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Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, September, 2025

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
September, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We have been having some truly wonderful weather here in Maryland. As Christians we give thanks to our good Creator for all the blessings of creation. And if even the fallen creation is this beautiful, what will be the beauty of “the new heavens and new earth” which will be established when the risen Lord appears in glory? Dr. Luther once said that the creatures are now “wearing only their work clothes; afterwards they will put on an Easter coat and Pentecost clothing.” And every Lord’s Day, as we celebrate the Holy Sacrament, we not only look back to Christ’s saving death and resurrection, we also look forward to the glory that shall be revealed when He comes again in glory.

Two Sundays this September bring two festivals of the Church Year when the liturgical color for the day is red. On both these Sundays we will be using the new red banner which has been given by Scott Jones’s wife Jolanta. Thank you, Jolanta, for your generosity!

On September 13th in the year 335 – 1690 years ago – the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (also known as the Church of the Resurrection), which had been built on the site of our Lord’s crucifixion and burial, was dedicated. On the following day a piece of what was believed to be the cross of Jesus was shown to the worshipping congregation. And so September 14th soon came to be celebrated everywhere as Holy Cross Day. In our Synod’s German hymnal the day is designated as “Am Tage der Kreuzes Erhoehung/On the Day of the Exaltation of the Cross.” For on Holy Cross Day the Church remembers not so much the sufferings of the crucified Savior as His victory on the cross: the tree of death became the tree of life. Among our Eastern Orthodox fellow Christians Holy Cross Day is one of the Twelve Great Festivals of the Church Year. Among us Western Christians many churches have been called Holy Cross Church, among them one of the four original churches (Trinity, Holy Cross, Immanuel, Zion) of our Synod in Saint Louis, also Holy Cross Church here in Baltimore.

September 21st is Saint Matthew’s Day, Saint Matthew being one of the twelve apostles and the author of the Gospel which bears his name. As we celebrate Saint Matthew’s Day we will be conscious of the fact that in April 1973 Saint Matthew’s Church and the Church of Our Saviour became one congregation, remembering that Saint Matthew’s Church here in Baltimore had been founded by people who had been members of Saint Matthew’s Church in Meherrin, Virginia, which was founded in 1888, four years before Jackson Square Church which on moving to our present location in 1919 became the Church of Our Saviour. In a time when our Synod was an almost exclusively German church body, Saint Matthew’s in Meherrin was founded to bring the Gospel to African Americans, Jackson Square was founded to bring the Gospel to English speaking Americans.

In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Spanish speaking people in our country, also here in Baltimore. On Saturday, September 20th, at 11:00 A.M. the Rev Walterson Siewert will be installed as pastor of the Iglesia Luterana Nazaret/Nazareth Lutheran Church in Highlandtown during a service that will be conducted in both Spanish and English. A reception will follow. Pastor Arthur Boone and Pastor Miguel Torneire began this work and Pastor Siewert will now continue this mission to Hispanics. Pastor Siewert comes to us from Uruguay. Do try to attend this service to support and encourage him as he begins his ministry here in Baltimore.

John Igoe has been our organist since September 2023 but he has now accepted the position of organist and choirmaster at Our Lady of Grace Church in Silver Spring. He was also our organist from February 2021 through August 2022. September 7th will be his last Sunday at Our Saviour. We are truly grateful for his faithful service which has truly enhanced our worship and has lifted up our hearts to the Lord. We wish him God’s richest blessings as he begins this new work. I am happy to note that he will continue to be available to play for any weekday services which do not conflict with his new responsibilities. Thank you, John, and Godspeed!

Mark your calendars now! Sunday, October 5th will be Family Day and the celebration of the 95th anniversary of the dedication of our church. The Rev. Dr. Dien Ashley Taylor, Bishop/President of the Atlantic District of our Synod, will preach. A luncheon will as usual follow Divine Service. Three districts of our Synod – the English, the Atlantic, and at this year’s convention our Southeastern District – have decided to use the title bishop for their district presidents because bishop has from the earliest days of the church been the name given to the pastors who have oversight of the doctrine and practice of pastors and congregations and also ordain candidates to the Holy Ministry, in our Synod’s churches either in person or by proxy. Do plan on being present to hear Bishop Taylor who is known to be a very engaging preacher.

We are certainly living in a time of desperate need. The ongoing wars in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Sudan and elsewhere – to say nothing of natural disasters at home and abroad – are the cause of almost unimaginable suffering. Remember that you can help through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6801. Make your check payable to LCMS and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through the secure website lcms.org/givenow/mercy. Closer to home, remember to keep bringing food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission in its work with homeless men and women.

Saturday, September 13th, will be the last Free Flea Market of this year, 9:00 A.M.- 12 Noon. We always need volunteers to welcome our visitors and distribute the items they choose. Be sure to read Bernie Knox’s article about Aldi Gift Certificates for Thanksgiving and Christmas at the end of this letter

Katherine Gray was recently hospitalized and continues to recover at Autumn Lake Healthcare at Homewood Center, 6000 Bellona Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21212. She is always happy to see visitors. Yolanda Ford has been hospitalized at Bayview Hospital, 4940 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, MD 21224  but expects to leave the hospital soon. Keep both Kathy and Yolanda in your prayers.

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Tim Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Joyces Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Byron Masterson, Crista Mohr, Mary Mokris, Elliott Robertson, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson.

In the Church Year Calendar September 29th is Saint Michael and All Angels Day. Both the morning and evening prayers in Dr. Luther’s Small Catechism conclude with the petition: “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” Let us continue to pray for one another, for the church and for the world, remembering the words of the psalm: “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways” (Psalm 91:11).

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

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

Aldi Gift Certificates

Again, this year, OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Certificates to needy families 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 2024, combining the Soup Supper donations and congregational donations, we were able to provide 12 families with a $90 certificate for Thanksgiving and a $75 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 than ourselves provide a special meal for their families at holidays which 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.

– Bernie Knox

Parish Newsletters

Our Saviour Parish News, July/August, 2025

Audio

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH

3301 The Alameda
Baltimore, MD 21218
410.235.9553
July/August, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In my sermon this past Sunday, the Festival of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, I noted that the festivals of the apostles remind us that the Church’s life and work rests on the witness of the apostles to the resurrection of the Savior, the ground of all our life and hope. “I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church” – as we say in the Nicene Creed. In this Church Year three of the apostles’ days happen to fall on Sunday: August 24th is Saint Bartholomew the Apostle’s Day and September 21st is Saint Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist’s Day. And the light we see in their life and witness is the light of the risen Lord. So just as every Sunday is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, in the same way every saint’s day is a celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and so, like the Lord’s Day, a day of joy. How we 21st century Christians need to recover that sense of the Lord’s Day as a day of joy! We gather on Sunday morning not to remember some long departed friend, we come to meet our risen Lord and Savior in the Sacrament of His love:

O sacred banquet
in which Christ is received,
the memory of His passion is renewed,
the mind is filled with grace,
and a pledge of future glory is given unto us.

In the prayer that is frequently prayed following the distribution of Holy Communion, a prayer written by Dr. Luther for his German Mass of 1526, we pray that God would strengthen us through the Sacrament “in faith toward You and in fervent love toward one another.” We pray that the love we have received may be reflected in how we live among ourselves, how we live in our families and the people we work with and all the people who come into our lives, especially those who are in need – often in desperate need! So remember to keep bringing food items for the GEDCO Food Pantry and personal items for the Helping Up Mission in its work with homeless men and women. As the terrible wars continue in Ukraine and in the Middle East and other parts of the world, remember that you can help through our Synod’s Contributor Care Line (888-030-4439) or by sending a check to LCMS World Relief and Human Care, PO Box 66861, Saint Louis, MO 63166-6861. Make your check payable to the LCMS and mark the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through the secure website lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

And do remember our Free Flea Markets on July 12th and August 9th, 9:00A.M. – 12 Noon. They continue to meet a real need, and we always need help in welcoming our visitors and distributing the items they choose.

I urge you to read and take to heart Gabe Purviance’s Note, which appears at the end of this newsletter. Over the last year or so we have been in the process of converting all (most all) fluorescent lights in the church to LED. This will reduce electricity usage and also simplify maintenance, since we can expect these lights to last a very long time. Our members have been doing this themselves by removing the ballast and old lights from the fixtures and replacing them with LED tubes. The project is now nearly complete with just a few more lights in the kitchen in need of updating. Many thanks to those who have helped with this project including Andy Layman, Merton Masterson, Gabe Purviance, Paul Techau, Gary Watson and Wayne West. We owe them a great debt of gratitude! Our congregation is certainly blessed with willing workers!

We continue to remember in prayer Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Timothy Doswell, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Thurman Frey, Lynne Funck, Katherine Gray, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Mary Mokris, Elliott Robertson, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, Paul Swank, George Volkman, Gary Watson; Marvalisa, Sierra, Jonathan and Steven Gibson. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

I hope that during these summer days you will find time for rest and refreshment. I also hope that you will not take the Church for granted. But it seems that in so many parts of the world – thankfully not all! – there is a deplorable neglect of worship on the Lord’s Day which can in no way be justified or excused. Every Lord’s Day Christ provides a heavenly Banquet for us as we continue on our pilgrimage through this present world to the life of the world to come. Will you ignore His gracious invitation or will you come gladly to the Feast?

Affectionately in our risen Lord,

Pastor McClean

As Christians we know the Church is everlasting. Unfortunately, church buildings are not and require maintenance and repair to weather the winds of time. As members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church we have been blessed with a house of worship that was built with the highest quality and craftmanship of its time! However, that time was almost a century ago. Although she still stands triumphant at the intersection of 33rd & The Alameda, welcoming all to worship, she needs our help!

Mechanical systems and materials have extended beyond expectation, but now are coming to need repair, updating, or replacement. A short while back the heating system blower had to be replaced to maintain warmth in the sanctuary. Unfortunately, we have had a couple of additional significant maintenance issues that have come up:

  • First is the roof over the education building, which is mostly slate and in good condition. However, we have had some water leaking in the upstairs hallway. The leak has been traced to the top center section of the roof, which is a flat and needs to be replaced to prevent additional water damage to the church. The replacement cost is $4,500.
  • Additionally, the window in Pastor’s study has deteriorated, and is barely functional. It does not open properly, and is not sealed well, making it hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The window needs to be replaced with an updated vinyl window. The replacement cost is $3,282.

Through faithful stewardship the church has been able to advance these repairs, but in order to be prepared for the next substantial repair we need your help to restore these funds as soon as possible! Your contribution will allow us to address needed repairs before they become even more costly catastrophic failures.

Please ensure that Our Saviour continues to stand steadfast and triumphant by making a donation to help defray these costs. Please note your checks memo “Building Maintenance.”

Thank you very much,
– Gabriel  Purviance, Stewardship Director