As the calendar pages change...
As you look ahead to A. D. 2022, what are you anticipating? As a family the Winters are looking forward to the deliveries of two of our nieces who are expecting. There are also a couple of birthdays we will be celebrating – birthdays that are multiples of tens. Trips to see family are not fully planned, but hopefully those will be arranged early in the new year.
As a staff at Redeemer we are working on the following as we enter the new year:
(1) Thanks to great assistance by Dr. Aaron Buchko we will be working on the scope and sequence of our training/discipling/teaching at Redeemer. We are striving to answer the question of how the training of our children (Redeemer Early Learning Center, Concordia Lutheran School, and Redeemer Children’s Ministry) naturally leads into confirmation class, junior high Connect and senior high youth. How does their training then proceed into young adult experiences, young family discipleship, and then certain stages in adult discipleship development?
(2) A congregational Book Read, where we will have the opportunity to read the same book while arranging to have (a) Zoom discussion sessions, (b) themes from the chapters developed in our worship, and (c) a capstone event, perhaps including a visit by the author!
(3) The development of another Redeemer video series for use in autumn, and finally,
(4) The production of podcasts to delve into the events of the day and how we can address them faithfully and scripturally.
God bless you in the new year through all the plans that you have and all the new things
through which our Lord Jesus Christ will see you!
You shall have no other gods.
I found this helpful note during my devotions this morning. It’s from “Concordia the Lutheran Confessions: a Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord” second edition, Concordia Publishing House, 2006.
“Luther spends more time on the First Commandment than on any other portion of the Catechism, explaining how essential it is to know, trust, and believe in the true God and to let nothing take His place. He was convinced that where this commandment was being kept, all other commandments would follow. A right relationship with God produces right relationships with fellow human beings.”
Feast of St. Andrew
St. Andrew, born in the Galilean village of Bethsaida, was originally a disciple of John the Baptist. Andrew then became the first of Jesus’ disciples (John 1:35-40). That is the reason that his feast day is the first on the Church’s calendar. Indeed, St. Andrew’s Day determines the beginning of the Western Church Year, since the First Sunday in Advent is always the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day (November 30).
It was he who first introduced his brother Simon to Jesus (John 1:41-42). He was, in a real sense, the first home missionary, as well as the first foreign missionary (John 12:20-22).