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
THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS
Sunday, January 3, 2021
Almighty God, You have poured into our hearts the true Light of Your incarnate Word. Grant that this Light may shine forth in our lives; through the same 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, January 3, 2021 8:00 a.m. Sunday School/Adult Class 9:00 a.m. Divine Service - (Christmas 2) (C) Wednesday, January 6, 2021 6:00 p.m. Epiphany Evening Prayer 6:30 p.m. Christian Catechesis Sunday, January 10, 2021 8:00 a.m. Sunday School/Adult Class 9:00 a.m. Divine Service - (Baptism of Lord) (C) 10:00 a.m. Council Meeting | THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR None for this week |
ST. JOHN’S NEWS
Organist Today: Kitty Bierstedt
Elder for January: Tony Hatten
Morning/Evening Prayer Coming to St. John’s! - Beginning in January, we will be offering an opportunity for morning prayer every Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. and evening prayer every last Tuesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. These will be excellent, socially distant opportunities to gather with a few other Christians for spoken prayer. Also, if at one of these services you would like to receive the Lord’s Supper, Pastor Cowell will prepare bread and wine for a Divine Service at your request.
Altar Guild Change - We would like to thank Donna Haase for her many, many years of service on the Altar Guild as Donna has decided to retire at the end of this year. We would also like to welcome Betty Koestler and Shirlee Alt to the Altar Guild starting January 2021. Anyone wishing to volunteer, please contact the church office. We don't turn anyone away!!
First Quarter Council Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 10, 2021 following the service. The Voter’s Meeting will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2021.
Note: (Installation of Officers will be held on Sunday January 10)
Devotion Books Available - On the guestbook stand in back are devotional booklets written to guide our faith during the continuance of the pandemic. Feel free to take as many copies for yourself and others as you’d like!
Thank You cards and notes have been received by our members for the goodies/books etc. that were delivered at Christmas by the Mission Board. Those thank you notes are posted on the ramp bulletin board.
Pastoral Care On Demand - Pastor Cowell would love to serve you Communion at church or at home, pray, read Scripture, offer Christian counsel, and/or just visit any time that works for you! Call or text him any time at 319-464-5548.
St. John’s Member Check-in Calls - Beginning in early January, we are going to begin a project at St. John’s of calling all our members to see if there is any way our congregation can be of any help to each other’s faith or life as the pandemic drags on into another year. If you are interested in making some of these phone calls please let Pastor Cowell know.
Epiphany Day Service - St. John’s is having a spoken service of Scripture and prayer on Epiphany Day: Wednesday January 6th at 6:00 p.m. Come enjoy hearing the account of the Magi worshipping our incarnate Lord!
District Convention Lay Delegate - If you are interested in serving as the lay delegate representing St. John’s at the Iowa District West Convention on June 27-29, 2021, please contact the church office or Pastor Cowell. We will need to select a lay delegate by the end of January.
Addresses: If you have a new address/phone number or your college students have a new address, will you please get that information into the church office so we can update our church roster. We would also love to have your cell number and email address if you have one.
Annual Report Articles - After the first of the year I (Rosann) will be working on the 2020 Annual Report. You can email any articles/information to me at churchofficest.johnsburt.org.
Flocknote - The beginning of the new year is a great time to review your Flocknote messaging preferences. See the Flocknote information sheet in the back for a description of your messaging options, and let Pastor Cowell know if you’d like to make any changes to which messages you receive.
Wednesday Catechesis will resume class on January 6 at 6:00 p.m.
Shopping through Amazon Smile - Sign up at Amazon Smile to have 0.5% of your eligible purchases donated to St. John’s! Click this link to sign up: smile.amazon.com/ch/42-0950037, click on the Amazon Smile button on the stjohnsburt.org homepage, or pick up an instructions packet on the back table to get signed up.
St. John’s Live-streamed Service - The easiest way to access our service livestreams and recordings is to click on the links posted on the homepage of stjohnsburt.org.
TLC Quilts Available - Don’t forget that quilts made by the Trinity Lutheran Church Quilters are always available on the “giving pew” by the east door!
SYNOD, DISTRICT, & PARTNERSHIP NEWS
Trinity, Algona Schedule - Trinity, Algona continues to stream their worship services, daily devotions, and other videos online. You can access these resources at trinityalgona.org/corona or the Trinity YouTube and Facebook pages either live or any time after as a recording.
Sunday Preview Lectionary Videos - The Partnership Pastors have begun a new video series taking a look at the Scripture readings and themes of the upcoming Sunday. These videos will be published on Trinity’s YouTube channel every Thursday.
Family Fishing Weekend at Camp Okoboji - January 29-31 - Come enjoy a family friendly weekend of ice fishing, faith and fellowship! This is the 11th year that Pastor Ben Dose and Pastor Jim Stogdill will be the leaders and educators of this Ice Fishing Retreat for all ages!
Okoboji Winter Games - January 38-31 - Planning to attend the Okoboji Winter Games and need a safe and refreshing place to stay? Check with us because we still have Family Ministry Cabins available. (712-337-3325 or campokoboji.org)
LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Christmas 2)
Old Testament: 1 Kings 3:4-15
God tells Solomon to ask what He should give, and Solomon prays for wisdom.
Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14
We have been given an inheritance as sons of God in Christ.
Gospel: Luke 2:40-52
Joseph and Mary cannot find the child Jesus after leaving Jerusalem when the Passover was over. Three days later they find Him in the temple.
FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
“The Lord, born a human being among human beings, did what God, by divine inspiration through his angels, prescribed for human beings to do. He himself kept the law which he gave in order to show us, who are human beings pure and simple, that whatever God orders is to be observed in everything. Let us follow the path of his human way of life. If we take delight in looking upon the glory of his divinity, if we want to dwell in his eternal home in heaven all the days of our lives, it delights us to see the Lord’s will and to be shielded by his holy temple. And lest we be forever buffeted by the wind of wickedness, let us remember to frequent the house, the church of the present time, with the requisite offerings of pure petitions.” - Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 1.19, qtd. in ACCS: Luke, 54.
LESSONS ON THE LITURGY
Honor your father and your mother
When the child Jesus submits to Mary and Joseph in the temple He teaches us that children ought to honor their parents because of the will and design of God: not on account of the merits or worthiness of their parents. Jesus is the omniscient and omnipotent God of the universe and yet He honored and submitted Himself to His comparatively weak and lowly earthly parents. Luther, in his Large Catechism, says of the Fourth Commandment that children:
should remember that however lowly, poor, frail, and strange their parents may be, nevertheless, they are the father and the mother given to them by God. Parents are not to be deprived of their honor because of their conduct or their failings. Therefore, we are not to consider who they are or how they may be, but the will of God, who has created and ordained parenthood (paragraph 108).
FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article VIII: The Person of Christ, para. 24-25
On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, did not bear a mere man. But, as the angel testifies, she bore a man who is truly the Son of the most high God [Luke 1:35]. He showed His divine majesty even in His mother's womb, because He was born of a virgin, without violating her virginity. Therefore, she is truly the mother of God and yet has remained a virgin. He did all His miracles by the power of this personal union. He showed His divine majesty, according to His pleasure, when and as He willed. He did this not just after His resurrection and ascension, but also in His state of humiliation. For example:
(a) At the wedding at Cana of Galilee [John 2:1-11]
(b) When He was twelve years old, among the learned [Luke 2:42-50]
(c) In the garden, when with a word He cast His enemies to the ground [John 18:6]
(d) In death, when He died not simply as any other man, but in and with His death conquered sin,
death, devil, hell, and eternal damnation [Col. 2:13-15].
