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 FEAST OF THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD

April 17, 2022

 

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 17, 2022   8-9:15a.m.   Easter Breakfast   9:30 a.m.     Easter Day Service    Tuesday, April 19, 2022   10:00 a.m.    Morning Prayer    Wednesday, April 20, 2022   6:30pm    Christian Catechesis                        (Trinity)       Saturday, April 23, 2022  10:00am  Highway Clean-up

Sunday, April 24, 2022     8:30am        SSchool/Adult Class     9:30am        Divine Service    10:30am       Voter’s Meeting    THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR       April 20, 2022     Commemoration of Johannes Bugenhagen     April 21, 2022     Commemoration of Anselm of Canterbury

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today:  Marcia Hanna

Elder:  Boyd Shipler 

Asst. Usher:  Lynn Bierstedt  

Acolytes:  Taylor Parsons

                  Kenna Hatten

 

The Quarterly Voter’s Meeting will be held Sunday, April 24 following the service.

 

Easter Flowers - After the service today if you have furnished flowers and wish to have them, feel free to take them home with you. 

 

Sunday School & Adult Bible Study will both have their final classes Sunday, May 15th before they break for summer. We will have more information coming soon about an additional opportunity for Bible study and prayer during the summer weeks.  

 

Congregational Partnership Meeting - You are invited to attend a special joint voters meeting of St. John’s and Trinity in the Trinity Life Center in Algona on May 1 at 3:00 p.m.  The purpose of this voters meeting is to vote to adopt an updated Partnership Agreement. A draft of this Agreement is available on the back table for you to take and review.  President Steve Turner will join us for this meeting to provide guidance on this process as well.

 

Pastor’s Chair - A heartfelt thank you to Vern, Joan, Jerry and Betty Koestler for stripping, repairing and staining the Pastor's altar chair in the front. A big thank also to Lucille Bonde for upholstering and furnishing the fabric for the seat cushion and back. 

 

Thank You  - Be sure to check out the picture of “The Last Supper” that was made and donated by Dorothy Jahnke. This picture is hanging in the hall by the Pastor's office. A heartfelt thank you to Dorothy for this wonderful gift to St. John’s!

 

Lenten Charity Project - We have exceeded our goal to provide the book Treasury of C.F.W. Walther, Volume II: Festival Sermons and Prayers from the Lent through Easter Seasons, to each new pastor of both seminaries.  Thanks so much for donating a total of  $1740.00. 

 

Parish Messenger Articles for the May/June edition are due to Linda Kerkove by April 24th.

 

A Volunteer is Needed to take over replenishing  and purchasing cards for the card rack in the back of the church.  If you are interested, contact the church office.  We want to thank Mary Schmidt for her many years of purchasing and displaying the cards for all to use.

 

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.

Thank You Members of St. John’s! Grace and peace to you in Christ Jesus our Savior!  We at David’s Harp are so appreciative of your ongoing support in our ministry!  We appreciate your efforts on our behalf and prayers. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We are very happy to have recently procured a new resource and will have another one coming around Easter. Then yet another at the end of the year. We also are continuing to meet with congregations, schools and missions about how to begin a school of music in their areas of ministry.  God bless you this Holy season of Lent as we ponder the wonderful love of our Lord Jesus the very reason why we labor in His vineyard!  In Christ Rev. Nathan Sherrill, Executive Director

 

SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

Highway Clean-up - Our next partnership highway clean-up day is Saturday, April 23rd at 10 a.m. Please contact Pastor Cowell if you are interested in helping and he will get you more information.

 

Trinity Bible Study - Join Pastor Cowell Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. for Bible study at Trinity’s Life Center conference room.

 

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!    

 

Summer Staff Needed! We are still recruiting Summer Staff at Camp Okoboji. If you know a High School Senior or College student who is looking for summer employment, we are looking for Summer Staff at Camp. You may call Camp for more information - 712-337-3325. 

 

Camp Okoboji Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, April 23.  We have currently 52 delegates that have registered for the meeting. Lynn and Kitty Bierstedt will be representing St. John’s at this meeting!

 

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.  

 

Building Healthy Families: Here are bold and true words for you to recall today when you are worried or overwhelmed with life’s challenges and temptations: “Know ye then- sin, death, devil, and everything that assails me- that you are missing the mark. I am not one of those who are afraid of you. For Christ, my dear Lord, has presented to me that triumph and victory of His by which you were laid low. And from this very gift of His I derive my name and am called a Christian. There is no other reason. My sin and death hung about His neck on Good Friday, but on the day of Easter they had completely disappeared. This victory He has bestowed on me. This is why I do not worry about you.” (Luther’s Easter Sermon, 1530) A blessed and happy celebration of Easter to you from the Board of Directors and Staff of Lutheran Family Service! Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Easter Day)

Old Testament: Isaiah 65:17-25

The Lord creates new heavens and a new earth in which the curse of sin does not exist.

 

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

 

Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

The women find the tomb of Jesus empty and an angel tells them that Jesus has risen, just as He had said He would. 

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

“If [Jesus] left his clothes behind in the tomb, it was so that Adam could enter into paradise without clothing, just as he had been before he had sinned. In place of having to leave paradise clothed, he now had to strip himself before entering there [again].” - Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 21.23, qtd. in ACCS: Luke, 376. 

 

LESSONS ON THE LITURGY 

Easter Lilies

Lilies, specifically Lilium longiflorum, are known as Easter lilies for a variety of reasons. Blooming flowers in general are a symbol of the new life of Spring, and therefore the new life which Christ’s resurrection brings into the world.  The white lilies also symbolize the newness and holiness of Christ’s resurrection.  There is also a tradition which claims that Easter lilies appeared growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Jesus rose from the dead, blooming in the places where His sweat fell to the ground. 

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

Augsburg Confession, Article XXIV, The Mass, paragraphs 28-35

Scripture teaches that we are justified before God, through faith in Christ, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake. Now if the Mass takes away the sins of the living and the dead simply by performing it, justification comes by doing Masses, and not of faith. Scripture does not allow this.

     But Christ commands us, "Do this in remembrance of Me" (Luke 22:19). Therefore, the Mass was instituted so that those who use the Sacrament should remember, in faith, the benefits they receive through Christ and how their anxious consciences are cheered and comforted. To remember Christ is to remember His benefits. It means to realize that they are truly offered to us. It is not enough only to remember history. (The ungodly also remember this.) Therefore, the Mass is to be used for administering the Sacrament to those that need consolation. Ambrose says, "Because I always sin, I always need to take the medicine."

     Because the Mass is for the purpose of giving the Sacrament, we have Communion every holy day, and if anyone desires the Sacrament, we also offer it on other days, when it is given to all who ask for it. This custom is not new in the Church. The Fathers before Gregory make no mention of any private Mass, but they speak a lot about the common Mass, (Communion).