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 ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
May 29, 2022
Almighty God, as Your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
ST. JOHN’S NEWS
Organist Today: Marcia Hanna
Elder: Tony Hatten
Greeters Today: Tony and Stefanie Hatten, Gabby & Kenna
Flowers on the Altar today were given in memory of Pam Madsen by Donnie and family.
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!
Brochures Available - Help support the ministry to the armed forces through Operation Barnabas of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod by giving to chaplains who serve military families and by sending devotional materials and resources to those stationed around the world. Brochures are available on the back table today.
Thank You for all the many cards, gifts and best wishes we received for our 25th wedding anniversary. God bless each of you for your kindness! Vern & Joan Koestler
Parish Messenger for the May/June edition is on the table in the back of the church.
Thank You for your generosity and support to the Kossuth County Food Pantry project with your contributions through Thrivent! We collected 3 bags of food items and $174. Deb Steven & Mary Schmidt.
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.
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.
To my St. John’s family and friends, thank you so very much for your thoughts and prayers and cards. My heart condition is more stable for now. As St. Paul says in Philippians, “I thank my God for you and I love you.” Thanks for your continued prayers! In Christ Jesus, Mary Shipler-Oleson.
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.
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!
Volunteer Needed - We are looking for a volunteer to coordinate the Churches of Burt coffee fellowship the morning of the Burt Summer Celebration on July 9th. Please contact Pastor Cowell if you are interested.
Summer Prayer and Scripture Series - An Evening Prayer Service will take place at 6 pm in Trinity’s Life Center on Tuesdays, June 7 & 21; July 5 & 19; & August 9. This will be a spoken service and include reflections from 1 John followed by refreshments & social time. See the handout (yellow) on the back table about this special opportunity to gather for prayer and Scripture in the summer months.
Young Adult Bible Study - You are invited to attend a young adult (post-high school) Bible study opportunity hosted in our circuit. The Bible study is every 2nd and 4th Sunday at 6:00 p.m. in the old parsonage next to Zion Lutheran Church in LuVerne. Contact Pastor Steve Struecker at 515-320-2014 with questions.
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.
· Camp Okoboji Travel Camp - Creation Museum & Ark Encounter, Sept 5-9. Cost: $559 per person, double occupancy. Visit grouptrips.com/campokoboji for more information or contact Izaak at 507-766-0072 or izaak.campokoboji@gmail.co
· June 3-5 - Kids’ Kamp is the perfect weekend to get your K-2nd grade child acclimated to camp before they attend on their own in a couple of years!! Campers and families (parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles) can enjoy activities including canoeing, swimming, arts & crafts, Bible Studies, campfire devotions, and so much S’more!
Prayers 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 - Sometime in the coming week you will likely have an opportunity to choose how you will respond to at least one challenging situation. When you do, remember Whose you are - God’s chosen one, holy and beloved - and that you have a choice in how you respond. Read Colossians 3:8-17 Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Memorial Day Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, 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.
Burt Fire Department Breakfast will be held on Saturday, June 4 from 8:00-12:00 at the Burt Activity Complex. Menu: Pancakes, Eggs, & Sausages. Free will donation.
LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Ascension Day)
Old Testament: Acts 1:1-11
The Apostles have a final conversation with Jesus before He ascends into heaven.
Epistle: Ephesians 1:15-23
The Father set Christ at His right hand, where He sits far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named.
Gospel: Luke 24:44-53
Jesus ascends into heaven and the Apostles worship Him and return to Jerusalem with great joy.
FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
“How did they see him go? In the flesh which they touched, which they felt, the scars of which they even probed by touching; in that body in which he went in and out with them for forty days [...].” - Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 21.13.2-4, qtd. in ACCS: Acts, 11-12
LESSONS ON THE LITURGY
Ascension Day
This Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord (forty days after Easter Day). We do well to remember that when our Lord ascended into heaven to the right hand of the Father, this does not mean that Christ remains in one set place in heaven. The right hand of God is wherever God’s almighty power and authority exists - and that is everywhere! The writer of Hebrews explains the presence and position of Jesus in this way:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the Word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD
Formula of Concord, Epitome, Article VIII: The Person of Christ, paragraphs 15-17
10. We believe, teach, and confess that the Son of Man is [...], in deed and truth, exalted according to His human nature to the right hand of the almighty majesty and power of God, because He was assumed into God when He was conceived of the Holy Ghost in His mother’s womb, and His human nature was personally united with the Son of the Highest.
11. This majesty He [Christ] always had according to the personal union, and yet He abstained from it in the state of His humiliation, and on this account truly increased in all wisdom and favor with God and men; therefore He exercised this majesty, not always, but when [as often as] it pleased Him, until after His resurrection He entirely laid aside the form of a servant, but not the [human] nature, and was established in the full use, manifestation, and declaration of the divine majesty, and thus entered into His glory, Phil. 2:6ff , so that now not only as God, but also as man He knows all things, can do all things, is present with all creatures, and has under His feet and in His hands everything that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth, as He Himself testifies Matt. 28:18; John 13:3: All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. And St. Paul says Eph. 4:10: He ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And this His power, He, being present, can exercise everywhere, and to Him everything is possible and everything is known.
12. Hence He also is able and it is very easy for Him to impart, as one who is present, His true body and blood in the Holy Supper, not according to the mode or property of the human nature, but according to the mode and property of the right hand of God [...].
St. John’s Lutheran Church – Burt, IA.
Phone: 515-924-3344
Email: churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org
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