Dear Christian Friends:

Jesus’ task was completed. He said so: “It is finished,” and “He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). The body was taken down from the cross and buried.

Didn’t everyone think it was all over? The Master was dead and buried. What else could they think?

Then came that unbelievable morning at the tomb when the body was nowhere to be found and the slow realization that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead, “just as He said” (Matthew 28:6).
He is risen! He has risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Disbelief turned to joy when Jesus came to them, and “He showed them His hands and feet…and ate [a piece of broiled fish] in their presence” (Luke 24:40-43). Just as before, He taught them. He told them again what He had told them before, but now “He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). The disciples must have listened with new ears as they took in all Jesus told them in those days following His miraculous Resurrection.
He is risen! He has risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Then Jesus took them out to a remote area, blessed them, and “was taken up into Heaven” (Luke 24:51) before their eyes. Joyfully they went back home and waited – waited for the gift Jesus had promised would come to them.

One day with wind and fire the Holy Spirit came, bringing power and authority to those men Jesus had commissioned to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [He had] commanded [them] ” And He added His promise, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age “ (Matthew 28:19-20).

The book of Acts tells the story of what happened as those disciples, armed with Jesus’ promise to be with them, started in their own community and then branched out into all nations, preaching and teaching, baptizing and discipling others, performing miracles in Jesus’ name, facing persecution and death for the sake of the Gospel.

The book of Acts ends after 28 chapters, but the work is not over. The story goes on through the lives and witness of the thousands of Christians who have picked up the task where the first disciples left off.

Your story may never be written down for other Christians to read, but those around you are seeing it unfold. They are hearing you speak the Gospel message; they are recipients of the good deeds you do in the Lord’s name; other workers for the Gospel are equipped by your financial and prayer support; they take notice of the stand you take in defense of Truth over the lies with which Satan would blind the world.

No, it’s not over. We have the privilege of carrying on Jesus’ work till He comes again to take us to Himself, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21) After all, we are living in the STORY OF EVERYTHING — from Genesis to the Last Day!

In the love of Christ, Pastor Hartwig

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

Easter – The Most Important Day of the Church Year.
The Most Important Day in the Bible.
The Most Important Day in God’s Story of Everything.

Because at Easter,
Our God took our sins upon Himself,
Was crucified, died, and was buried,
And on the third day – On Easter – He rose again!

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

On the third day, Sunday morning, that Easter Sunday so long ago –
Our Lord and Savior rose from the dead,
Declaring victory of sin, death, and the devil,
Promising us forgiveness of sins, salvation, and life everlasting!

Easter is the single most important event in all of history – and His Story!
It is when our God entered human history to save us.
And we celebrate this season in remembrance of what our God has done for us in His death and resurrection.
We celebrate by shouting out:

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

But Easter is not a one-and-done celebration.
While it only fills one day on the church calendar,
It is a whole season in the church year.
In fact, we celebrate Easter regularly –
EVERY SUNDAY!

Every Sunday is a mini-Easter,
Where we remember and celebrate our Savior’s death and resurrection,
Where we receive forgiveness of sins, salvation, and life everlasting,
Where we worship our God by shouting out:

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA!

In Christ,
Vicar Boester

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you!

As I write this letter, I am attending the LCMS conference called Best Practices for Ministry in Phoenix, Arizona. This conference gathers pastors, DCEs, teachers, and lay people to share best practices from their ministry with each other.

While there, I reflected upon the teaching that there are five aspects of congregational life, and I remember it by the acronym WIFE’S.
Worship (receiving forgiveness of sins and, in response, singing praises)
Instruction (studying the Word of God privately and with others in small and large groups)
Fellowship (sharing time and your faith with one another)
Evangelism (serving others in love and telling others the good news of salvation)
Stewardship (understanding that all you have is owned by God to be used in God-pleasing ways)

We must be faithful stewards. When you mention stewardship, most think of money, our treasure, but we need to be good stewards of our time and talents, too! As stewards, we acknowledge who we are, and what we have are gifts from God. God’s Word tells us that nothing belongs to us. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof the world and those who dwell therein…” _{(Ps 24:1)}

It is difficult to remember that God owns everything because we work hard for our incomes. We have sweated and toiled in our jobs and focused energy on our careers, allowing many of us to increase our net worth.

But the truth is that we came into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing. Only for a short time that God gives us on this earth will we possess a few things. These possessions belonged to somebody before us and will belong to others after us.

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we live on are gifts we enjoy from the overflow of God’s love. The love of God, the gift of God’s Son, Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and life eternal are gifts to us from God.

This understanding that all of life is a gift and that God owns everything prompts a shift in our understanding of stewardship. We no longer see stewardship as just acts of giving. Through faith, we see stewardship as faithfully receiving and caring for all God entrusts to us. It is a privilege to enjoy, use, and manage what belongs to God.

Everything ultimately belongs to God. It isn’t the other way around at all. We only think it is. So be a good steward and fulfill the WIFE’S responsibilities!

God be with you!
Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

What is love?

I know there are some of you that read that and immediately responded “Baby don’t hurt me,” but the question remains: What is love?

The world says there is love for your family, love for your friends, love for your spouse, love for aesthetics. All different types of love based on who or what it is pointed at. Some languages even have multiple words for “different” types of love.

But this way of thinking looks at the bond more than at what love involves. Love is more than the person it is directed at; love takes form in the action. Love is not just the feeling towards another, but the actual serving you are doing towards another. Love forms when the person you love becomes more important than yourself and you act in response to that. Their needs outweigh yours, their struggles are yours, their success is yours. Love is acting in the best interests of another.

How fitting that during this “month of love,” on Valentine’s Day no less, when the world tries to paint love as transactional, or as simply emotional, or as something earthly and apart from God, that Ash Wednesday occurs. The start of Lent.

Lent is a season of repentance, of reflection. We reflect on the earthly pain that Jesus took on Himself. We reflect on true love. Not a love that requires something, that needs to be earned, but love that seeks out and serves the other, even at the expense of the self. Jesus gave everything – He became human, He went through temptations, He was punished, beaten, and killed – not for any of His own benefit, but solely for another, for the world, for you, all because He loved you.

We have one image of a true and perfect love – the love of God. There is no other type of love than this. Selfish love? Love that comes at a cost? Love
There is one type of love – the love of God. And that love is seen on the cross. That love puts others before yourself. That is the love that we should seek to uphold during February, and during every month. Love one another as God has loved you.

In Christ,
Vicar Boester

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

So have you made up your mind?
Are you going to set a New Year’s resolution?
Have you spent time sitting and pondering?

Excellent ideas can come to people as they sit, think, and dream – what kind of house to buy or build, what kind of car, where to go for vacation, what improvements to make on our house, what improvements to make to our careers, what improvements to make to our lives, to our church – but these remain idle daydreams unless they are acted upon.

We need to think, to meditate, to plan, to learn, to listen in order to raise our sights and deeds above the routines of daily living.

Often when we stop long enough to reflect, we realize much that we have insisted on or pursued has been our own selfish desires or will.  However, when our goal is for the good of others, great and wonderful things occur.

The book of James encourages action:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22)

Jesus, too, spoke often of doing the will of God:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Jesus performed many deeds of love as He went about doing good, healing, and teaching.  What is more, He fulfilled the Father’s will by offering Himself on the cross for the salvation of all.

May we continue to model our lives after Jesus, who not only spoke the words of life but did the works of life.

Believe, and be busy.  Get to work!
Happy New Year!

Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8.

A time of preparation,
A time of reflection,
A time of waiting.

Advent encompasses all of these.
We are preparing for Christmas,
looking at the prophecies of Isaiah foretelling Jesus’ birth.
We are reflecting on our sins and role in God’s Story of Everything,
looking to the birth of our Savior who offers forgiveness.
We are waiting on our Lord to return again,
looking forward to that Last Day when we will be with Jesus in paradise.

Waiting might just be the hardest part, though.
The world continues to fall apart around us,
We continue to live lives full of sorrow and struggle,
Death continues to reign here on Earth,
As all things are steeped in sin.

Yet we receive this promise:
Yes – the grass withers.
Yes – the flower fades.
Yes – we continue to live in a fallen world.
But – The Word of our God endures forever.

God’s Word will not fade away or wither,
God’s Word will not leave us without hope.
As it is through the hearing of God’s Word that the Holy Spirit works faith.

The promises of God,
Forgiveness of sins,
Salvation,
Life everlasting,
These promises are certain and will not go away.

As we wait for Christmas – the first coming of Jesus Christ to us as a child born of a virgin,
We also wait for the Last Day – the second coming of Jesus Christ to us as the Lord of all.

The grass will wither,
The flower will fade,
The world will continue in sin.
But the Word of the Lord endures forever.

God’s enduring Word,
The Story of Everything – From Genesis to the Last Day.

Vicar Boester

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ –

Jesus, speaking to His disciples, said, “A new command I give to you, that you love one another…” (John 13:34).

“A new command.” Yet it is an old one. It was Moses, way back in the book of Leviticus, directed by God to speak His commands to His people, who said, “You shall not take vengeance.., but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).

Jesus amplified His command, however, we are to love, He said, “as I have loved you.”
How did Christ love us?

At the time, the disciples did not know the depth of Christ’s love.
They hadn’t heard the angels announce the birth of their Savior in Bethlehem.
They hadn’t yet been to Calvary.
And they couldn’t comprehend Jesus’ references to His impending death.
They had no idea that the Resurrection, Ascension,
and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost were ahead.

We do have that knowledge!
We understand what Jesus is talking about for we know how He loved us.
He has loved us enough to leave the glories of Heaven.
He has loved us more than earthly power and status and honor.
He has loved us more than He loved His own life.

With the love of Christ in us…
We visit the lonely.
We provide food for the hungry.
We care for those who are hurting (Stephen’s Ministry).
We share our financial resources in order that the Word of God might be preached and bring many to salvation (Panama FORO).

Loving others as Christ has loved us means that we should be willing to lay down our lives for them. It means no less than laying down our lives.  This is a tall order.

Sinful beings that we are, we are not prone to love others as Christ has loved us. The apostle John tells us how it is possible: “Beloved, “he wrote in 1 John 4:7, “let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

We are born of God, and, by His grace, we can carry out His command to love one another through all the opportunities He gives us with all the gifts He gives us. That is how we are part of the STORY OF EVERYTHING – from Genesis to the Last Day.

In the love of Christ, Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Things are moving quickly. School is in full swing, Summer has ended, and we are moving into Fall, and the Church Year draws to a close.

Many love the changing of the leaves, the crisp morning air, the smell of pumpkins and apple cider. Others already wish for warmer days. Some are already eagerly awaiting Christmas and wondering how soon they can begin playing Christmas music and decorating.

As we all look ahead to the coming holidays or look back to the warmth of summer and blooming flowers, it is important to realize where we are right now.

Homecoming has just happened, the parade has gone by, and many hotdogs have been served and eaten.

And just like how the year keeps moving and the seasons keep changing, so does the church year. Summer and the accounts of Jesus’ ministry and miracles have been read, the season of Advent and preparation for the coming Savior approaches, but right now, we too are in a season of homecoming.

In our rush to look ahead or our desire to look back, we often miss the season we are in now. A season of homecoming. A season where we can focus on the life that is to come.

We say every week in the Apostle’s and Nicene Creeds:
“I believe in…. the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” (Apostle’s)
“I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” (Nicene)

It is good for us to pause here as we near the end of the church year and reflect on this promise of the resurrection and eternal life. We truly will be raised again; we will be made new – physically present and living in the new creation. Living with God for all eternity.

So often, we live looking ahead. Looking ahead to the next get together, to the next holiday, and to the next big church event. But let us pause and think of the life to come:
“A great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb… crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Rev. 7:9-10)

A life without sin, a life without pain and disease, a life we can look forward to because of the promise of salvation secured for us by Christ Jesus and given to us by the Holy Spirit.

This is a life we can celebrate looking forward to. We will be gathered together with all Christians to worship and live with our Lord and Savior. What a glorious homecoming we look forward to.

In Christ, Vicar Boester

Dear Christian Friends:

Thanks to the Byrds, the words of Ecclesiastes 3 are familiar to much of the world:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under Heaven.”

Like it or not, fall is in season and summer is out of season!

Some sighed with regret that relaxing, fun-filled, less structured days are over.

Others, refreshed and invigorated, have eagerly plunged into the routines of fall again, excited about new challenges and enthusiastic about projects and activities and FOOTBALL GAMES that lie ahead.

Even though the ebb and flow of our lives change with the variation of the seasons, some things remain constant. One of those constants is God’s presence with us: “I will never leave you nor forsake you, “promises the Father. “So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Another is God’s complete control over the seasons. We may become impatient, but God’s timing and His response are always right. “At an acceptable time, 0 God, in the abundance of Your steadfast love answer me in Your saving faithfulness,” (Psalm 69:13), we boldly pray, asking that God’s will be done.

Another constant is the privilege to be about our Father’s business. As long as we remain on earth, God has a purpose for us. The Apostle Paul exhorts us, “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching”
(2 Timothy 4:2).

He goes on to remind us that our words will not always be heeded. In every season, throughout the history of the Church, there have been scoffers and those who “will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Timothy 4:3). We leave them to God; we are called simply to be “ready in season and out of season.”

In the love of Christ, Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ —

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes 3:1 states, “For everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.” As we head into the final months of summer, Our Redeemer is heading into yet another busy season with several amazing events lined up. Vacation Bible School (VBS) is just around the corner. Fun Faith Fest is on the horizon and we have a new event, the Semisauraus, coming to Our Redeemer. All of this and more will be in the coming month of August. August also comes with the changing of Vicars here at Our Redeemer. As the psalmist writes,

“The Lord says, ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.'” — Psalms 32:8

As I reflect on my year here at Our Redeemer I admit, I could not have asked for a better experience. My wife Carrie and I felt like a part of the Our Redeemer family almost as soon as we arrived. Through this year I have gotten to know the people here at Our Redeemer. I have gotten to grow and learn so much from you all and it has been an incredible blessing. Carrie and I are sad to leave but, through all the support and everything we’ve learned here at Our Redeemer, we are excited for the next step as well. There is a season for everything and God works through His people. Our Redeemer will always be in our hearts and prayers and we are incredibly grateful for the time we have spent here.

We look forward to what God has in store for Our Redeemer and for us as we go forth from this place of worship where we are about, “Equipping disciples to make disciples for Jesus”.

Blessings in Christ,
Vicar Garrett