock of salvation by faith alone, through the great feast God spreads for the undeserving, to the relentless mercy of a God who seeks out what is lost. As is our local custom, we will on the last Sunday of this month remember God’s grace to his church in the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. On June 25, 1530 seven Lutheran princes and two free imperial cities presented this Confession of their faith to Emperor Charles V in the City of Augsburg. We remember and give thanks for this great Confession of the one Faith of Christ’s one holy Church, and we pray that we may through all our days remain steadfast in this Confession. For a look ahead to July, see this months ‘The Month Ahead’ feature at the end of this newsletter.

At the May meeting of the Voters Assembly, a resolution was unanimously adopted asking Scott Jones to enter the SMP program, if at all possible in the Fall of 2026. Unfortunately, we are past the application deadline for the fall semester. This was unavoidable as there was no reasonable way to act on such a resolution prior to the regular Spring voters meeting. However, we are working with the district and Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, IN to get an exception to the normal deadline for the fall semester. We are arranging for Scott to have a vicarage interview with the Southeastern District and are in contact with the seminary admissions office to make this happens. It is a work in progress and we will endeavor to keep you informed of any new developments.

We recently received an inquiry from St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Meherrin, VA. Our Saviour has a special relationship with St. Matthew as many of the members of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Baltimore, came from Meherrin. St. Matthew, Baltimore merged with the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour in 1973 to form our present congregation of Our Saviour. Saint Matthew Church, Meherrin is in the process of major renovations to repair termite damage. Our Saviour made a donation to this effort in April. Per a request at the May Voters Assembly, we are including this information in the newsletter in case any members would like to make individual contributions. Checks should be made payable to Saint Matthew Lutheran Church and mailed to PO Box 91, Meherrin, VA 23954. You can note ‘Restoration Project’ on your check.

At this meeting we also elected the members of the church council for the coming year. They will be installed at Divine Service on June 26. A budget for the 2027 fiscal year that starts on July 1 was adopted which has some challenges. Please see Gabe Purviance’s note at the end of this letter for more information and how you can help.

The Sunday Bible class is continuing a study of selected readings from ‘Series A’ of the three-year lectionary (Our Saviour uses the historic one-year lectionary at its Sunday services). The class meets each Sunday morning at 9:45 AM. In addition, we will continue the 8:30 AM Sunday spoken Matins services throughout the summer.

We are continuing to support the GEDCO Food Pantry and for the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for items for both are found inside the door from the parking lot north of the church. Needless to say, the need remains great. And remember that you can provide help for suffering people around the world through our Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can call our Synod’s Contributor Care Line: (888)930-4438 or you can give online through this secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can send a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, Missouri 63166-6861. Make your check payable to “The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod” and write “LCMS World Relief and Human Care” on the memo line.

We are continuing with our Free Flea markets each second Saturday of the month through September (June 13, July 11, 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.

When you come to the church, you will see that a lot is happening. We have fresh paint and new artwork is several parts of the building. This is thanks to the efforts of Scott Jones and his family. We are grateful for their efforts to help beautify our building. And we also want to thank Merton Masterson for his going above and beyond the call this past week. As some of you know, we had a little issue with the organ last weekend which turned out not to be the organ at all, but rather it was a BGE problem with our electrical supply. Merton gracefully agreed to spend more than twelve hours at the church waiting for a BGE crew to become available to fix the problem, which was accomplished this past Wednesday (June 11).

See you in church!

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

Stewardship and the Our Saviour FY2027 Budget

Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”  has always been one of my favorite hymns. When we sing the words, “a bulwark never failing,” I think of Our Saviour Lutheran Church standing watch at the corner of 33rd Street and The Alameda — a fortress of faith, hope, and protection for all of God’s people.

At the May Voters Assembly meeting, a budget for FY2027 (which starts July 1) was adopted that shows $106,575 in expenses against an expected income on the order of $95,000. This obviously is a deficit budget. While we have made every effort to minimize costs and hope to find additional savings as the new fiscal year progresses, the costs of maintaining our beautiful church, our fortress, never diminish. Thus as you consider your offerings for the coming year, we would ask that you consider this situation and, if at all possible, increase your weekly or monthly giving. In this way you can help strengthen our bulwark and keep Our Saviour as a beacon of the Gospel here in Baltimore for years to come.

We are truly blessed by God’s abundant grace and by the faithful generosity of this congregation. Thank you for helping keep our fortress strong.

– Gabriel Purviance, Stewardship Director

The Month Ahead: July, 2026

Services and Their Readings

The Season: Trinity V–VIII: Called and Kept by Christ

July’s four Sundays trace the life of the disciple from first calling to final warning. The Fifth Sunday shows Jesus turning a fishing boat into a pulpit and calling ordinary men to leave everything behind. The Sixth stands at Sinai and the Sermon on the Mount, where the Law that demands the whole inner life meets the Baptism that delivers what we cannot achieve. The Seventh and Eighth round out the month with God’s overwhelming provision for all nations and a sober reminder that the only true test of a teacher is the fruit of his doctrine.

July 5  Fifth Sunday after Trinity

1 Kings 19:11–21  •  1 Peter 3:8–15  •  Luke 5:1–11

After his great victory over the prophets of Baal, Elijah has collapsed in terror, convinced he is the only faithful person left. God meets him not in wind, earthquake, or fire but in a quiet whisper, then sends him right back to work with the assurance that seven thousand others still stand firm. In the Gospel, Jesus overwhelms Simon’s boat with a miraculous catch so vast the nets begin to break, and when Peter falls to his knees and confesses his sin, Jesus responds not with condemnation but with a calling: from now on, you will be catching people alive. Peter’s letter brings that same pattern into our own lives—called to bless when cursed, always ready to give a gentle account of the hope we carry.

July 12  Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Exodus 20:1–17  •  Romans 6:1–11  •  Matthew 5:17–26

The Ten Commandments open not with a demand but with a declaration: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” God delivers first and commands second. Jesus then takes those commandments in the Sermon on the Mount and drives them inward: to harbor anger is already to be guilty of murder, and to treat a brother with contempt is to stand in danger of judgment. Paul’s letter to Rome tells us what God has done about that: in Baptism, He buried our sinful nature with Christ and raised us to new life, so that sin no longer has the final word over who we are.

July 19  Seventh Sunday after Trinity

Genesis 2:7–17  •  Romans 6:19–23  •  Mark 8:1–9

Genesis 2 gives us an intimate portrait of creation: not the God of distant cosmic power but the potter who kneels in the dirt, shapes the man from the dust, and breathes life directly into his nostrils, placing him in a garden whose name means “delight.” In the Gospel, Jesus is in Gentile territory when four thousand people run out of food, and He feeds them all from seven loaves, giving thanks over the bread in language the Church will recognize at every Lord’s Supper. Paul puts the contrast plainly: sin pays a wage, and that wage is death; God gives a free gift, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

July 26  Eighth Sunday after Trinity

Jeremiah 23:16–29  •  Romans 8:12–17  •  Matthew 7:15–23

Jeremiah warns that false prophets feed the people comfortable visions from their own imaginations—straw instead of wheat. Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount with the same warning: false teachers look exactly like sheep from the outside, and the only reliable test is the fruit of their teaching, whether they confess the true Christ or quietly substitute something more agreeable. What protects the Church is not our own vigilance but the Word of God, which Jeremiah describes as fire and as a hammer that breaks rock. Paul adds the great comfort: the Spirit testifies alongside our own spirit that we are children of God and heirs with Christ, and no wolf can take that inheritance from us.