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SUNDAY READINGS
Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12
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October 31, 2008
Note: Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend. Set your clocks back one hour before retiring on Saturday night.
This Sunday at Redeemer
 This is All Saints Sunday this week—a time to honor those who have faithfully gone before us in the faith, and the faithful that we journey with now. Our special guest will be the Rev. Dr. Richard Turnbull, Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University. He will be teaching COR@9 on "What does it mean to be Anglican and Evangelical" and also preaching during our 10am worship service.
Wycliffe Hall is a major evangelical seminary training men and women for the Christian ministry in the UK and around the world. Richard is passionate about the Bible, the local church and mission.
Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini
 The following Sunday, November 9th, we will be graced by a visit from the head of the Anglican Church in Rwanda, Archbishop Kolini and his wife, Freda. They are both wonderful people who have ministered the Gospel powerfully in their own country and elsewhere. It was Archbishop Kolini, along with Moses Tay of South East Asia, who took a courageous stand to consecrate missionary bishops for the United States in Singapore in 2000. Those two bishops, John Rodgers and Chuck Murphy, founded the Anglican Mission under Rwanda later that same year. Archbishop Kolini is now one of the global figures leading the re-alignment in the Anglican Church.
He will share some comments, and may answer some questions during COR@9 and will bring greetings during our morning worship service. We will then host them during our coffee hour, and you should have a chance to meet them personally.
This is a rare opportunity as Archbishop Kolini only visits a handful of US churches each year. We're excited to welcome him and Freda.
Alpha
Our Alpha Course continues each Tuesday night with about a dozen people involved. Please keep this group in your prayers, and especially be praying for the Alpha Weekend, coming up next Friday and Saturday.
Reaching Out
Church of the Redeemer will sponsor a coat, (also winter cap, scarf, glove/mitten) drive for the clothing closet operated by Love INC (in the name of Christ), a Christian ministry whose mission is to mobilize the Church to transform the lives of communities and individuals in the name of Christ. The coat drive will begin on November 16, 2008 and continue through the last Sunday of Advent. Please consider donating "gently used" items (for example, no broken zippers, unrepaired tears, or noticeable stains). Items most needed are large-size women's coats and children's and men's coats of all sizes, though all donations will be accepted and appreciated.
Danielle Miller and Dan Babarik will be points of contact for the coat, winter cap, scarf, glove/mitten drive. Items may be placed in the foyer prior to or after services on upcoming Sundays or you may make arrangements to give the items to Danielle or Dan. Feel free to contact Danielle or Dan.
Building Community
Be devoted to one another... Honor one another above yourselves... Pray for one another... Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you... Bear with each other... Teach and admonish one another... Encourage one another... Be kind and compassionate with one another... Love one another deeply, from the heart...
Reading through the numerous "one another" commands in the Epistles, it's clear that God calls us not only to Himself, but to each other. At Redeemer, small groups are one way we seek to grow more like Christ by living out these "one another" commands. They help us move out of the modern emphasis on individuality that permeates much of our lives and thinking, and toward the Biblical model of living in community. Small groups are meant to foster love, acceptance, forgiveness — and the challenge to grow.
New small groups are now forming around the region. If you are interested in learning more and potentially joining a small group, please contact Sallie Vroom, Small Groups coordinator, at sallie.vroom [at] att.net or 847-563-8274. For more information about a specific group, please contact the leader below:
Some Notes on All Saints
Adapted from Robin Stephenson-Bratcher and Dennis Bratcher —
Secular culture and many Low Church traditions associate All Saints Day (November 1), also known as All Hallows (hallows = saints) with Halloween (een=evening before or eve), All Hallows Eve (October 31). As a result, many tend to reject this Holy Day because of modern associations with witches, ghouls, the macabre, and a preoccupation with death that began to grow up around the Holy Day in the medieval period. Also, many Protestants have generally tended to avoid this day for its association in Roman Catholic tradition with the doctrine of Purgatory and praying for the dead.
All Souls Day began in the third century to honor martyrs of the Christian Faith. By the seventh and eighth centuries it developed as a way to honor any of the saints of the Church who had attained the 'full status of heaven'.
As with a lot of other excesses of the medieval period, this day began to accrue a lot of popular mythology and became overlaid with layers of superstition. However, much of what concerns modern Christians actually developed in Ireland and England from pagan Celtic festivals and was imported into the United States by immigrants in the middle 19th century. It was not until the late 19th century that Halloween emerged in its modern Western version, which was then exported to other countries. It is this syncretism of Christianity with pagan beliefs in Halloween that lends a bad reputation to All Saints Day in many people's thinking.
Yet beyond those issues, traditionally in the Church the two days of All Saints Day (November 1) was valued as a time to celebrate heritage and those Christians of the past who faithfully transmitted the Faith to succeeding generations. Martin Luther actually chose All Saints Eve to send his Ninety Five Theses to the Archbishop. His challenge to the Church and its leaders to reform was set against the background of the heritage of the Church. And even after the Reformation, both Lutheran and Anglican traditions retained the celebration of All Saints Day as a time to honor those who had been faithful.
Stewardship at Church of the Redeemer
Tithes and offerings needed Oct-Dec — $150,000
Amount given since Oct 1 — $29,200
Amount Still Needed — $120,800
Notes . . .
— Looking ahead to November please note that we will have a Thanksgiving Service, 10am Thanksgiving Day at our usual Sunday location, Redeemer Lutheran Church on Deerfield Rd.
— New to Redeemer and have questions? Be a part of Discover Redeemer, a four-week course on our church... 9am each Sunday beginning November 16th.
— Our next Leader's Gathering is November 15, from 9-10:30 at the Evangelical Church in Highland Park.
Please pray for . . .
- The mission and vision of Church of the Redeemer
- God's provision and will in these days
- Our national, regional and local elections
- Our Redeemer staff
- Those in need in body, mind and spirit
- Alpha, and other new ministries and opportunities emerging at Church of the Redeemer
- Archbishop Kolini and Freda's visit
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