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Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, July/August, 2025

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
July/August, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In my sermon this past Sunday, the Festival of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, I noted that the festivals of the apostles remind us that the Church’s life and work rests on the witness of the apostles to the resurrection of the Savior, the ground of all our life and hope. “I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church” – as we say in the Nicene Creed. In this Church Year three of the apostles’ days happen to fall on Sunday: August 24th is Saint Bartholomew the Apostle’s Day and September 21st is Saint Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist’s Day. And the light we see in their life and witness is the light of the risen Lord. So just as every Sunday is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, in the same way every saint’s day is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and so, like the Lord’s Day, a day of joy. How we 21st century Christians need to recover that sense of the Lord’s Day as a day of joy! We gather on Sunday morning not to remember some long departed friend, we come to meet our risen Lord and Savior in the Sacrament of His love:

O sacred banquet
in which Christ is received,
the memory of His passion is renewed,
the mind is filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory is given unto us.

In the prayer that is frequently prayed following the distribution of Holy Communion, a prayer written by Dr. Luther for his German Mass of 1526, we pray that God would strengthen us through the Sacrament “in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another.” We pray that the love we have received may be reflected in how we live among ourselves, how we live in our families and the people we work with and all the people who come into our lives, especially those who are in need – often in desperate need! So remember to keep bringing food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission in its work with homeless men and women. As the terrible wars continue in Ukraine and in the Middle East and other parts of the world, remember that you can help through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to the LCMS and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through the secure website lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

And do remember our Free Flea Markets on July 12th and August 9th, 9:00A.M. – 12 Noon. They continue to meet a real need, and we always need help in welcoming our visitors and distributing the items they choose.

I urge you to read and take to heart Gabe Purviance’s Note, which appears at the end of this newsletter. Over the last year or so we have been in the process of converting all (most all) fluorescent lights in the church to LED. This will reduce electricity usage and also simplify maintenance, since we can expect these lights to last a very long time. Our members have been doing this themselves by removing the ballast and old lights from the fixtures and replacing them with LED tubes. The project is now nearly complete with just a few more lights in the kitchen in need of updating. Many thanks to those who have helped with this project including Andy Layman, Merton Masterson, Gabe Purviance, Paul Techau, Gary Watson and Wayne West. We owe them a great debt of gratitude! Our congregation is certainly blessed with willing workers!

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Thurman Frey, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Mary Mokris, Elliott Robertson, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

I hope that during these summer days you will find time for rest and refreshment. I also hope that you will not take the Church for granted. But it seems that in so many parts of the world – thankfully not all! – there is a deplorable neglect of worship on the Lord’s Day which can in no way be justified or excused. Every Lord’s Day Christ provides a heavenly Banquet for us as we continue on our pilgrimage through this present world to the life of the world to come. Will you ignore His gracious invitation or will you come gladly to the Feast?

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

As Christians we know the Church is everlasting. Unfortunately, church buildings are not and require maintenance and repair to weather the winds of time. As members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church we have been blessed with a house of worship that was built with the highest quality and craftmanship of its time! However, that time was almost a century ago. Although she still stands triumphant at the intersection of 33rd & The Alameda, welcoming all to worship, she needs our help!

Mechanical systems and materials have extended beyond expectation, but now are coming to need repair, updating, or replacement. A short while back the heating system blower had to be replaced to maintain warmth in the sanctuary. Unfortunately, we have had a couple of additional significant maintenance issues that have come up:

  • First is the roof over the education building, which is mostly slate and in good condition. However, we have had some water leaking in the upstairs hallway. The leak has been traced to the top center section of the roof, which is a flat and needs to be replaced to prevent additional water damage to the church. The replacement cost is $4,500.
  • Additionally, the window in Pastor’s study has deteriorated, and is barely functional. It does not open properly, and is not sealed well, making it hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The window needs to be replaced with an updated vinyl window. The replacement cost is $3,282.

Through faithful stewardship the church has been able to advance these repairs, but in order to be prepared for the next substantial repair we need your help to restore these funds as soon as possible! Your contribution will allow us to address needed repairs before they become even more costly catastrophic failures.

Please ensure that Our Saviour continues to stand steadfast and triumphant by making a donation to help defray these costs. Please note your checks memo “Building Maintenance.”

Thank you very much,
– Gabriel  Purviance, Stewardship Director

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, June, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
June, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his letter to his young co-worker Timothy, Saint Paul says, “Great indeed is the mystery of our religion, God was manifested in the flesh” (I Timothy 3:16). Although God has from all eternity been the one God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – it was only in the coming into this world of God the Son that the mystery of the Holy Trinity was clearly revealed: at Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River the Father declares Him to be His beloved Son and the Holy Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Trinity is an inscrutable mystery, and three hundred years passed before the Church found words to safeguard the mystery. This Year of Our Lord 2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea which did just that. A great controversy had broken out when Arius, a presbyter in the Church at Alexandria in Egypt, denied that Jesus is truly God. To resolve the increasingly bitter controversy the Emperor Constantine summoned a council to meet in the City of Nicaea – present-day Iznik in Turkey – about 90 miles southwest of Constantinople – present-day Istanbul. The Council of over 300 bishops met from late May through July of the year 325 and finally adopted a Creed which confesses that Jesus is “of one substance” with the Father, meaning that Jesus is truly God. Only God can save this lost and fallen world! The Creed adopted at Nicaea, which safeguards the truth that Jesus is truly God, was expanded at the Council of Constantinople in the year 380 in a way that safeguards the truth that the Holy Spirit is truly God the Lord. And so the great mystery of the Holy Trinity was safeguarded and confessed. And the Creed adopted at Nicaea (as expanded at Constantinople) has for a thousand years been confessed at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist as it is to this day in the Divine Service. The Holy Trinity is the God who made and saved us! The Holy Spirit leads us to Christ who leads us to the Father. And so in the Introit for Trinity Sunday (which this year falls on June 15th) the church sings: “Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the Undivided Unity: let us give glory to Him because He hath shown His mercy to us.”

The May issue of our Synod’s periodical, The Lutheran Witness, has some excellent articles about the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea which I highly recommend. You can subscribe to the Witness by calling  800-325-3040 (option 2) or by emailing lwsubscriptions@cph.org.

Three of the five Sundays in June are festivals of the Church Year. June 8th is the Feast of Pentecost which together with Christmas and Easter is one of the three chief festivals of the Church Year. June 15th is Trinity Sunday and June 29th is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul..

The Sunday Bible Class will be suspended for the summer beginning on June 15th and will resume on October 5th. We have been studying the Smalcald Articles, one of the documents in which the Lutheran Church confesses its faith in the truth revealed in the written Word of God.

David Dowdy fell asleep in the Lord on Tuesday May 27th. His funeral will be held in church on Tuesday, June 10th, at 11:00 A.M. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon him and may the Savior comfort all who mourn His departure with the hope of the resurrection.

At the spring voters meeting the budget for fiscal year 2025/26 was approved and the Church Council was elected: Bernie Knox, Merton Masterson, Gabe Purviance, Paul and Mary Techau, Gary Watson, Wayne and Jean West. Andy Layman, who was our lay delegate to the recent Southeastern District convention, gave a brief report on the convention. The repairs to our heating system are expected to be completed this month but we are still trying to replenish our cash reserves.

Remember to bring food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission. The need remains great as does the opportunity to help as we are able. Those of us who know nothing of food insecurity and homelessness are obligated by the Law of Love to help those who suffer want. Remember too that you can help people suffering from war and all kinds of disasters through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through the secure website lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Mary Mokris, Pastor Elliott Robertson, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

Remember that our second Free Flea Market of this year will be held on Saturday, June 14th, 9:00 A.M. – 12 Noon. We always need volunteers to help and greet our visitors.

I suspect that everyone will agree that for a great many years now we have been living in a time of increasing moral disintegration. Marriage as ordained by God in creation is increasingly in danger as some people even question the created reality of human beings as male and female. These problems will be addressed in a workshop In His Image: Christian Sexuality According to God that will be held on Saturday, June 28th, from 9:00 A.M. – 4:00 P.M. at Calvary Church, 2625 E, Northern Parkway. The cost is free and lunch will be provided but you must register by emailing Berealutheran2999@gmail.com by June 13th. If you have any questions you may call Calvary Church at 410-426-4307. The workshop will be led by Doxology which is a ministry funded by Synod’s Office of National Mission.

This month of June brings to an end the festival half of the Church Year when we have remembered and celebrated all that God has done for us in the birth and life and death and resurrection of His Son and by sending to us the Holy Spirit. But because every Sunday of the year is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, Christians have from the very beginning of the Church’s life gathered to meet the risen Lord as He comes to us every Lord’s Day in the Holy Sacrament. If you are unable to come to church, I am always glad to bring the Sacrament to you. I am always glad to hear from you either by telephone (410-554-9994) or by email (charlesmcclean1942@gmail.com). If you or a loved one are sick or in some other kind of need, never hesitate to let me know.

In the words of the Divine Service, “For the peace of the whole world, for the well being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.”

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, May, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
May, 2025

Thursday, May 29
Ascension Day
Festival Divine Service

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

May 5th will be the 12th anniversary of my installation as pastor of Our Saviour Church. As I look back on these twelve years I am filled with happiness and with gratitude for all the ways in which our gracious heavenly Father has blessed me through these years. I think especially of all the many ways I have experienced the love and kindness of the members of this congregation. I am also acutely aware of your forbearance toward my limitations, weaknesses, indeed your forgiveness of my sins, my failure to love as I have been loved by God – and by you. Like any Christian, I can only live trusting in the cleansing blood of Him who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. I thank you and I ask your prayers. We do not know what the future holds for us as individuals or as a Christian congregation. But we do know Him who holds the future in His hands which still bear the marks of the nails, the marks of His love for us – though unworthy. In that sure knowledge we can face each new day with sure faith and certain hope.

On the second last day of this month we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord, a celebration of our sure and certain hope that where He is there we too shall be – as Bishop Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885) sings in his wonderful hymn (LSB 494) for Ascension Day:

He has raised our human nature
On the clouds to God’s right hand;
There we sit in heav’nly places,
There with Him in glory stand.
Jesus reigns, adored by angels;
Man with God is on the throne,
Mighty Lord, in Thine ascension
We by faith behold our own.

Like Christ’s incarnation and atonement and resurrection, His ascension is also one of the great mysteries of our faith. In a sermon for Ascension Day Pastor Ferdinand Walther (1811-1887), the Father Founder of our Synod, says that “the ascension of Christ is like the sun – the more intently one wants to look into it, the more blinded our eyes become, so that at last we cannot see anything at all; this work therefore belongs to those which are not to be fathomed at all but simply believed in childlike faith. The more simply we hold to what Scripture says about it, however, the more strengthening to our faith this mysterious article of Christian belief will become.” Come and join in celebrating this glorious mystery as we meet our risen and ascended Lord as He truly comes to us in the Holy Sacrament on Ascension Day!

The Spring Voters Meeting will be held on Sunday, May 18th, following the Divine Service. The Church Council will be elected and the budget for the new fiscal year approved. Every member of Our Saviour Church, eighteen years and older, is eligible to participate. Do come to the meeting and let your voice be heard!

Bert Buchanan’s sister, Marian Rollins, fell asleep in the Lord on Easter Monday at her home in El Paso, Texas, after a long illness, May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may Christ comfort Bert and all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Be sure to read Judy Volkman’s reminder at the end of this newsletter about our  Free Flea Markets which begin again on Saturday, May 10th. Judy also reminds us to support GEDCO and thanks you for your continued willingness to assist this effort through food donations. During the last fiscal year GEDO supported
– 4,679 households with food,
– 417 households with utility bills, 128 receiving financial assistance,
– 260 households with rental assistance,
– 2,673 children through CARES assistance,
– 378 people with assistance in finding jobs,
– 500 older adults with aid to avoid social isolation.

These statistics provide a window on the need which remains great indeed! Remember to bring personal items for the Helping Up Mission which has helped so many homeless men for so many years and now is also helping homeless women.

As we move toward summer, let’s not forget that, because of the recent expense of repairing our heating system, we are still asking for donations to replenish our cash reserves. We have received some very generous gifts! Let each of us give as we are able.

When we think about the tragic, ongoing warfare in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in Sudan and other parts of the world, as well as the recurring natural disasters here at home, we can so easily be overcome with a feeling of helplessness. So let me again remind you that one way we can help is through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through our Synod’s secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, David Dowdy, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Mary Mokris, Pastor Elliott Robertson, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

Although the world celebrates Easter for just one day – if it celebrates Easter at all! – the Church continues to celebrate Christ’s resurrection throughout the forty days of Eastertide and also on every Sunday throughout the year. Here at Our Saviour we continue to sing Easter hymns until Ascension Day, singing one of the oldest and most loved Easter hymns, Christ is Arisen (LSB 459), every Sunday. The Paschal (Easter) Candle burns throughout the Easter season. The five red wax nails in the Candle signify the marks of the nails and spear, still to be seen in the body of the risen Lord. As we sing in that wonderful hymn, Crown Him with Many Crowns (LSB 525): “Crown Him the Lord of love: behold His hands and side!”

In closing I want to thank Paul and Mary Techau, Jean and Wayne West, Bernie Knox, and Richard Brown who helped to make this year’s Saint Mark’s Conference a success; also Marlyn Williams, a member of Redeemer Church in Irvington who provided a delicious lunch on Monday, and Beth Skinner, a friend of mine and of the Techaus whom we’ve known since we were all at Immanuel Church in Alexandria. Dr. Edward Naumann’s presentation on the Mystical Meaning of Holy Scripture and Pastor Coats’s presentation on the life and work of Laurentius Petri (1499-1573), the first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden, were well received, and we were all blessed by the preaching of Dr. Carl Roemer and Pastor Christopher Seifferlein. Pastor Brian Westgate’s work as organist – as always! – enriched our worship greatly. Video of the Conference services and presentations will in due course be available on Youtube.

I am always glad to hear from you at charlesmcclean1942@gmail.com or at (410)554-9994. Let us continue to remember one another in prayer.

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

Free Flea Market

On May 10th we will resume our annual Free Flea Markets. Right now we have a great inventory of both clothing and household items. We could use some summer clothing for both men and women in sizes small and medium. We have a faithful group of volunteers, but we welcome “newcomers.” Please let me know if you will be able to assist on the second Saturday May through September from 9-12 noon each time. This is our outreach to the community. We have been blessed with bounty and we need to share it.

– Judy Volkman

Heating System

Remember that we are still seeking donations to replenish our cash reserves which have been depleted by the cost of the repairs to the heating system. Please mark your checks: “heating system.”

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, April, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
April, 2025

Holy Week And Easter at Our Saviour

Palm Sunday – Liturgy of the Palms and Divine Service,
April 13, 11:00 A.M.
Maundy Thursday – Divine Service and the Stripping of the Altar, April 17, 7:30 P.M.
Good Friday – The Liturgy of Good Friday,
April 18, 7:30 P.M.
Easter Eve – The Easter Vigil and the First Holy Eucharist of Easter, April 19, 7:30 P.M.
Easter Day – Festival Divine Service,
April 20, 11:00 A.M.
Bible Class will not meet on Easter Day

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the foundation of all our life and hope. Does death have the last word over human beings, over the whole creation, or does Life triumph in the end? Ludwig Ihmels (1858-1933), the Lutheran Bishop of Saxony, said: “Nothing less than the whole understanding of Christianity depends on the resurrection. We may say without exaggeration: at the tomb in Jerusalem the ultimate choice will be made between two totally different world-views.” Bishop Ihmels faithfully echoes the words of Saint Paul: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile…If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:17,19,20). It goes without saying that every Christian will come to God’s House on Easter Day and there meet the risen Lord in the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. But we should also try to be present as we follow the Savior on His way of sorrows from the upper room in Jerusalem to Gethsemane and His trial before Caiaphas and Pontius Pilate all the way to Calvary where He offered that full and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. I hope that many of you will be present on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The Easter Vigil is in fact a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, truly an Easter celebration!

On Good Friday there will be a Tre Ore Service at Bethlehem Church (4815 Hamilton  Avenue) from noon until 3:00 P.M. Few people attend the entire three hours. Come when you can, leave when you must. Pastors of our local churches will preach on the Seven Last Words of Jesus.

Please note that order envelopes for Easter lilies are available on the piano at the front of the church. Lilies are $17 each and orders are due Sunday, April 13. They will be available for pickup after Divine Service Easter Day, April 20.

On Saturday, March 22, Paul Swank’s sister, Ruth Betz, fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 92 years and was given Christian burial on Monday, March 31st, at the cemetery of Saint John’s Lutheran Church in Sweet Air. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may Christ comfort Paul and all who mourn her departure with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

Paul Swank has donated a red and a white chasuble to our church. The chasuble has from ancient times been worn by the celebrant of the Holy Eucharist. Although the chasuble eventually fell out of use in almost all the Lutheran churches of Germany, largely due to Reformed Protestant (Calvinist) influence, the chasuble has never fallen out of use in the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia where there was no Reformed Protestant influence. By the time of the Reformation the chasuble had assumed a shape somewhat like a shield, and that kind of chasuble was almost exclusively in use in Scandinavia until early in the last century. The chasubles Paul has donated are in this shape. The other chasubles we have are in the form widely used in the medieval church and are generally called “Gothic.” Extant pictures show that this kind of chasuble also continued to be used among Lutherans. The founders of our Synod had intended to restore its use but the ship bringing the fabrics from Germany sank without a trace in the ocean. It has now been about 100 years since the use of the chasuble began to be reintroduced in Lutheran churches here in America. The Holy Eucharist is the pledge and foretaste of the heavenly Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation.19:6-9): the use of beautiful vestments points to the joy of that heavenly banquet to come.

Be sure to read what Judy Volkman has to say about our Free Flea Markets at the end of this newsletter. She notes that this is our outreach to our community. Our Church Council is always willing and eager to hear any suggestions about other possibilities for outreach. Never hesitate to contact me about your suggestions or concerns either by emailing me at charlesmcclean1942@gmail.com or by calling me at 410-554-9994.

Let me again this month encourage you to subscribe to our Synod’s official periodical, The Lutheran Witness. You can subscribe by calling 800-325-3040 or by sending a note to this email address: lwsubcriptions@cph.org. Subscribing to the Lutheran Witness can provide you with a picture of the work of the churches of our Synod at home and abroad.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, David Dowdy, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson; Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris, Pastor Elliott Robertson, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, and Gary Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

As we live in a world so clearly in bondage to sin and death, and suffering from the malice of the demonic powers, the resurrection of the Son of God is the truly radiant light of hope and joy. I often think of those wonderful words of Vladimir Lossky (1903-1958): “An infinite ocean of light flows from the body of the risen Lord.” That you may be truly blessed with the joy and peace of the resurrection is my hope and prayer.

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

Free Flea Market

On May 10th we will resume our annual Free Flea Markets. Right now we have a great inventory of both clothing and household items. We could use some summer clothing for both men and women in sizes small and medium. We have a faithful group of volunteers, but we welcome “newcomers.” Please let me know if you will be able to assist on the second Saturday May through September from 9-12 noon each time. This is our outreach to the community. We have been blessed with bounty and we need to share it.

– Judy Volkman

Heating System

Remember that we are still seeking donations to replenish our cash reserves which have been depleted by the cost of the repairs to the heating system. Please mark your checks: “heating system.”

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, March, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
March, 2025

Ash Wednesday – March 5
Divine Service And Imposition Of Ashes, 7:30 P.M.
Wednesdays in Lent – March 12, 19, 26; April 2, 9
Soup Supper, 6:30 P.M.
Lenten Vespers and Litany, 7:30 P.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Perhaps you know that the word Lent comes from an old English word for spring: lencten,  which points to the lengthening hours of daylight as the world moves from the depths of winter to spring. Lent is the Church’s spiritual spring when through repentance we turn from the death of sin to the new life which flows from the life-giving death and resurrection of our Lord. As we again meditate on His passion and death, we see both the ugliness of human depravity and the beauty of Christ’s “love to the loveless shown that they might lovely be” as we sing in the fine hymn of Samuel Crossman (1624-1683).

No one needs to be told that we live in a world of desperate need,  a world where there is so much selfishness and indifference to the plight of those who suffer in so many ways. In Christ our Savior we see the generosity of our Maker: “God so loved the world that He gave…” (John 3:16). As children of God, who by His grace are daily being transformed into His likeness, we Christians are called to give – generously! The traditional Lenten discipline includes not only prayer and fasting but also almsgiving. Our Lord’s own teaching about prayer and fasting and almsgiving can be found in His Sermon on the Mount: Saint Matthew 6:1-18.

One way of giving “alms” are the donations given in connection with the soup suppers  before Vespers on Wednesday evenings in Lent. These donations contribute to the Aldi Gift Certificates which are given at Thanksgiving and Christmas to needy families connected with the Waverly School. Another way of giving “alms” are donations of food for the  GEDCO Food Pantry and of personal items for the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for both are just outside the door to the church office.. And do remember that you can give “alms,” providing desperately needed help to people suffering both at home and abroad, through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through our Synod’s secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

Be sure to read Gabe Purviance’s update on the repair of the church’s heating system at the end of this newsletter. Gabe serves as Director of Stewardship on the Church Council. He notes that, while we have the money in hand to make the necessary repairs, we also need to replenish our cash reserves. Christian stewardship involves the responsible use of our time, talents, and treasure.

I wish to thank all those who gave of their time by participating in the work day on Saturday, February 8th, taking care of a number of clean up chores around the church. Here at Our Saviour we are certainly blessed with willing workers!

Let me encourage you to subscribe to The Lutheran Witness, our Synod’s official periodical which appears eleven times a year. You can subscribe by calling 800-325-3040 or at this email address: lwsubscriptions@cph.org. The Witness is attractively illustrated and has excellent articles about the faith and work of the Church. I always look forward to seeing what the President of Synod, Pastor Matthew Harrison, has to say in each new issue; our chief pastor truly has the heart of a genuine shepherd of Christ’s flock!  A copy of recent issues can be found on the table in the back of the church.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, David Dowdy, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Katherine Gray; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson; Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris,Pastor Elliott Robertson, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Goshen Witt. Yoland Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

The Epistle which from ancient times has been read at the Divine Service on the Sunday before Lent begins is I Corinthians 13 which has been called Saint Paul’s “Hymn to Love.” In this “Hymn to Love” we find a sublime expression of the kind of life to which we are called as those who know the love of Christ. It has often been said that in speaking of love Paul is in fact speaking of Christ who is the embodied Love of God. As we examine our lives and reflect on the state of our world in the light of these sublime words of the Apostle, we are called to repentance and amendment of life. Of the earliest Christians it was said, “Behold how they love one another!” Some words of Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” can be a prayerful response to the Apostle’s words, indeed a good prayer as we begin this holy season of Lent:

Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Update on the Heating System

As many of you may recall, about ten years ago we replaced the boiler for the church heating system after it provided more than 80 years of service. Several years ago we needed to replace the boiler for the heating for the Education Building. The last major component of the system, the blower, finally gave out in the middle of January after nearly 95 years of service. Developing a solution to the problem while minimizing the cost has been the main challenge, and we do have a solution. The Church Council at its last meeting approved a contract with AJ Michaels to replace the blower. The cost of this is $18,435, which is being paid out of the church’s cash reserves. The parts for this take a while to order, so the new blower will not be installed until about mid-May. Fortunately, in the meantime, our account representative at AJ Michaels was able to improvise a solution that has enabled us to have some minimal heat in the sanctuary. It is very important that we replace these funds as soon as possible, so that we are able to maintain upkeep of our building and address future repairs. Please consider making a donation to help defray what we need to take out of cash reserves for this. Mark your checks “heating system.”

-Gabe Purviance, Stewardship Director

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, February, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
February, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We Christians are citizens both of this world and of the world to come. This world has its own way of marking time. By observing the seasons and festivals of the Church Year we Christians are made conscious of belonging to the world to come which dawned when the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

February 2nd is the Festival of the Presentation of our Lord. On the fortieth day after His birth our Lord’s parents took Him – as the ancient law required – to the temple at Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (Saint Luke 2:22-40). There they were met by the aged Simeon who took the Child Jesus in His arms saying, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” Simeon’s words are very familiar to us because we always sing them after receiving the Holy Sacrament; these words have also found a place in the daily evening prayer of the Church. The temple in Jerusalem was the place where the sacrifices were offered which pointed forward to the Savior’s one true and perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. And so the Festival of the Presentation is a kind of bridge between Christ’s birth and His saving death and resurrection. Since February 2nd falls on Sunday this year, we will have an opportunity to celebrate this festival.

At the voters meeting on January 19th there was discussion about attendance at voters meetings and at Divine Service. To put it bluntly, the attendance at voters meetings has been quite sparse for some time now and attendance at Sunday worship is also far from what it should be. At the meeting there was a consensus that we would like to know why so few people attend these congregational meetings and why church attendance leaves so much to be desired. To be sure, voters meetings are a humanly devised way of taking care of the business of congregations and it may well be that we need to rethink the whole matter in the light of present circumstances.

At the voters meeting there was also a report and discussion about the church’s heating system. Be sure to read Paul Techau’s report at the end of this newsletter. Paul is not only our cantor but also the president of our congregation. We must thank him for all he does!

There will be an indoor work day on Saturday, February 8th, starting at 9:30 A.M. It should last no more than 2-3 hours. There are a number of clean up chores around the church. Please join us if you are able.

Althea Masterson, Merton Masterson’s mother, fell asleep in the Lord on Friday, January 3rd. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may the Savior comfort Merton and all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, David Dowdy, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris, Pastor Elliott Robertson, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Frank Ford is home from the hospital as is David Dowdy who was recently hospitalized.

Remember that one way you can provide desperately needed help to people suffering both at home and abroad is through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through Synod’s secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

Food for the GEDCO Food Pantry remains an urgent need as do personal items for the Helping Up Mission  Boxes for both are just outside the door to the church office.

The Sunday Bible Class is beginning a study of Martin Luther’s Smalcald Articles. These are included in the Book of Concord of 1580 which, grounded in Holy Scripture, expresses the doctrine of the Lutheran Church. We meet at 9:45 A.M. Come join us! Questions are welcome!

Let me say again that I am always glad to hear from you in person or by telephone (410-554-9994) or email (charlesmcclean1942@gmail.com). At the recent voters meeting the desire was expressed to know why people are not coming to church or coming very seldom. I of course realize that this is not a problem confined to Our Saviour Church! I wonder if we realize that by failing to be present on the Lord’s Day we are refusing Christ’s gracious invitation to receive the gifts He gives through the preaching of the Gospel and through the holy Gifts of His precious Body and Blood. I also wonder if people have lost sight of the truth that, as members of Christ’s mystical Body the Church, “we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25) – which means that we are called to love one another also by encouraging one another through our presence at worship on the Lord’s Day. Think on these things! Lent begins early next month. Lent is the church’s season of repentance: repentance involves amendment of life! You are in my prayers. Please remember me in yours.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

A Word About the Heating System

As you may recall, about ten years ago we replaced the boiler for the heating system in the church, which was original to the building from 1930. It has performed very well for us. The other component of the heating system is the blower that forces the air heated by the boiler into the sanctuary. This blower is driven by a rather substantial electric motor. It also is original to the building from 1930. Sometime during the week of January 12, the motor failed. Our representative from AJ Michaels, the installer of the boilers and our maintenance contractor for the system, Ryan Small, has worked to help us find a temporary solution. Fortunately, he has found a temporary solution that involves air blowers in the heating chamber of the blower. This approach managed to get the temperature in the sanctuary to 66°. Until we get a permanent solution, this is about where we will be.

Ryan is also working up a quote to replace the blower. This will take some time as it involves replacing 95-year-old components that were custom to the building. It will be a substantial job. We will keep everyone updated as things develop and we get more information. In the meanwhile we can be grateful that it appears the temporary solution we have will keep the sanctuary warm enough to continue to comfortably use the sanctuary this winter. I would also like to thank Andy Layman for his help checking in on the church during the week, especially when it was so cold. Look for more updates in the coming weeks.

-Paul Techau

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, January, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
January, 2025

The Epiphany Of Our Lord, Monday, January 6th
Festival Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I am writing these lines on the fifth day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Although the world more or less forgets Christmas after Christmas Day, the Church has always celebrated the festival of our Savior’s birth for twelve days and then on the next day – on January 6th – celebrates the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord. Because the magi who had been led by the wondrous star were the first Gentiles to worship the Christ Child, Epiphany has often been called The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles. The coming of the magi is the beginning of the gathering of all nations around the Savior of the whole world.  In this new year of 2025 January 6th falls on a Monday, and so we will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany with a Festival Divine Service at 7:30 P.M. on Monday, January 6th. We’ll sing the familiar carols: The First Nowell, What Child is This, and We Three Kings of Orient Are, and also William C. Dix’s lovely Epiphany hymn, As With Gladness Men of Old. The Chief Hymn will be The Star Proclaims the King is Here, a hymn by Coelius Sedulius. Written in the 5th century, Luther translated the hymn from Latin into German. We English-speaking Christians use the splendid translation of John Mason Neale, the great nineteenth century translator of the ancient Greek and Latin hymns. In singing these hymns which have been sung by Christians down through the long centuries of the Church’s life, we experience something of the communion of saints in heaven and on earth. To prepare for the Epiphany celebration it is helpful to read the Scripture readings appointed for the festival: Isaiah’s great prophecy in Isaiah 60:1-6 and Saint Matthew’s account of the coming of the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12.

In the December newsletter I said that we might have a guest soloist on Christmas Eve – and we did! Sylvia Witt sang Adolphe Adam’s Cantique de Noel, O Holy Night, just as Judy Volkmann had for many years. If you were present on Christmas Eve, you know that it was a real treat to hear Sylvia sing! She is the wife of Pastor Lucas Witt who was recently installed as Executive Director of the Lutheran Mission Society of Maryland. Thank you, Sylvia!

Bernie Knox tells us that through the generosity of congregational members we were able to provide 12 needy families identified by the Waverly School with a $90 Aldi gift card at Thanksgiving and a $75 gift card at Christmas.

We have received the following message from Gary Watson:

The Watson family would like to thank Pastor McClean, the Church Council, and members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church for your prayers, cards, calls, support and encouragement during Juliana’s lengthy illness and Gary’s hospitalization. We have been truly blessed through your kindness and prayers. God bless you all!

As of this writing Frank Ford is hospitalized and asks us to remember him in our prayers.

Our good friend Pastor Elliott Robertson, who was for many years Pastor of Martini Church, recently suffered a heart attack and has undergone coronary bypass surgery. The surgery was successful and he is now recovering at home. To aid his recovery he will be “incommunicado” for the month of January. Please keep him in your prayers.

As disciples of the Prince of Peace we continue to pray for peace throughout the world: in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Sudan, and so many places where innocent human beings are suffering the brutal realities of war. Do remember that you can provide help through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, M0 63166-6861. Mark your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and designate the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through our Synod’s secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry JamesGloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris, Pastor Elliott Robertson, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

Those of us who are of a certain age remember a time when the year 2000 seemed to be a long way off, yet here we are already completing the first quarter of the 21st century! As this new year of our Lord begins, we remember the words of the 90th Psalm: “Lord, Thou hast been our Dwelling Place in all generations…A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed and as a watch in the night.” The eternal God is our Dwelling Place and in His incarnate Son, the Word made flesh, He has made His dwelling place in this world He loves and came to save. We do not know what the future holds, but we do know the One who holds the future in His hands, those hands which in glory still bear the marks of the nails, the marks of His love. He is Jesus – which means Savior. He is Emmanuel – which means God with us. Knowing Him, we know enough..

Jesus our Emmanuel comes to us every Lord’s Day and every Holy Day in the Sacrament of the Altar. In this Sacrament of His Body and Blood “given and shed for the forgiveness of sins” He is truly our Savior, He is truly Emmanuel: God with us. The only question then is this: Will you be there to receive Him when He comes?

I wish you a blessed and happy new year!

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, December, 2024

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
December, 2024

CHRISTMAS AT OUR SAVIOUR

Christmas Eve – Festival Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.
Christmas Day – Festival Divine Service, 10:00 A.M.
First Sunday after Christmas Day – Divine Service, 11:00 A.M.
New Year’s Eve: Eve of The Circumcision and Name of Jesus –
Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.
The Epiphany Of Our Lord, Monday, January 6th
Festival Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Before Christmas comes the Church keeps the holy season of Advent. Advent can be described as “waiting in the darkness for the coming of the Light.” But we live in an age which does not like to wait! We want what we want when we want it – right now! Instant gratification is what we seem to want – and expect! Given this state of affairs, Advent is good for us because our whole life as Christians is one of waiting – of waiting for the Day when Christ who came in lowliness to be our Savior will come again in glory to be our Judge. But our waiting is not an aimless waiting because as we wait we prepare to meet our Judge: by placing our whole trust and confidence in His mercy, by loving and serving Him, and by being instruments of His love and peace in a sad and loveless world. We wait in full awareness that every human being and every human institution, all lands, all the governing authorities, are accountable to Him who will on that Last Day come as the Judge of the living and the dead.    Mindful of our own sin and the sin of the whole world, the Church prays in the Litany: “In the hour of death and in the day of judgment, good Lord, deliver us.”

Juliana Watson fell asleep peacefully in the Lord on the evening of Sunday, October 27th, after a long and very difficult illness. Her funeral was held in church on Saturday, November 9th. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may Christ our merciful Savior comfort her parents and all who mourn her departure with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

You may have noticed that the Advent Wreath has three purple candles and one rose candle. The rose candle is lighted on the Third Sunday in Advent which is also known as Gaudete Sunday because of the first Latin word of the introit or entrance chant for that Sunday: “Gaudete/Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice…The Lord is at hand.” In some churches it has long been the custom to use the rose color on Gaudete/Rejoice Sunday. We have acquired a set of rose vestments which will be worn for the first time on the Third Sunday in Advent and will also be worn on the Fourth Sunday in Lent when the introit begins with another Latin word for Rejoice: Laetare. Festive vestments are worn at every Divine Service because the risen Lord is truly present in the Sacrament and because every celebration of the Sacrament is pledge and foretaste of the joyful marriage supper of the Lamb with all His saints in light (Revelation 19:6-9).

It gives me no pleasure to note that, ever since the COVID pandemic, church attendance has declined – even at Christmas! Dear friends in Christ, such things ought not so to be! For Christians the heart of the Christmas celebration is the Christ Mass: The Christ Mass is the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament on the day of Christ’s birth as the Child of the pure and lowly virgin Mary. Our church’s principle confession of faith, the Augsburg Confession, declares: “Our churches have been falsely accused of abolishing the Mass, for the Mass is retained among us and celebrated with the highest reference.” In the Lutheran churches of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland the Divine Service has continued to be called the Mass down to the present day and the historic Mass vestments have continued to be worn as they once were in Germany and now are in many Lutherans churches including Our Saviour Church.

Be all that as it may, what matters is that Christians worship our Lord on the day of His birth in the way He Himself has commanded: by celebrating the Holy Mysteries of His Body and Blood in which He comes to feed us with that very body, born of Mary in Bethlehem. and with His blood – as the One who is not only true and mighty God but also our fully human Brother. Apart from illness or the infirmities of old age or the urgent need to care for someone, there is simply no excuse for failing to be present in the Lord’s House at the Lord’s Own Service, the Holy Communion, on the day of His birth – which of course begins on Christmas Eve. We all rightly lament the growing secularization in the world, but when you absent yourself from the Divine Service for no valid reason you in fact contribute to secularization! Let us then joyfully come to God’s House on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day that, as the shepherds found the Savior wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, we may find Him hidden in the hallowed Bread and Cup. In the manger and at the altar,

How silently, how silently
The wondrous Gift is given!

For many years Judy Volkman sang Adolphe Adam’s lovely Christmas song, Cantique de Noel/O Holy Night, on Christmas Eve. She is now taking a very well-earned rest, but we may have a special guest soloist on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we sing all the old familiar carols: O Come All Ye Faithful, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Luther’s great Christmas hymn, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come. Our Christmas Day Divine Service always begins with God Rest You Merry Gentlemen and closes with one of the loveliest and oldest carols, Now Sing We Now Rejoice/In dulci jubilo. Remember that our Christmas Day celebration begins at TEN O’CLOCK – not eleven! The wise men brought frankincense to the Christ Child: so incense will be used on Christmas Day and also on the Feast of the Epiphany, the coming of the wise men.

Jean West reminds us that it is now time to place our orders for poinsettias. They are 6″ pots for the price of $11.00 each. There are order envelopes available on the piano and at the back of the church. All orders and monies are due by Sunday, December 15, 2024. Be sure to include the names of those you wish to remember or honor. This list will be included with the bulletin on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Poinsettias will be available to pick up after the Christmas Day Divine Service.

Be sure to read Bernie Knox’s article about the Aldi Gift Certificates for needy families connected with the Waverly School – of which your pastor happens to be an alumnus as he is of City College High School just across the street from church.

Conditions in the world continue to be utterly deplorable: the ongoing war in the Holy Land that now has expanded into Lebanon and Syria, the continued Russian aggression in Ukraine, the murderous civil war in Sudan – the list goes on and on.

As disciples of the Prince of Peace once born in Bethlehem, we must pray for peace in the world, especially in that land where He was born and lived and died and rose from the dead to save the whole lost world. There are many ways of providing help to the people suffering so terribly in all these wars, but one way is through our church body, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. You can contribute through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Mark your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and designate the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through our Synod’s secure website:lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

As we pray for peace also in this City of Baltimore we continue to pray for all those for whom our prayers are desired: Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Christ Mokris, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson. Intercessory prayer is our duty and privilege as Christians. From the very beginning of the church’s story (Acts 2:42) there has been prayer for the whole church and the whole world as Christians gathered every Lord’s Day – the weekly celebration of Christ’s glorious resurrection – to hear God’s Word and to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, the blessed Sacrament of the risen Lord’s body and blood. These intercessory prayers always followed the reading and preaching of God’s Word and formed a kind of bridge to the celebration of the Eucharist – just as they do every Lord’s Day here at Our Saviour. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

There are many questions and answers surrounding the deplorable decline of church attendance in Europe and America and other parts of the world. But I am convinced that one reason for this sad situation is that so many Christians have completely forgotten – if they ever knew! – that on every Lord’s Day we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord God and Savior from the dead. And with that we have lost the awareness that Sunday worship is not a bare remembrance of a long departed friend, but that in the Holy Eucharist the crucified and risen Lord is truly present under the forms of the hallowed bread and wine. And so the Sacrament is always a celebration of love and life in a loveless, dying world, and is indeed the joyful anticipation of the heavenly banquet. And not only on every Lord’s Day but on every Holy Day – such as Christmas! Once you truly realize Christ’s Real Presence in the Sacrament to love and bless and sustain you, you will eagerly come to God’s House whenever this Feast of Love and Joy is celebrated – most certainly on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!

O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!

I look forward to seeing you in church – and at the altar – as we yet again celebrate the birth of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Affectionately in our newborn Savior and Lord,

Pastor McClean

Aldi’s Gift Cards and Christmas

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas to needy families whose surnames have been provided by the Waverly School. We are including this reminder in our newsletters and bulletins now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or on an accompanying note that the funds are designated for those Gift Cards. In 2023 we accumulated a total of $2,730 to distribute to 13 families. In 2024 our Lenten Soup Supper donations were $361. These donations are also used to support our Gift Card purchases. Sunday, December 8th, will be the last opportunity to donate to the Gift Cards. These holidays remind us all to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all – the birth of our Savior Jesus.
Thank you.
Bernie Knox

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, November, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
November, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

November 1st is All Saints Day. As always we will celebrate this festival on the first Sunday in November. On this festival we rejoice in the glorious reality of the communion of saints which is Christ’s whole Church both in heaven and on earth. Recent surveys suggest that there are now 2.4 billion Christians in the world, but the Church here on earth is small in comparison to that “great multitude which no man can number standing before the throne of God and the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9) – as we hear in the Epistle read on All Saints Day. As in our custom, we will remember those who have departed this life since the last  All Saints Day Queenie Hardaway, Helen Gray, Gregory and Deborah Dixon and Lewis Otto Bell. I love the words of John Keble (1792-1866)

Tis sweet as year by year we lose
Friends out of sight, in faith to muse
How grows in paradise our store.

As Christians we both mourn our loss and rejoice in their gain. What we lose on earth we gain in paradise; what we lose from the present time we gain for the eternal future. “I believe in…the communion of saints.” As we sing in that wonderful hymn of William Walsham How (1823-1897):

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

The first Sunday in November brings the end of Daylight Savings Time. Remember to set your clocks back one hour! “Spring forward, fall back.”

Pastor Lucas Witt will be installed as executive director of the Lutheran Mission Society of Maryland at Immanuel Church, Loch Raven and Belvedere, on Saturday, November 23rd at 11:00 A.M. For over a hundred years the Lutheran Mission Society has been bringing “health and wholeness to people through the love and compassion of Jesus Christ” (Mission Statement). Pastor David Maack recently retired after serving as executive director for many years.

November 28th is Thanksgiving Day. Our celebration of the national day of thanksgiving will take place on Thanksgiving Eve at 7:30 P.M. People of a certain age are much given to nostalgia, and I have to admit that as a person “of a certain age” I have real nostalgia for the days when our churches were full on Thanksgiving Day. But that was a very long time ago, and we now have a situation in which perhaps most churches have abandoned the celebration of Thanksgiving Day. But I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised by that in a time when so many people ignore even the Lord’s Day, the weekly celebration of the Lord’s resurrection! Now there is nothing wrong with family dinners and football games, but there is something wrong when such things become more important than the worship of the One who has given our nation all good things. In a recent sermon the President of Synod, Pastor Harrison, said that what most scares him about our Synod is ingratitude. Is that also true of our country? Do we Americans take for granted all the blessings that are ours? Perhaps we should all pray with George Herbert (1593-1633):

Thou that hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, a grateful heart.

Be sure to read what Bernie Knox has to say about Aldi Gift Certificates for Thanksgiving at the end of this newsletter.

I think everyone will agree that Family Day was a happy occasion. We enjoyed the presence and preaching of Pastor Harmon, the President of the Southeastern District of Synod, and it was good to see so many people we had not seen in some time. And the meal that followed was also much enjoyed. I certainly enjoyed it and want to thank everyone who made Family Day possible.

Congregations of the Southeastern District have been affected by Hurricane Helene. The District activated its Disaster Response Team and at the October church council meeting, our own congregation decided to send aid. If you wish to contribute to hurricane relief you can go to the District website se.lcms.org and there you will be able to make a contribution. The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Sudan and the expanding war in the Holy Land have brought unspeakable suffering to so many of our fellow human beings. Our Synod is trying to provide help to those who suffer You can make a contribution through Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888) 030-4439 or through this secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can send a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, St. 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 continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan. Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris. Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Julia Ford. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Julie Watson is now in hospice care at Northwest Hospital.

November 5th is Election Day and, if we have not already voted, this is our opportunity as citizens to exercise our right to vote for those who will govern us in the days ahead. Apart from what may be valid and conscientious reasons for not voting, it is surely our duty as citizens to do so. If for no good reason we fail to do so, do we then have a right to complain when the government disappoints us? It is our duty as Christians to pray that God would guard and guide our nation especially at this time. And it is also our Christian duty in this time of such stark polarization to respect the conscientious decisions of our fellow citizens when they differ from our own. It is the devil who takes delight in creating animosity and hatred in the world.

You may have noticed the new green vestments first worn on Sunday, October 20th. They match the green frontlet – altar cloth – which was made by the widow of Pastor Adolf John Stiemke and given in his memory. I have given these new vestments in memory of my father Charles Louis McClean and my mother Anna Eleanor nee Moesta who in 1911 was baptized by Pastor Theodore Sorge in Jackson Square Church. These vestments are the historic “eucharistic vestments” which from ancient times have been worn by celebrants of the Holy Eucharist..

I again have a new email account, having lost access on October 7th to my “new account.” Richard Brown very kindly created this new account including features to keep me from losing access yet again! Never hesitate to email me at this new address charlesmcclean1942@gmail.com or call me at (10)554-9994!

As we say in the Divine Service: “For the peace of the whole world, for the-well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.”

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Aldi Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas to needy families whose names have been provided by the Waverly School. We are including this reminder in our newsletters and bulletins now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or on an accompanying note that the funds are designated for those gift cards.

In 2023 we accumulated a total of $2,730 to distribute to 13 families. In 2024 our Lenten Soup Supper donations were $361. These donations are also used to support our Gift Card purchases.

Please begin now to think about making donations that will allow us to remember those less fortunate than ourselves provide special meals for their families. These holidays remind us to be thankful fr all the Lord has given us and to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all – the birth of our Savior Jesus.

Thank you!
– Bernie Knox

Mark your calendars now!
Joint Reformation Service of the Baltimore-Area LCMS Churches
Reformation Sunday, October 27th, 4:00 P.M.
Our Saviour Church
Followed by a reception
Plan on attending and bringing your friends!
Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, August-September, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
August-September, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As you have no doubt noticed, almost every month I include in this newsletter my telephone number and my email address. My telephone number remains the same. But on July 6th I lost access to my Gmail account and have received no emails sent to it on and after that date. Despite my own efforts and the kind help of Richard Brown, I have been unable to recover that account and so I now have a new email address: charlesmcclean1942@outlook.com. Never hesitate to contact me. Believe me when I say I that I am always glad to hear from you. Please let me know if you or a loved one is ill or in some kind of need. My telephone has an answering device and I do regularly check it for messages.

Lewis Otto Bell fell asleep in the Lord at the age of 98 years on Saturday, July 20th. His funeral was held in church on Tuesday, August 6th. Burial followed on Thursday, August 8th, in Meherrin, Virginia. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon him and may Christ the Savior comfort Albert, Marco, Marvin, Debbie and all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

In his Small Catechism Dr. Luther provides a form for both morning and evening prayer. Both prayers conclude with the petition, “Let Your holy angel be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me.” In the Calendar of the Church Year in the Lutheran Service Book (the hymnal we now use) and also in the hymnals formerly in use, The Lutheran Hymnal (1941) and Lutheran Worship (1982) September 29th  is designated as the Festival of Saint Michael and All Angels. This year September 29th is the last Sunday in September, and so we will have an opportunity to celebrate this bright festival.  At every celebration of the Holy Eucharist we in fact join “with angels and archangels” in singing praises to the triune God: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.” The Hebrew word “Sabaoth” literally means “hosts” in the sense of “armies”: the holy angels are the heavenly armies of the Lord. When we consider the condition of the world today, we need to remember that hiding behind all the evil that we can see there is demonic activity on the part of Satan and all the fallen angels. Saint Paul writes: “For our fight is not against human foes, but against cosmic powers, against the authorities and potentates of this dark world, against the superhuman forces of evil in the heavens” (Ephesians 6:11 New English Bible). And so it is a great comfort to know that in this cosmic struggle Christ defends and protects us through the mighty power of the angelic legions who constantly worship and serve Him. Do read and ponder the mysterious Epistle which from ancient times has been read at the Divine Service on Saint Michael’s Day: Revelation 12:7-12 – “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated…”

Mark your calendars now! Sunday, October 6th, will be Family Day and the 94th Anniversary of the Dedication of this Church. The Rev. Dr. William Harmon, President of the Southeastern District of our Synod, will preach. Dr. Harmon is a native of Baltimore, having grown up at Emmanuel Church in Catonsville. Plan now on being present to hear him preach and to give him a warm welcome. And do remember him in your prayers as we in fact do at every Divine Service.

Be sure to read what Judy Volkman and Bernie Knox have to say at the end of this newsletter. Judy brings us up to date on our Free Flea Markets and Bernie calls our attention to the Aldi Gift Certificates which we provide at Thanksgiving and Christmas for needy families connected with the Waverly School – which I attended from kindergarten through the sixth grade. And do remember to bring items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and for the Helping Up Mission. Since 1885 the Baltimore Helping Up Mission has provided help to countless men. What a happy thing it is that a Helping Up Mission for women has recently been opened. The Helping Up Mission addresses not only the problem of homelessness itself but also the poverty, addiction and mental illness that can lead to homelessness. This is a truly Christ-like mission of mercy!

Let me again remind you that you can help suffering people around the world through our Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. It is so easy to be overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness when we see so much misery around the world as in the ongoing wars in Sudan and in Ukraine and in the Holy Land. But we must not permit a feeling of helplessness in the face of so much suffering keep us from doing what we can in fact do! As members of our Synod, we can make a contribution through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line 888- 030-4439 or through this secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can send a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, St. 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 continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Deborah Bell Dixon, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Mary Mokris, Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Julie Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Julie Watson is now at Complete Care at Multi Medical Center, 7700 York Road, Towson, MD 21204.

We Christians gather every Lord’s Day to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in thanksgiving for our Lord and Savior’s resurrection on the first day of the week. The Lord’s People are in the Lord’s House for the Lord’s own Service every Lord’s Day. In the Epistle to the Hebrews – which we are studying in our Sunday morning Bible Class – we find these words: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day [of Christ’s Second Coming] drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24,25).

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Free Flea Markets

In addition to the regular attendees, the Free Flea Market is seeing new faces. This is a result of placing more signage, mainly on the Flea Market day, in the 33rd Street median and having flyers handed our through the GEDCO food program. So we are reaching more people from our neighborhood! And some of those people are giving back to us through their donations.

We have received numerous donations through Eugene James and his family members and from his neighbors. Additional donations have come from the family of Lewis Bell. There have also been some mysterious donations, from whom I don’t know. Thank you so much for your generosity.

September 14th will be our last Free Flea Market for this year. We will pick up again in May of 2025, so if you have clothing or household items to donate at any time let Judy Volkman know now (443-425-3437). We have been blessed with much bounty and are glad to share it with those who need it!
– Judy Volkman

Aldi Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas to needy families whose names have been provided by the Waverly School. We are including this reminder in our newsletters and bulletins now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or on an accompanying note that the funds are designated for those gift cards.

In 2023 we accumulated a total of $2,730 to distribute to 13 families. In 2024 our Lenten Soup Supper donations were $361. These donations are also used to support our Gift Card purchases.

Please begin now to think about making donations that will allow us to remember those less fortunate than ourselves provide special meals for their families. These holidays remind us to be thankful fr all the Lord has given us and to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all – the birth of our Savior Jesus.

Thank you!
– Bernie Knox

Mark your calendars now!
Joint Reformation Service of the Baltimore-Area LCMS Churches
Reformation Sunday, October 27th, 4:00 P.M.
Our Saviour Church
Followed by a reception
Plan on attending and bringing your friends!
Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, June-July, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
June-July, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On Sunday, June 9th, the Second Sunday after Trinity, we heard our Lord’s parable about a man who prepared a great feast; but when the feast was ready, those who had been invited all made excuses as to why they could not come (Luke 14:15-24). On every Lord’s Day the Lord Jesus continues to prepare a great feast, a feast in which He is both the Host and Food. But just as those who were invited in the parable made excuses and would not come, people continue to make excuses and refuse Christ’s gracious invitation. But as we can see in the Book of Acts, the earliest Christians gladly gathered on the first day of the week because it was on that day that Jesus’ tomb was found empty and He appeared in the splendor of His resurrection to the faithful women and His disciples. Our whole faith as Christians depends on Christ’s resurrection, and that is why from earliest times Christians have gathered to celebrate His resurrection every Lord’s Day by joining together in worship, prayer and praise, listening to His Word and receiving Him in His Sacrament. But that was a very long time ago. So let me say this as clearly as I can: when you fail to be present at the Divine Service on the Lord’s Day you not only deprive yourself of the Means of Grace, you also deprive your fellow Christians of the encouragement your presence could provide. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews admonishes his hearers: “Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more, as you see the [Last] Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:23-25). Ponder these words and take them to heart!

Yes, “Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering”! June 25th will be the 494th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession by seven princes and the representatives of two cities to Emperor Charles V in the City of Augsburg. This principal confession of the faith of the Lutheran Church is so important that the cornerstone of our church building is inscribed with the letters “U A C” which stand for Unaltered Augsburg Confession. In these days of so much confusion and uncertainty among Christians we need more than ever to be clear in our confession of the truth God has graciously revealed to us through His Son. It is our conviction as Lutheran Christians that the faith confessed at Augsburg was no novel teaching but none other than “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). And so on the last Sunday in June we will once again celebrate the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession, giving thanks to God for His great mercy. humbly confessing our sins, and praying for steadfastness in faith and hope and love. The text of the Augsburg Confession can easily be found online. I would also be glad to provide you with a booklet containing the text.

On Trinity Sunday, May 26th, we received two new members into our congregation: Andrew Layman, who was formerly a member of Faith Church in Troy, Michigan, and Paul Swank, who was formerly a member of Saint Paul’s Church in Kingsville.

On Thursday, May 16th, Pastor Carl Kruelle fell asleep in the Lord at his home in Newark, Delaware. He was 86 years old. Pastor Kruelle loved Our Saviour Church. He grew up in this congregation and was confirmed, married, and ordained here. He had preached here on Family Day last October and he last attended church here this past Easter Day. On Wednesday, May 22nd, I attended his funeral service at Our Redeemer Church in Newark, Delaware, where he had served as pastor for many years. On the following day I officiated at the committal service in Loudon Park Cemetery. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon him and may the risen Lord comfort all who mourn.

At the Voters Meeting on Sunday, May 19th, the budget for fiscal year 2024/25 was approved and the Church Council was re-elected. Bernie Knox, Merton Masterson, Gabe Purviance, Paul and Mary Techau, Gary Watson, Wayne and Jean West. The Council will be formally installed on Sunday, June 30th.

From May through September we have a Free Flea Market on the second Saturday of each month from 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 Noon. As always we are in need of donations and also of volunteers to greet and assist our visitors.

And do remember to bring items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and for the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for both are found inside the door from the parking lot north of the church.

And remember that you can help suffering people around the world – as in this time of war in Ukraine and in the Holy Land – through our Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can do this by calling our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888)030-4439 or 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, Missoui 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 continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Julie Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208, Julie Watson is now at Complete Care at Multi Medical Center, 7700 York Road, Towson, MD 21204.

Let us continue in prayer for one another and for the troubled world, keeping in mind the words of Saint Paul: “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 4:18).

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, May, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
May, 2024

Thursday May 9, Ascension Day Festival Divine Service, 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 19, Pentecost Festival Divine Service, 11:00 AM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This month of May brings two festivals of the Christian Year. Thursday, May 9th, is Ascension Day; Sunday, May 19th, is Pentecost which with Christmas and Easter Day is one of the three great festivals of the Church Year. Our Lord ascended into heaven on the fortieth day after His resurrection, and so Ascension Day always occurs on a Thursday. The word Pentecost means “fiftieth”; it is the fiftieth day after Christ’s resurrection. There was a time when both Ascension Day and Pentecost were joyfully celebrated throughout the Christian world. But we have come to a time when here in America Ascension Day passes all but unnoticed – even in most churches – and Pentecost is just another Sunday. In some parts of Europe Ascension Day is still a holiday as is the Monday after Pentecost. But be all that as it may, both of these festivals remain a joyful celebration of the mighty acts of God for our salvation. On Ascension Day we sing:

On Christ’s ascension I now build
The hope of my ascension;
This hope alone has always stilled
All doubt and apprehension;
For where the Head is, there as well
I know His members are to dwell
When Christ will come and call them. (LSB 492)

And on Pentecost we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by the risen and ascended Lord: “For all this the whole earth rejoices with exceeding joy,” as we pray in the liturgy of the Sacrament on this festival. With the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and their proclamation of God’s saving acts in many languages, the Church begins its mission to the whole world, a mission that continues until the end of time. Through that on-going work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments, you and I have been brought to Christ and Christ to us. There can be little doubt that we are living in an age of indifference and even growing hostility to Christ and His Church, but there is also no doubt that it is not only our Christian duty but also our privilege as Christians to join together in giving thanks to God for all His mercies and receiving the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as He comes to us in His Sacrament every Lord’s Day and festival. And so we need to pray fervently in the words of the ancient Pentecost prayer: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle in us the fire of Your love!”

The First Free Flea Market of this year takes place on Saturday, May 11th, from 9:00 A.M.-12:00 Noon. As always we need donations and also volunteers to greet and assist our visitors.

Do remember to bring items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and for the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for both are found inside the door from the parking lot north of the church. Needless to say, the need remains great.

And do remember that you can provide help for suffering people around the world – as  in the Holy Land and Ukraine – 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 continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Julie Watson. Julie has been hospitalized for some weeks at Sinai Hospital. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208,

Miriam Brown-Kelly, who had attended Our Saviour Church, fell asleep in the Lord on Tuesday, April 16th. Her funeral takes place at Journey of Faith Church, 7902 Liberty Road, on Thursday, May 2nd, at 11:00 A.M. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may the risen Lord comfort all who mourn her departure.

The handbell ensembles of Concordia University Irvine, California, will give a concert on Saturday evening, May 11th, at seven o’clock at Calvary Church, 2625 E. Northern Parkway, using 127 handbells and handchimes, as well as other instruments.Concert Handbells and Spirit Bells are the touring ensembles of Concordia and represent a program that has become highly respected internationally. The performance is free, non-ticketed and open to the public.

I want to thank everyone who participated in the Work Day on April 13th: Bernie Knox, Andy Layman, Merton Masterson, Paul and Mary Techau. Dennis and Don Watson, Wayne and Jeanne West. I also want to thank those who helped to make the annual Saint Mark’s Conference a success again this year: Pastor Roy Coats, Pastor Thomas Foelber, Bernie Knox, Doug and Beth Skinner, Paul and Mary Techau, Richard Brown, and the indefatigable videographer Gene Wilken. God bless you all for your kindness!

Our Sunday morning Bible Class is continuing to study the Letter to the Hebrews. This is an informal gathering; questions and comments are very welcome.

My hope is that each one of us has been refreshed and heartened by the yearly celebration of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. I also cherish the hope that all of us will continue to join together in the weekly celebration of His resurrection, because that is what every Sunday is, what every Sunday is for! The early Christians understood that and lived in that happy awareness as they gathered to meet the risen Lord in the holy mysteries of His body and blood. A Lord’s Day without the Lord’s Supper was unthinkable.

The Lord’s people are in the Lord’s house at the Lord’s own service every Lord’s Day.

Let us continue to remember one another in prayer and continue to remember in prayer the need of the whole church and the whole world.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Our Saviour on the Web There are a number of places you can see Our Saviour on the internet. In addition to our web page and Facebook page, we have: a Youtube channel with a collection of videos featuring great hymns of the church and a tour of the bell tower; a Youtube video that presents a history and description of each of our 32 stained glass windows; and, most recently and thanks to the efforts of our organist, John Igoe, a Wikipedia page that has a details about our building’s history and the property including its architectural features such as the stained glass, the chancel, the bells, the bell tower, and the organ. You can find them all at oursaviourbaltimore.org/oslc-on-the-web .

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, April, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
April, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

No one can doubt that we live in a broken world and that we are all in various ways broken human beings. Our Lord’s disciples, fearfully gathered behind locked doors following His death and burial, were very broken indeed. All their hopes were ended and their hearts were filled with fear that they might suffer the same fate as their beloved Teacher and Friend. But then on the evening of that first Easter Day, unhindered by those locked doors, “Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.” The risen Lord’s word of peace means more than the absence of conflict, it conveys a sense of wholeness, of restoration of what has been broken and out of joint, of God’s unmerited grace and favor toward broken, mortal sinners. And the risen Savior’s word of peace to His broken disciples is His word of peace to this whole broken, sorrowing, death-bound world. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

No wonder the Church continues to celebrate Christ’s glorious resurrection throughout the forty days following Easter Day and indeed on every Lord’s Day which is the weekly celebration of His triumph! Since singing better expresses our Easter joy than does the spoken voice, we will be singing the Nicene Creed throughout the Easter season and on other festivals of the Church Year. In the old Lutheran Church the Creed was always sung: either the actual text of the Nicene Creed was sung in German or in Latin or Luther’s wonderful paraphrase of the Nicene Creed, “We All Believe in One True God” (Lutheran Service Book 954, The Lutheran Hymnal 251) was sung as it always was in German services in our Synod’s churches. And on every Sunday during the Easter season we sing the hymn “Christ is Arisen” which had already been sung long before the Reformation of the 16th century. The forty days of Easter end on Ascension Day, which this year falls on May 9th, when we will celebrate a Festival Divine Service at 7:30 P.M.

Saturday, April 13th, will be a Work Day here at church from 10:00 A.M. until 12:00 Noon. Various outdoor and indoor chores need attention as we prepare for this year’s Saint Mark’s Conference which takes place April 22nd and 23rd. Information about the Conference can be found at our church’s website (2024 St. Mark’s Conference | Our Saviour Lutheran Church (oursaviourbaltimore.org)). Although intended primarily for pastors, everyone is welcome to attend the services and presentations.

On Saturday, May 11th, the First Free Flea Market of this year will take place beginning at 9:00 A.M. Judy Volkman reminds us that we have been blessed with clothing for women and lots of household items. We are lacking in jewelry and in men’s clothing. If you have any of these items you would wish to donate, please call Judy at (443) 425-3437. And volunteers are always needed to greet and assist our visitors. Judy asks, Who knows what will happen because of these interactions? Help to someone in need? A new member?

And do remember to bring items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and for the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for both are found inside the door from the parking lot north of the church. The need remains great!

Remember in your prayers all those for whom our prayers are desired: Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Julie Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208.

Do remember that as we see such terrible suffering in so many parts of the world, such as in the ongoing wars in the Holy Land and in Ukraine, we can provide help through our Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can give online through this secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can call Synod’s Contributor Care Line: (888)930-4438, or you can send a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to “The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod” and write “LCMS World Relief and Human Care” on the memo line.

The familiar prayer that is prayed after we have received Holy Communion, based on the old Latin liturgy, was written by Dr. Luther for his German Mass of 1526 and has had a firm place in the Lutheran liturgy ever since. It is found in both the liturgies we use (Lutheran Service Book, pp. 166, 201; The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 30).  In this prayer we ask that God would through the Holy Sacrament of His Son’s body and blood “strengthen us…in faith toward [Him] and in fervent love toward one another.” And so we see that the fruit of receiving Holy Communion is the strengthening of faith in the Lord who has so loved us as to offer Himself for us and also the increase of “fervent love toward one another.” It therefore goes without saying that, in coming to the altar, we repent of the weakness of our faith and the coldness of our love. We cannot seek the mercy of God if we are unmerciful toward those who may have offended us in some way. We cannot seek the peace of Christ if we refuse to be at peace with others. We all need to ponder the words of this prayer and take them to heart. How we pray shows what we believe.

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

The Lord’s people are in the Lord’s house at the Lord’s own service every Lord’s Day.

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

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, March, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
March, 2024

Holy Week and Easter

Palm Sunday – Distribution  of Palms, Procession and Divine Service, March 24, 11:00 A.M.
Maundy Thursday – Divine Service and the Stripping of the Altar, March 28, 7:30 P.M.
Good Friday – The Liturgy of Good Friday, March 29, 7:30 P.M.
Easter Eve – The Easter Vigil and the First Holy Eucharist of Easter, March 30, 7:30 P.M.
Easter Day – Festival Divine Service, March 31, 11:00 A.M.
Bible Class will not meet on Easter Day

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The last day of March is Easter Day, the glad feast of the Lord’s resurrection. The joy of Easter is so wonderfully expressed in the great Easter hymn of Saint John of Damascus (A.D. 657-749):

Now let the heavens be joyful,
   Let earth her song begin,
Let all the world keep triumph
   And all that is therein.
Let all things, seen and unseen,
   Their notes of gladness blend;
For Christ the Lord hath risen –
   Our joy, that hath no end!

In the resurrection from the dead of His only and eternal Son we see God’s purpose for the whole creation. As Vladimir Lossky (1903-1958) memorably said: “An infinite ocean of light flows from the body of the risen Lord.” Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of our faith, Christ’s resurrection is the foundation of the Church for there would be no Church had not the crucified Lord conquered death and the grave. And as the resurrection of the Savior is the foundation of the Church, so also is it the Keystone of the Church Year. For the light that shines at Christmas and Epiphany and Pentecost, the light that shines on every Sunday of the year and in all the festivals of the saints is none other than the light of the risen Lord, the cause of our eternal joy! How I wish that we 21st century Christians could recover the spirit of the ancient Church which had such a vivid sense of every Sunday as the weekly celebration of the Lord’s resurrection! If we would but realize that every Sunday is a “little Easter,” we would be very eager to join our fellow Christians to meet the risen Lord as He comes to us Sunday by Sunday in that Sacrament which the ancient fathers called “The Medicine of Immortality.” Yes, “Christ the Lord hath risen – our joy, that hath no end!”

From ancient times the Church’s celebration of the Lord’s resurrection has begun on Easter Eve with The Easter Vigil. Beginning with the lighting of the Paschal (Easter) Candle – symbol of the risen Lord with His five glorious scars, we hear the story of God’s loving purpose beginning with the story of creation and continuing with the flood and Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea in both of which our baptism into Christ crucified and risen is prefigured. Baptism follows or, if there are none to be baptized, the renewal of baptismal vows. The Litany is sung and the Vigil comes to its climax in the joyful first Holy Eucharist of Easter.

But before we come to Easter there is the Holy Week of the Lord’s passion. On Palm Sunday we join the crowds that went to greet the Savior, bearing palm branches and singing His praises as the promised Son of David who comes in the name of the Lord. Every celebration of the Holy Eucharist is a participation in that first Eucharist celebrated by the Savior in the upper room on the first Maundy Thursday. At the end of the Maundy Thursday Eucharist the altar is stripped and left bare. Since the altar is itself a symbol of Christ, the stripping of the altar reminds us that, when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, “all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”

On Good Friday we go in spirit to Golgotha and worship the Lamb slain for the sins of the whole world, “God’s own sacrifice complete” (Hymn 436). From ancient times the Passion according to Saint John has been read on Good Friday, the Passion history which emphasizes the victory won through the Son of God’s passion and death. It is Saint John who records our Lord’s “last triumphant cry” (Hymn 420): “It is finished!” We also join in praying the Bidding Prayer which since ancient times has been prayed on this day. In it we pray for all for whom Christ died, the whole Church and the whole world.

My hope is that we will all make an effort to be present as we remember these mighty acts whereby we have been given pardon for our sins, life and immortality. In addition to the evening Liturgy of Good Friday here at Our Saviour there will also be the customary Tre Ore Service at Bethlehem Church (4815 Hamilton Avenue) from 12:00 noon-3:00 P.M. Baltimore pastors will preach on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. If you are hesitant to go out after dark, this service is an opportunity to keep Good Friday. Few people stay for the whole three hours: come when you can, leave when you must.

The Concordia University Nebraska A Capella Choir will sing at Immanuel Church, Loch Raven and Belvedere, on Thursday, March 7th, at 7:00 P.M. They will be joined by the choir of Concordia Preparatory School in Towson. The Concordia Nebraska Choir is on a concert tour of the east coast.

Remember the Lenten Vespers which will be held on March 6, 13, and 20. Vespers with the Litany begins at 7:30 P.M. There is a soup supper at 6:30 P.M. Donations made at the soup suppers will help us provide gifts cards for needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we have been having a good attendance at these midweek services and suppers. If you need a ride to church on Wednesdays or on Sundays, please do not hesitate to email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com or call me at (410) 554-9994. And please do not forget to let me know when you or a loved one is sick or in need of pastoral care. That’s what pastors are for!

Our dear brother in Christ, Gregory Dixon, fell asleep in the Lord on Thursday, February 22nd. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon him and may the risen Savior comfort his family and all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. His funeral will be held here on Tuesday, March 19th, at 10:30 A.M. with visitation beginning at 10:00 A.M.

As we approach Holy Week and Easter we are painfully aware of the devastation of the on-going wars in Ukraine and the Holy Land and in other parts of the world. Let me remind you that you can provide help through our Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can give by calling Synod’s Contributor Care Line 888-930-4438 or you can give online at lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can send a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and write LCMS World Relief and Human Care on the memo line. And do remember to support the GEDCO Food Pantry and the Helping Up Mission. Boxes for donations can be found just inside the door which opens on the parking lot north of the church.

Remember in your prayers all those for whom our prayers are desired: Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Christ Mokris, Marion Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr.,Julia Silver, Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Juliana Watson, Dennis Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208.

Here is a prayer which can be used as we approach Holy Week and Easter.

Assist us mercifully with Thy help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the meditation of those mighty acts whereby Thou hast given us life and immortality; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast!
(I Corinthians 5:7)

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, February, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
February, 2024

ASH WEDNESDAY
Divine Service with the Imposition of Ashes
February 14, 7:30 P.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Once again we are about to begin our annual journey through Lent and Holy Week to Easter. Although Christmas is a more popular festival, which is in various ways celebrated even by those who do not see in the Child born of Mary our God and Savior, it is Easter that is for Christians the Feast of Feasts, the Holy Day of Holy Days, the Crown of the Christian Year, and all the seasons and festivals of the Christian Year (including Christmas) only make sense in the light of the Day of the Lord’s resurrection.From ancient times Christians have felt the need to prepare for Easter and that is why the Church has always the holy season of Lent in preparation for the glad feast of the Lord’s resurrection.

On Ash Wednesday there will as usual be Divine Service with imposition of ashes at 7:30 P.M. On the following Wednesdays there will be Vespers and Litany at 7:30 P.M. preceded by a soup supper at 6:30. Offerings given at the soup supper will be used to provide gift certificates for needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year the meditations at the Lenten Vespers will be based on the Passion as narrated by Saint Matthew. In using the Litany at Lenten Vespers we remember that Dr. Luther once said that after the Lord’s Prayer itself the Litany is “the best prayer that can be made” It was Pastor Wilhelm Loehe (1808-1872), that great 19th century father of the faithful Lutheran Church who founded the Seminary in Fort Wayne and then gave it to our Synod, who had this to say about the Litany: “Beginning with adoration, confessing Christ in its heart, it ends with the lovely Agnus [O Lamb of God…have mercy] which leads our thoughts to eucharistic heights…how evangelical, how entirely agreeable to our Church.”

The A Capella Choir of Concordia University Nebraska will give a concert of sacred and secular music at Immanuel Church, Loch Raven and Belvedere, at 7:00 P..M. on Thursday, March 7th. This choir of 72 auditioned voices has performed both internationally and throughout the United States. The Upper School Choir of Concordia Preparatory School in Towson will open the evening and will sing with the A Capella Choir. There is a need for people willing to provide lodging for members of the choir on the night after the concert. If you are interested, you may email
averykaser@concordiaprepschool.org.

The Epiphany Choral Vespers on January 21st, was a wonderful celebration of the new organ console which had been dedicated to the memory of Joseph Silver last October. I am sure that everyone will agree that Cameron Kuzepski, our guest organist for this service, is a remarkably gifted organist, composer, and choirmaster. It was a real treat to hear him play and to hear the quartet which sang settings of Psalm 72 and the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) which he had composed. This service was well attended and the reception that followed was delightful. We are much indebted to everyone who helped make this happen. I am hoping that we can from time to time have such choral Vespers on Sunday afternoons. Such services provide a good opportunity to invite our friends who attend other churches and those who are unchurched to worship with us.

Helen Gray, our dear sister in Christ, fell asleep in the Lord early in the morning on Thursday, January 11th. She was given Christian burial following the funeral service here at church on Saturday, January 20th. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may the risen Lord comfort all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection!

Remember in your prayers all those for whom our prayers are desired: Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marion Rollins, Elaine Schwab, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Gary Watson, Dennis Watson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208.

When we see terrible suffering in so many parts of the world, such as the ongoing wars in Ukraine and in the Holy Land, we can have a sense of helplessness in the face of so much needless suffering. But one way to provide help is through Synod’s LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can give online through this secure website: lcms.org/givenow/mercy or you can call Synod’s Contributor Care Line: 888-930-4438. 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 learn in Holy Scripture that the Lord Jesus began His earthly ministry in this way: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14,15). Lent is a “penitential season” when we are especially conscious that – as Dr. Luther said in the first of his 95 Theses – “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says, ‘Repent,’ he intended that the whole life of Christians should be one of repentance.” Both the Greek and the Hebrew word for repentance show that repentance is a change of heart, a change that God alone can work in us as we listen to His word of judgment and mercy. For Christians every day is a day of repentance. Lent is the season of the Christian Year that we are most especially conscious that this is so, and therefore we are called to examine our lives in the light of God’s Word. So consider your life in the light of the Ten Commandments or in the light of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7) or in the light of Saint Paul’s catalog of “the works of the flesh” and “the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatins 5:19-24). And then confess your sins to the Lord. And remember that – as we are taught in the Fifth Chief Part of the Catechism, The Office of the Keys and Confession – pastors are always willing to hear the confession of penitent sinners. The hymnal we use in fact provides a form for individual confession and absolution at page 292. I am always willing to answer any questions about this. Call me at (410) 554-9994 or email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com. As a dear friend of mine likes to say: “In private confession we learn not so much how sinful we are but how forgiven we are.”

The Lord’s People are in the Lord’s House at the Lord’s Own Service every Lord’s Day. May it be said of us as it was of the first Christians: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, January, 2024

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
January, 2024

New Year’s Day: The Circumcision and Name of Jesus –
Divine Service, 10:00 A.M.
Eve Of The Epiphany Of Our Lord, Friday, January 5th
Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.
Epiphany Choral Vespers in celebration of the new organ console, Sunday, January 21, at 4:00 PM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Although the world more or less ends its celebration of Christmas on Christmas Day, the Church continues to celebrate the twelve days of Christmas which conclude on January 5th, “Twelfth Night,” the Eve of the Festival of the Epiphany of our Lord. Epiphany has often been called the “Christmas of the Gentiles” because the wise men were the first Gentiles to worship the Christ Child and offer Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. As the poet Aurelius Clemens Prudentius (A.D. 348-413) says in his Epiphany hymn:

Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the King of kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh his sepulcher foreshows.

As the magi offered frankincense to the Savior, so we will offer incense – pure frankincense – at our Epiphany celebration; and we will sing those familiar carols which speak of the journey of the wise men and of their gifts: The First Nowell, What Child is This, and We Three Kings of Orient Are. The celebration of the Epiphany of our Lord is a joyful way to bring our annual celebration of Christ’s coming into this world to its happy conclusion.

The Rev. Philip Jaseph will be installed as the ninth  pastor of  Martini Church at Hanover and Henrietta Streets on Saturday, January 6th at 10:00 A.M. Please let me know if you plan on staying for the reception that follows. Call me at (410)554-9994 or email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com.

On Sunday, January 21st, at 4:00 P.M. there will be a Choral Vespers in celebration of our new organ console which on October 22 was dedicated to the glory of God and in loving memory of Joseph Silver. Mr. Silver served faithfully as president of Our Saviour congregation for a number of years and held other offices in the church as well as serving as our sexton. The Choral Vespers will celebrate the Epiphany season in which we celebrate Christ’s manifestation of His deity in the guiding star and the worship of the magi, in His baptism and in His changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana,  and in His glorious transfiguration. Our guest organist for this service is Cameron Kuzepski who is the principal organist at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen here in Baltimore. He studied organ and piano at the Peabody Conservatory, attended the Juilliard School of music’s pre-college division, has studied orchestral conducting in Bulgaria with the International Musicians Academy and the Vidin Sinfonietta, and participated in an internship with the Netherlands Bach Society in Utrecht, Holland. Do plan on attending this Choral Vespers and invite your friends! A reception will follow the service.

The January Voters Meeting will be held following Divine Service on January 28th. Every member of Our Saviour, eighteen and older, is eligible to participate in this congregational meeting.

Because Easter is early this year (March 31st)  the Christmas Cycle of the Church Year – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany – ends with the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord on Sunday, January 21st, and the Easter Cycle – Pre-Lent, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost – begins with Septuagesima Sunday on January 28th. The Latin names of the three pre-Lenten Sundays – Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima – tell us that it is approximately 70, 60, and 50 days until Easter. This year Ash Wednesday falls on February 14th – which is also Saint Valentine’s Day!

Please do not forget our on-going support of the GEDCO Food Pantry and of the Helping Up Mission. The need remains so great!

Thanks to the generosity of our members we were able to provide thirteen $40 Aldi gift certificates to needy families connected with the Waverly School at Thanksgiving and thirteen $100 gift certificates at Christmas.

Sherry James, the daughter of Eugene James, has been hospitalized since before Christmas Day. Remember her in your prayers, also Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Helen Gray, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marian Rollins, Elaine Schwab, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson, Marvalisa Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Helen Gray remains at Keswick Multi-Care Center, 700 W. 40th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 700 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208.

I am writing these lines on December 28th which in the calendar of the Church Year is the Holy Innocents Day when we remember the infants slaughtered by King Herod in his vain attempt to destroy the infant Savior. How sad it is that the slaughter of innocent children continues in our own day! It goes without saying that as disciples of Him who is the Prince of Peace we Christians will pray fervently for peace throughout the world, especially in Ukraine and in the Holy Land. Every life is precious to Him who is the Maker and Redeemer of the whole world. And so let us turn to Him who “makes wars cease to the end of the earth” (Psalm 46:9). The late Rev. Dr. Alfred Fuerbringer, who for many years was like his father Ludwig the president of our Synod’s Saint Louis Seminary, noted that during the First World War the congregation of Trinity Church in Saint Louis – the “mother church” of our Synod – at the end of every service sang the ancient prayer for peace which Dr. Luther had translated and which now is found in our hymnal (777. 778):

Grant peace, we pray, in mercy, Lord; Peace in our time, O send us!
For there is none on earth but You, none other to defend us.
You only, Lord, can fight for us. Amen.

Let me conclude this letter by thanking you for your Christmas cards and gifts and by reminding you of the blessing and privilege that is ours as Christians: that every Lord’s Day the God of great mercy is present for us through the preaching of His holy Word and in the Sacrament of our Lord’s true body and blood. The Lord of Mercy graciously invites you. How will you respond?

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, December, 2023

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
December, 2023

CHRISTMAS AT OUR SAVIOUR

Christmas Eve – The Holy Night Communion, 7:30 P.M.
Christmas Day – Divine Service, 10:00 A.M.
First Sunday after Christmas Day – Divine Service, 11:00 A.M.
New Year’s Day: The Circumcision and Name of Jesus –
Divine Service, 10:00 A.M.
Eve Of The Epiphany Of Our Lord, Friday, January 5th
Divine Service, 7:30 P.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The beginning of this month of December brings with it the beginning of the season of Advent in which we make ready for the annual celebration of our Savior’s birth.  I often think that the best image for the Advent season is that of waiting in the darkness for the coming of the Light. As another candle of the Advent wreath is lighted on each of the Sundays in Advent, the increasing light of the candles tells us that we are drawing ever closer to the coming of Him who is Himself the Light in all our darkness both through His coming in lowliness at Bethlehem and through His coming in glory at the Last Day. The Epistle which from ancient times has been read at the Holy Night Communion points both to His coming in Bethlehem and to His final coming in glory. Saint Paul writes: “The grace of God has appeared” and then he speaks of how we Christians are “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus” (Titus 2:11, 13). As Christians we live in joyful hope between these two comings of our Savior, our hope meanwhile sustained by His coming to us in the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Christ came, Christ comes, Christ will come again! With Christ’s coming again in glory faith will give way to sight and hope will give way to fulfillment. In the words of a familiar Christmas carol:

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heavens and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace their king,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Every few years Christmas Eve falls on the Fourth Sunday in Advent as it does this year. This means that the Sunday morning service is an Advent – not a Christmas – service. Our Christmas celebration begins with the Holy Night Communion at 7:30 P.M. and continues with Divine Service at ten o’clock on the morning of Christmas Day. Note that the New Year’s Day Divine Service also begins at ten o’clock. On the eighth day after His birth the infant Savior was circumcised and given the name Jesus (Saint Luke 2:21). And so on January 1st we not only celebrate the New Year but also the circumcision and Name of Jesus.

December 3rd is the deadline for contributions for the Aldi Gift Certificates for needy families connected with the Waverly School. Be sure to mark your check “Holiday Gift Certificates.” In giving to others we express our thankfulness for God’s generosity to us in His gift of His Son to be our Savior.

The church will be decorated for Christmas following the Divine Service on December 17th, the Third Sunday in Advent, which is also the deadline for ordering poinsettias. Wayne and Jean West are in charge of ordering the poinsettias: (410)236-6392, (410)236-8092. Each plant costs $11.00.

Our dear sister in Christ, Queenie Hardaway, fell asleep in the Lord on Thursday, November 9th. Her funeral service was held here at church on the following Thursday. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon here and may the risen Lord comfort all who mourn with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection.

A memorial plaque for the new organ console has now been affixed to our organ. It reads:

Console given to the Glory of God
and in memory of Joseph Silver
a devoted servant of God and His Church
1924-2022
October 22 the Year of Our Lord 2023

Do remember to bring food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission. The need remains great and each of us can and should make a contribution as we are able.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Helen Gray, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marian Rollins, Elaine Schwab, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek, Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson.

Helen Gray is now at the Keswick Multi-Care Center, 700 W. 40th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211. Yoland Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224; Louis Bell at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 7 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208.

Please do not hesitate to email me (charlesmcclean42@gmail.com) or call me (410-554-9994) if there is anything on your mind that you would like to talk about or if you wish me to visit you or bring you the Sacrament. If you need a ride to church, I will see to it that that need is met.

There is a prayer for the Advent season, written by John Goter (1650-1704), which wonderfully expresses the spirit of this season:

We ask Thy grace, O God, that we may make a due use of this holy time for preparing our souls to receive Christ our Lord coming into the world at the approaching solemnity of Christmas. Grant that we may be watchful at this time above all others, in avoiding everything that can be injurious to our neighbor, whether in afflicting him, or giving him scandal, or drawing him into sin or casting any blemish on his reputation; but in all things, O God, may we follow the spirit of charity, being forward in bringing comfort and relief to all, as far as their circumstances shall require, and ours permit. Grant, O Lord, that thus we may prepare to meet our Redeemer.

It goes without saying that in these difficult days Christians will turn in prayer to the Lord “who makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 46:9).

God bless us all in these Advent days.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, November, 2023

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
November, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

November 1st is All Saints Day and, when November 1st does not fall on Sunday, we keep the festival on the following Sunday, this year November 5th. On this festival we celebrate the blessed reality of the communion of saints, the wonderful fellowship of all who belong to Christ both in paradise and on earth. For many years our custom at Our Saviour has been to remember especially those members of our church who have been called to Christ’s nearer presence since the last All Saints Day. This year we will remember Lucille Carmichael, Maggie Doswell, and Robert Siperek. In the words of Bishop William Walsham How’s great hymn, “For All the Saints”:

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

November 24th is Thanksgiving Day and as is our custom we will keep this holiday with a service of  Vespers on Thanksgiving Eve at 7:30 P.M. People of a certain age are much given to nostalgia: that’s certainly true of me! I freely admit that I am nostalgic about Thanksgiving Day when I was a boy. In those days our churches were full but that is – sadly – true no more. Many churches have simply abandoned public worship at Thanksgiving. It seems that nowadays most Americans see no reason to go to God’s house to give Him thanks for all His blessings to us as a nation. Of course we all are troubled by many circumstances in our country’s life, but – especially when compared with less fortunate lands! – we have so many reasons for thankfulness for all the blessings we do in fact enjoy.

And looking ahead to Thanksgiving, be sure to read Bernie Knox’s article at the end of this newsletter about the gift certificates which we give to needy families both at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Family Day, which we keep as the anniversary of the dedication of this church building, was as always a very happy occasion. Our good friend Pastor Elliott Robertson preached a wonderful sermon showing how God has guided and blessed our congregation through the years, highlighting the fiftieth anniversary of the merger of the Church of Our Saviour and Saint Matthew’s Church which was founded by people who had been members of Saint Matthew’s Church in Meherrin, Virginia. That congregation had been founded in 1888, four years before Our Saviour, (then known as Jackson Square) was founded in 1892. In the late 19th century the Missouri Synod to which we belong was – to put it mildly! – emphatically German! Yet Saint Matthew’s Meherrin was founded as an African American congregation and Our Saviour was founded for English-speaking people. To this day there are members of our congregation whose roots are in Meherrin. This is a unique history and one of which we can be justly proud! Copies of Pastor Robertson’s sermon will be available on the table in the back of the church and on the piano.

Our new organ console was dedicated on Sunday, October 22nd, and we are also planning to have a special celebration in January. Details will be announced in the December newsletter. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Paul Techau for his tireless efforts in bringing this project to a happy completion. A plaque will be affixed to the organ noting that this new console is dedicated to the memory of Joseph Silver.

A crepe myrtle tree has been planted in front of the church near the bus stop. We are hoping that when it has grown it will provide shade for people waiting for the bus. Wayne West procured the tree and he and Paul and Mary Techau planted it.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Helen Gray, Queenie Hardaway, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Marian Rollins, Elaine Schwab, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Jonah Rogness, Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan, and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224; Louis Bell at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 7 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208, Queenie Hardaway at Augsburg Village, 6825 Campfield Road, Baltimore, MD 21207.

Please call (410-554-9994) or email (charlesmcclean42@gmail.com) me if you are unable to come to church and want me to visit you or bring you the Sacrament. Also let me know if you are in need of a ride to church and I will see to it that that need is met.

Let us be diligent in prayer for the whole Church and the whole world, and especially for our own congregation and country and for one another.

The Lord’s People are in the Lord’s House for the Lord’s Own Service every Lord’s Day.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

GIft Certificates

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Certificates to needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are including this in our bulletins and newsletters now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or on 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 Gift Certificates. In 2022 our four Soup Suppers yielded a total of $143.00. By Thanksgiving, including the Soup Supper funds and congregational donations, we were able to provide 12 families with a $65 gift certificate. At Christmas time our congregational donations were greater and we were able to provide 12 families with a $100.00 gift certificate. The recent 2023 Soup Suppers provided $348 as a beginning for our 2023 Thanksgiving and Christmas Certificates.

Please begin now to think about making generous contributions that will allow us to continue to help those less fortunate than ourselves provide a special meal for their families at a holiday which reminds us to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and at a second holiday which celebrates God’s greatest gift of all – the birthday of our Savior Jesus.

– Bernie Knox

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, October, 2023

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
October, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Family Day is Sunday, October 1st. Our guest preacher will be our good friend, Pastor Elliott Robertson, who for many years was pastor of Martini Church in south Baltimore. Lunch will follow the Divine Service. As is our custom we will also celebrate the 93rd anniversary of the dedication of our church. When Jacob awoke from his dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth with the angels of God ascending and descending on it, he exclaimed: “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:16,17). For 93 years our Lord and Savior has been graciously present in this place through His holy Word and Sacraments. We think of all who have heard the preaching of the Gospel and of all who have been made children of God through Holy Baptism and then confessed their faith in their Savior in confirmation, of all who have here been absolved of their sins and received the holy body and precious blood of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. We think of all the couples who have spoken their marriage vows and received the blessing of Christ the heavenly Bridegroom. We think of the mourners who have here been comforted with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. We think of all who have offered their prayers and praises through Christ our heavenly High Priest. Like Jacob at Bethel we too must say, “Surely the Lord is in this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Since all this is so, it is a joyful thing when year by year we give thanks for so many blessings!

Our dear sister in Christ, Maggie Doswell, fell asleep in the Lord at Medstar Hospital in Washington on the evening of Tuesday, September 12th. Her funeral was held here on Friday, September 22nd. For several years she was cared for at Cadia Healthcare in Hyattsville. It was always a privilege and a pleasure to visit her and bring her Holy Communion. Her cheerfulness and courage, her steadfast faith in her Savior, are a wonderful example for us all! May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may the risen Lord comfort all who mourn.

The fall Voters Meeting will be held after Divine Service on October 15. Every member of Our Saviour eighteen years old and older is eligible to participate.

God willing, on Sunday, October 22nd, we will dedicate the new organ console to the glory of God and in loving memory of Joe Silver who served this congregation so faithfully for so many years. His faithfulness and cheerful spirit are an example to us all. Be sure to read Paul Techau’s article about the new organ console at the end of this newsletter, also Judy Volkman’s report on our free flea markets and Bernie Knox’s article about the Aldi gift certificates we give to needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

On the last Sunday in October we will as always celebrate the Festival of the Reformation. In the first of the 95 theses – propositions intended for debate among theologians – posted on October 31, 1517 Dr. Luther said: “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying ‘Repent,’ meant the whole life of believers be one of repentance.” That call to repentance continues to resound down through all the ages as do the words of the 62nd thesis: “The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.” And these words are but the echo of the words of our Savior. Saint Mark tells us that  “Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel ” (Mark 1:14,15). As Christians, we are called daily to repent of our sins, examining our lives in the light of the Word of God. As one looks at the state of the churches today, who can fail to see the very widespread indifference to the Gospel and the holy Sacraments, to the public worship of the church? When we absent ourselves without a valid reason from worship on the Lord’s Day, we are creating an impression of indifference to the means of grace and to fellow Christians who are robbed of the encouragement our presence at Divine Service provides for them.

We continue to remember in our prayers James Bauman, Bridget Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Helen Gray, Queenie Hardaway, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Chris Mokris, Julia Silver, Jonah Rogness, Marian Rollins, Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224; Louis Bell at Autumn Lake Healthcare, 7 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208; Queenie Hardaway at Augsburg Village, 6825 Campfield Road, Baltimore, MD 21207.

If you are unable to come to church and would like me to visit you and bring you Holy Communion at home, please email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com or call me at (410)554-9994. If you need a ride to church, please let me know and I will see to it that that need is met.

The Lord’s People are in the Lord’s House every Lord’s Day.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

New Organ Console

This month we anticipate the installation of our new organ console. Our Moller pipe organ was installed when the church was built in 1930. It was rebuilt and slightly expanded in 1988. The console, however, has begun to show its age. After some research, we concluded that the most economical solution was to replace the console with a Viscount digital organ that will play the 1142 pipes in the organ chamber. In addition, the existing pipework will be supplemented with digital stops in a “hybrid” arrangement that will again expand the sounds that the organ can produce. The new console is expected to be delivered on October 9, and we will be without the organ one Sunday on October 15. If all goes according to plan, on October 22 the new console will be dedicated to the glory of God and in memory of Joe Silver who passed away January 5, 2022. He served this congregation faithfully for many years and in many ways, including many years as our sexton. We hope you can join us for this wonderful occasion.

  • Paul Techau

Free Flea Markets

On September 9th, 24 people attended the Last Flea Market of the year. There were 347 items distributed. This was a special Flea Market since we gave each person attending a large bag they could fill with clothing and/or shoes. Many people just took the clothes and left as “happy campers.” It seems that this year, many of the attendees also contributed to our inventory. We were happy to see that they were sharing their bounty with us. Many thanks to the volunteers who assisted this year: Eugene James, Paul & Mary Techau, Abigail Scheck, Pastor McClean, Jean & Wayne West, Bernie Knox, Gabe Purviance and Ben Orris. This wouldn’t have happened without them!

This is the 10th year that we have been sponsoring this Free Flea Market. There are times when I wondered if we were making an impact on the community. The statistics for 10 years show that 1435 people visited us and we distributed 10,350 items. WOW! It goes to show that small things really do add up. And the Lord has given us the ability to share our bounty with those who need it. Praise the Lord!!

We will continue to carry on next year. Donations of clothing, shoes, jewelry, linens and household items will be gladly accepted during the winter months. Since we hold the Markets during warm weather, winter clothes are not very popular.

  • Judy Volkman

Works of Mercy

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Certificates to needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are including this in our bulletins and newsletters now so that our gifts may be as generous as possible. Please indicate on your check memo line or on 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 Gift Certificates. In 2022 our four Soup Suppers yielded a total of $143. By Thanksgiving, including the Soup Supper funds and congregational donations, we were able to provide 12 families with a $65 gift certificate. At Christmas time our congregational donations were greater and we were able to provide 12 families with a $100 gift certificate. The recent 2023 Soup Suppers provided $348 as a beginning for our 2023 Thanksgiving and Christmas Gift Certificates.

Please begin now to think about making generous donations that will allow us to continue to help those less fortunate than ourselves provide a special meal for their families at a holiday which reminds us to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and at a second holiday which celebrates God’s greatest gift of all – the birth of our Savior Jesus.

– Bernie Knox