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Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, July, 2017

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Our Saviour Lutheran Church
3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
JULY 2017

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When the mother of Jesus visited her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth greeted Mary with the words, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb…for when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And Mary herself said, “from now on all generations will call me blessed, for He who is mighty has done great things for me.” This meeting of Mary and Elizabeth and of their yet unborn children, the Lord Jesus and Saint John the Baptist, has from ancient times been commemorated on July 2nd which this year falls on Sunday. And so this coming Sunday we shall joyfully celebrate the Festival of the Visitation. You can read about this at Saint Luke 1:39-56.

This past Sunday we celebrated the 487th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession, the principle confession of the faith of the Lutheran Church. A booklet containing the Augsburg Confession was distributed to all who were in Church. If for some reason you were not able to be present and wish to have a copy of this booklet, I’ll be happy to see that you get one.

Vacation Bible School has begun and we are very grateful to everyone who is helping to make this possible: our summer Vicar Brett Witmer, Mary Techau, our good friend Pastor Roy Coats and his summer Vicar Simeon Cornwell, as well as Mr. Hawkins, our Sexton, who is always so willing to help. Having repainted the undercroft he is now painting the classroom in which the Sunday School meets. At this year’s VBS the children are learning about the wonderful “I am” sayings of Jesus as we find them in the Gospel according to Saint John: “I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Light of the world,” “I am the good Shepherd,” “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” etc. Pray for God’s blessing on this effort to bring children ever closer to their Savior.

I wish to thank all who helped with the second of our free flea markets of this year on Saturday, June 10th, and especially Judy Volkman who has led this effort for several years. The next free flea market will be held on Saturday, July 8th, 9:00 A.M. – 12:00 Noon. We always need willing helpers. I think I can truthfully say that we have a good time doing this! It is a pleasure to meet our neighbors and indeed just to spend time with each other.

Do remember our continued efforts to support the Helping Up Mission and the community food cupboard at GEDCO. The Helping Up Mission is always in need of personal grooming items and GEDCO is always in need for food for the poor and needy.

The process for gaining historic designation for our beautiful church is progressing. The last meeting before the City Council will be July 17. Anyone may attend this meeting as our church history is presented before the council and a landmark designation is read and voted on. Once this process is complete we will be able to continue with maintenance and beautification projects around the church building knowing it will always remain a treasure in the city.

I must thank everyone who helped with the delicious luncheon we had on Sunday, June 4th, the Feast of Pentecost, to welcome our summer Vicar. I am very glad that he is here! We got to hear him preach a fine sermon on Sunday, June 18th; he’ll also be preaching on July 16th and August 20th. It is a real treat for me to listen to someone else’s voice! The Vicar has been helping with calls on our shut-in members and has been helping with the confirmation class and the Sunday adult study group and in general making himself useful.

And speaking of shut-in members, Darlene Grant has been able to return to her home after more than six months in and out of hospitals and nursing homes. Pray for her continued recovery. And we are all very glad that Gabe Purviance is again with us after a long course of treatment.

Our dear brother in Christ, David West, fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, May 28th, after a brief illness. His funeral was held at the Church on Thursday, June 1st. He will certainly be missed here at Our Saviour and in the neighborhood where he was such a friendly and cheerful presence. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon him! And may our Savior comfort all who mourn his departure with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

In 2016 not one member of our congregation died. But in the first half of this year we have mourned the death of three faithful members: Myrna Curtis, James Gray, and now David West. Ours is the loss but theirs is only gain. Says Saint Paul, “I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

Those of you who regularly attend Divine Service will have noticed that we have two new acolytes in addition to Kai Hawkins and Jamera Lewis-Hawkins who are so very faithful in serving week after week after week. They are an example to us all! Jamera will be out of town this summer. Our two new acolytes are Ted Jones and Dominick Carmichael-Myrie. I am very happy that our young people want to serve at the Lord’s altar.

On Sunday, July 9th, we will begin using the “blue book,” Lutheran Worship, and will continue to do so for several months. Since Palm Sunday we have been using the “red book,” The Lutheran Hymnal. Both of these books have been authorized for use in our Synod, the red hymnal in 1941, the blue hymnal in 1982. In 2007 a new hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, was authorized for use in the congregations of our Synod. It in fact incorporates the best both of the red and of the blue hymnal, including the liturgies we use from both books.  I think the time has now come to consider the possibility of introducing this book. Nothing will be done quickly! Instead the possibility of using the Lutheran Service Book will be formally introduced to the congregation at the October Voters Meeting, but no action will be taken until the January Voters Meeting. This will provide time for members to familiarize themselves with the new book – several copies will be available for borrowing – and for discussion among ourselves. I repeat, nothing will be done quickly! I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

In a recent sermon Pastor Christopher Esget, who preached for the 125th anniversary of our congregation, had this to say: “The walls of Western Civilization are collapsing. And with that collapse, so also the church is shattered, splintered, fragmented. Many of our members have a weak or nominal commitment to Christianity. The children we spend so much time catechizing will go out into a world deeply hostile to everything we have taught them.” These words certainly have the ring of truth! Yet if we find ourselves despairing, we have clearly lost sight of the one true and living God, the God who creates out of nothing, the God who Himself joined us in our death and then rose triumphant from the grave. To be sure, there is no promise that Western Civilization will be saved, but there is Christ’s promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church – that this “only holy Church shall be and remain forever” (Augsburg Confession, Article VII). Our part is to live lives of repentance and faith nourished by Christ’s Gospel and holy Sacraments in which week by week, every Lord’s Day, He is present to pardon us, to renew us, and to strengthen our hope in His coming again to make all things new.

Do keep me in your prayers as you are in mine.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Lutherans for Life – Maryland Chapter

Maryland Lutherans for Life held a formation meeting at Our Saviour this past March and representatives from nine Lutheran churches in the greater Baltimore area were in attendance. You may have heard of the national organization, formed in 1976, in connection with the March for Life held each January in Washington DC. This certainly is part of the Maryland chapter’s mission, peacefully marching on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which overturned state laws regarding abortion. But Lutherans for Life includes all life issues, from conception to natural death. The gift of life is from our Creator and we uphold the sanctity of human life because all people are created and redeemed by God who intends they bear His image for time and for eternity (John 10:10).

As a chapter we will work to be a Gospel-motivated voice for life in our community. What does this look like for us? Each of us might meet someone who needs a listening ear, a hot line number, a tract or a counseling center address. Our chapter will begin compiling this information including adoption, bioethics. end of life issues, family living and many more topics, and educate ourselves that we might help our neighbor.

Our next meeting will be at Our Saviour, Saturday, November 18th, at 10:00 A.M. All are welcome to find out about this outreach.

– Mary Techau

 

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, May-June, 2017

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-235-9553
www.oursaviourbaltimore.org
May-June 2017 

Thursday, May 25
ASCENSION DAY
Festival Divine Service
7:30 p.m.

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 Forty days after His glorious resurrection the risen Lord ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us so that where He is we might also be. And so on Thursday, May 25th, we celebrate the great festival of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we sing in one of the hymns for Ascension Day: “On Christ’s ascension I now build the hope of mine ascension…” Surely it is not a burden but a joyful privilege to celebrate the festivals on which we rejoice in God’s mighty acts whereby we are saved. I hope that you will come to worship on this happy feast day.

On Tuesday, May 2, the risen and ascended Lord called out of this world to Himself in heaven our dear brother in Christ, James Gray. He loved the Lord Jesus and He loved this House of God for so many years. Now he rests in the nearer presence of his Savior. May the Light Perpetual ever shine upon him! We pray that our Lord would comfort Helen and the whole Gray family and all who mourn. Nowhere in Holy Scripture are we told that it is wrong to mourn the loss from this world of those we love. Holy Scripture does not say that we should not sorrow, but rather that we should not “sorrow as others do who have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13). The Lord Jesus Himself wept at the grave of his dear friend Lazarus. God has given us tears for healing. 

The month of April was certainly a busy one here at Our Saviour: Holy Week, Easter Day, the second annual Saint Mark’s Conference, and the celebration of the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of this congregation. I must thank everyone who worked to make all of this happen! I fear that we sometimes take for granted the work of our sexton, William Hawkins. So here I want especially to thank him. As you may know, the Saint Mark’s Conference is not paid for from our congregation’s funds: it is supported by Conference registration fees and generous gifts from friends. This year we had a substantial sum left after all expenses had been paid and this sum will be used for next year’s Conference.

And speaking of finances, at the Voters Meeting following Divine Service on May 21st, the budget for Fiscal Year 2018 will be approved and other matters discussed. A slate of officers for the Church Council will be presented:

              President: Gabriel Purviance
Vice-President:
  Secretary: Judy Volkman
              Treasurer: Bernice Knox
              Comptroller:
              Director of Stewardship:
              Director of Evangelism:
              Director of Worship: Merton Masterson
              Director of Youth:
              Director of Property: Paul Techau
              Director of Education: Mary Techau
              At Large Member: Richard Brown
              At Large Member: Gary Watson

We do not have candidates for all the positions of the Council. This is in part due to the fact that the constitution and bylaws of our Church presuppose a very much larger congregation. And this is true in many congregations of our Synod. Marie Herrington has continued to serve as organist. The Council will recommend to the Voters that we ask her to become the organist of this Church. She is very talented and a joy to work with. As you know she is a student at the Peabody Conservatory. 

This year three of the four Sundays in June are festivals. June 4th is the Feast of Pentecost, June 11th is Trinity Sunday, and June 25th is the Anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. Pentecost is with Christmas and Easter one of the three great feasts of the Church Year. The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost which is the fiftieth day after Easter Day – “Pentecost” means fiftieth – and the tenth day after our Lord’s ascension. From Advent through the Day Pentecost we celebrate what God has done for our salvation, on Trinity Sunday we celebrate the mystery of who God is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: one God.

Less familiar than Pentecost and Trinity Sunday is the Anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession on June 25th. After the Three Ecumenical Creeds – the Apostles, the Nicene, the Athanasian – the Unaltered Augsburg Confession is the principle statement of the faith of the Lutheran Church. So important is this Confession that the letters U A C are carved in stone on the cornerstone of this church building right after the name of the Church, and there was a time when our congregation’s Constitution required that all the voting members of the congregation be familiar with it. . In fact at the dedication of this church building on the 12th Sunday after Trinity in 1930 “Confessing Christ in Augsburg in 1530 and in Baltimore in 1930” was the title of the sermon preached by the Rev. William Dallmann, the Pastor who had helped the twelve laymen from Immanuel Church to organize this congregation.

So how did this Confession come about? In 1530 Emperor Charles V summoned the princes and free imperial cities of the German nation to a diet (meeting) in the City of Augsburg to plan a united defense against the invading Turks who had already reached the gates of Vienna. He hoped that at this meeting the religious controversy which had arisen between those remaining loyal to the Pope and those who had embraced the faith as taught by Dr. Luther and his coworkers might be resolved. As their contribution to the resolution of the conflict the Lutheran princes and two free imperial cities presented the Confession of their doctrine to the Emperor on the afternoon of June 25th. The Confession was based solidly on Holy Scripture and showed how “Lutheran” doctrine was not an innovation but none other than the doctrine of the ancient Christian Church. The faithful Lutheran Church continues to propose this Confession as a unifying Confession. And so on the anniversary of the presentation of the Augsburg Confession we give thanks for this treasure of truth and we pray for the unity of sadly divided Christendom. Nothing is more precious than the truth of Christ’s saving Gospel. And that is why we cherish this wonderful Confession of that saving Gospel whereby we live and die in the peace of Christ

On June 5th, the great Feast of Pentecost, our summer vicar Brett Witmer will be with us and will participate in the Divine Service. There will also be a lunch to welcome him. He will have completed his first year of study at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Having already met him I am confident that he will be a blessing to us all. Do come to church on Pentecost and warmly welcome him.

In conclusion I wish to share with you the closing paragraphs of the wonderful sermon Pastor Esget preached on Sunday, April 30th, the Sunday known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” in the Calendar of the Church Year. As Regional Vice-President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, Pastor Esget brought us the greetings of the President of Synod, Pastor Matthew Harrison. Here is what Pastor Esget had to say:

We rejoice that you are 125 years old. But you are not old, you are young, you’re new. In the kingdom of God, things do not grow old, but they are ever new. Last Sunday we all heard that we are newborn babes, drinking the milk of the Word to grow by. Even now, Jesus is making you new, and teaching you to live a new kind of life. “Christ also suffered for you,” we heard St. Peter say, “leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” And again, “[Christ] himself bore our  sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”

So rejoice and be glad this day. All these years God has cared for you, and for Our Saviour Lutheran Church. Your Jesus is your Good Shepherd. He will be your rock through all the storms of life. He will guide you and protect you from danger. And when the last hour comes, your Jesus will pick you up and like a Shepherd lead you home.

So sing and be glad this day, for Jesus lives, and His Church will never die! Clap your hands and laugh, for Jesus lives, and you will live forever. Play the trumpet and clang the cymbal, for Jesus Christ is risen today!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Our congregation has so many reasons for giving thanks. Let us continue to be truly thankful Christians and also pray for one another, also for the whole Church and the whole world, so desperately in need of the fervent prayers of faithful Christians.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

Announcements

2017 St. Mark’s Conference: Videos Posted

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Videos from the 2017 St. Mark’s Conference have been posted on YouTube and are viewable in a playlist here.

Our most hearty and sincere thanks to Mr. Gene Wilken, who journeyed from Nashville to Baltimore and offered his professional recording services to Our Saviour Church and guests at no cost. Gene has recorded Lutheran conferences in Detroit, MI; Ft. Wayne, IN; Kewanee, IL; Hamel, IL; and now Baltimore. He also records the Bible classes and sermons at his home church, Concordia Lutheran in Nashville, on a weekly basis. Gene’s pro bono recording work over the last several years has multiplied the reach and good effect of many wonderful presentations, panel discussions, sermons, and services and has garnered him a well-earned reputation as a premier producer of confessional Lutheran digital media. You can visit his company website, Flaneur Record, here. Thank you, Gene!

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, April 2017

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410-235-9553
www.oursaviourbaltimore.org
April 2017 

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER
Palm Sunday – 11:00 A.M. Procession and Divine Service
Maundy Thursday – 7:30 P.M. Divine Service
Good Friday – 7:30 P.M. Liturgy of Good Friday
EASTER EVE – 7:30 P.M. The Easter Vigil
EASTER DAY – 11:00 A.M. Festival Divine Service
Sunday School and Adult Class will not meet on Easter Day.

125th ANNIVERSARY OF OUR SAVIOUR CHURCH
Sunday, April 30th, Festival Divine Service, 11:00 A.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For us here at Our Saviour Church this month of April brings both Holy Week and Easter and also – on Sunday, April 30th – the celebration of the 125th Anniversary of our Church. But before I say anything about this I first want to thank everyone who made possible the wonderful lunch on my birthday and everyone who brought cards and gifts for me. Lynetric Bridges made a beautiful birthday cake for the occasion. I was also very happy to welcome some of my dear friends who are members of Immanuel Church in Alexandria. As always the food was delicious and there was more than enough for everyone! Thank you and may God reward you for your generosity!

I must mention the large notice taped to the west door of the Church. I was rather shocked when it appeared but it is nothing more than a public notice – “To whom it may concern” – of a hearing to be held on April 11th in connection with our Church being placed on the historic register of buildings here in Baltimore. The notice will be taken down on the 11th. Quilla Downs, Judy Volkman, and Bernie Knox will be attending the April 11th hearing. Excellent progress is being made on this effort to acquire historic designation.

 As we approach Easter Day, the great Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, we are painfully conscious of the reign of death throughout the world. And so there come to mind some words of the late Walter Kuenneth, a Lutheran pastor and theologian who lived through the horrors of Hitler’s regime and the Second World War. I frequently allude to these words and I do so again because in a very succinct and compelling way they point to the one ground of hope. Writing in the year 1951 – just six years after the end of World War II and during the Korean War – Dr.Kuenneth had this to say:

The course of history, as it has so terribly disclosed itself to us,  can only be a confirmation of the Christian insight that all mankind  is trembling on the brink of destruction and groaning under the  tyranny of death. In this dark night of the world there is only one single source of light: the joyful news, “Christ is Risen!”

 But before we come to Easter there is the Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion. On Palm Sunday we remember Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. On Maundy Thursday we remember our Lord’s institution of the holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood. At the end of the Divine Service the altar is stripped while the great Psalm of the Passion, Psalm 22, is sung. The altar is itself a symbol of Christ, and so the stripping of the altar reminds us of how at Jesus’ arrest in the garden of Gethsemane all His disciples forsook Him and fled. At the Good Friday Liturgy the Passion according to Saint John is read and we pray the Bidding Prayer which by ancient usage is especially appointed for Good Friday. If you are unable to come to the evening service here at Our Saviour, you might attend some part of the Three Hour Service from 12:00 noon-3:00 P.M. at Bethlehem Church, 4815 Hamilton Avenue. Seven pastors preach on our Lord’s words from the cross. Surely every Christian should wish to be in the Lord’s House on the day of His saving death for our salvation. Confirmation class will not meet on Good Friday.

 The celebration of Easter begins with the Easter Vigil on the evening of Easter Eve. Long before anyone thought of the Christmas Eve service, the Easter Vigil had been celebrated for centuries. Already in the 4th century Saint Augustine called it “the mother of all holy vigils.” In it the whole story of our salvation is told. The liturgy begins in darkness, recalling the darkness before creation, the darkness of the Passover night when Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt, and the darkness of the tomb where the lifeless body of Jesus lay. The new fire is kindled, the great Paschal – which means Easter – Candle lit and from it the candles held by the congregation; then the ancient Easter Proclamation is sung. Then three lessons from the Old Testament, which foreshadow our baptism into Jesus’ resurrection, follow. We then renew our baptismal vows. The Litany is sung and the first Eucharist of Easter is celebrated. Our preacher on Easter Eve will be the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw. Chaplain Shaw now serves as Director of Operations for the United States Army Chaplain Corps. 

 The Paschal Candle burns at all services during the Easter season until on Ascension Day it is extinguished after the reading of the Gospel which tells of how in His ascension the risen Lord withdrew His visible presence from us. During the rest of the year the Paschal Candle stands by the baptismal font and, since in Baptism we are made one with Christ in His death and resurrection, it burns whenever Holy Baptism is administered. The Paschal Candle is also placed near the body of departed Christians during the funeral service for “if we have been united with [Christ] in a death like His” – and we have in baptism – “we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Romans 6:5).

 Payment for Easter lilies – $10 each – together with the names of those being honored or remembered by them is due on Palm Sunday. See Judy Volkman.

 Two weeks after Easter Day – April 30th – we shall celebrate the 125th Anniversary of our Church. There will be a Festival Divine Service at the usual hour followed by a festive lunch. The preacher for our anniversary celebration will be the Rev. Christopher Esget who is Pastor of Immanuel Church in Alexandria and Vice-President of the East/Southeast Region of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. He was elected to this office at last summer’s convention of Synod in Milwaukee. He preached for my installation as pastor here. Do plan on being present for this celebration and invite any people you know who once were members here or who might like to join us for the anniversary.

 This year’s Saint Mark’s Conference will be held April 24-25. Although this conference is chiefly for pastors and seminarians, anyone may attend. The papers given at the conference will focus on the Office of the Holy Ministry as we find it in Holy Scripture, in the Lutheran Confessions, and in the history of the Church.

Although there is a registration fee for the conference, members of Our Saviour need not pay the fee.

 Our former vicar Trent Demarest will be with us for the conference. He and his wife Maritza are now the proud parents of another little boy. So little John, who was one year old on March 3rd, now has a little brother. Thomas Irenaeus Demarest was born on March 6th and baptized on March 26th. Thomas is the name of one of Christ’s twelve apostles. Saint Irenaeus was an early Church Father who had known Saint Polycarp who knew Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.

 And speaking of vicars Brett Witmer will be our summer vicar this year. He grew up in Duncannon,Pennsylvania, about twenty miles north of Harrisburg,and graduated from Shippensburg University. He will have completed his first year of studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He had visited Baltimore during the week of Ash Wednesday and was present at the Divine Service here at Our Saviour on Ash Wednesday. We very much look forward to him being with us!

 Every Sunday in the Divine Service we pray for those “for whom our prayers are desired.” Their names appear in the bulletin every week. Do remember them in your own prayers. Darlene Grant is as of this writing again hospitalized at Johns Hopkins. James Gray continues to convalesce at the Augsburg Home and Gabe Purviance is completing a course of treatment. Dorothy Bell was recently hospitalized but is again at home. In the Prayer of the Church we also pray every Sunday for all persecuted Christians throughout the world. Many of our fellow Christians simply do not have the freedom of religion with which we in our country have been blessed.

 I must thank Marie Herrington who has served as our organist on Sundays and Charles Ames who has served as organist for the Wednesday Lenten services. Marie is a student at the Peabody Conservatory. 

 It may be of interest to note that in the early days of Our Saviour Church, then called Jackson Square because of its original location, Louis Kahmer who taught at Peabody was organist for a time. He also harmonized The Common Service with Music , a book published in 1906 which provided the music (most of which is still in use) for the liturgy. It is in fact the book I use for the pastor’s chant at the Divine Service and Vespers. Pastor Steffens, at that time Pastor of Martini Church, took a leading role in preparing this book. The music was of course not new but gathered from the Lutheran Church Orders of the 16th and 17th centuries which in turn were based on the music of the pre-Reformation Church. In using this music there is a wonderful sense of the communion of saints through the ages.

Do remember the needs of the Helping Up Mission and of the GEDCO community food cupboard. 

The organizing meeting of the Maryland Chapter of Lutherans for Life was held here at Our Saviour on March 17th. Pastor Roy Coats was elected president; Pastor Thomas Foelber was elected vice-president. Mary Techau is treasurer and Kathy Frey is secretary. Anyone who is concerned about the sanctity of human life can become a member of this group. You will be kept informed of its activities.

 The resurrection of Christ from the dead is the one ground of hope and source of new life through the Holy Spirit. As we approach the glad feast of the Lord’s resurrection let us examine our consciences, repent of our sins, and draw strength from the holy Gospel and the Sacraments in which the risen Lord is mightily at work to forgive, renew and bless. I pray that we keep a truly penitent and faithful Holy Week and then joyfully celebrate the Lord’s resurrection.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean