CURATE’S CORNER: 12/21/2025

 CURATE’S CORNER:

Curate is my nickname that came about for various reasons. I plan on writing a Curate’s Corner for every Sunday’s bulletin. As you may have read the past two weeks of my Curate’s Corner, I try to explain why we do things in our church, things we are looking forward to as a congregation, and school, as well as to reflect on Christianity today. Today’s world is rapidly changing with different challenges that were unlike our past. The training of pastors at our seminaries prepare these students for a very changed world. Sometimes bigger challenges is helping a congregation adjust and prepare for a very different world we live in. Today we witness a blatant watering down of Christianity in the United States along with many Americans abandoning religion altogether in the face of other religions making their way into the US. While many Christians go with the flow of modern Christianity, seeking an emotional high or spiritual gratification, many Christians, especially the young, are seeking a clear identity with their faith and life in Christ in line with the clear teachings of the Holy Scriptures and the biblical confessions of the church. I have witnessed and heard this from the young people at national youth gatherings I have attended (Higher Things and NYG), and college campus events that I have led and attended. I am so proud of the members, faculty and staff at Our Redeemer church and school, especially in the past year, as we began the process of preparing for a sustainable future with the mission that has been placed before us in the Great Commission. A pastor never knows how a church will respond, especially if it is a primarily older congregation. Typically there is a strong tendency to live as they did in the prior generation because there is comfort in knowing the past or holding to the thinking of the past. But our congregation and school are remarkable, thinking not merely with individual preferences but for the care and betterment of the entire church and school, founded upon the sure Word of God that will sustain us into our future. Starting January, we are going to try some changes. In light of what I have written in my two Curate’s Corners, we will be changing service times and Bible study times. How this will pan out, we will see. None of this is set in stone, but we will try this together as a church family. Coping with change can be difficult for the congregation as well as for a pastor. I was telling someone being a pastor is like being married to the church. When two individuals get married, they give up a little of themselves for the betterment of the marriage. As long as we think about working together for our future, I think we will make changes that are for the future of our church. As a reminder, starting January, our Bible Class and Sunday School will begin at 9 AM with the Divine Service at 10 AM. After church will be a time of fellowship and I will likely teach catechism after church as well. Monday evening Divine Service will be at 6 PM. Youth group will be from 2-4 PM every Sunday. On Saturdays, we will have game day starting at 10 AM. On the 2nd and 4th Saturdays, a meal will be held at 5 PM and a praise service at 6 PM. Blessings in Christ as we, during this Advent season anticipate the celebration of the birth of the Christ-Child who has come with hands full of mercy and truth for us and our salvation. - Pastor Dreyer