Tag Archives: Easter

March 2023 Newsletter

From Pastor Petersen:
Pastor Frese’s New Position with Synod, Release from Redeemer
Pastor Frese has served Redeemer as a called, part-time pastor since 2012. For most of that time, he always worked as a chaplain for the Indiana National Guard and found other ways to supplement his income. This past spring he received and accepted a call to work full time for the Missouri Synod as the Deputy Director of Church Relations. The position allows him to work from Ft. Wayne two weeks a month, but also requires him to be in St. Louis two weeks a month. He also needs to travel to other parts of the country and out of the country from time to time. On top of this, he is still a chaplain in the Indiana Air National Guard.
Because of all this, with both my and the elders’ consent he took a break from his duties at Redeemer this fall. It was a long shot, but the goal was to see if he could work out a way that he might continue at Redeemer in some modified, but still part-time role. All involved knew it was unlikely, but we all wanted it to work. Unfortunately, it did not. It simply isn’t possible for him to do this in a way that is good for him or his family. The demands of his duties as Deputy Director and the needs of his family are too great for him to be able to continue to serve us, on a regular basis, as a called pastor while also serving the Synod full time and being a military chaplain.
For these reasons, he requested that Redeemer release him from his call. This was to free his conscience and allow him to serve the Synod. The council voted on Sunday, January 8, 2023 to do so. He and his family remain active members of Redeemer. He will continue to serve at our altar and in our pulpit as do our other clergy members.
Installation of the Reverend Deacons Wietfeldt and Boyle
After six months without Pastor Frese, the elders and I took a motion to the council to obtain some regular part-time pastoral assistance. We haven’t issued a call but we may do so eventually. For now, as we work out the kinks, it is a contractual arrangement wherein both Rev. Matt Weitfeldt and Rev. Dr. Geoff Boyle will provide pastoral support and care to our congregation, particularly in the form of leading services on weekdays, helping with preaching and teaching, and doing some visitation.
The work they will be doing is precisely what the New Testament knows as diaconal work and for that reason we will refer to them as our deacons. This is a distinct use of the term from liturgical deacons, a role that is often filled among us by students, and also from the use of the term for laymen who fill various congregational roles. In the New Testament this is a pastoral office. It is filled by ordained men who work under a parish pastor. The Reverend Deacons will be installed on Sunday, March 12 at both services.

Acolyte Vestments needed
Our acolyte corps has grown both in terms of numbers of young men involved and in lbs. per height. We made a significant investment five years ago in vestments and those are still in great shape, but to deploy as many of our current acolytes as possible, we need more vestments. To bring us to a full set of vestments for all and so that we have a good stock to take us into the future we need 12 cottas or surplices (the white part) and eight cassocks (the black part) at a cost of $2000. To fully equip a single acolyte costs $245. If you would like to support this effort financially, please earmark funds for the acolytes.

Marriage and Singles Seminar: The Power of Words for Good and for Ill Saturday March 18, 2023
We will put on a Marriage and Singles seminar on Saturday March 18, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. entitled “The Power of Words for Good and for Ill.” The Seminar will begin with Holy Communion at 9:00 am. At 10:15 there will be a session targeted toward married couples or those engaged to be married in the undercroft and a simultaneous session targeted toward those who either have never been married or are currently not married. Both sessions will give Biblical and Theological advice and counsel toward relationship skills with an eye toward better understanding our various vocations. The undercroft session will be taught by Pastor Petersen and the singles session by Deacon Boyle. Anyone, regardless of marital status, is welcome to attend either.
Study after study has shown that participation in such sessions has drastically lowered the statistical likelihood of divorce and other family trauma. Which is to say: this is worth a few hours of your time. To aid your attendance, childcare will be offered free of charge. Please help us plan for this by RSVPing by March 12, 2023 at secretary.redeemer@gmail.com or by phone (260) 744-2585 or by leaving a note on Jane’s desk in the office. Please do not tell Jane that you will be coming while standing in the narthex or undercroft and expect her to remember. We need to have an accurate count for childcare.

Workday: Saturday, April 1, 2023 9:00 a.m.: Saturday, April 1, the day before Palm Sunday we will have a workday to prepare the Church for Holy Week and Easter. There is lots of deep cleaning and polishing to be done and we could use your help. We will start at 9:00am. We will stop at 11:00 for Matins, then enjoy pizza together in the undercroft before calling it a day.

Easter Service and Photo: We will only have one service, at 10:30 am, on Easter Sunday, preceded by the Easter Breakfast from 8:30 am until 10:00 am. Immediately following the service, Steve Blakey will take a picture of everyone that we can get to stay in the pews for just a few extra minutes. We have a beautiful black and white photo that was taken of the congregation probably in the 1940s that is currently on display near the elevator. We want to reproduce this shot and would like your help.

Don’t forget to check the calendar on the bulletin board in the hall for upcoming social events!

The Spring Voters’ Meeting will be Sunday, April 23 at noon. This is the annual budget meeting.

There is a group meeting every Monday morning at 6:30 to study the Book of Concord.

The first Saturday of each month at 4:30 p.m. there is a family game time in the undercroft, followed by a potluck. All are welcome to either or both!

Books & Beer next meeting will be Sunday March 12th at 7:00 p.m. This month’s book is Reverence, by Paul Woodruff. As always, the event is open to all the men of our parish of drinking age or friends that you think would fit in.

Easter is coming! The hat library will set up in the coat room off the narthex in the next couple of weeks.

Easter at Redeemer

There will be one service on Easter Sunday at 10:30. Get here early, because parking will be tight!

The Easter breakfast will be at 9:00 and is a potluck this year. We have received a grant from Thrivent in support of it as a fundraiser for missions in China.

Easter Flowers and Music

If you wish to donate for Easter Flowers and music this year you can print this out and put it in the office or offering plate, mail it in, use a form that we have available at church, or just send the information to Jane at secretary.redeemer@gmail.com.

EASTER FLOWERS

Amount enclosed                 $__________________

PLEASE PRINT EXACTLY HOW YOU WISH THIS TO BE LISTED IN THE CHURCH BULLETIN

Given by:                 ___________________________________________________

In Memory of:                 ___________________________________________________

        _____________________________________________________

A Thank Offering for:______________________________________________

         _____________________________________________________

Name:          _____________________________________________________

Address:          _______________________________________________

Phone:          _____________________________________________________

EASTER MUSIC

Amount enclosed $__________________

PLEASE PRINT EXACTLY HOW YOU WISH THIS TO BE LISTED IN THE CHURCH BULLETIN

Given by: ___________________________________________________

In Memory of: ___________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

A Thank Offering for: _____________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Name: ___________________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

Phone:           ____________________________________________________

Please indicate if you wish to use Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms. or no title

DEADLINE FOR OFFERINGS AND MEMORIALS:

Wednesday April 13

Easter at Redeemer

On Holy Saturday, April 3, the Easter Vigil is at 8:30 p.m. It will be livestreamed. The bulletin is here.

On Easter Sunday, April 4, The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, there will be Divine Services at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. The 8:00 a.m. service will be livestreamed. Here are the bulletin and Congregation at Prayer.

From April 5-9 daily Divine Services will continue at 8:30 a.m.

Holy Week and Easter Schedule, 2021

There are Divine Services at 8:30 Monday through Thursday.

In addition, on Wednesday, March 31, Stations of the Cross will be at 7:00 p.m.


On Maundy Thursday, April 1, there will be a 7:00 p.m. Divine Service.


On Good Friday, April 2, the Tre Ore begins at noon. For those who may want to attend only part of it, the starting times for each section are as follows:
12:00 p.m. Liturgy of the Catechumens
1:15 p.m. Liturgy of the Holy Communion
2:15 p.m. Vespers


On Holy Saturday, April 3, there is a 10:30 a.m. Matins service and, at 8:30 p.m., the Easter Vigil.


On Easter Sunday, April 4, The Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, there will be Divine Services at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

From April 5-9 daily Divine Services will continue at 8:30 a.m.

Holy Week and Easter services 2020

In an attempt to keep things as simple as possible for all of you, we have decided to put all of the information and links for the Holy Week and Easter services into this one post. It will be divided by day, with links to both current and past bulletins and past services for each day.

On Maundy Thursday, the Divine Service will be livestreamed at 7:00 p.m. You can find that, as always, on the Redeemer Fort Wayne YouTube channel. The bulletin for that services is linked here. If you would like to watch last year’s service with the stripping of the altar, the bulletin for that is here. (Don’t let the 2018 label at the beginning of the video confuse you, it is definitely last year’s service.)

On Good Friday, the Divine Service will be livestreamed at 12:30 p.m. The bulletin for this year’s service is here. Last year’s Tre Ore service is available and the bulletin for that is here. (Again, don’t let the 2018 label at the beginning of the video confuse you, it is last year’s service.)

We will not be having an Easter Vigil this year. Last year’s Easter Vigil is available here and the bulletin for that is here.

On Easter Sunday we will celebrate The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ at 10:30 a.m. That service will be livestreamed. The bulletin is here. Last year’s Easter service is here and the bulletin is available here.

Letter from Pastor Petersen regarding Holy Week

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and support. I have been constantly impressed by your compassion for one another and your concern for the Church through these past weeks. There is no real guide from the Church’s history on how to deal with this. Our pastors are trying to be faithful to our calling while being as careful and safe as possible. I expect that five years from now we’ll know better what we should have done. For now, though some have expressed doubt about its expertise and validity, we continue to adhere strictly to the CDC recommendations.

Whatever your opinions on these measures, I ask you to continue in the gentle kindness and compassion for one another and for our pastors. Let us not judge one another, but recognize that we are in uncharted territory and all have unique circumstances.

For the immediate future, including holy week, barring changes from the CDC or the government, we will continue to offer the Sacrament to our people who are healthy, comfortable with our measures, and desire it. We will put up a separate post outlining the precautions that we are taking during these services. In order to ensure we don’t have more than 10 people, including children and the pastor, at a service, we need people to sign up for the services.

We are asking people to limit themselves to one reception of communion for the first part of Holy Week, from Saturday April 4 through Wednesday April 8, then to once during Maundy Thursday through Holy Saturday, and again once in the three days of Easter through Easter Tuesday. We will Livestream all the major feasts and encourage everyone to make use of those. In other words, you can’t come on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, but you could come one of those days and watch the Livestream for the other. These services will mostly be spoken services that last about 30 minutes. Even our live streamed services will lack the normal ceremonies that we normally enjoy on those days. They will be simplified in order to recognize the lack of people actually with us, to create space in time for more services, and to optimize the livestream experience. We have, however, good recordings on Youtube from last year’s services. We suggest that people watch those as well. We will also be posting the bulletins.

I doubt that Pastor Frese and I could keep this pace of services without the volunteer help of Dr. Grobien, Dr. Mayes, Rev. Wietfeldt, and Dr. Koontz. They have not only been kind and eager to help, but they have also responded with remarkable swiftness to our requests for their availability. This has made it much easier to plan and coordinate than I thought would ever be possible. So also Jane has been tireless in updating the website, in taking phone calls to schedule people and answer questions, and in dealing with the constant changes we have needed to make. We thank God for all of them. 

Early on in this, we asked Kantor Reuning and Barb to quarantine themselves since they are, statistically, in the most vulnerable population. That quarantine will end on Holy Monday. Kantor will go to extreme lengths to stay safe but will be playing,God willing, for our streamed services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. We thank him for his cooperation and also Maggie Casey and Nicole Busarow who stepped in to play in his absence. We also want to thank the musicians, led by Jason Thompson, who have been so supportive and cooperative throughout this ordeal. 

Pastor Frese and I remain deeply touched by all of you who have been so kind to us and encouraging, so willing to help, and while eager for God’s gifts and disappointed in all that has been cancelled or changed, still so cooperative. The Lord will and the Lord does provide. Jesus lives still. That hasn’t changed. These days will pass, one way or another. Soon they will be not much more than a footnote in history books. In the meantime, these are our lives and the days we have been given. We thank God for them even as we eagerly pray for them to end. 

I hope that you have been able to spend more time in God’s Word these past couple of weeks. At the beginning of this we put out a suggested reading schedule to get through the four accounts of Our Lord’s Passion in the Gospels. That schedule will end on Apr 4. We have added to it the reading of the Passion Harmony over Holy Week and the Easter texts for the first two weeks of Easter from the Easter Vigil and the New Testament. The reality is that most of us  aren’t hearing as much of the Bible as we normally would during Holy Week even with the daily Matins services and other livestreams and that for many of us, it simply hasn’t “felt” very much like Lent. This schedule of readings is meant to address that some but also to embrace what we still have. We have the Word. God be praised for that! This is that which is most essential for our faith and it has not been taken from us. So let us rejoice in it, recognizing that it is a gift, and use it. 

One final thing, we are also making phone calls to all our members. There can’t be more than two or three households where we haven’t had any contact in the last two weeks, but if we missed you it could be that your voicemail is full or we can’t get through for some reason or even that we left a message on the wrong phone number. So would you please call us at the Church office? We want to talk to you, just to check up on you and make sure you know about our Livestreaming, the website, and our services. 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Petersen