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 THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT

December 12, 2021

 

Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

THIS WEEK AT ST. JOHN’S   Today, December 12, 2021    8:15/8:30 a.m.  Adult Class/SS School              9:30 a.m.            Divine Service        2-5:00 p.m.          Pastor’s Advent Open House   Tuesday, December 14, 2021     NO Morning Prayer      8:30 a.m.           Pastor at Circuit Meeting   Wednesday, December  15, 2021    6:00 p.m.         Advent Midweek Service         6:30 p.m.         Christian Catechesis

Saturday, December 18, 2021       9:00-11:00 a.m     Christmas  Practice     Sunday, December 19, 2021      8:15/8:30 a.m.    Adult Class/SS School      9:30 a.m.             Divine Service          THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR         December 13, 2021     Commemoration of Lucia, Martyr       December 17, 2021     Commemoration of Daniel and the Three        Young Men

 

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today: Marcia Hanna 

Elder:   Boyd Shipler    

Usher:  Gordon Oleson

Acolytes:  Breckin and Brayton Borchardt  

Greeters:  Barb Harms and Donna Haase

 

Sunday Bible Study - Join us Sunday mornings at 8:15 in the church basement for adult Bible Study. We're studying a series on the End Times.

 

Tuesday Morning Prayer - There will be NO Tuesday morning prayer for the remainder of December.  Our next Tuesday morning prayer will be January 4th at 10:00 a.m.

 

Christmas Eve Choir - All adults interested in singing one hymn (“Of The Father’s Love Begotten”) together in the balcony during the Christmas Eve children’s program, please tell me. One practice, possibly Sunday, Dec. 19th, after church should be enough for you talented singers! - Kitty Bierstedt

 

Adopt-a-Family - All items are due today.  Checks/cash or gift cards can be left in the church office.  Contact Doris Blocker or Deb Steven for more information.

 

Advent/Christmas Schedule - Please take an Advent/Christmas postcard on the back table and deliver one to a friend. Feel free to take extra cards and deliver them to members and friends!  

 

Christmas Cards are available in the back of the church for you to purchase.  There are boxes of cards or individual cards available.  Put your money in one of the designated envelopes and give it to the church office.

 

Flower Position Open- I have decided to “retire” from the altar guild position of taking care of the altar flowers, poinsettias, palms and Easter Lilies at the end of 2021. This position includes ordering and picking up altar flowers as needed and placing them and taking them off the altar after service. Please, contact Janice Reimers if you are interested and she will give you a more detailed description of the job. - Cheryl Batt

 

Information for the Annual Report 

·         If you are responsible for a year end report for the Annual Report, now is the time to start working on those articles.  You may email them to churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org or return them to the church office.

·         Addresses - Any change of address that you or your children have, we will need those updates to put in the year end report.  You may email those at churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org or bring them to the office.

 

Parish Messenger Articles for January/February edition are due to Linda Kerkove by Sunday, December 19, 2021

 

Free Resources - There are a variety of free resources available for you to take home on the table behind the pews in back.  Anything remaining on this table after Dec. 12th will be recycled. 

 

Christmas and Greeting Card Resources - Ad Crucem and Emmanuel Press are two companies that produce beautiful and faithful Christian gifts, including Christmas cards! The following two links will take you specifically to the greeting card section of each website: 

• Ad Crucem: adcrucem.com/collections/greeting-cards-1 
• Emmanuel Press: emmanuelpress.us/christmas-cards/ 

 

Flocknote Prayer Chain Coordinator Wanted - Want to help send out prayer requests to our congregation on Flocknote? Talk to Pastor Cowell; it’s a lot easier than you might think! 

 

Greeter and Usher Sign-up - A new Usher list and Greeter list is now available on the back table for the 2022 year.  Feel free to  fill in one or more spots!  At the beginning of the new year we will be contacting people to fill the empty spots.

 

Vacancy Updates - There is a handout on the back table sharing some updates about our Partnership vacancy. 

 

Pastoral Care On Demand - Need prayer, Scripture, Communion, Absolution, or a listening ear? Feel free to call or text Pastor Cowell anytime for a visit at 319-464-5548.

 

Hymn of the Month devotions for December are available on the east wall in back of church. 

Thank You very much for the $423.00 given to the food pantry. We really appreciate your donation, especially during this difficult time for many of the residents of Kossuth County

 

SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

TLC Quilts Available - Don’t forget about the TLC Quilter’s “giving pew” by the east doors of St. John’s.  Feel free to take and give away as many quilts and bears as you’d like!  

 

Pastors' Advent Open House - Pastors Lund and Cowell and their families invite you to a Partnership Pastors' Advent Open House on Sunday, December 12th from 2:00-5:00 p.m. in the Trinity Life Center.  This afternoon will be an opportunity to enjoy snacks, socialize, relax, and reflect on the joy of the Advent and Christmas season with your pastors and your church family. 

 

Building Healthy Families - “Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.” - Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas brings memories of early years, often along with a smile. Who would enjoy your company this week and a chance to reminisce about memories of Christmases past? Perhaps a family member, the widow next door, or the elderly gentleman at the local nursing home who has no visitors. You may be surprised at how excited they are to share their Christmas memories, and to listen to yours! Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Advent 3)

Old Testament: Zephaniah 3:14-20

“Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you [...]. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.” 

 

Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

 

Gospel: Luke 7:18-35

John the Baptist sends two of his disciples to Jesus, asking: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

“John [the Baptist] sent [his disciples] to [Jesus] not to interrogate him, but rather that the Lord might confirm those former things that John had proclaimed to them. John was directing the minds of his disciples toward the Lord. [...] He sent them out in such a way that, having seen Jesus’ miracles, they might be confirmed in their faith in him.” - Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 9.2, qtd. in ACCS: Luke, p. 120. 

 

LESSONS ON THE LITURGY 

Christmas Trees

The origins of the Christmas tree is the source of an interesting scholarly debate.  Several reputable scholars credit Martin Luther with decorating the first Christmas tree in his home.  Lights represent the starry sky, the star on top is the star that led the Magi, or an angel on top is Gabriel who announced Jesus’ birth.  One old tradition is to decorate the tree with red baubles to represent the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, showing that Jesus’ birth began to reintroduce Paradise to creation.  

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article V: Love and Fulfilling the Law, para. 202-5

Clear testimonies in Scripture and in the Church Fathers declare that, even though we have good works, yet in these very works we need mercy. Faith, looking upon this mercy, cheers and consoles us. The adversaries are wrong when they praise merits and add nothing about this faith that takes hold of mercy. The promise [of mercy] is grasped only through faith. We justly find fault with the doctrine about wholly deserving merit, since it omits justifying faith. It also hides Christ's glory and office as Mediator. We are not teaching anything new. The Church Fathers have handed down the doctrine that we need mercy even in good works.

     Scripture teaches the same. "Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You" (Ps. 143:2). This denies absolutely the glory of righteousness, if God does not forgive, but judges and convicts their hearts. For when David boasts in other places about his righteousness, he speaks about his own cause against the persecutors of God's Word. He does not speak of his personal purity. He asks that God's cause and glory be defended; "Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me" (Ps. 7:8). In Psalm 130:3, he says that no one can endure God's judgment: "If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"