“Welcome one another, therefore, as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7).

In the presence of the human suffering, anxiety and tragedy in the AIDS crisis, we commit ourselves anew to the ministry of caring. The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recognizes with gratitude the service of those who care for people with AIDS and their loved ones. It urges church members to support this ministry and to serve those who are suffering with respect and compassion. AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), often with an intensity greater than many diseases, calls us to remember our common humanity. The suffering of persons with AIDS demonstrates anew that life for all is vulnerable, limited, and broken, yet also graced with courage, hope and reconciliation. As a disease that affects women, men and children around the world, it shows how closely we are bound together in relationships of mutual trust, need and responsibility.

A New Sign? More partners utilizing God's House at Redeemer (aka the building)? A Renewed Sense of Purpose and Mission?

One of the things to which I'm giving a lot of my pastoral time and energy these days is the joyful task of working alongside Rich Carroll, Gwen Feldt, Erich Markert, and Julie Andrew as part of the Sustainable Solutions for Sacred Sites Team ("S4" for short). Together with a coach named Pastor Laurie, we are developing a plan for utilizing God's House at Redeemer (aka the building) to support good people doing great things in New Paltz and the Hudson Valley.

On behalf of Family of New Paltz, we'd like to share a thank you for your generosity in supporting Project H.O.P.E. during 2022.

Through your support, Family of New Paltz was able to provide food assistance to those in need, especially during the holiday season when the need is acutely felt.  Family provided 246 families with Thanksgiving meals, 76 families with Christmas meals, and Christmas gifts for 322 children and teens!

Our Fall Pledge Drive is underway! And your pledge of financial support to Christ’s mission through Redeemer, New Paltz matters so much - we make this happen together. Please, before or by Sunday, November 20th, give prayerful thought to how God is stirring your household to support Christ’s work through Redeemer, and fill out and send your card by mail or drop it in the offering plate at worship - or click "Pledge Now!" to submit electronically.

Ministry - Christ’s ministry among us - is always ministry in progress, “ministry in motion.” My work as a pastor, my calling is to nurture this in-progress work in our congregational community, as well as in the New Paltz, Hudson Valley, and world communities. This month I’ll reflect on nurturing the ministry in motion of Faith Formation (education in a faith context).

Lutherans Respond

Lutheran Disaster Response brings God’s hope, healing and renewal to people whose
lives have been disrupted by disasters in the United States and around the world. When the dust settles and the headlines change, we stay to provide ongoing assistance to those in need.

Lutheran Disaster Response has a long and strong history responding and working with disasters, and their affiliates are presently active throughout the world, collaborating with local community leaders and officials to initiate the proper immediate responses and the long-term recovery efforts. Disaster recovery efforts can take years, and Lutheran Disaster Response is there to accompany survivors through every phase of a disaster.

Your gifts ensure that our global Lutheran church will be able to provide help and hope for those left homeless or otherwise affected by this disaster for years to come.

Gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response can be designated for specific disaster relief initiatives, or undesignated and allow LDR to utilize those funds where most needed. Designated gifts will be used entirely (100 percent) for specified disaster until the response is complete. Together, we can help provide immediate and long-lasting support. Give today to support the needs in this response and others like it.

What you can do: 

Pray
Please pray for the people who have been affected and are in the path of Hurricane Harvey. May God's healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give 
To make a gift, visit LDR's Disaster Response web page where you can make an undesignated gift or select a specific disaster relief initiative and make a designated gift.

A Movement Led by the Metropolitan New York Synod

MILWALKEE, August 7, 2019 — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), today at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly declared itself a Sanctuary Denomination, dedicated to serving and supporting the protection of migrants in communities nationwide. The ELCA is the first mainstream church body in America to declare itself a sanctuary denomination. The movement was spearheaded by the Metropolitan New York Synod (MNYS), one of the 65 synods of the ELCA.

“Christians have offered sanctuary for two thousand years, continuing an ancient biblical practice in which cities and houses of worship provided refuge and asylum for people fleeing injustice,” stated Christopher Vergara, who serves as chairperson of MNYS’s AMMPARO/Sanctuary Ministry. “Beginning in the 1980s, the Sanctuary Movement was a faith-based initiative to protect Central American refugees fleeing civil war and seeking safety in the United States. Today, the New Sanctuary Movement is a revived effort to protect undocumented migrants from needless jailing procedures and deportation, and to address the dire situation within the Department of Health and Human Services that has resulted in the stripping of services to refugees and unaccompanied children.”

Good Morning! Today is the first of a series of Stewardship Temple Talks. These stories will be from and about us, we who worship here at Redeemer Lutheran. We all have a story to tell of how we / I have been touched by God through Redeemer Lutheran. And as we enter this period of prayerful reflection in contemplation of completing and turning in our our pledge cards, it is meaningful to ponder what it means to have our church and all the richness it has to offer. The benefit of having Redeemer is not just for those of us who participate in worship and other activities, but also what it means for individuals who have not yet found Redeemer Lutheran of New Paltz. These individuals may have never known God, their faith in God may need strengthening, or, like me, they have been away from church and God and are experiencing a certain hunger that is not satisfied by food, money, power, or other assets.

What do Pentecost and Marching in the Hudson Valley Pride Parade have in common? Certainly both were joyful. Certainly both were colorful. Certainly both were a chance for folks to get involved. But most of all, both of these recent celebrations represent the work of the Holy Spirit through Redeemer active for the world. 

Remembering the things that are really important: this is one of the blessings that can come out of tumultuous times like those in which we are currently living. Remembering might sound like a relatively easy activity to pull off, but it can actually require quite a bit of effort.

Paul, in his letter to the fledgling Christian community in Rome, tells them that he is always “remembering them in prayer.” (Romans 1:9) Which might remind us that there’s a difference between merely remembering (bringing something or someone to mind), and taking initiative or doing an actual action of good (such as prayer) for them. Paul was very busy planting Christian communities in multiple locations, but he took time to have this letter written down and delivered so that the gospel efforts of the people of Rome could be encouraged.

Telling people that God loves them is good theology.
Showing people that [God] loves them is what transforms the world.
—Jim Palmer

God be with us as we seek to live out our discipleship in the world.

Last week I attended my first ever Churchwide Assembly, held this year in Milwaukee. It was a first-hand experience of the Church at work. We did a lot of work, some of it difficult, some of it a bit tedious but all of it important.

I could not be more proud of the Metro NY Synod delegation! Among the sixteen of us, there was consistent, outspoken witness for the sake of the poor, the marginalized, the hurting, and the victimized in our society and in our world. Again and again, members of our synod approached the microphone to advocate for justice, rooted in the gospel and our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Not only did we speak of God’s love, but we sought to show it, and to encourage the entire Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to show it, in order to transform the world.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I imagine that you are horrified - as am I - by all of the racist acts taking place around our country. These fly in the face of our understanding of how God has created all of humanity in God’s image, therefore making all lives equal and precious. I sent an invitation to our Council last week, and am now inviting us all - the people of Redeemer, as a community of faith for the world - to enter a time of prayer and action so that we might be "useful in Christ's Hands" in the work of Undoing Racism. This invitation starts now, and will likely stretch forever forward, for as long as the scourge of racism and other “isms” exist on this side of heaven, we will need Christ to equip us with the courage to rise up for the sake of Christ’s justice and love.

Have you ever wondered what a Synodical Deacon is? Or what a Synodical Deacon Does?

At the urging of Pastor Tobias, I will be sharing with you, on a monthly basis, what my ministry as a Synodical Deacon, called by you, the Redeemer Lutheran, New Paltz congregation, is about.

The first deacon was Stephen. He is identified in Acts 6:5 as are the other 6 of the first 7 deacons. Deacons were originally called to serve and assist widows and the poor. This allowed the disciples to focus on their mission of spreading the word of God to the world.

These are tough and even agonizing times that we are living through right now. As individuals, families, faith communities, nation, and world we are in the midst of the kind of major historical events that will be written about and considered for years to come. Yet we are living this history right now, laboring through it and seeking to understand from day to day what we should be doing and what this all means; for family, faith community, nation, and world.

We as Church and people of striving faith are desperately needed during these times; to hold space for the tough questions raised and wrestling and interpreting needed. Now, more than ever, we need communities like Redeemer for worship, for Bible Study, to guide and direct our efforts to help the wider community and world, and for laughter at coffee hour and Community Fun Nights. We may be moving in virtual territories now, but the real connections and depth of relationships being built by Christ among us for the sake of the world are more vibrant than ever, thanks be to God.