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 FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

March 6, 2022

 

O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, You 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, March 6, 2022   8:30 a.m.     Adult Class/Sunday School   9:30 a.m.     Divine Service   10:30 a.m.    Informational Voter’s Mtg.  10:15-noon  Farewell Reception for                  Pastor Lund at Trinity   Tuesday, March 8, 2022   8:30 p.m.   Circuit Pastor Meeting    No  Morning Prayer

Wednesday, March 9 2022     5:00 p.m.     Midweek Lenten Service     6:30 p.m.     Christian Catechesis (at Trinity)       Sunday, March 13, 2022      8:30 a.m.       Adult Class/Sunday School      9:30 a.m.       Divine Service       THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR       March 7, 2022     Commemoration of Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today: Kitty Bierstedt

Elder:  Jeff Schutjer   

Asst. Usher:  Ben Borchardt   

Greeters:   Jerry and Betty Koestler

Acolytes:  Taylor Parsons and Kenna Hatten

 

Congregational Voter’s Meeting - We will have a brief, informational voter’s meeting today following the service to share updates on our Partnership’s vacancy and the calling process. 

 

Tuesday Morning Prayer will not be held Tuesday, March 8th.

 

Midweek Lenten Service will be held at St. John’s Wednesday, March 9 at 5:00 p.m.  

 

Lent Schedule - Feel free to take and share as many Lent schedules and magnet clips as you would like on the back table. 

 

Sunday Bible Study - Beginning Sunday, March 13 adult Bible class will feature a video-led study of the resurrection of Jesus based on Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Easter.  Note that class will now “officially” begin at 8:30 a.m. 

 

Parish Messengers are now on the back table instead in your boxes. Please, pick one up!

 

Lenten Daily Devotions - Be sure to pick up a Lenten devotional booklet from the back table.  This year's devotion is entitled “Witnesses to Christ.”

 

2021 Annual Report is now available in the back of the church along the east wall. Please, take one per family.

 

Cards of Condolences on the loss of Donald Sebby, father of Sue can be sent to Russ and Sue Reimers at their new address: 1009 Day St. Fairmont, MN 56031.

 

Flower Position Open - If you have an interest in helping order and care for the altar flowers, Christmas poinsettias, palm branches, and Easter lilies, please speak with Janice Reimers who can give you a more detailed description of the job.  We would love to have a volunteer for this position as soon as possible! 

 

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! 

 

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.

 

New Library Books - Check out the church library as over a dozen new books enter circulation throughout the next few weeks.  Pastor Cowell would be happy to share his recommendations with you!

 

A New Birthday Card sign-up sheet is now available on the back table.  If you would be willing to take a month or two to fill out birthday cards, please sign up.  Any questions contact office.

 

2021 Thrivent Choice Dollars must be directed by March 31. Consider joining others who have directed their Dollars toward St. John’s ministry.

 

SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

Lund Reception - Pastor Lund’s last day at Trinity is today and following the 9:00 a.m. service at Trinity at 10:15 a.m. there will be a farewell reception for the Lund family in the Trinity Life Center.

 

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! 

 

Prayers are needed for Pastor Andrew Johnson whose cancer has relapsed and will be receiving chemo treatments at Mayo.  He will be undergoing a tandem autologous stem cell transplant requiring him to be in Rochester for 10 weeks.  A Benefit is being planned by his church,  Trinity Lutheran Church in Manilla, Iowa on March 6.  You may read more about this benefit on the flier that is posted on the ramp bulletin board.          

 

Did You Know - Sing along if you know it…It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be…my neighbor? If you’re fighting the mid-winter blues and looking for something fun to do this week, consider gathering your “neighbors,” children or grandchildren together to watch the new movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Tom Hanks plays the role of Mr. Rogers, whose faith, though rarely overtly shared, shined through the television screen every week to children across the country, teaching Christian themes of forgiveness, unconditional love, loving others by truly listening and being fully present with them, and seeing people for who they can be, not who they are now. After the movie, see if you can’t identify examples of Jesus sharing these themes as He interacted with people. Then challenge your family to think of ways they can practice these same themes with others, and each other during the coming week. Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.

 

COMMUNITY NEWS

 

Community Coffee is being held each Tuesday from 2-4 p.m. at the Burt Complex. Everyone is welcome.

 

Burt Lions Club French Toast Breakfast will be held on Saturday, March 26 from 8-12:30 p.m. at the Burt Complex.  The Burt Library will be holding a Bake Sale during the breakfast.

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Lent 1)

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Moses instructs the people to give a portion of their firstfruits in the Promised Land to the Lord. 

 

Epistle: Romans 10:8b-13

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

 

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Jesus fasts in the wilderness and defeats the temptations of the devil.

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

“It is fitting that it be recorded that the first Adam was cast out of Paradise into the desert, that you may observe how the second Adam returned from the desert to Paradise.” - Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, qtd. in ACCS: Luke, 73. 

 

LESSONS ON THE LITURGY 

The Litany

The following is an excerpt from President Matthew Harrison encouraging us to pray the Litany:

“I've long enjoyed praying the Litany. Luther did too. The prayer has an amazing longevity in the church, having found its form by the 6th century (Gregory the Great regularized it). [...] Left to ourselves, bereft of texts as the foundation of our prayers, we are often left praying "Dear God, give me a mini-bike," as I was wont to pray as a 12 year old - and am prone to pray even today! Texts of the scriptures (Lord's Prayer, Ten Commandments) and scriptural texts (Creed, Litany!) lay down God's thoughts as the foundation of prayer, the tarmac if you will, from which our meditations may gently or quickly rise, aided by the Holy Spirit. The fulsome petitions of the Litany take us out of ourselves, to pray for the church, pastors and teachers, our enemies, women with children, the poor, the imprisoned and much much more. And all for mercy, growing out of the great petitions of the blind, the lame and the ill who comes to Jesus in the New Testament, "Lord have mercy!" "Kyrie eleison!" The Lord loves to have mercy. The Lord came to have mercy. The Lord continues to have mercy.” 

           - taken from: mercyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/03/lets-pray-litany-daily-kyrie-eleison.html 

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article XX: Good Works, paragraphs 81-85

The blasphemy of assigning Christ's honor to our works cannot be tolerated. These theologians are now entirely shameless if they dare to bring such an opinion into the Church. One who knows why Christ has been given to us, and who knows that Christ is the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins, needs no further proof. Isaiah says, "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (53:6). The adversaries, on the other hand, teach that God does not lay our offenses on Christ, but on our works. Neither are we inclined to mention here the sort of works that they teach. The adversaries condemn the clear truth, whose defense is necessary for the Church and increases Christ's glory. Therefore, we easily look down on the terrors of the world, and we will bear with a strong spirit all suffering for Christ's glory and the Church's benefits. Who would not joyfully die in the confession of these articles, that we receive the forgiveness of sins through faith freely for Christ's sake, and that we do not merit the forgiveness of sins by our works?