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

 

EASTER SUNDAY

April 4, 2021

 

Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through 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, April 4, 2021   8:00 a.m.  Easter Divine Service   9:00 a.m.  Breakfast     Tuesday, April 6, 2021  10:00 a.m.  Morning Prayer   Wednesday, April 7, 2021    6:00 p.m.  Christian Catechesis

Sunday, April 11, 2021       8:00 a.m.     Sunday School        9:00 a.m.     Divine Service     10:00 a.m.     Quarterly Council Meeting      THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR      April 6, 2021     Commemoration of Lucas Cranach, Albrecht         Duerer, Artists

 

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today: Marcia Hanna

Elder for April:  Boyd Shipler

Acolytes:  Kenna Hatten

                  Taylor Parsons

 

Easter Cards - Feel free to take as many St. John’s Easter greeting cards on the back table as you’d like to send to friends and family.  You can also purchase Easter cards from the card rack.

 

Easter Breakfast - You are all invited to breakfast following our Easter Day Divine Service today.  Those who are not staying for breakfast are welcome to grab a “to-go” roll in the church basement following the service.  Those who would like to stay to eat will have plenty of seating options available in the church basement.  This year’s breakfast is hosted by our Board of Education and LYF students (grades 5-12). 

 

Skills and Interests Form - Each member (and non-member spouse) has received a Skills and Interests form in your church box.  As we slowly begin to get into the full swing of mission, mercy, and social activities at St. John’s in a more “normal” way, we would like to know what skills you have for serving your church and what interests you might have in growing in faith and fellowship with your fellow members.  This will help us better connect each of our members with opportunities to serve and grow in the best way for you and your life situation.   

 

Quarterly Council Meeting - Our quarterly council meeting at St. John’s is scheduled for Sunday, April 11 after church. Voter’s Meeting will be Sunday, April 18 after church.

 

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. 

 

Portals of Prayer for April-June are available on the side table in the back of church.

 

Stained Glass Window Project - We’ve met our financial goal for our new windows and are on track to possibly have them installed by April 1st! There’s more information on the windows on the back table. Thanks for your generous contributions to this project.  

 

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. 

 

Parish Messenger Articles for the May/June edition are due to Linda Kerkove by April 25.

Lent Midweek Offering Thank-You - Thank you to everyone who contributed to our Wednesday Catechesis charity project by giving offerings during our Lenten midweek services.  We collected $1,525!  The charities these offerings go toward are: Lakota Ambulance, Kossuth County Cancer Support Foundation, Lutherans in Africa, Moving Veterans Forward, Camp Okoboji, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, and Winding Roads Foster Care Transitional Home.  Our catechesis students will be writing letters to these charities explaining to them who they are and why they chose to give money toward their cause along with the donation check. 

SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

Trinity, Algona Schedule - Trinity, Algona continues to stream their worship services 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.

 

Camp Okoboji Annual Meeting will be held Saturday, April 10.  Kitty and Lynn Bierstedt will be attending for St. John’s.  There will be a Theme Basket Auction, Bake Sale and Grocery Shower held at the same time.

 

Quilt Auction at Camp Okoboji has been set for Saturday, June 19. The project and description sheet must be in by May 21.  If you would like to donate a quilt for the auction you may pick up an information sheet in the church office.

COMMUNITY NEWS

City of Burt Clean-up Day - Burt’s free trash pick-up day is scheduled for Saturday, May 1st from 8:00-11:30 a.m.  This year the city is requesting residents to drop their items at the Community Center rather than placing them on the curb.  The city has asked the Churches of Burt volunteer group to help deliver items to the Community Center for residents who are not physically able to deliver themselves.  Volunteers will meet at the Community Center at 8:00 (or whenever you can), receive addresses for a pick-up, and drop off the items back at the Community Center.  Please sign the sheet in the back of church if you are able to help with this project so we can give the city an idea of how many volunteers we have lined up. 

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Easter Sunday)

Old Testament: Isaiah 25:6-9

God will make for all people a great feast, and will swallow up death forever.

 

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Paul proclaims that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day, and that He appeared to many witnesses after His resurrection. 

 

Gospel: Mark 16:1-8

Some women meet a man dressed in white at Jesus’ tomb who says: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here.”

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

“Jesus died, but he vanquished death; in himself he put an end to what we feared; he took it upon himself and he vanquished it, as a mighty hunter he captured and slew the lion. Where is death? Seek it in Christ, for it exists no longer; but it did exist and now it is dead. O life, O death of death! Be of good heart; it will die in us, also.” - Augustine, Sermon 233.3-4, quoted in ACCS: Mark, 244.

 

LESSONS ON THE LITURGY 

The Paschal Greeting

The Paschal Greeting, or Easter Acclamation, is a liturgical rubric as well as a common greeting among Christians in the Easter season.  As one person says: “Christ is risen” the other responds: “He is risen indeed, Alleluia.”  These words, recorded in Luke 24:34, were first spoken by the eleven disciples and it is thought that the phrase immediately became a common greeting among Christians.  Thus when we use this Paschal Greeting in church and among ourselves we are joining the apostles and 2,000 years of saints before us in proclaiming the great joy that the good news of our resurrected Lord brings to us. 

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

Large Catechism, Part II: Apostles’ Creed, paragraphs 30-31

In [the Devil's] place has come Jesus Christ, Lord of life, righteousness, every blessing, and salvation. He has delivered us poor, lost people from hell's jaws, has won us, has made us free, and has brought us again into the Father's favor and grace. He has taken us as His own property under His shelter and protection so that He may govern us by His righteousness, wisdom, power, life, and blessedness.

     The little word Lord means simply the same as redeemer. It means the One who has brought us from Satan to God, from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and who preserves us. All the points that follow in this article serve no other purpose than to explain and express this redemption. They explain how and by whom it was accomplished. They explain how much it cost Him and what He spent and risked so that He might win us and bring us under His dominion. It explains that He became man, was conceived and born without sin, from the Holy Spirit and from the virgin Mary, so that He might overcome sin. Further, it explains that He suffered, died, and was buried so that He might make satisfaction for me and pay what I owe [1 Cor. 15:3-4] with His own precious blood. And He did all this in order to become my Lord. He did none of these things for Himself, nor did He have any need for redemption. After that He rose again from the dead, swallowed up and devoured death [1 Cor. 15:54].