OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
in the City of Baltimore

MARCH,  2019

ASH WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, March 6
Soup Supper, 6:30 PM
DIVINE SERVICE
with imposition of ashes
7:30 PM

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This coming Sunday is the last of the three Sundays of preparation for the coming of Lent. With these Sundays there begins the “Easter Cycle” of the Church Year which consists of these three pre-Lenten Sundays, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost. Every Lord’s Day in the year is of course a celebration of Christ’s resurrection – that is why we worship on Sunday and not some other day – but Easter Day is the Feast of Feasts, the Holy Day of Holy Days. In the English language we call the season of preparation for Easter “Lent.” The word Lent comes from an old English word, “lencten,” which means “spring” and refers to the lengthening days at this season of the year. Just as earth comes to life after the death of winter, so also the Lenten season is a time of spiritual renewal through reading and meditating on God’s Word, through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:2-21) it is very clear that our Lord expects His followers to devote themselves to all three not because God needs our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving but because we do if we are to be ever more closely conformed to the image of the Savior, We pray in response to God’s command and His promise that our prayers are heard, we fast because our bodily appetites – though good in themselves – are disordered through sin, we give alms as a weapon against selfishness, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus how He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) and also because of the enormous need that meets us on every hand. Following my letter you will find reports from Quilla Downs and Judy Volkman about our congregation’s support of the GEDCO food cupboard and the Helping Up Mission. Support of these fine works of mercy is indeed a form of “almsgiving.”

Lent has always been a time when Christians devote themselves to meditation on our Savior’s suffering and death. This year the theme of the sermons at the Wednesday Lenten Vespers will be “The Ten Commandments and the Passion.” We will meditate on how in His passion Jesus fulfilled the will of God and suffered for our disobedience to that will so that we might not perish but have eternal life.

The flowers that usually adorn the chancel are in a real sense a festive kind of thing. During Lent flowers will be omitted; you might say that we will “fast” from them. And the Church has from ancient times omitted the joyous “Alleluia” during Lent; we “fast” from that too. But we’ll not only “fast” in this way but we will have one additional item in the Sunday Divine Service. In the ancient Church Lent was the time for the intensive preparation of the catechumens for Baptism and Holy Communion. Lent continued to be a time for attention to the Catechism. And so on the Sundays in Lent we will – just before the Sermon – recite one of the Six Chief Parts of Luther’s Small Catechism. I am afraid that for so many of us the Catechism is something once learned in confirmation class and then more or less forgotten. That is not as it should be! Dr. Luther says:

I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism. Every morning, and whenever else I have time, I read and recite word for word the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Psalms, etc. I must still read and study the Catechism daily, yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism and I do it gladly.

By the way, we in fact review one of the Six Chief Parts of the Catechism every Sunday morning at the beginning of the adult Bible Class which meets at 9:45 A.M. The class is quite informal, questions and discussion being very much encouraged! We are at present studying Saint Mark’s Gospel. As we approach Easter we will be looking at the Old Testament lessons which are read at the Easter Vigil. Come join us! Adding this class to your Sunday morning might in fact be a useful Lenten discipline, Lent being a time for more intense meditation on the Holy Scriptures. I should also mention that on Sundays during Lent and throughout the Easter season the liturgy will be Divine Service I in the Lutheran Service Book. This is in fact the familiar service from the old blue hymnal. Throughout the Lenten season we will be singing a wonderful Communion hymn, “Now, My Tongue, the Mystery Telling, Of the Glorious Body Sing.” It is a hymn which expresses and also rejoices in the great mystery of the Real Presence of our Lord’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. The words are by Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). The tune comes from nineteenth century France. I believe that we will grow to love and treasure this hymn.

Our Saviour Church worshiped at 1723 East Fairmount Avenue (near Johns Hopkins Hospital) from its founding in 1892 until in 1919 the congregation moved to our present location. In 1919 Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church purchased the building and still worships there, this year celebrating its 100th anniversary. A visit to our old church has been planned for Saturday, March 9th we’ll gather at Our Saviour at 3:30 P.M. and “car pool” from here. Holy Trinity still possesses the painting of the risen Lord which hung over the altar at our old Church. I very much look forward to seeing it. Please phone (410.554.9994) or email me (Charles.McClean42@gmail.com) if you need a ride or wish to go on this visit.

I hope to see you every Lord’s Day and hope you will come to the Lenten services on Wednesday evening. Please remember me in your prayers; you are in mine.

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

LENTEN SOUP SUPPERS

Thank you to all who signed up. Please join us as we enjoy fellowship and a delicious meal at 6:30pm. Lenten service at 7:30pm.

3/6         Bernie/Julia        Calico Bean Soup
3/13       Judy                       Chicken Corn Soup
3/20       Quilla                     Black Bean Soup
3/27       Merton                Smoked Turkey and Black-eyed Pea Soup
4/3         The Ushers         Chicken Noodle Soup
4/10       Denitta/Mary      Crab Soup and Italian Wedding Soup

WORKS OF MERCY

CARES food contributions: Arrangements have been made with CARES to pick up our food contributions, thanks to the connection Quilla Downs made with them, We will continue to collect food items and Judy Volkman will inform them when we have enough items to go to them. The cupboard is bare right now, so donations are most welcome.

– Judy Volkman

As was reported earlier, we did not make a delivery to Helping Up Mission during Christmas because there were so few grooming items in the box. We will be making our regular spring delivery in March. In order to make the spring delivery, we really need more grooming gifts. The needs of the men remain the same, donations of tooth paste, tooth brushes, foot power, shaving cream, lotion, socks, underwear, deodorant, wash cloths, etc. In addition to your personal gifts, grooming items are purchased with loose change and monies collected from the churches’ two Poor Boxes. As we deliver these essential, yet inexpensive, items to the men at Helping Up Mission, we know that our efforts have a positive and restorative impact, and that we are truly giving to the least of these. Many thanks for your grooming gifts and for your compassion towards our recovering brothers at Helping up Mission.

– Quilla Downs

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
in the City of Baltimore

FEBRUARY,  2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I think that everyone who attended last Sunday afternoon’s service of Epiphany Lessons and Carols will agree that it was a wonderful occasion. John Igoe, who has often served as substitute organist here, sent me an email saying, “I had the opportunity to attend Sunday’s service, and it was just beautiful. Four voices in the choir filled the church with prayer, and we in the congregation did our part! This was the first time I’ve heard the organ from the nave and it really sounds fine.” I thoroughly agree! And so I wish to thank everyone who contributed to this fine occasion. Paul Techau took leadership in making this happen, arranging to have as guest organist Matthew Machemer who is organist and choirmaster at our Synod’s Fort Wayne Seminary. Merton Masterson warmly welcomed the worshipers. Jamera Hawkins served as acolyte, Gabe Purviance and Eugene James served as ushers. Paul Techau and Marie Herrington, together with David Sexton and Lisa Parente, who are students at the Peabody Conservatory, formed the choir. As John Igoe wrote, “Four voices in the choir filled the church with prayer.” I also wish to thank Mary Techau, Bernie Knox, and Scott Jones who prepared the delightful reception which followed the service.

Yes, we do have a very fine organ and in Marie we have a very fine organist. But the mechanism for playing the bells in the tower has been broken for several months. We need to raise money to have this fixed. If you wish to contribute, simply mark your check “Tower Bell Fund.” We are fortunate to have these wonderful bells which both enrich our worship and are also a witness to the community around our Church.

There are just two more Sundays in this season of Epiphany when we celebrate the appearing of the Lord Jesus in the flesh as God and Savior of the world. The Last Sunday after Epiphany is kept as the Feast of the Transfiguration. In the transfiguration our Lord revealed the glory that is His with the Father from all eternity; it is in a real sense the greatest epiphany in Christ’s earthly life.

The Last Sunday after Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas Cycle of the Church Year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany. The following Sunday marks the beginning of the Easter Cycle: Lent, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost. Three Sundays with curious names prepare for Lent itself: Septuagesima, Sexagesima, Quinquagesima. These Latin names mark the nearness of Easter: seventy, sixty, fifty days. Already on these pre-Lenten Sundays the word Alleluia is omitted from our worship. On the Last Sunday after Epiphany we have a kind of “farewell to Alleluia” – until Easter Day – singing the 11th century hymn, “Alleluia Song of Gladness”:

Alleluia cannot always be our song while here below;
Alleluia, our transgressions make us for a while forego;
For the solemn time is coming when our tears for sin must flow.

Lent itself begins on Wednesday, March 6th. We will as usual have our Wednesday Lenten Vespers preceded by soup suppers. This year Mary Techau will be in charge of coordinating all this.

On Wednesday, February the Church Council will meet with our City Councilwoman, Mary Pat Clark, and with Shane Bryan, the president of the Ednor Gardens – Lakeside Association. They will present to the Council ways in which our buildings might be used to meet needs in our community.

Let us continue in prayer for one another. Pray also for peace and tranquility here in this city, in our country and throughout the world!

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

VOTERS MEETING – FEBRUARY 3 AFTER DIVINE SERVICE

THE BELLS OF OUR SAVIOUR

You may have noticed that our lovely tower bells have not played recently. We have attempted to have the bells repaired, but the mechanism is 60 years old and is in need of a complete renovation. McShane, the company that installed our bells, has given us an estimate of about $20,000 to do the work. We are continuing to research approaches for the renovation, but in preparation, we have begun a special fund for the repairs in order to return the cherished bells to working order for decades to come. Please mark your donation for “Tower Bells.”
– Mary Techau

OUR SAVIOUR LUTHERAN CHURCH
in the City of Baltimore

JANUARY,  2019

Sunday, January 6
THE EPIPHANY OF OUR LORD
FESTIVAL DIVINE SERVICE – 11:00 A.M.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

January 6th is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord. This year we have the happy circumstance that January 6th falls on Sunday — I say happy because nowadays, when this great festival does not occur on a Sunday, it sadly tends to pass by all but unnoticed. I like to think of the great festivals of the Christian Year as rays of light on life’s sometimes dreary way, and so I think it a pity when these bright festivals are ignored for no good reason. And so I have throughout my ministry insisted on the observance of Epiphany no matter what day of the week it might fall on.

The Feast of the Epiphany is in a sense the climax of the Christmas season. Epiphany – which means appearing, revealing, manifestation, showing forth – celebrates the appearing of Christ as God and Savior of the whole world. Among Eastern Orthodox Christians Epiphany is kept in celebration of the Baptism of Jesus at which the heavenly Father declared Him to be His Son and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, so revealing Him to be God in the flesh, One of the Holy Trinity. Among Western Christians (among them us Lutherans) Epiphany has since ancient times been kept in celebration of the coming of the Gentile wise men to worship the Christ Child and offer Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. The coming of the wise men is both a fulfillment of ancient prophecy – “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:3) — and also itself a prophecy of the gathering of all nations into the redeemed people of God, the one holy Church. Although we Western Christians do not celebrate Christ’s Baptism as principle theme of the Epiphany festival, the Baptism of Jesus, together with the changing of water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana, have continued to be a part of our Epiphany celebration as can be seen in the hymns of this festival. Dr. Luther translated from Latin into German the Epiphany hymn of the century poet, Coelius Sedulius, a hymn which has two stanzas about the magi, one stanza about the Baptism of Jesus, and one about the miracle at Cana: in all of these events the deity of our Lord is revealed, each is indeed an epiphany of His godhead. This wonderful hymn is found in all of our Synod’s hymnals: the German Church Hymnal for Evangelical Lutheran Congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (Hymn 60); The Lutheran Hymnal, the red book (Hymn 131); Lutheran Worship, the blue book (Hymn 81); and in our new hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book (Hymn 399) And we will of course be singing this hymn as part of our Epiphany celebration. In the coming of the magi to worship Him, in His baptism in the Jordan River, in His changing of water into wine at the marriage in Cana Jesus appears as the Savior of the world. And if you were to ask me for some words of Holy Scripture which sum up the meaning of Epiphany, I might well refer you to the 11^th verse of the 2^nd chapter of the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to Titus: “The grace of God has appeared” – the original Greek texts here reads: “epiphanee” (whence we get the English word “epiphany”) – for the salvation of all people…”

On Sunday January 27 there will be an Epiphany Service of Lessons and Carols at 4 0’clock in the afternoon. We will hear readings from Holy Scripture concerning the Epiphany of Christ and will sing hymns and carols of the Epiphany season. We will have a guest organist, Matthew Machemer, who is the Associate Kantor at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There will also be a quartet including students of the Peabody Conservatory. A reception will follow. Plan now on attending this festival and invite your friends and neighbors to come. The Choral Vespers we had in connection with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and the 125th Anniversary of Our Saviour Church was a happy occasion and I am sure that that will also be true of the upcoming Epiphany Lessons and Carols.

Those of you who remember Pastor Jason Wolter (who served as vacancy pastor at Our Saviour 2006-2007) will be happy to hear that he will be in the Baltimore/Washington area later this month for the annual March for Life and will be joining us for the Divine Service on Sunday, January 20th. He tells me he loved his time in this congregation and looks forward to seeing you.

When Our Saviour Church — then known as Jackson Square Church because of its location – left its old building near John Hopkins Hospital in 1919, the building was purchased by Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church which still uses it as its place of worship. This year they are celebrating their one hundredth anniversary and have been in touch with us asking for information about the old building. They have also sent us a copy of a page from The Lutheran Witness describing the dedication of the Jackson Square Church in August 1892 and together with that they included a wonderful full color picture of the painting which hung over the altar at Jackson Square and which our congregation then gave to Holy Trinity in 1919. I had never before seen this painting of the risen Lord; I think it is a wonderful painting. Ever since I became pastor here at Our Saviour I’ve wanted to arrange for members who are interested to visit the old building. But now that I have seen a photograph of this wonderful painting I am even more eager to arrange for that visit! Do let me know if you would be interested (410.554.9994 – charlesmcclean42@gmail.com).A suggestion has also been made that we have an artist make a copy of the painting for use here in our present Church building.

I want to take this opportunity to thank members for their Christmas cards and gifts and also thank the congregation for its Christmas gift to me. I also must thank all those who decorated the Church for Christmas and also our organist Marie Herrington who arranged substitute organists to play here while she was visiting her family for the Christmas holidays. The substitutes were John Igoe, Sergey Morozov, Kathleen Bird, and David Sexton. Marie returns on January 13^th.

Do remember in your prayers all those whose names appear in the Sunday bulletin and indeed remember all members of our congregation and those the Lord God will send to us. Queenie Hardaway is now living at what used to be called the Augsburg Lutheran Home and now is known as Augsburg Village. I always come away from a visit with her in very good cheer because she is a cheerful person. God bless her and God bless us everyone!

Affectionately in our Lord,

Pastor McClean

THE BELLS OF OUR SAVIOUR

You may have noticed that our lovely tower bells have not played recently. We have attempted to have the bells repaired, but the mechanism is 60 years old and is in need of a complete renovation. McShane, the company that installed our bells, has given us an estimate of about $20,000 to do the work. We are continuing to research approaches for the renovation, but in preparation, we have begun a special fund for the repairs in order to return the cherished bells to working order for decades to come. Please mark your donation for “Tower Bells.”
– Mary Techau

ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE

THE 46TH ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE will be Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.
This year’s theme is ‘Unique from day one.’ Join ‘Lutherans for Life’ at 1:00pm as the group marches up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court and Capitol Building. It’s an opportunity to meet other Lutherans from around the country and enjoy singing hymns and supporting life. www.lutheransforlife.org for more information.
– Mary Techau

WORKS OF MERCY

Regarding our Christmas food drive for needy families, donations from the congregation exceeded our goal of $330. This means that we did not have to tap into the church general fund, as the Counsel was prepared to do. We did not receive any outside funds. To our faithful and generous church members, many, many thanks for the outpouring of monetary gifts which enabled us to purchase the food gift cards, Eleven, $30 cards were purchased from Aldi’s supermarket. On Thursday, December 19, the cards were presented to the social worker at Waverly Elementary/ Middle School, where they were presented to the head of the designated families. The cards allowed the families to supplement their usual food items with a few extras of their own choosing. Hopefully, their Christmas was made merrier because of your gifts. As stated above, the giving exceeded our goal, this blessed position will give us a starting point for future Thanksgiving and Christmas giving.

Helping Up Mission: We did not make a delivery to Helping Up Mission during Christmas because there were so few grooming items since our fall delivery. It is hoped that we will have a healthy supply of items when we make our planned spring delivery. I believe that we all are aware of the stellar reputation and high success rate of this Christian based residential men’s recovery program. Towards that end, the need is ongoing for socks, underwear, washcloths, tooth paste, shaving cream, lotion, deodorant, foot power, etc. Thank you for remembering these men by continuing to provide them with a few essential items on their needs list. Because of your care and compassion this program will continue to count its successes.
– Quilla Downs