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

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

On December 4, 1965, The Byrds reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” The lyrics – except for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the final two lines – consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes.

3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

It is the Word of God that stands behind the message of this song, and as I have had in my personal life a plethora of joys and sorrows in the last year, it is the Word of God that stands behind my thoughts.

• • When I am hurt and I want to hurt back, I repeat, “‘Vengeance is mine,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
  • When I am sad and grieving the death of my mother and of Pastor Zimmermann, I hear, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21)
  • When my first grandchild was born, I thought, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)
  • When I baptized my granddaughter, I invoked His name, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
  • When my children were married, I said, “the two will become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5)
  • When the arduous journey to complete my doctorate came to an end, I knew, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

In joys and sorrows, in weeping and laughing, in living and dying, in every season, let the Word of God inform your thoughts!

Blessings,
Pastor Hartwig

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ —

It is truly a blessing that we get to come together in worship to receive the wonderful gifts of God. We

receive forgiveness, salvation, and life everlasting through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Recently here at Our Redeemer we had a reading in church on “doubting” Thomas. It connected wonderfully with our theme for this year “Lord I believe, Help My Unbelief” and I wanted to take this chance to encourage you once more. Doubt truly does have a way of sneaking into our lives when we’re vulnerable and feeling lost. Just look at Thomas. Jesus, his trusted teacher and messiah, had just been killed on the cross. Thomas as well as the rest of the disciples were devastated at this. So when Thomas makes his demand to see Jesus, when he doubts the disciples, to us it may make sense. At least at first.

That’s the thing about doubt. It feels like it makes sense, like its natural to doubt. But we know as Christians that it is not natural. It is sinful. And in our sinful nature it becomes normal to doubt. Thanks be to God that we are not left in our doubt. Like Thomas we can proclaim “My Lord and My God!” As John wrote at the end of his book, “These things are written that you may believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” We have a glorious, wonderful hope in the resurrection of Christ and we hear about that hope every Sunday in church. In this Easter season we proclaim that Christ has indeed risen! We can bring all of our doubts and sin to the foot of the cross. Sin, death, and the devil did not get the final word. Jesus our Lord said it best when He stated on the cross, “It is finished”. No matter what life may have in store for us we have a loving God who gave His one and only Son so that we may believe and have eternal life! May we keep this truth in our hearts and in our prayers.

Blessings in Christ, Vicar Garrett

Dear Christian friends –

I want to eat at Subway.  No, Wendy’s.
I want to go grocery shopping.  No, watch a movie.
I want to take a nap.  No, go for a walk.
I want to do this.  No, I want to do that.

Daily, we all change our minds.
But God doesn’t.
God does not change His mind about His promises to us.

“For I the Lord do not change,”
spoke our Lord through the prophet Malachi in chapter 3, verse 6.

This statement is confirmed by Paul who wrote these words in 2 Corinthians 1:19-22:
“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes.  For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.  And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

God does not change His mind about His promises to us.

All that God has promised us has been or will be fulfilled through His only Son Who has taken our sins in His body on the cross and who has risen from the dead, guaranteeing that we, too, will rise from the dead and will live forever with Him in Heaven.

We respond with the great “Amen!” “Yes! Yes! Yes! It shall be so!”

In Christ alone, God fulfilled all His Old Testament promises of redemption.
In Christ, we stand unwavering in faith.
In Christ, we are His own.
In Christ, we look forward in hope and joyful anticipation to seeing our Savior face to face!

We live as redeemed people of the victorious Lamb of God. So, when we walk through the valley of the
shadow of death we say with confidence, “Lord, I believe. Help, my unbelief.”

Easter is coming, Pastor Hartwig

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ —

What a glorious thing it is that we get the opportunity to come together in worship with one another as we go into this next Church season. This month of March is marked by Lent. Now during this church season, many of us in the Christian church will give up something for the season of Lent. This is a good thing to do, but we must be sure we’re doing it for the right reasons. Giving up something for Lent is not the same as say, making a New Year’s resolution, as you may have a couple of months ago. The goal of giving up something pleasurable in Lent is to turn our attention to Christ. Lent is marked by the fact that we recognize as we should every day in our Christian Life, but especially now, that we are poor miserable sinful beings. That we fail in thought word and deed. It is a season marked with repentance. We are reminded of our Lord beaten and broken on the cross. We fully recognize our need for a savior. So, we put an emphasis at this time on a repentant heart. As stated in the book of Acts,

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31)

This is the promise we have in Jesus as we look toward the resurrection with repentant hearts. There will be a day when he returns to judge the world and usher in a new heaven and new earth. As we worship here at Our Redeemer let us be sure to look to Christ in all times and in all places. For Christ is the life of the church and he is the one who moves our hearts toward repentance. May we pray for each other and repent with one another diligently as we focus on this aspect of Christian living.

Blessings in Christ,
Vicar Garrett

Dear Christian friends:

Here comes February and St. Valentine’s Day and the world’s focus on love.

It can be said that love is the foundation. It is the foundation for a relationship and trust is the way to keep that relationship straight and true. To love Christ is to trust Christ, but trust is a two-way street. Can God trust us and do we trust in Him? The depth of our faith and commitment will answer both questions. When we experience God, our trust grows. God wants us to trust in Him, and He wants to trust us. Trust does powerful things.

Our goal as believers is to have a relationship of mutual trust. Through faith, we acknowledge that God is trustworthy. God entrusts us with time, talents, and money, and He wants us to be trustworthy in the use of our gifts.

Trust enabled ordinary people to do extraordinary things in Scripture.

• Because Abraham trusted God more than his own feelings, he was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac.
• David’s trust in God gave him the courage to stand up to Goliath.
• The Widow of Zarapeth was willing to give up the last of her flour to God’s prophet Elijah.
• And the Widow gave her mite, her last two coins.

Trust does powerful things. Noah trusted the Lord with his life. When God told Noah to build an ark, he built one even when there was no sign of rain, in fact, before rain had ever fallen from the skies! After the flood, Noah built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed many animals. Noah trusted the Lord enough to sacrifice animals which he would need for his future.

Trust does powerful things. As our trust grows in the Lord, His trust in us will grow and we will become effective servants for the Lord.

In Christ, Pastor Hartwig