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