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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

Gate of Heaven

93rd Anniversary of the Dedication of the Our Saviour Church Building

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OSLC front Holga-ish93rd Anniversary of the Dedication of the Our Saviour Church Building

October 1, 2023 AD
Rev. Elliott Robertson

Old Testament: I Kings 8:22-30
Epistle: Revelation 21:1-5
Gospel: Luke 19:1-10

Click here to listen and subscribe to Pastor McClean’s sermons on iTunes.

Gate of Heaven

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

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16th Sunday after Trinity

September 24, 2023 AD

Old Testament: I Kings 17: 17-24
Epistle: Ephesians 3: 13-21
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

 

Then [Jesus] came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Saint Luke 7:14, 15

We read in the Gospel for this Lord’s Day, “Jesus went to a town called Nain and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.” The city of Nain was about five miles southeast of Nazareth where Jesus had grown up in the home of Mary His mother and His foster father Joseph. It’s also not far from Mount Tabor which is thought to be the place of Christ’s transfiguration. The city of Nain survives to the present day as a village called in Arabic Nein. It seems that the name Nain was taken from a Hebrew word which means pleasant, delightful and Nain does have a fine view of the Plain of Esdraelon and there is a spring that makes possible groves of olive and fig trees.

But as Jesus and His disciples and the great crowd approach the gates of the city they encounter an utterly familiar, completely ordinary scene: a scene experienced by countless people countless times every day in every part of this fallen world. A funeral procession of mourners, a body being carried to the grave. But what then happens is utterly OUT of the ordinary because this procession to the grave is met by another procession: a procession of life consisting of Jesus’ disciples and a great crowd and Jesus with them. THIS procession is a procession of LIFE because Jesus is the Lord of Life who said, “I AM the resurrection and the life, the one who believes in me — though he were dead — yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in ME shall never die.” And those WORDS are not JUST words! They come to life as the Lord of Life has compassion on the widow following the dead body of her only Son to the grave. You might say that here these two processions collide, the procession of death and the procession of life — and LIFE triumphs! JESUS who IS the resurrection and the life triumphs!”

“Do not weep” He says to that sorrowing mother. He goes and He touches the bier “and the bearers stand still. ‘Young man, I say to you, ARISE!’” says Jesus and the dead man and begins to speak “and Jesus gives him to his mother.”

Jesus not only GIVES life. Jesus IS the Life just as He says, “I AM the way, the Truth, AND THE LIFE…I AM the resurrection and the life.” To this fallen, death-bound world the One who IS LIFE has come. In dying He DESTROYS death and in rising from the dead He bestows everlasting life not only on us human beings but on the whole death- bound creation. For the Apostle Paul says that — in a way we cannot now even dimly imagine — “CREATION ITSELF will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” And in his vision while exiled on Patmos, Saint John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, saw a NEW heaven and a NEW earth where there are no tears, neither sorrow nor crying for — as John writes — “the former things have passed away.” I love those memorable words of the late Vladimir Lossky: “An infinite ocean of light flows from the body of the risen Lord.” “AN OCEAN OF LIGHT FLOWS FROM THE BODY OF THE RISEN LORD.”

“From the BODY of the risen Lord” because HIS body is the body of God the Son who IS Light and Life from all eternity, made FLESH of the virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit. I love the words of one of the great FATHERS of the Church, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, when he explains the meaning of Jesus’ touching the bier which held the corpse of the young man. Saint Cyril says:

“The Lord Jesus works the miracle NOT ONLY by WORD of mouth, but also by TOUCHING the bier — so that we may know that the sacred BODY of Christ has power to save mankind. For it is the Body of the One who is LIFE and the FLESH of the omnipotent Son and Word of the Father whose power it possesses. For as iron applied to fire will do the work of fire, so FLESH, after it has been united with the WORD who gives life to all things, ALSO becomes LIFE GIVING and a banisher of death.”

And how wonderful it is that this LIFE-giving Body of Christ is mysteriously yet truly given to be our Food in the Sacrament of the Altar. Christ’s BODY is LIFE-giving Food, Christ’s BLOOD is LIFE-giving drink: the Medicine of Immortality, the Pledge of the resurrection.

So there before the gates of Nain the procession of LIFE collided with the procession of DEATH – and LIFE TRIUMPHED! REMEMBER that EVERY LORD’s DAY is a little Easter because ON this day the Lord rose from the dead. And because of the Gospel read today, we are on this Sunday perhaps more conscious of this than we usually are. Just as EASTER is the glorious triumphant CROWN of the Christian YEAR so also EVERY Sunday is the CROWN of the week. On THIS day Christ speaks His WORD OF LIFE. On this day Christ who IS LIFE gives Himself to us in that wonderful Sacrament of Life and Love. The ancient Christians knew and understood this in a wonderful way and nothing could keep them from coming to receive their risen Lord and Savior in the Holy Mysteries of His LIFE-giving Body and Blood! How WONDERFUL it would be if we Christians in these gray and latter days could recover this joyful consciousness of EVERY DAY as the DAY of Life and Light, the DAY of the Savior’s resurrection!

Amen

Click here to listen and subscribe to Pastor McClean’s sermons on iTunes.

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

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, September, 2023

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OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
September, 2023

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I must begin by telling you that our search for an organist has just come to a very happy conclusion: John Igoe will again be our organist, beginning Sunday, September 24th. We were certainly very fortunate to have had him as our organist and are very happy that he will be with us again! I hope that many of you will be in church on the 24th to welcome him back.

Mark your calendars now for Sunday, October 1st, which will be Family Day. Our guest preacher will be our good friend, Pastor Elliott Robertson, who for many years was Pastor of Martini Church in south Baltimore. As usual there will be lunch following Divine Service. There is a sign-up sheet on the piano where you can indicate whether you will join us for lunch on Family Day so that we know how many to prepare for. As has been our custom for several years, we will celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of this Church on Family Day. The actual date of dedication was September 7, 1930, but there is an old church custom that the celebration of the anniversary can be moved to a different date if the actual date is in some way inconvenient. In Baltimore the weather in October tends to be better – less hot and humid! – than early September can be.

Our last free flea market of this year will take place on Saturday, September 9th, 9:00 A.M.-Noon. As always we need volunteers to greet our visitors and help them.

Remember to bring food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission. Why not make it a habit to pick up a few items to donate to the GEDCO food pantry when you do your grocery shopping? Toward the end of this newsletter Bernie Knox calls our attention to the Gift Certificates for needy families which we provide at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Surely no one needs to be told that the need is great.

Also at the end of this letter is Paul Techau’s report on the Milwaukee convention of our Synod. Paul was the lay delegate for the circuit of Baltimore churches to which we belong. Be sure to read his encouraging report. The convention showed that, as members of our Synod, we belong to a worldwide fellowship of churches united in faithfulness to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Four more church bodies were received into fellowship with our Synod: churches in South Sudan and Sudan, Uganda, Finland and Ukraine. The convention also showed that, whatever difficulties our Synod is facing, there is a degree of unity which is remarkable in this day when there is so much strife and uncertainty and even apostasy in many parts of Christendom. Yet we cannot take this for granted and so must pray – as we do in the Prayer of the Church we customarily use in the Divine Service – “that all who confess Your holy name may agree in the truth of Your holy Word and live in unity and godly love.” Satan and his minions delight in sowing seeds of doubt and confusion and division wherever the flock of the good Shepherd is found. And “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). And so we pray in Dr. Luther’s morning and evening prayer: “Let Your holy angel be with me that the evil foe may have no power over me.”

We continue to remember in our prayers James Bauman, Bridget Bauman, Louis Bell, Dana Carmichael, Maggie Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Helen Gray, Queenie Hardaway, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Mary Mokris, Julia Silver, Elaine Schwab, Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Maggie Doswell continues to recover at Cadia Healthcare, 4922 LaSalle Road, Hyattsville, MD 20782. 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; Queenie Hardaway at Augsburg Village, 6825 Campfield Road, Baltimore, MD 21207.

Please remember me in your prayers. You are in mine. If you are unable to come to church and wish to receive Holy Communion at home, you may call me at (410)554-994 or email me at charlesmcclean42@gmail.com. If you are in need of a ride to church, please let me know and I will see to it that that need is met.

Please remember me in your prayers. You are in mine.

Pastor McClean

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 Supper 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 certificates. 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

Report on the Synodical Convention

At the end of July, I had the privilege of representing our circuit (each circuit in the LCMS gets one pastoral delegate and one lay delegate to the convention) at the LCMS National Convention in Milwaukee. Mary attended the convention with me as a representative of the Wyneken Project here in Baltimore, which serves to help our churches continue to faithfully preach the Gospel and preserve their Lutheran identity.

The four and a half days of convention business were packed full of addressing a number of items, from the election of officers and board members for the coming triennium, to recognizing the faithful service of many who have served the church, adopting resolutions that enable the Synod to carry out its business, and addressing matters of controversy within the LCMS.

The highlight of the convention occurred early in the week. On Sunday afternoon, four church bodies were received into fellowship with the LCMS: Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan; Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland; Lutheran Church of Uganda; Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine. All four were represented by their bishops. In hearing their stories, it was very evident that these men and the churches they lead have truly sacrificed for the faith more than we in this country can truly appreciate. In addition to recognizing fellowship with these four church bodies, the convention also recognized the Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sri Lanka, up to this point a mission of the LCMS, as a “Self-Governing Partner Church.” If you have a little bit of time, you might consider watching this as it happened online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1-Kw3dpf7I starting at about the three-hour mark).

Throughout the convention, there was remarkable unity apparent. Many resolutions were adopted by voice vote. There were some more contentious issues for which debate continued for extended periods. However, in the end, even on these issues, good results were obtained with votes of 70%, 80%, and even 90%. I thought that to be a good sign for the direction of the Synod.

Each day began and ended with worship, generally one of the daily offices. Each afternoon session also began with worship. Worshiping with a thousand other Lutherans is a very unique and uplifting experience. There were a number of addresses, essays, and catechetical lectures (all things that are specified by the synodical constitution to happen at convention), all of which were very good and very worth listening to. The video for these can be found on Synod’s website (https://www.lcms.org/convention/national/livestream) and if you get a chance to listen to some of them, it is well worthwhile. You’ll have to poke around on the videos to find the lectures and essays, but it is worth doing.

– Paul Techau