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 THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

September 4, 2022

 

O merciful Lord, You did not spare Your only Son but delivered Him up for us all. Grant us courage and strength to take up the cross and follow Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

 

 

THIS WEEK AT ST. JOHN’S  Today,  September 4, 2022    9:30 am    Divine Service         Tuesday, September 6, 2022     10:00 am    Morning Prayer      Wednesday, September 7, 2022      6:00 pm    Wednesday Catechesis Parent                           Meeting              Thursday, September 8, 2022      9:15 am    Algona Nursing Home Services

Sunday, September 11, 2022       8:30 am    Sunday School/Adult Class     9:30 am     Divine Service       THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR        September 4, 2022     Commemoration of Moses     September 5, 2022     Commemoration of Zechariah and Elizabeth

 

ST. JOHN’S NEWS

 

Organist Today:  Marcia Hanna 

Elder:  Tony Hatten

Greeters Today:  Larry Behnkendorf

Greeters Next Week:  Kenna Hatten & Taylor Parsons

 

Sunday School/Adult Class will begin September 11 at 8:30 a.m. in the church basement.

 

Adult Bible Study - Sunday adult Bible study is starting up again on September 11th! During Bible study, we are asking volunteers to share one or several devotions from their favorite devotional resources.  Pastor Cowell will have several devotion books available as well if you would like to read from them.  Sign up for a Sunday in the back of church, and contact Pastor Cowell with questions. 

 

Wednesday Catechesis begins September 7th at 6:00 p.m. with our parent/student/teacher meeting. 

 

Parish Messenger for the September/October edition is on the table in the back of the church.

 

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.

 

A Sunday School teacher is needed beginning this fall for the 3-5th grade class.  If you are interested in serving on a regular or occasional basis, please talk with Karla Schutter. 

 

Dear Members of St. John’s, My appreciation and thanks for the book in CFW Walther’s Sermons. I look forward to reading this during my first year as pastor at St. Mark. May God receive all the glory. In Christ, Pastor Aaron Beckman, St. Mark, New Germany, MN

SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS

 

Trinity Bible Study - You are invited to Bible study every Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. in the 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!  

 

TLC Quilters need flat sheets (any size and color). Thanks sew much for helping us help others in need!

 

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 6:30 p.m. in the old parsonage next to Zion Lutheran Church in LuVerne.  Contact Pastor Steve Struecker at 515-320-2014 with questions. 

 

Highway Clean-Up of our Partnership’s adopted portion of highway 169 just south of Burt will take place on two dates: Friday, September 16 at 3 p.m. and Sunday, September 18 at 1 p.m.  For more details contact Lynn or Kitty Bierstedt.

 

To God be all glory and honor!! Thank you for the generous donation to support His ministry at Camp Okoboji!! Your gift ($800) is a reflection of thanks and praise to Him for all the blessings that He provides. We pray that all we do at Camp will proclaim His Lordship and glorify His holy name!     God’s blessings, Kirk Wanke

 

Did You Know:  Suicide is among the leading causes of death for teens in the Midwest. In at least 90 percent of cases, depression, mental illness, or substance abuse are significant contributing factors. Young people don’t have the life experience to know that periods of depression or relationship problems don’t last forever, leading to an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Adolescents are also prone to acting impulsively. In combination, these things create the perfect storm for a young person in trouble, increasing the risk that they would attempt suicide. If you are concerned about a teenager in your life, contact an LFS counselor for information about how to help, or to begin counseling to change their path. For immediate help, dial the new nation-wide suicide and crisis lifeline: 988. Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.

 

LECTIONARY SUMMARY (Proper 18)

 

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Moses sets before the people life and death, blessing and curse, and instructs them to choose life.

 

Epistle: Philemon 1-21

St. Paul sends Philemon’s servant Onesimus back to him as a brother in Christ. 

 

Gospel: Luke 14:25-35

Jesus asks with reference to becoming His disciple: “Which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

 

 

FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS

 

“Behold, man, you have before you ‘water and fire, life and death, good and evil,’ heaven and hell, the legitimate king and a cruel tyrant, the false sweetness of the world and the true blessedness of paradise. Power is given to you through the grace of Christ: ‘Stretch forth your hand to whichever you choose.’ ‘Choose life, that you may live’; leave the broad way on the left which drags you to death and cling to the narrow path on the right which happily leads you to life. Do not allow the wideness of that road on the left to keep you or give you pleasure.” - Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 151.5, qtd. in ACCS: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, p. 327

 

FROM THE BOOK OF CONCORD

 

Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, Article IV: Good Works, paragraphs 14, 16-18

Regarding the necessity or voluntary nature of good works, it is clear that in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology these expressions are often used and repeated—good works are necessary. They say it is necessary to do good works, which follow faith and reconciliation. Likewise, we are to do, and must do, the kind of good works God has commanded. In the Holy Scriptures themselves the words necessity, needful, and necessary, as well as ought and must, are used to describe what we are bound to do because of God's ordinance, command, and will. [...]

     Note the following distinction. The meaning of these expressions must be a necessity based on Christ's command, and will and based on our obligation, but not a necessity based on coercion. When the word necessary is used, it should be understood not as force, but only as the order of God's unchanging will, whose debtors we are. His commandment points out that the creature should be obedient to its Creator. New Testament people are to be a willing people (Psalm 110:3) and sacrifice freely (Psalm 54:6), "not reluctantly or under compulsion" (2 Cor. 9:7). They are to be "obedient from the heart", "for God loves a cheerful giver." In this sense, it is correctly taught that truly good works should be done willingly, or from a voluntary spirit, by those whom God's Son has made free. 

 

 

 

 

 

St. John’s Lutheran Church – Burt, IA.

Phone: 515-924-3344

Email:  churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org