Notes from the Music Director
Dear friends in Christ,
Would you go to school or work in your pajamas? If you are a teenager, would you go on a datewithout brushing your teeth? (Your date hopes not!) If you are answering “no way!” to these questions, yourealize the importance of preparing yourself for certain situations.
There are preparations for worship that make our experience with God valuable. We know that God is always with us in the presence of the Holy Spirit. However, we so often rush through things that we may fail to realize that God is with us as we worship. At its very essence, worship is God’s Spirit touching our spirit. To realize that God is touching us, we need more than space and time set aside. We who are uniting for worship also need to shift from thoughts about ourselves or conversations with others to a corporate worship mindset.
How do we do that?
We first need to realize that the best place for our conversations and visiting is in the narthex or
welcome area downstairs. It is wonderful to visit and fellowship with others, so long as we do not disturb those in the sanctuary who are preparing to worship. Once we enter God’s House, our voices should show reverence in their volume.
Many find that a time of silent prayer or meditation before the service helps them prepare. Taking alook at the service itself, the readings and hymn texts, can also help us to focus.
In our 8:30 service, the prelude is typically the first action in our service. Prelude literally means “that which is played before.” The prelude is like the school bell that alerts students that class has begun. It is a time to sit quietly and clear our minds of worldly distractions. In our 11:00 service, it is the same, except that time is dedicated to music that prepares us for singing later in the service.
It is after the prelude has finished that the church bell calls our attention to the light of Christ as it is brought into the sanctuary by the acolyte. This act is a visible reminder that stimulates our awareness that we are in the presence of the Lord.
After a brief welcome and pertinent announcements, our service begins with the Invocation to recall our baptismal grace, and often with a Call to Worship, responses between the worship leader and the congregation to introduce the theme or tone of the service. At other times, we may open with a hymn or song that gathers our thoughts and prepares us.
With this understanding of the beginning parts of our worship service, how can we prepare? Always allow the Word of God to shape all that we say, sing and do. Realize the presence of the Lord in His temple and open your heart accordingly to respond.
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Hope to see you in worship!
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“ … the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” Hab. 2:20
[Jesus declared,] “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24​.
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Scott Kamman​
Music Director
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Hymn of the month:
The children in our school learn a special hymn or song of the month as part of theirworship and religion class experience. For the month of November, they will be learning the hymn, “Now
Thank We All Our God” (LSB 895). Author Martin Rinkart was a minister in the city of Eilenburg during theThirty Years War. Apart from battles, lives were lost in great number during this time due to illnesses anddisease spreading quickly throughout impoverished cities. In the Epidemic of 1637, Rinkart officiated at over four thousand funerals, sometimes fifty per day. In the midst of these horrors, it’s difficult to imagine maintaining faith and praising God, and yet, that’s exactly what Rinkart did. Sometime in the next twenty years, he wrote the hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God,” originally meant to be a prayer said before meals. Rinkart could recognize that our God is faithful, and even when the world looks bleak, He is “bounteous” and is full of blessings, if only we look for them. Blessings as seemingly small as a dinner meal, or as large as the end of a brutal war and unnecessary bloodshed are all reasons to lift up our thanks to God, with our hearts, our hands, and our voices.
From Hymnary.org
LSB 895 Now Thank We All Our God
1 Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms
Has blest us on our way
With countless gifts of love
And still is ours today.
2 Oh, may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessèd peace to cheer us
And keep us in His grace
And guide us when perplexed
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next!
D 3 All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven,
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heav’n adore;
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
Text: Martin Rinckart, 1586–1649; tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1827–78, alt.
Text: Public domain
Coming soon! Carols by Candlelight 2025 On Thursday evening, December 11, at 7:00 PM, Our Savior Lutheran School students will be sharing their songs and music of the season. Put it on your calendar and join us for this special night concluding with singing carols by candlelight around the school circle drive. Bring in
your rinsed milk gallon jugs for our luminary project!
Chapel Worship
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Everyone is invited to worship with the school children each week as they gather for chapel
on Wednesdays at 8:45 AM in the sanctuary. It is an excellent opportunity for midweek worship. Come and join us!
November 5 – Grade 4
November 12 – Principal Davidson
November 19 – Mr. Paul Nickel
Tuesday, November 25 Grades 1 & 2
From Team Mercy:
Dear Our Savior friends,
Team Mercy would like to thank all of you for your kind words, hugs, cards, and flowers given to us after the
passing of our dear Mercy Comfort Dog. Hearing over and over again how much she meant to people is the
greatest healing we have for our sorrow. She will be missed greatly, but we celebrate all the wonderful things
our team was able to do through Mercy. Thank you for giving us that opportunity!
Team Mercy
Scott and Becky Kamman
Doug and Dana Netherton
Dave and Marty Walls
Libby Crawford
Amy Romines
Heidi Keairns
Sherry Ederheimer
Diane Mehl
Karen Shorter
Upcoming worship dates of importance:
Nov 23 Last Sunday in the Church Year
Nov 26 Thanksgiving Eve service, 7:00 PM
Nov 30 First Sunday in Advent
Dec 2 Messiah Sing-a-long, 7:00 PM
Dec 3, 10, 17 Wednesday Evening Advent services, 7:00 PM
Dec 11 OSLS “Carols by Candlelight,” 7:00 PM
Dec 24 Christmas Eve services, 5PM and 7PM
Dec 25 Christmas Day service, 10:00 AM
Worship Notes!
In an effort to try to help us all learn about our worship life and liturgy, we offer this little “tidbit” of information each month. It can serve as a review for you, an answer to that question, “Why do we do that?”, or as a teaching tool for our children or grandchildren. Please share this with your family. Discuss it prior to worship. If there is something you would like to have answered, let me know. I’ll do my best to find out! Check out this month’s edition of “Worship Notes” below.
This month’s Worship Note:
What is the difference between a “sacrament” and a “rite” in Lutheran worship?
A Sacrament combines the Word of God with an earthly element (water, bread, wine). Jesus told us to
perform two sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper [Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19]. By the power of theHoly Spirit, God bestows grace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life through them.
A rite is simply a Christian ceremony such as a wedding, funeral, confirmation, installation, etc., which is notcommanded by God, nor does it offer forgiveness.