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 FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
May 8, 2022
Almighty God, merciful Father, since You have wakened from death the Shepherd of Your sheep, grant us Your Holy Spirit that when we hear the voice of our Shepherd we may know Him who calls us each by name and follow where He leads; through the same Jesus Christ, Your 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, May 8, 2022 8:30 am SSchool/Adult Class 9:30 am Divine Service Tuesday, May 10, 2022 No Morning Prayer 8:30am Circuit Pastor’s Meeting Saturday, May 14, 2022 10:00 am Highway Clean-up | Sunday, May 15, 2022 8:30am Adult Class 9:30am Divine Service THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR May 9, 2022 Commemoration of Job, Patriarch May 11, 2022 Commemoration of Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the Slavs |
ST. JOHN’S NEWS
Organist Today: Marcia Hanna
Elder: Tony Hatten
Greeters: Duane and Ann Heyes
Adult Bible Study will break for the summer next Sunday, May 15th.
Partnership Pastor Nominations - Information about submitting a nomination for our Partnership senior and associate pastors is available in the back of church through May 22nd. Please return your completed form into the church office.
Thrivent Project - St. John’s and the Burt Presbyterian Church are hosting a giving project for the Kossuth County Food Pantry in connection with Thrivent. A monetary and food collection will be held on Sunday May 8 and 15. An offering plate and box for food items will be set up in back. All checks should be made out to the Kossuth Food Pantry. For more information contact Deb Steven or Mary Schmidt.
Parish Messenger for the May/June edition is on the table in the back of the church. Please, pick one up!
Lily - Anyone who wants to have an Easter lily to plant outside, please talk to Vickie Madsen.
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.
St. John’s Family Fishing Day - Mark your calendars for St. John’s Family Fishing Day Sunday, June 5th from 3:00-6:00 p.m. at Smith Lake. We’ll meet at the southwest shelter house and enjoy fishing, fun, Scripture, and supper. This event is for all ages and we encourage you to bring along friends as well!
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.
SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS
Trinity Bible Study - Join Pastor Cowell Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. for Bible study at Trinity’s Life Center conference room. We are studying biblical interpretation.
Highway Clean-up - The rescheduled partnership highway clean-up day is Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. Please contact Pastor Cowell if you are interested in helping and he will get you more information.
Summer Prayer and Scripture Series - See the handout on the back table for a handout about a special opportunity to gather for prayer and Scripture in the summer months.
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!
Camp News:
· 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.
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: Scripture is full of references to mothers and their unique qualities. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 isn’t typically thought of as one of them but think of mothers you know who are living examples of the high calling of love described there: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Happy Mother’s Day to all women who so lovingly care for others. (P.S.: Call your mother!) Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Memorial Day Services will be held at 10 a.m. May 30th at the Burt Activity Complex by the Burt VFW, followed by a retreat to the Burt Township Cemetery. Lunch will be served afterwards.
LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Easter 4)
Old Testament: Acts 20:17-35
St. Paul admonishes and encourages the elders of the church at Ephesus.
Epistle: Revelation 7:9-17
John sees a great multitude that no one could number standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
Gospel: John 10:22-30
Jesus says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
LESSONS ON THE LITURGY
Inspired and Inerrant Word of God
When Christians of the LCMS talk about the Bible we use words like inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility. We believe that the words of Scripture are inspired by the Holy Spirit. This means that God the Holy Spirit worked through the biblical authors to write the exact words He intended to deliver us. We believe that these words of God are inerrant and infallible, meaning they contain no errors or contradictions. Even when we consider the weaknesses of translating the Bible into different languages, we still believe the words of our English Bibles, if translated in an accurate and faithful way, are indeed the Word of God being spoken to us.
Perhaps most important of all we believe, as the Epitome of the Formula of Concord states, that “the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged (2 Timothy 3:15-17) are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament alone.” In other words, the Word of God is the highest authority in our lives to which all other earthly wisdom and power ought to bow.
FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article II: Free Will, paragraphs 18-20
The natural free will in regenerate people strives against God's Law, even after regeneration. Was it not much more stubborn and hostile to God's Law and will before regeneration? This is clear: (a) the free will, from its own natural powers, cannot work or agree to work anything for its own conversion, righteousness, and salvation, nor follow, believe, or agree with the Holy Spirit, who through the Gospel offers a person grace and salvation; (b) from its rebellious nature it resists God and His will with hostility, unless it is enlightened and controlled by God's Spirit.
The Holy Scriptures compare the unregenerate person to a hard stone. It is like a rough block and an unmanageable beast. This does not mean that a person is no longer a rational creature, or is converted to God without hearing and meditating on the divine Word. It does not mean a person fails to understand outward, worldly things, or of his free will do, or abstain from doing, anything good or evil. As Dr. Luther says about Psalm 90:
In worldly affairs, which apply to the livelihood and needs of the body, a person is cunning, intelligent, and quite active. But in spiritual and divine things, which apply to the salvation of the soul, a person is like a stone, like a lifeless statue, which uses neither eyes nor mouth, neither sense nor heart.
St. John’s Lutheran Church – Burt, IA.
Phone: 515-924-3344
Email: churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org
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