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 THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT
December 11, 2022
Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
THIS WEEK AT ST. JOHN’S Today, December 11, 2022 8:00 am Sunday School/Adult Class 9:30 am Divine Service 1:30 pm Partnership Call Meeting-Trinity Tuesday, December 13, 2022 No Morning Prayer 8:30 am Pastor Conference at Burt Wednesday, December 14, 2022 6:00 pm Advent Service at Trinity 6:30 pm Catechesis Class at Trinity Saturday, December 17, 2022 9-10:30 am Children’s Program Practice | Sunday, December 18, 2022 8:30 am Sunday School/Adult Class 9:30 am Divine Service THIS WEEK IN THE CHURCH YEAR December 13, 2022 Commemoration of Lucia, Martyr December 17, 2022 Commemoration of Daniel and the Three Young Men |
ST. JOHN’S NEWS
Organist Today: Kitty Bierstedt
Elder: Boyd Shipler
Greeters Today: Jesse & Kelly Fitzgerald
Greeters Next Sunday: Lucas & Jesse Parsons
Call Update - We will have a Partnership voter’s meeting today at 1:30 p.m. in the Trinity Life Center regarding our Partnership associate pastor vacancy. Our Partnership call committee will present a recommendation to call Pastor Adam Barkley to be our Partnership associate pastor. They also recommend voting that if Pastor Barkley were to decline our call, we would at that time send our application in for a seminary graduate without an additional voter’s meeting.
Job Opening - January 1, 2023 - We are looking for someone who would like to clean the church. This is an approximate 3-4 hours a week, sometimes less in the summer months. If this is something you would like to do please talk to trustee, Randy Reimers.
Lutherans in Africa Silent Auction - Our Partnership is holding a silent auction of wood carvings that were handmade by Pastor James May’s friend from Tanzania. The items are on display in Trinity’s narthex, and pictures of the items are on the back table. Bidding will close just before our final midweek Advent service on Dec. 14. All proceeds go to Lutherans in Africa.
Adopted Family - St. John’s has adopted a family again this year. This family is a father, mother and 6 children. A list of the needs/wants are on the table in the back. Today is the last day gifts/money can be accepted for the family. Money and or gift cards can be left in the church office or given to Doris Blocker or Debra Steven. A box designated for the gifts is on display in the back.
St. John’s Ice Fishing Day - Join us on Wednesday, December 28th at 1:00 p.m. for a day of ice fishing! We’ll meet at St. John’s and then carpool to either Emmetsburg or Fairmont depending on ice conditions. Lucas Parsons will guide us to catch lots of fish in the comfort of heated tents! For more information and to sign up, contact Hannah Cowell. If you have fishing questions, be sure to ask Lucas!
Sunday School and Adult Bible Class will not meet on Christmas Day and New Years Day. We will continue our class on January 8 at 8:30 a.m.
“This Is My Son” Advent/Christmas Daily Devotional Booklets are now available on the back table. Feel free to take one with you!
Greeter and Usher sign-up lists are now available in the back for the 2023 year. Please, feel free to fill your name in more than once.
Parish Messenger Articles are due to Linda Kerkove for the January/February edition on Sunday, December 18, 2022.
“Share the Blessing” letter and giving envelope is on the small table in the back. This is a special offering to the church during the harvest time, previously known as “Corn, Bean, Cash.”
Portals of Prayer Booklets for January/February are now available in back on the east wall.
A Partnership Advent and Christmas service schedule is on the table in the back. Our three Advent midweek services will be hosted by Trinity this year.
Year-End Reports - The end of the year is upon us! If you’re responsible for a report for the annual yearbook, please be working on them and email them to the church office at churchoffice@stjohns.burt.org.
Boxes of Christmas Cards and Individual Cards are now available for you to purchase in the back on the east wall. Money envelopes available and should be given to Rosann Shipler. Prices are marked on the boxed and for the individual cards.
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.
St. John’s Help Wanted List - Our “help wanted” volunteer lists have moved to the bulletin board by the ramp. Check them out to see if you’re able to help, and look out for new tasks to be added periodically. Talk to Pastor Cowell if you have a help-wanted suggestion of your own!
SYNOD, DISTRICT & PARTNERSHIP NEWS
Trinity Bible Study meets Wednesday mornings at 9:30 in the Life Center conference room. There will be no class Dec. 28 or Jan. 4.
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!
Building Healthy Families -Someone once said, “Marriage is not just spiritual communion, it is also remembering to take out the trash.” What have you done lately to show your spouse how much you appreciate them? During these busy days of preparation for your coming Christmas celebrations, a handwritten note, an unexpected and gentle physical touch, affirming words, preparing a favorite meal or joyfully helping with household responsibilities (…take out the trash!) can be simple but powerful ways to let your spouse know just how much they mean to you. Lutheran Family Service - www.LutheranFamilyService.org.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Thank You very much for your contribution to the Kossuth County Food Pantry of $263.00. We really appreciate your donation and for your generosity.
For Your Reflection:
THE THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT
LECTIONARY SUMMARY
The Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ Brings True Rejoicing, Even Under the Cross
Sometimes life requires the astonishing patience of Job. Like him, we are to rejoice in the midst of affliction, be grounded in repentance under the cross of Christ, and hope relentlessly in His resurrection, that we might see “the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). In the promise of the Gospel, therefore, “be patient” and “establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7, 8). Like St. John the Baptist, whatever your own kind of prison or suffering may be, call upon Jesus and receive the strength of His Word from those He sends to you. For as “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up,” so is the Good News of Jesus preached to you also (Matt. 11:5). He comes and restores the fortunes of Zion, His Holy Church, so that “sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Is. 35:10).
SERMON SENTENCE
Jesus is the blossoming crocus in the desert of our fallen world.
LESSON ON THE LITURGY
The Nunc Dimittis
The Nunc Dimittis, or, Song of Simeon makes a great bedtime prayer. It also makes a great Advent prayer, especially as it is sung in Compline (LSB 258-9) with the additional antiphon:
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping
that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.
Lord, now You let Your servant go in peace; Your word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation which You have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal You to the nations and the glory of Your people Israel.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping
that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.
CHAT WITH THE CHURCH FATHERS
“John asks this [question about Jesus] not because he is ignorant but to guide others who are ignorant and to say to them, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’ And he had heard the voice of the Father saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.’ Rather, it is the same sort of question as when the Savior asked where Lazarus was buried. The people only meant to show him the tomb, but he wanted them to be brought to faith and see the dead man return to life. Similarly, when John was about to be killed by Herod, he sent his disciples to Christ, intending that when they met him, the disciples would observe his appearance and powers and believe in him, and they would tell this to their teacher when he questioned them.” - Jerome, Commentary on Matthew 2.11.3, qtd. in ACCS: Matthew 1-13, p. 218.
St. John’s Lutheran Church – Burt, IA.
Phone: 515-924-3344
Email: churchoffice@stjohnsburt.org
