Announcements

St. John’s Lutheran Church

109 Maple St. Burt, Iowa|Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod

Pastor: Rev. Thomas Cowell                               Secretary: Rosann Shipler

Pastor’s Cell: 319-464-5548                                  Church Office: 515-924-3344  stjohnsburt.org                  

Pastor’s Email: pastor@stjohnsburt.org          Church Email: churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org               

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

February 16, 2020

 

O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.   Amen.

 

THIS WEEK AT ST. JOHN’S Today, February 16    8:00  a.m.      Sunday School/Adult Class      9:00  a.m.      Divine Service (Epiphany 6)  (C)                                 Monday, February 17   7 & 9:30 a.m.  Women’s Bible Study, Trinity Wednesday, February 19    6:00 p.m.        Religion School Sunday, February 23    8:00 a.m.        Sunday School/Adult Class    9:00 a.m.        Divine Service (Transfiguration) (C)

THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR    February 16     Commemoration of Philip Melanchthon,         Confessor     February 18     Commemoration of Martin Luther, Doctor          and Reformer

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today:  Marcia Hanna                   Ushers for February:    Lucas Parsons & 

                                                                                                                 Terry Briggs  & Boyd Shipler                                               

Acolyte: Kenna Hatten & Taylor Parsons   Elder for February:       Jerry Koestler

Greeters: Gordon & Mary-Shipler Oleson   Greeters Next Week:    Mike and Amy Marlow

 

Adult Bible Study - Our Sunday morning adult Bible study class is studying the Biblical roots of the liturgy of the Divine Service, with special focus on the unique features of our Lutheran liturgy. 

 

2019 Annual Report is on the table along the east wall.  One copy per family, please.

 

Ash Wednesday Service with Communion will be February 26th at 6:00 p.m.

 

Lenten Services - All our evening services for Lent will be held at 6:00 p.m.  Note the new time!

 

Lenten Schedules - A copy of our full schedule of services at St. John’s for the season of Lent are in your box.  If you don’t have a box, they are on the table.  Feel free to take a schedule out of a friend’s box or off the table and give them a personal invitation to come to church with you. There are also blank schedules on the table for you to give to non-members. 

 

Tuesday Morning Lenten Prayer - In addition to our Wednesday evening Lenten services, you will also have the opportunity to pray and hear Scripture on several Tuesday mornings at 9:00 during Lent.  This will be a spoken Matins service and will be a time for you to bring prayer requests for us to pray together.  See the purple schedule in your box for the dates of these services. 

 

Lutheran Witness Subscriptions are due by March 2.  The cost of a subscription will be $22.70 for the year.  If you are receiving a Lutheran Witness now just pay by putting that in a separate marked envelope in the offering plate. Make checks out to the church and those subscriptions will continue.  If you wish to cancel or begin getting the Witness, please be sure to let the church office know.

 

SYNOD, DISTRICT, & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

Shrove Tuesday Partnership Event - Our St. John's/Trinity partnership is hosting a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper again this year on Tuesday, February 25th at 6:00 p.m. at Trinity.  The event will begin in the sanctuary at 6:00 with a time of prayer and confession and absolution, and continue with a pancake supper in the Life Center at 6:15.  During the supper we will also have fliers available with suggestions for how you might pray, fast, and show mercy during the upcoming season of Lent.  This event is free and the community is welcome to attend. 

 

Camp Okoboji Annual Meeting is scheduled for April 18, 2020 at 11 a.m.  Each Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod in Iowa District West has the privilege of sending one delegate to the Annual Meeting of Camp. Consider being a delegate from St. John’s. Let the office know if you can attend this one day meeting.

 

Lutheran Family Service Marriage Resources - Unfortunately the LFS marriage strengthening workshop that was scheduled last week at Trinity was cancelled due to low registration numbers.  However, LFS publishes a variety of marriage strengthening resources on their website at lutheranfamilyservice.org/marriage-counseling.  Also, on the table in back of church are several handouts from LFS with tips on communication, problem solving, and showing appreciation within a marriage.  As always information on marriage advice or counseling from a trained, Christian counselor is available on the LFS website.  Remember that every marriage, no  matter how seemingly successful or unsuccessful, can benefit from the Scripture-informed insight and strategies that Lutheran Family Service has to offer.   

 

 COMMUNITY NEWS

 

Burt Summer Celebration Silent Auction and Luncheon will be held Sunday, February 23 at the Burt Complex from 10:30 to 1:00 p.m. They are asking for any donations for the Silent Auction. All proceeds go to keeping Burt Summer Celebration a free event.  If you wish to donate something, please contact Burt City Hall. 

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY 

 

Deuteronomy 30:15–20; 1 Corinthians 3:1–9; Matthew 5:21–37

 

Christ Sets Life before Us so that We Can Walk in His Ways

The God who reveals Himself in His incarnate Son promises life and blessing to all who obey His commandments “by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules” (Deut. 30:16). However, we are “people of the flesh” and “infants in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1) among whom “there is jealousy and strife” (1 Cor. 3:3). Jesus must instruct us against the human ways of anger, adultery, divorce, and false witness (Matt. 5:21-37), because all who live in these ways “shall surely perish” (Deut. 30:18). On the cross He died to forgive our sins and free us from the ways of curse and death. Since Jesus Christ is our “life and length of days” (Deut. 30:20), we can be reconciled to our brother, live in chastity and marital faithfulness, and speak with honesty. He who serves from His cross also offers His gift of reconciliation at His altar, and we can be at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ who are “God’s field, God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

 

Large Catechism, The Ten Commandments: Fifth Commandment, paragraphs 179-183

You shall not murder.

 

We have finished teaching about temporal government, that is, the divine and the parental authority and obedience. But now we learn how we should live with our neighbor. Therefore, God and government are not included in this commandment. Nor is the power to kill taken away, which God and government have. To punish evildoers, God has delegated His authority to the government, not parents. What is forbidden in this commandment is forbidden to the individual in his relationship with anyone else, but not to the government.

 

This commandment is easy enough, because we hear it each year in the Gospel of Matthew 5:20-26, where Christ Himself explains and sums it up. He says that we must not kill, neither with hand, heart, mouth, signs, gestures, help, nor counsel. Therefore, this commandment forbids everyone to be angry, except those who are in the place of God, that is, parents and the government. For it is proper for God and for everyone who is in a divine estate to be angry, to rebuke, and to punish because of those very persons who transgress this and the other commandments [Romans 13:4].

 

The need of this commandment is that God knows that the world is evil [Galatians 1:4], and that this life has much unhappiness. Therefore, He has set up the commandments between the good people and the evil.