Pirate Christian Radio
There’s no telling what the future of audio media will be, because it’s happening so fast. But it so happens that now, by a rather happy turn of events, we at St. Paul’s suddenly find ourselves on the cutting edge of it. Back in March of this year, the St. Louis radio station KFUO, which is owned by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, abruptly and unexpectedly cancelled its most popular program, “Issues, Etc.”, hosted by Rev. Jeff Wilken and produced by Jeff Schwartz. An outcry ensued, and because of it, the program immediately became even better known, now among people who had never heard of it.
Then in May, the program found its own privately owned niche, a new radio home in Southern California. Now it would be free of Synodical shackles, but as dedicated as ever to producing sound confessional Lutheran theology on the air.
Not only on the air, as it turns out, but on the internet. Now, under the new name Pirate Christian Radio (I still haven’t found out the reason for that name), it is not merely a radio program, but a radio station, hoping to broadcast and podcast (streaming on the internet) every day, sixteen hours a day.
And, as it turns out, they need material to fill those hours. So it was that I was contacted in the middle of June by Rev. Craig Donofrio, who is now onboard there to come up with material, who had heard that I had some recorded sermons which had gained some popularity (among pastors looking to sharpen their own preaching skills by listening to others). Did I have any material to offer?
Did I? Little did he know that I had not merely sermons, but well over a year of previously recorded radio programs, each 25 minutes long! So I am right now in the process of sending these to him, that he may have material to fill the hours.
In addition, our little radio program will begin producing programs tailor-made for Pirate Christian Radio, as well as continuing to go out on our local radio station WKEI (1450 on the AM dial, 7:38 a.m. every Sunday). In short, our little program has suddenly gone into syndication! We’re going out to all the world.
Pirate Christian Radio begins broadcasting on June 30th, and its shows may be accessed all day long, in realtime, by going online to www.piratechristianradio.com. Right now they have no set scheduling, as it is very new, but we will be prominently featured, and may expect to become a regularly featured program on their station very soon. Stay tuned.
+ Pastor Eckardt
Foster Care Needed
Recent correspondence with Catholic Charities of Peoria has indicated a need for foster caregivers. Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent may contact pastor for further information and brochures.
Flowers
Our new flower lady is Trista Schoen, who has provided a flower chart for members to sign. If you wish to provide flowers for any particular weekend, check the chart and sign up. Your signature means that you will provide the flowers for that weekend, whether by contacting a florist, or by providing your own arrangement. If you wish to provide your own, please speak to Trista about how to do this.
July and August Ushers
July: Steve Peart, Grant Andresen, Larry Campbell
August: Otis Anderson, Scott Clapper, John Ricknell, Bill Thompson
Quarterly Voters Meeting
will be on the second Sunday in July (the 13nd), at 7 pm. Council to precede, at 6:30. Mark your calendars!
Private Confession is always available to anyone between 6 and 6:30 pm on these Wednesdays (and also, as always, by appointment).
Altar Guild Notes
The altar guild met on Monday, June 2nd. Among items discussed was the fact that a CD player has been placed in the sacristy to provide plainchant of psalms while altar guild members perform their duties. Follow the instructions provided and you will have meditative material to accompany your work. The next meeting is scheduled for July 7 at 6 pm. The August meeting is set for August 4 at 6 p.m.
July and August Birthdays
July:
7/1 Brittany Grier
7/2 Jean Russell
7/2 Dana McReynolds
7/4 Jacki Boswell
7/5 Sandra Verplaetse
7/7 Joyce Baetens
7/7 Andrew Clapper
7/7 Stephen Harris
7/9 Michelle Parks
7/10 Otis Anderson
7/10 Dale Baker
7/13 Gayle Beauprez
7/14 Pastor Eckardt
7/16 Robert Schoen
7/20 Julie Janik
7/23 Donna Harlow
7/24 Melinda Grier
7/29 Jack Stewart
7/20 Anna Baker
7/30 Peggy Janik
August:
8/1 Philip Beauprez
8/1 Robert Bock
8/2 Shania Kraklow
8/2 Joyce Long
8/7 Jessica Grier
8/8 Lorraine Mohr
8/9 Donald Kegebein
8/11 Samuel Fisher
8/11 Judy Thompson
8/13 Donald Murphy
8/15 Elva Garrison
8/16 Trista Schoen
8/17 Steven Peart
8/19 Amy McReynolds
8/20 Nicholas Grier
8/21 John Sovanski
8/24 Rebecca Russell
8/24 Ruth VerShaw
8/27 Leland Heaton
8/27 Steve Peart
8/30 Alyssa Van Stechelman
Calling all Singers!
Start tuning up your voice again, as the choir will be meeting for regular rehearsals again beginning the second Wednesday in August: August 13th, at approximately 7:45 pm, right after midweek mass.
We have a lot of preparation to do for Oktoberfest, which will be hear before we know it.
Make a note on your calendar! August 13th: First choir rehearsal!
July, August Anniversaries
July:
7/1/1951 John and Emilie Ricknell
7/23/1955 Donald and Carol Kegebein
7/30/1965 Jewneel and Don Walker
August:
8/2/ 1975 Raymond and Carol Robinson
Shut ins
Carole Sanders and Mary Hamilton at home; Jack Stewart, and Evelyn Heinrich at Kewanee Care; Mirilda Greiert, at Courtyard Estates; Elva Garrison at Avon Nursing Home; Ruth Melchin at Hillcrest Home; Jane Melchin at Lutheran Home, Peoria., Mark Baker at home, and Anna Baker (temporarily) also at home.
First Monday Vespers
This service, held on the first Monday of every month, includes as a special focal emphasis prayers for this parish and her members. Anyone may attend this service, which normally lasts about 20 minutes.
The schedule for July 7th and August 4th:
6 pm Altar Guild meets in Conference Room
6:45 Vespers (open to all)
Following Vespers: Elders meet
America
Excerpt from “The Times that Try Men’s Souls,” Burnell F Eckardt Jr., Gottesdienst 2001:4
America is an historical anomaly, being the first successful experiment in civic republican liberty, though the evolution of this system of government can be traced as far back as the days of the Magna Carta (1297), whose preamble declares certain liberties under law "to the advancement of holy Church, and amendment of our Realm . . . to be kept in our kingdom of England for ever, the very first of which is that the Church of England shall be free, and shall have her whole rights and liberties inviolable." Out of the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries arose the dictum cuius regio, eius religio, allowing that whoever rules a region, his is its religion. But inasmuch as this was intolerable for many who found themselves living in the wrong region, what soon evolved out of this was migration to the New World. The colonies there had been established by Englishmen who brought with them charters patterned after the Magna Carta, charters which guaranteed that they and their heirs would Ahave and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects.
A few generations later, when their heirs raised arms against their mother country, they were fighting not for new freedoms but to preserve liberties that dated to the thirteenth century, freedoms guaranteed by the very monarchy against whom they were now constrained to oppose, as it had by now turned tyrannical. As the Magna Carta had placed even the king beneath the law (with the king's own consent), so now, the law, in particular, English common law as evolved from the Magna Carta, dictated that their revolution was in truth not a matter of rebellion but of loyalty.
There is a kinship in spirit between that kind of thinking and the thinking of Martin Luther and his followers against the pope and the king, although in their case the loyalty was not to common law, but to the Gospel of Christ. Martin Luther was not a disobedient radical, but ever a loyal son of the Church catholic. The tyranny of the pope had robbed the people of Christ. That tyranny was itself a long time in evolving, and can be traced over hundreds of years of the enlargement of papal power. When the time was ripe for the Reformation, that power had waxed fully perverse, and the children of the Reformation learned that it was necessary for them to disavow the tyranny if they would be faithful to Christ.
It is always dangerous to paint broad historical strokes. Yet what emerges from such strokes can be both compelling and worthy of acceptation. In this case, what emerges is the case for a certain link between the Reformation and the formation of the United States of America. The link is certainly not an identification of one with the other, as we are speaking here of two separate kingdoms, pertaining to the right hand and to the left hand of God. In both cases, however, what has emerged is opposition to tyranny. When the pope placed himself above the Gospel and oppressed the churches, the churches by recourse to the Gospel recognized new bishops; when the king placed himself above the law and oppressed the people, the people by recourse to the law established new government.
This is why America is beautiful. It is not the spacious skies and amber waves of grain that are germane to her beauty, but the fact that God shed His grace on her. Nor is the grace that God shed evident in the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. This grace is preached only in the Gospel, which the law of the land insists must have free course, that it might be preached to the joy and edifying of Christ's holy people. The republic's liberty does not guarantee that the Gospel is preached; it only allows for its preaching. But since this republic does allow for it, we must thank God for the special character of this republic, just as I'm sure Luther and his Saxon friends thanked God for Elector Frederick the Wise. There is something exceedingly good about America, in spite of all her flaws, and it is not simply her wealth or prosperity. It is the fact that she is free.
Most Americans, it is true, do not know what is most especially glorious about American freedom. Far above all other things, it is that the Gospel may sound forth here unhindered by tyranny. What the pope refused to permit, Lady Liberty insists on permitting. The Lutheran Confessors would gladly have submitted to the pope if only he would allow the Gospel. He did not, so they could not. How bitter was the struggle for their freedom only for this one thing, to have the Gospel. And here we stand, on America=s free soil, not only unhindered by tyranny, but living under a constitution which guarantees perpetual liberty from it. . . .
For my part, therefore, I will laud patriotism while rejecting all idolatry. I will count all patriots my compatriots, but I will not be partaker with men who deceive with vain words (Ephesians 5:6-7). I will kneel in my church as an American Christian, but I will stand up in the public square as a Christian American. There will I gladly wave my flag with the rest of America, as I cheer her soldiers on to victory. From childhood I have pledged allegiance to that flag, and to the republic for which it stands; we must always take our vows seriously if we are to retain our integrity. But the flag does not coerce my veneration of it; most gladly do I stand with my hand on my heart when the flag marches by, for I perceive something very good, very blessed, about this nation which transcends the sum of its parts: here my government pledges to me that its purpose is to defend me in my free confession of Christ my Lord. I would, of course, have to confess Him even if the government forbad it, as tyrannical governments often have; how much better a government it is which supports my freedom to have my convictions.
But that goodness, that freedom, is not itself the freedom of the Gospel, and therefore I will not adore the flag or its republic, nor does the flag seek to exact adoration; this one nation is rightly said to be under God, since adoration, as we know, is due only to God Himself: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Therefore I must stand opposed to every infraction of His Second Commandment: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. My country provides me the freedom thus to stand, confessing the name of Jesus against all who would do it dishonor. For in that name alone is the salvation of the world.
The Lighter Side
These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins
or were announced in church services: They’re oldies, but they make me chuckle every time. . .
Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.
Announcement in a church bulletin for a national PRAYER & FASTING Conference: "The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals."
The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."
Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.
"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.
Remember in prayer the many that are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again", giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack's sermons.
During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.
The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."
Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
The Lutheran men's group will meet at 6 pm. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.
Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.
Attend and you will hear an excellent speaker and heave a healthy lunch.
The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.
Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 pm - prayer and medication to follow.
The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
This evening at 7 pm there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10. All ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B.S. is done.
The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.
Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use back door.
Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
Keeping the Feast: A Study of the Holy Liturgy (continued)
The history of the liturgy
The Early Church, continued
Already as early as the end of the first century, there is evidence of a fixed order for the Eucharist. Ignatius of Antioch (d 107) insists on the one Eucharist in a way that implies a uniform rite. He renounces the Docetists, early heretics who denied the incarnation, by holding their sin to be that they abstain from the Catholic liturgy held in communion with the bishop According to Fortescue, the evidence of a constant belief among the early Fathers that even the arrangement of the liturgy was a tradition from Christ and His Apostles. Whether they were right about this is not as significant as the fact that they could not have thought so unless there was already in their time a fixed order. (Fortescue 15, 51-52).
This is not surprising, inasmuch as the heart of what it meant to be Christian was to be at worship. Anglican scholar Gregory Dix has aptly demonstrated that the very term “church” was not used in reference to the building, but rather to the solemn assembly for the liturgy, until the third century (Dix, the Shape of the Liturgy [London: Continuum, 2003; first printing 1945], 19-20).
Even though in the first three centuries there were no books or officially stereotyped rites, if we assume that very early there was primarily an oral tradition, a younger bishop when his turn came to celebrate, could do no better than to continue to use the very words, as far as he remembered them, of the venerable predecessor whose prayers the people, and perhaps himself as deacon, had so often followed and answered with reverent devotion. The strong feeling of loyalty to the mother-church from which they had received the faith is noticed in all the early missionary churches. (Fortescue, 55-56)
There is compelling evidence that the introductions of variations in the rite resulted from of a perceived need to confess against various heresies that arose. Under Leo the Great (d 461), for example, words were added to the canon to refer to the host as immaculate (sanctum sacrificium, immaculatam hostiam, Fortescue 137), no doubt directed against the Manichaeans who denied the possibility that any material substance could be good (and thus rejected the incarnation). This is also evidence that a shift in the arrangement of the canon under Pope Gelasius in the late fifth century was due to the Acacian schism. Bishop Acacia of Constantinople was a member of the Monophysite party, which believed that Jesus had only one nature; his rival John Talaia, the Catholic bishop, had been exiled to Rome, where he became friends with Gelasius, whose consequent adjustments to the Roman liturgy to conform with that of Talaia (Fortescue 164f) indicate a theological unity against Monophysitism. By the sixth century, the filioque (the addition of the words “and the Son” to the third article of the Creed) was commonly said in many places, and at the council of Toledo was given official recognition, as a common confession to emphasize the full divinity of the Son, against the recalcitrant Arian heresy that denied it; this of course is in keeping with the very formation of the Creed itself, in the fourth century, against Arius. The elevation of the host arose in France in the 13th century against the teaching of one Peter the Stammerer who held a questionable view regarding the efficacy of the Word of Institution.
In short, the shape of the liturgy can be traced to the Church’s desire to confess liturgically what she believed, in the face of heresies which denied those things.
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