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Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, September, 2026

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
September, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you in church!

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

Holiday Gift Cards

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

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

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

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

– Bernice Knox

Electronic Tithes and Offerings

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

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

– Bernice Knox

The Month Ahead: October, 2026

Services and Their Readings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, October, 2022

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553

October, 2022

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2
92nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
REDEDICATION OF THE TOWER BELLS
FAMILY DAY
FESTIVAL DIVINE SERVICE, 11:00 AM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we celebrate the ninety-second anniversary of the dedication of this church we will rededicate the bells which were placed in the tower in 1934. Our guest preacher will be the Rev. Carl Kruelle, who grew up in this church and was ordained to the holy ministry in this place. Many people have contributed to the restoration of the bells. The project could finally be completed because of a very generous gift from Doug and Beth Skinner, a gift given in memory of Brian Lessor and his mother Gloria who were members of Immanuel Church in Alexandria, Virginia.

When King David had gathered together all the rich materials for the temple which would be built by his son Solomon, he prayed before all the people: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from Thee, and of Thy own have we given Thee” (I Chronicles 29:14). These words powerfully remind us that everything we are, everything we have, finally belongs to God the Great Giver and of our obligation and privilege to give in return. Saint Paul exhorts the Christians in Corinth to be generous givers: “Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). It is sometimes said that we should “give till it hurts.” But Saint Paul is telling us to give until it feels good! “God loves a cheerful giver.” Do give some thought to your offering for the support of the Church’s work in this place. Ask yourself, does my offering truly reflect my gratitude for all God’s blessings as my Creator and my Redeemer, including the many blessings that are mine through His Church? Could I perhaps give more than I have been giving? Of course one must carefully consider one’s financial circumstances! Saint Paul instructs the Corinthians: each must give “according to what one has, not according to what one has not” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

And speaking of giving, do remember the Church’s organ fund. Checks for this purpose should be marked “organ fund.” And then there are the ALDI gift certificates that we give to needy families connected with the Waverly School at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Checks for this purpose should be marked “Gift Certificates.” And since giving involves more than financial contributions, let me also remind you that as a congregation we also support the GEDCO food pantry. There is a table with boxes just inside the door near the church office. It is all too easy to forget the many people who are so impoverished that they would go hungry were it not for the various agencies such as GEDCO that provide them with food at no cost. And finally there is our support for the Helping Up Mission which for so many years has helped men and is now also helping women get back on their feet and return to useful lives. There is also a box for the Helping Up Mission just inside the door near the office. Be sure to read Judy Volkman’s report on our free flea markets at the end of this newsletter. These free flea markets are yet another way in which we give.

The Fall Voters Meeting will be held after Divine Service on Sunday, October 16. Members of Our Saviour Church, eighteen years and older, are eligible to participate in the meeting.

On the last Sunday in October we celebrate the Festival of the Reformation, October 31 being the 505th anniversary of Dr. Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses—propositions for debate among theologians—which were a clarion call to repentance as can be seen in the very first thesis: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ He meant that the whole life of Christians should be one repentance.” The reforming work of Dr. Luther and his associates can only be rightly understood when that work is seen as calling the Church and its members to repent: to turn away from everything in the teaching and life of the Church which obscured or even denied the Savior’s gift of pardon and peace to penitent sinners. And so we read in the 62nd thesis: “The true treasure of the Church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.” It is by the Gospel of God’s grace in His Son, freely bestowed through His holy Word and Sacraments, that the Church lives. And so, every year at the Festival of the Reformation, we give thanks to God for the restoration of the Gospel to its rightful place and pray that the Holy Spirit will preserve this precious gift for all the Christian people. The Reformation began with Luther’s call to repentance and every anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation calls us to repent of all our own sins of ingratitude, indifference, and neglect of the Gospel in which is all our life and hope.

In the September Newsletter I said that we expected to announce the name of our new organist very soon, but we are still unable to do so. None of the applicants we interviewed has accepted our offer and so our search continues. We do have substitutes engaged for the whole month of October and are working on substitutes until a new organist is in place. We are discovering that the shortage of organists is all too real. Let us pray for God’s guidance and help.

The adult Bible Class continues to meet on Sunday at 9:45 AM. We have recently been studying the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the ancient Church in which the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and the Person of Christ were clearly confessed and errors that contradicted the truth were named and rejected. We are about to begin a study of the First Epistle of Saint Peter which was addressed to churches undergoing persecution in what was at that time northern Asia Minor, now known as Turkey. This Epistle is full of hope and joy in the crucified and risen Lord. Come join us! Our discussion is quite informal and questions are very welcome.

Let us continue to pray for all those for whom our prayers are desired: James Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Lucille Carmichael, Maggie Doswell, Quilla Downs, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Helen Gray, Queenie Hardaway, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Mary Mokris, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek, Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson. When I recently visited Maggie Doswell, she told me how much the cards she receives from our members mean to her. She is still at Cadia Healthcare, 4922 LaSalle Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224. Louis Bell remains at Autumn Lake HealthCare, 7 Sudbrook Road, Pikesville, MD 21208. Quilla Downs is hoping to be with us some Sunday. Her new address is 1000 Brightseat Road, Apt.462, Landover, MD 20777.

As God fed the Israelites with manna during their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness, God feeds us in the holy Sacrament of His Son’s body and blood. The Holy Sacrament is food for our journey through this world to the heavenly fatherland. Because the Holy Communion is the Sacrament of the unity of the Church, it is normally received during the Divine Service in God’s House. But if you are not able to come to God’s House, it is the pastor’s duty to bring the Sacrament to you in your home or in the hospital. Do not hesitate to ask me to visit you and bring you Holy Communion. My phone number is (410) 554–9994, and my email is charlesmcclean42@gmail.com. And please do not hesitate to contact me if you need a ride to church.

No one can fail to realize that we are living in more than usually unsettled times. There come to mind the words of Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble … Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:1, 10), And in the words of the Epistle that was read in church on the last Sunday in September: “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). The need is truly staggering and, as Christians, each one of us must do what we can, not least continuing in fervent prayer for all who suffer in so many ways.

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

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

WORKS OF MERCY

Here is a summary of our Free Flea Markets: In September, 21 people visited us and 180 items were given out. Our total for the year of 2022 was 129 attendees and 913 items were distributed. As we look back over the 8 years that the Free Flea Market has been held, a total of 31 members assisted at the Flea Markets, totaling 310 hours. A total of 1323 people passed through our doors, receiving 9121 items. That’s pretty impressive for a small congregation. A job well done to share the bounty the Lord has given us! Many thanks to those who gave of their time and those who shared their bounty with us.
—Judy Volkman

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, October, 2018

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

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

FAMILY DAY this year is SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14th. This is always one of the highlights of our year, We will have lunch following Divine Service. Sandwiches will be provided but everyone is invited to bring a side dish to share. There is a sign-up sheet for this on the piano in the front of the nave. Our guest preacher this year is the Rev. Noah Rogness who serves as Senior Non-commissioned Officer of the United States Army Pastoral Care Advisory Team. Before going to seminary Noah had served in the United States Army and was deployed to Afghanistan. Pastor Rogness is a dear friend of mine. I first got to know him ten years ago when he was serving as assistant to Chaplain (Colonel) Jonathan Shaw who preached at the Easter Vigil here at Our Saviour in 2017. Chaplain Shaw now serves at the Pentagon as the Director of Operations of the United States Army Chaplain Corps.

The Sunday morning Bible Class meets at 9:45 and we are continuing our study of the Letter to the Hebrews. On October 28 and on the following two Sundays the class will be led by Joshua Rystedt who is completing course work with Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, in order to prepare for entrance into seminary. He will also assist in the Divine Service and will accompany me on several visits to members no longer able to come to Church.

The regular Voters Meeting will be held following Divine Service on October 21st. Every member of Our Saviour who is eighteen years old or older is eligible to participate and vote. Among other things we will be considering the schedule for our observance of Thanksgiving and of the Christmas season.

On Saturday, October 27th, the 19th Annual Meeting of the Baltimore City Historical Society will be held in our Church at 2:00 P.M. A reception in the undercroft will follow. The Historical Society will be meeting here because our Church has now been placed on the Society’s register of historic buildings. A building placed on the register has a sign briefly summarizing its history; planning for ours is almost complete. It will be placed on the 33rd Street side of our Church. The Society’s website says that the Society is dedicated to “preserving, curating and telling Baltimore’s story.”

The end of October always brings Reformation Sunday. As faithful Lutherans we believe that through Dr. Luther God restored to the Church the holy Gospel in its purity and the Sacraments as instituted by Christ Himself. But we must never assume an attitude of pride and condescension toward our fellow Christians, let alone a malicious joy in their trials and tribulations! One of the greatest faithful Lutheran teachers of the last century — some would say the greatest of them all — Dr. Hermann Sasse (1895-1976) had this to say in connection with the hundredth anniversary of the First Vatican Council of the Roman Church which had taken place in 1870:

If the century that has passed since the last solemn session of Vatican I has taught us one thing, it is that there is a solidarity or a common destiny that binds together a divided Christendom. Every great event in the history of one church is the concern of all. Church history should have taught us this long since. Today we are learning this better from year to year. Victory and defeat, glory and shame of one church are shared by all. Therefore each individual church should be the keeper of her sisters. To know this is the beginning of true ecumenicity.

It is no secret that the Roman Catholic Church is going through a terrible crisis — perhaps its worst since the Reformation – in connection with not only predatory sexual behavior on the part of some of its clergy but also distressing evidence that many in positions of authority deliberately covered this up and so permitted this evil to continue. Nor is that all. There also seems to be a growing uncertainty concerning doctrine and practice at the highest levels of that Church, including the Pope himself. Nor is that all! For when we look at the rest of Western Christendom today we see here in many places what increasingly approaches apostasy, an abandonment of the authority of God’s Word and the doctrine solemnly confessed in the three ecumenical creeds: the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. And so we must pray for all Christendom that God would — as we say in the Bidding Prayer every Good Friday – “defend it against all the assaults and temptations of the devil and preserve it on the true foundation, Jesus Christ.”

On Reformation Sunday all four hymns sung in the Divine Service will be hymns of Dr. Luther. It is noteworthy that two of them were not entirely new. The first stanza of that wonderful hymn, “Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord!” had been in use for a hundred years, and the first stanza of that other hymn, “To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray,” had been sung for more than two hundred years before Luther was born. He simply added some beautiful stanzas to each of these already well loved hymns. This is significant! It shows that, not only in the liturgy but also in the hymnody of the Church, the Lutheran Reformation was truly a reformation and in no sense a revolution. As has often been said, the difference between the Church before and after the Reformation is like that of a garden before and after it has been weeded: those weeds are gone but it is still the same garden — that same Church which has been in the world since the first Pentecost and will continue until our risen and ascended Lord appears in glory at the Last Day. One sign of that continuity is that in our worship we use both words and music hallowed by centuries of use.

Since July we have been using Divine Service I in the Lutheran Service Book. This is the familiar service from the blue hymnal, Lutheran Worship. Beginning on Reformation Sunday and continuing until the end of January we will be using Divine Service Ill which is the familiar service from the red book, The Lutheran Hymnal. We are learning some hymns which are perhaps new to many of us. For a number of weeks we sang that delightfully joyful hymn, “In Thee is Gladness.” Beginning on October 7 we will be singing each week, “Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor,” a hymn in which we rejoice in the Real Presence of the Savior under the humble forms of the consecrated bread and wine.

God has given so much to us here at Our Saviour: we are truly a family in Christ. Visitors quickly notice this! We are privileged to worship in a church building of astonishing beauty which wordlessly invites us to prayer. We are blessed with a remarkably talented organist, Marie Herrington. All of us were saddened when after more than a half century Don Weber was no longer able to continue his faithful service here. Yet I believe that in Marie we have found a worthy successor. She has many gifts, not least her ability to accompany the hymns in a way which truly expresses the words we sing, a way that truly lifts the heart! Before concluding this letter let me gently remind you to inform me when you or a loved one or a friend is ill or in need of pastoral care. That’s what pastors are for! And do let me know if you are in need of a ride to church. I will make every effort to see that one is provided. The best phone number to reach me is 410.554.9994. It has an answering machine and I regularly check it as I also do my email: charlesmcclean42@gmail.com.

You are in my prayers. Do remember me in yours.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

WORKS OF MERCY

During the four free flea markets this year, we have distributed over a 1000 items! We can be proud that we are meeting a need in our community. There is one more Free Flea Market scheduled for November 10th. We will be distributing winter items at that time, including coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. And there will also be Christmas items. So if you have any winter clothes items or Christmas decorations to donate, please get them to me by November 5th. The Lord has blessed us with bounty and we are sharing that with those who need it.
– Judy Volkman