Thursday, January 07, 2021

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 BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

January 10, 2021

 

Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, 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 10, 2021

  9:00 a.m.    Divine Service - (Baptism-Lord) (C) 

10:00  a.m.   Council Meeting

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

  6:00 p.m.    Christian Catechesis

Sunday, January 17, 2021

  8:00 a.m.    Sunday School/Adult Class

  9:00 a.m.    Divine Service - (Epiphany 2) (C)

10:00 a.m.   Voter’s Meeting

  THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR

 

    January 10, 2021

    Commemoration of Basil of Caesarea, 

       Gregory of Nazianzus, & Gregory of 

       Nyssa, the Cappadocian Fathers

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today: Marcia Hanna

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. 

  • There will be no morning prayer this Tuesday (Jan. 12) because pastor Cowell will be at a circuit meeting. 

 

First Quarter Council Meeting will be held today 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 17)

 

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. 

 

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 - I am beginning to work on the 2020 Annual Report.  You can email any articles/information  to me (Rosann) at churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org.  

 

Lutheran Witness Yearly Subscriptions are due in February  If you wish to keep receiving the Witness, the cost is $22.70 for the year.  You may pay for this in the church office or mark an envelope and place it in the offering plate. If you receive the Witness and wish to cancel or would like to receive it, please also let the church office know.

 

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. 

 

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 28-31 - 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 (Baptism of our Lord)

Old Testament:  Genesis 1:1-5

God speaks the heavens and the earth into existence while the Spirit hovers over the waters.

 

Epistle: Romans 6:1-11

We were buried with Christ by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 

Gospel: Mark 1:4-11

As John the Baptist baptizes Jesus in the Jordan River the Spirit descends on Jesus and God the Father says: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

“As a man [Jesus] was baptized, but He absolved sins as God.  He needed no purifying rites Himself - His purpose was to hallow water.” - Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 29, On the Son, qtd. in ACCS: Mark, 11.

 

LESSONS ON THE LITURGY 

Jesus the New Adam and New Moses

In the Baptism of our Lord we receive a clear example of how Jesus has come to be a new Adam and a new Moses for us.  Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were present during the creation of heaven and earth when Adam was formed from the dust, so too is the Father (voice from heaven, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) present at Jesus’ Baptism. Unlike Adam, though, Jesus will be the truly righteous child of God who will remain in the image of God forever.  Likewise, just as Moses walked through the Red Sea to be tested in the wilderness for 40 years, so too did the Spirit drive Jesus straight out of the water and into the wilderness to be tested for 40 days. Unlike Moses, though, Jesus would remain sinless throughout the devil’s temptations and would lead His people into the Promised Land of resurrection in Him. 

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article III: Righteousness of Faith, para. 19-22

The word regeneration is used to mean both the forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake alone and, at the same time, the succeeding renewal that the Holy Spirit works in those who are justified by faith. Then again, regeneration is sometimes used to mean only the forgiveness of sins and that we are adopted as God's sons. It is in this latter sense that the word is used in the Apology, where it is written that justification before God is regeneration. St. Paul, too, has used these words as distinct from each other: He saved us […] by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)

     The words "making alive" have sometimes been used in a similar sense. For when a person is justified through faith (which the Holy Spirit alone does), this is truly a regeneration. In this he becomes a child of God. So he is transferred from death to life, as it is written, "When we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ" [Eph. 2:5]. Likewise, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Ro. 1:17 [see also Hab. 2:4]). This is how the word is usually used in the Apology.

     Again, regeneration is often used for sanctification and renewal, which follows the righteousness of faith.  We teach that through the Holy Spirit's work we are born anew and justified.