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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, 2020

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
OCTOBER, 2020

Sunday, October 4
The Ninetieth Anniversary of the Dedication
Of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Our Saviour
Family day

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In this year of our Lord 2020 three out of the four Sundays of October will be festival days here at Our Saviour. On October 4th we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the dedication of our church building, October 18th is Saint Luke the Evangelist’s Day and October 25th is Reformation Sunday.

We are continuing to follow COVID-19 protocols and to do our best to keep everyone safe. Many of these were discussed in the July newsletter and can be found on our church website (https://aliceblue-dolphin-121034.hostingersite.com/2020/06/our-saviour-return-to-worship-announcement). When you arrive please wear a mask until you are in your place. Please observe social distancing in the nave. We in fact have plenty of space and we might as well use it all! We still have just four to a table for Communion—one person kneeling at each end of the two parts of the altar rail—and offering plates may be found on the piano and in the back of the church.

Our Saviour congregation was founded in 1892 as an English-speaking congregation by a number of laymen from German Immanuel Church then on South Caroline Street, now at Loch Raven and Belvedere. The old Jackson Square Methodist Church in east Baltimore was purchased as a place of worship. In 1919 the congregation moved to its present location and for ten years worshipped in a simple wooden chapel until the present splendid church was built in 1929/30.

Now, the stones and mortar and glass of a church building are not holy in themselves, but the purpose of a church building is most certainly holy. For here the Triune God draws near to us in the preaching of His holy Word and in the celebration of the Holy Sacrament in which the Son of God feeds us with His true body and blood, the price of our redemption, the sure pledge of the resurrection. Here we confess our sins, here we say our prayers, and here we adore the Holy and Undivided Trinity who has saved us. And so we can say as did Jacob when he awoke from the dream of the ladder from earth to heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending on it: “Surely the Lord is in this place… This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate of Heaven” (Genesis 28:17). And so it is completely fitting that we should give thanks for all the blessings which God has bestowed in this hallowed place now for ninety long years.

The preacher for our anniversary will be the Rev. Dr. David P. Stechholz who is Bishop Emeritus of the English District of our Synod. He will also speak on the history of Lutheranism in North America at 9:45 am. When our church was dedicated in 1930, our congregation belonged to the English District of Synod. The first convention of the English District was in fact held in 1912 in our old Jackson Square Church in east Baltimore. The term bishop is perhaps unfamiliar in our circles. Yet more than thirty years ago the English District adopted the term bishop for its district president because the district had come to the conclusion that the title bishop more clearly expresses what district presidents in fact are and do. District presidents supervise the doctrine and practice of the pastors and congregations in their respective districts and—either in person or by proxy—ordain candidates for the Holy Ministry: Bishop is quite simply the ancient churchly name for those who do these things. It has been in use continuously since the Reformation in many parts of the Lutheran Church and continues to be in use in many of our sister churches around the world.  It has recently been adopted by Synod’s Atlantic District.

In the Calendar of the Church Year (Lutheran Service Book, p. xi) October 18th is always Saint Luke the Evangelist’s Day. This year October 18th falls on Sunday and so we have an opportunity to remember and give thanks for the life and work of Saint Luke, one of the four evangelists whose statues adorn the reredos of our church’s altar. Saint Luke is the evangelist who has recorded for us the wonderful story of our Savior’s birth and some of the most beautiful parables of Jesus, for example, the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. There is a fine old hymn, dating from the 12th century, which we will sing on Saint Luke’s Day, which has some lines which so beautifully express the work of the four evangelists of the one Lord Christ:

In one harmonious witness the chosen four combine                        While each his own commission fulfills in every line.

A voters meeting of our congregation will be held after Divine Service on October 18th. Every member of Our Saviour, age eighteen and older, is eligible to participate.

The last Sunday of October brings the Festival of the Reformation. It was on October 31, 1517, the Eve of All Saints Day, that Dr. Luther posted 95 theses, that is, propositions for debate among theologians, on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Much has been written and continues to be written about these 95 propositions or theses but, when all is said and done, these theses were heard far and wide as a great call to repentance. And it was that clarion call to repentance which set in motion the great movement we know as the Reformation. “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says, ‘Repent!’ he meant that the whole life of Christians should be one of repentance (Thesis 1)… The true treasure of the Church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God” (Thesis 62).  Dr. Luther and his coworkers never imagined that they were somehow founding a new church. They understood their work as one of calling the whole church to repentance and faith in our crucified and risen Savior in whom alone is all our hope. Thirteen years later the Lutheran princes and two city councils presented the Confession of their faith to Emperor Charles V in the City of Augsburg. They understood themselves to be confessing the one Faith of the one Church and to be inviting others to join them in so confessing. In its continued adherence to the Augsburg Confession the Church called Lutheran continues to issue that invitation to all Christians. We Lutherans believe that in this Confession divided Christendom can find unity in the truth as revealed in Christ through the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures and confessed in the Three Ecumenical Creeds—the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian. Dr. Luther’s Small Catechism is a marvelous summary of this teaching.

We were all saddened by the death of our long-time organist emeritus, Don Weber, on August 9th yet we are glad that he now rests in the nearer presence of the Lord Jesus. On September 15th the burial service was read at his grave in the presence of a number of his friends. On Sunday, November 22nd, there will be a Memorial Service at 4:00 P.M. This will be an opportunity to remember and give thanks.

Adult Christian Education and Sunday School will resume on Sunday, October 4th. Bishop Stechholz will speak on the history of Lutheranism in North America. Come and join us! These classes are always quite informal, and questions are most welcome.

At Mary Techau’s suggestion a video has been made of the bells in our church tower. Gabe Purviance is the narrator and Abigail Scheck has made some equipment available for better audio. You can see and hear this at oursaviourbaltimore.org or on Youtube. We are still trying to gather funds to repair the mechanism which rings the bells.

Our first free flea market of the year took place on September 12th, and the next one will take place on Saturday, October 10th, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon. We always need volunteers to help and welcome those who come.

Remember that the Sunday Divine Service is livestreamed every week and that you can also hear the Sunday sermon by calling 410.587.0979. Remember that if you wish to receive Holy Communion at home you should call me at 410.554.9994 or email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com.

We now have been living with this COVID-19 pandemic for over half a year. It goes without saying that we must pray for all who are sick and for those who mourn, also for all who care for the sick and the dying and for those who are working on a vaccine and effective medications. There also seems to be so much unrest at home and abroad: this too requires us to pray more fervently for all who are anxious and suffering. In all of this commotion we need more than ever to take to heart the words of the psalmist, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Do continue to remember me in your prayers: you are in mine.

Affectionately in our Lord,


Pastor McClean