Redeemer Lutheran Church
News and Announcements are published on Friday each week.
Third Sunday After the Epiphany
January 26, 2025
Readings: 2 Kings 5:1-15a; Romans 12:16-21; Matthew 8:1-13
Calendar
Witness
Do you have a New Year’s resolution? While we all too often fail at keeping them, an article at TheHopeLine.com lists 10 tips for keeping your New Year's resolutions. Perhaps one resolution could be to talk to others about our church and invite them to attend.
We sponsor Missionaries Ben and Becca Helge who serve in the Czech Republic. To learn of their current missionary endeavors and how you can pray for them, check out their newsletter at Helge Newsletter or read the printed copy posted on the bulletin board downstairs.
Mercy
As we continue to pray for relief from the horrible devastation and suffering surrounding the Los Angeles fires, LCMS has provided the means to aid in their relief work financially. To give to the synods Disaster Response ministry follow this link. A Gift for LCMS Response to Wildfires - The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The latest update from the LCMS Pacific Southwest District has been printed and posted on the bulletin board downstairs.
The Gorham Backpack Program is distributing weekend food bags and school-day snack bags to Gorham students facing food insecurity. The current need is to stock the Food Closet at Gorham High School. We will be collecting food items on an ongoing basis. Please bring your donation to church. There will be a box in the narthex for the collection.
They are requesting the following items: Pretzels, Cheez-Its, Trail mix, Granola bars, Capri sun or other juice boxes, Fruit snack, Goldfish, Mac and cheese (Velveeta cups), Ramen Individual size, cereal boxes, Individual size popcorn bags, Spaghettios, Deodorant, Chapstick.
If you need anything (rides, supplies, medicine pickups) or any assistance please feel free to contact Sandy or Tom DiPasqua at 207-883-2730 or tjdipasqua@aol.com.
Life Together
The first meeting of 2025 for Redeemer’s Council, has been changed to Sunday February 2 at 1:30 pm in the Nave. Please see Darik for more details.
Pastor Strawn has made it his goal to visit with Redeemer’s members at their homes. He wants to keep it very informal. Please email him at pastorgstrawn@gmail.com to schedule a date and time for your visit with him.
Looking for hosts for our coffee hours following service. Sign up on the Fellowship Board near Pastor’s office. This can be one family or several families.
A Life Thought in the Church Year for January 26 – St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor: The Apostle Paul involved Gentile Titus in Christian ministry to embody how the Gospel doesn’t discriminate. So confinement to mother’s womb will not disqualify anyone from worth: Jesus is Lord there, too (Psalm 71:6). And advanced age cannot undermine it either: He employs “elder” as an expression of respect (Titus 1:5-9). We dare not close the kingdom doors Almighty God has opened!
A Stewardship Thought January 26 – Third Sunday after Epiphany -1 Cor. 12:16 – “And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.” The Lord has called each of us individually and given each of us unique gifts. He has made our whole lives holy in our Baptism and has called us to a life together in the church, His body. You are a part of that body, and that body needs you and the gifts the Lord has given you. This is your holy calling from the Lord.
THE BIBLE & OTHER RELIGIOUS WRITINGS… The Koran, The Book of Mormon, The New World Translation, The Analects of Confucius, The Gospel of Thomas. Issues, Etc., a radio talk show and podcast produced by Lutheran Public Radio in Collinsville, IL, is doing a series on the origins of religious writings with Dr. Adam Francisco of Concordia University Chicago. You can listen to this multi-part series at issuesetc.org/religiouswritings.
Communications
Newsletter Deadline – If you wish to contribute to the March church newsletter, please email your submission to the church office by February 22.
All announcements and prayer requests received in the church office by noon on Thursday will appear in print that week in Friday’s email. If there is an announcement that you would like Pastor to make following Sunday’s FB live stream, please email him that information.
Looking Forward To the Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord
Readings: 1 Samuel 1:21-28; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
Hymns: 834, 519, 624, 810, 938
The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord
February 2, 2025
Readings:1 Samuel 1:21-28; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
Hymns: 834, 519, 624, 810, 938
Calendar
Witness
Lutheran Hour Ministries Sunday is this Sunday, February 2. We sponsor The Lutheran Hour throughout much of Maine and New Hampshire broadcast at 7am Sundays on the Worship Radio Network stations. Did you know LHM offers many other resources? Check them out at LHM.org/discoverlhm.
Redeemer Survey. Your Missions and Evangelism Team has created a short, three-question survey to help gain insight for their 2025 planning. Whether you're a member or a friend of Redeemer, please take the time to fill it out. Your responses are greatly appreciated! Here is the link to the survey: https://forms.gle/FZDkYkkJc179sz5d9
Mercy
As we continue to pray for relief from the horrible devastation and suffering surrounding the Los Angeles fires, LCMS has provided the means to aid in their relief work financially. To give to the synods Disaster Response ministry follow this link. A Gift for LCMS Response to Wildfires - The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The latest update from the LCMS Pacific Southwest District has been printed and posted on the bulletin board downstairs.
The Gorham Backpack Program is distributing weekend food bags and school-day snack bags to Gorham students facing food insecurity. The current need is to stock the Food Closet at Gorham High School. We will be collecting food items on an ongoing basis. Please bring your donation to church. There will be a box in the narthex for the collection.
They are requesting the following items: Pretzels, Cheez-Its, Trail mix, Granola bars, Capri sun or other juice boxes, Fruit snack, Goldfish, Mac and cheese (Velveeta cups), Ramen Individual size, cereal boxes, Individual size popcorn bags, Spaghettios, Deodorant, Chapstick.
If you need anything (rides, supplies, medicine pickups) or any assistance please feel free to contact Sandy or Tom DiPasqua at 207-883-2730 or tjdipasqua@aol.com.
Life Together
The first meeting of 2025 for Redeemer’s Council, has been changed to Sunday February 2 at 1:30 pm in the Nave. Please see Darik for more details.
Pastor Strawn has made it his goal to visit with Redeemer’s members at their homes. He wants to keep it very informal. Please email him at pastorgstrawn@gmail.com to schedule a date and time for your visit with him.
Looking for hosts for our coffee hours following service. Sign up on the Fellowship Board near Pastor’s office. This can be one family or several families.
Life Thought in the Church Year for February 2 – Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord: Ever since sinfulness first afflicted creation, labor and delivery sheds a mother’s blood. The Law of the Lord laments that this echo and threat of death operates right where human life emerges from. So He intervenes with atonement to preserve that precious life. And Jesus embodies this opposition to abortion from the very beginning (Luke 2:22-24).
A Stewardship February 2 – Presentation of Our Lord and Purification of Mary - Luke 2:24 – “[They went] to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’” Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God gives us the pattern of proportional giving. If you look at Leviticus 12, you’ll see that the sacrifice for purification was either a lamb or a pair of birds if the family had no means to buy a lamb. God calls us to give in proportion to how He has blessed us — and of course Jesus sets the pattern by giving not only a portion, but His all.
EASTERN ORTHODOXY SERIES… How is Confessional Lutheranism similar and different to Eastern Orthodoxy? Issues, Etc., a radio talk show and podcast produced by Lutheran Public Radio in Collinsville, IL, is doing a series on Eastern Orthodoxy with LCMS Pastor Joshua Schooping. Pastor Schooping is a former Eastern Orthodox priest. You can listen to this series on-demand at issuesetc.org/easternorthodoxy.
Communications
Newsletter Deadline – If you wish to contribute to the March church newsletter, please email your submission to the church office by February 22.
All announcements and prayer requests received in the church office by noon on Thursday will appear in print that week in Friday’s email. If there is an announcement that you would like Pastor to make following Sunday’s FB live stream, please email him that information.
Looking Forward To the Transfiguration of Our Lord
Readings: Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Matthew 17:1-9
Hymns: 413, 395, 414, 810, 873