Before Christmas comes the Church keeps the holy season of Advent. Advent can be described as “waiting in the darkness for the coming of the Light.” But we live in an age which does not like to wait! We want what we want when we want it – right now! Instant gratification is what we seem to want – and expect! Given this state of affairs, Advent is good for us because our whole life as Christians is one of waiting – of waiting for the Day when Christ who came in lowliness to be our Savior will come again in glory to be our Judge. But our waiting is not an aimless waiting because as we wait we prepare to meet our Judge: by placing our whole trust and confidence in His mercy, by loving and serving Him, and by being instruments of His love and peace in a sad and loveless world. We wait in full awareness that every human being and every human institution, all lands, all the governing authorities, are accountable to Him who will on that Last Day come as the Judge of the living and the dead.    Mindful of our own sin and the sin of the whole world, the Church prays in the Litany: “In the hour of death and in the day of judgment, good Lord, deliver us.”

Juliana Watson fell asleep peacefully in the Lord on the evening of Sunday, October 27th, after a long and very difficult illness. Her funeral was held in church on Saturday, November 9th. May the Light perpetual ever shine upon her and may Christ our merciful Savior comfort her parents and all who mourn her departure with the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

You may have noticed that the Advent Wreath has three purple candles and one rose candle. The rose candle is lighted on the Third Sunday in Advent which is also known as Gaudete Sunday because of the first Latin word of the introit or entrance chant for that Sunday: “Gaudete/Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice…The Lord is at hand.” In some churches it has long been the custom to use the rose color on Gaudete/Rejoice Sunday. We have acquired a set of rose vestments which will be worn for the first time on the Third Sunday in Advent and will also be worn on the Fourth Sunday in Lent when the introit begins with another Latin word for Rejoice: Laetare. Festive vestments are worn at every Divine Service because the risen Lord is truly present in the Sacrament and because every celebration of the Sacrament is pledge and foretaste of the joyful marriage supper of the Lamb with all His saints in light (Revelation 19:6-9).

It gives me no pleasure to note that, ever since the COVID pandemic, church attendance has declined – even at Christmas! Dear friends in Christ, such things ought not so to be! For Christians the heart of the Christmas celebration is the Christ Mass: The Christ Mass is the Divine Service of Word and Sacrament on the day of Christ’s birth as the Child of the pure and lowly virgin Mary. Our church’s principle confession of faith, the Augsburg Confession, declares: “Our churches have been falsely accused of abolishing the Mass, for the Mass is retained among us and celebrated with the highest reference.” In the Lutheran churches of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland the Divine Service has continued to be called the Mass down to the present day and the historic Mass vestments have continued to be worn as they once were in Germany and now are in many Lutherans churches including Our Saviour Church.

Be all that as it may, what matters is that Christians worship our Lord on the day of His birth in the way He Himself has commanded: by celebrating the Holy Mysteries of His Body and Blood in which He comes to feed us with that very body, born of Mary in Bethlehem. and with His blood – as the One who is not only true and mighty God but also our fully human Brother. Apart from illness or the infirmities of old age or the urgent need to care for someone, there is simply no excuse for failing to be present in the Lord’s House at the Lord’s Own Service, the Holy Communion, on the day of His birth – which of course begins on Christmas Eve. We all rightly lament the growing secularization in the world, but when you absent yourself from the Divine Service for no valid reason you in fact contribute to secularization! Let us then joyfully come to God’s House on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day that, as the shepherds found the Savior wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, we may find Him hidden in the hallowed Bread and Cup. In the manger and at the altar,

How silently, how silently
The wondrous Gift is given!

For many years Judy Volkman sang Adolphe Adam’s lovely Christmas song, Cantique de Noel/O Holy Night, on Christmas Eve. She is now taking a very well-earned rest, but we may have a special guest soloist on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we sing all the old familiar carols: O Come All Ye Faithful, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and Luther’s great Christmas hymn, From Heaven Above to Earth I Come. Our Christmas Day Divine Service always begins with God Rest You Merry Gentlemen and closes with one of the loveliest and oldest carols, Now Sing We Now Rejoice/In dulci jubilo. Remember that our Christmas Day celebration begins at TEN O’CLOCK – not eleven! The wise men brought frankincense to the Christ Child: so incense will be used on Christmas Day and also on the Feast of the Epiphany, the coming of the wise men.

Jean West reminds us that it is now time to place our orders for poinsettias. They are 6″ pots for the price of $11.00 each. There are order envelopes available on the piano and at the back of the church. All orders and monies are due by Sunday, December 15, 2024. Be sure to include the names of those you wish to remember or honor. This list will be included with the bulletin on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Poinsettias will be available to pick up after the Christmas Day Divine Service.

Be sure to read Bernie Knox’s article about the Aldi Gift Certificates for needy families connected with the Waverly School – of which your pastor happens to be an alumnus as he is of City College High School just across the street from church.

Conditions in the world continue to be utterly deplorable: the ongoing war in the Holy Land that now has expanded into Lebanon and Syria, the continued Russian aggression in Ukraine, the murderous civil war in Sudan – the list goes on and on.

As disciples of the Prince of Peace once born in Bethlehem, we must pray for peace in the world, especially in that land where He was born and lived and died and rose from the dead to save the whole lost world. There are many ways of providing help to the people suffering so terribly in all these wars, but one way is through our church body, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. You can contribute 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. Mark your check payable to The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and designate the check for LCMS World Relief and Human Care. You can also donate through our Synod’s secure website:lcms.org/givenow/mercy.

As we pray for peace also in this City of Baltimore we continue to pray for all those for whom our prayers are desired: Bridget Bauman, James Bauman, Christopher Bell, Bertha Buchanan, Dana Carmichael, Quilla Downs, Bunny Duckett, Steve and Joyce Eaves, Albert Ford, Frank Ford, Iris Ford, Yolanda Ford, Sean Fortune, Sherry James, Gloria Jones, Althea Masterson, Christ Mokris, Jake Mokris, Mary Mokris, Marian Rollins, Julia Silver, Robert Siperek Jr., Lawrence Smallwood, George Volkman, Dennis Watson, Gary Watson. Intercessory prayer is our duty and privilege as Christians. From the very beginning of the church’s story (Acts 2:42) there has been prayer for the whole church and the whole world as Christians gathered every Lord’s Day – the weekly celebration of Christ’s glorious resurrection – to hear God’s Word and to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, the blessed Sacrament of the risen Lord’s body and blood. These intercessory prayers always followed the reading and preaching of God’s Word and formed a kind of bridge to the celebration of the Eucharist – just as they do every Lord’s Day here at Our Saviour. Yolanda Ford remains at Future Care, 1046 North Point Road, Baltimore, MD 21224.

There are many questions and answers surrounding the deplorable decline of church attendance in Europe and America and other parts of the world. But I am convinced that one reason for this sad situation is that so many Christians have completely forgotten – if they ever knew! – that on every Lord’s Day we celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord God and Savior from the dead. And with that we have lost the awareness that Sunday worship is not a bare remembrance of a long departed friend, but that in the Holy Eucharist the crucified and risen Lord is truly present under the forms of the hallowed bread and wine. And so the Sacrament is always a celebration of love and life in a loveless, dying world, and is indeed the joyful anticipation of the heavenly banquet. And not only on every Lord’s Day but on every Holy Day – such as Christmas! Once you truly realize Christ’s Real Presence in the Sacrament to love and bless and sustain you, you will eagerly come to God’s House whenever this Feast of Love and Joy is celebrated – most certainly on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!

O come let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!

I look forward to seeing you in church – and at the altar – as we yet again celebrate the birth of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Affectionately in our newborn Savior and Lord,

Pastor McClean

Aldi’s Gift Cards and Christmas

Again this year OSLC will be providing Aldi’s Gift Cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas to needy families whose surnames have been provided by the Waverly School. We are including this reminder in our newsletters and bulletins 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 those Gift Cards. In 2023 we accumulated a total of $2,730 to distribute to 13 families. In 2024 our Lenten Soup Supper donations were $361. These donations are also used to support our Gift Card purchases. Sunday, December 8th, will be the last opportunity to donate to the Gift Cards. These holidays remind us all to be thankful for all the Lord has given us and to celebrate God’s greatest gift of all – the birth of our Savior Jesus.
Thank you.
Bernie Knox