ALL SAINTS
November 1st is All Saints Day. It falls on a Sunday
this year, and so it takes precedence and is observed. This is a day that is
often misunderstood. We tend to think of all the faithful departed as saints;
and indeed in an important respect, of course they are saints. They are translated
to the Church Triumphant, with all the company of heaven.
Traditionally, however (dating to
the seventh century), All Saints was a day on which to commemorate especially
those saints of yore whose lives were marked by a special confession of Christ unto
death; that is, who were martyred. Many of those martyrs have days appointed
specifically for them on the Western Calendar, such as the Apostles, or St. Laurence (August 10), or the Martyrdom of St. John
the Baptist (August 29). There are in fact many post-biblical martyrs whose
days are on the full Western Calendar. But there are many more, who never had
dates attached to their martyrdom in any calendars, so All Saints was a day
meant for commemorating all of them. That is why the more traditional color for
All Saints is red, not white. In the Roman Catholic Church it is officially called
the Solemnity of All Saints or Hallowmas or All Hallows (from which, of course,
the evening before derives its name: Halloween).
And
that is also why the day for commemorating all of the faithful departed is not
November 1st, but November 2nd, one day later. At St.
Paul’s we will observe All Souls on the following Wednesday evening this year.
The
Gospel for All Saints is particularly appropriate to martyrs, especially that
part of the Beatitudes that reads, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This means that
those who made the good confession of Christ and His righteousness (the Holy
Gospel gives this righteousness to us) may take comfort in knowing that despite
their persecution they shall gain paradise. So also, immediately after these
words, Jesus continues, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my
sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so
persecuted they the prophets which were
before you” (St. Matthew 5:10-12). It is undeniably clear that this Gospel is
intended for the commemoration of those who have suffered for the Gospel.
+ Pastor Eckardt
Oktoberfest Totals
Offerings to date for Oktoberfest:
$2882. Our expenses are estimated at
$680, which gives us a net estimated gain of $2202. Our volunteers wore themselves out while
putting this on, but here’s a tangible result, in addition to the many positive
remarks we received from people in attendance. Well done, volunteers!
Our numbers were a
little lower this year, due to conflicts with other conferences; next year we expect
the numbers to rise again, as we move back to our formerly scheduled Columbus
Day and the days on either side of it.
A hearty thanks to
all who have been working tirelessly to help our congregation, volunteering
time, donations, and effort.
Copies of books still
available (Christmas gift ideas?):
The New Testament in His Blood $15.00
Every Day Will I Bless Thee $16.00
The Lutheran Propers (complete) $22.00
Why? – A Layman’s Guide to the Liturgy $10.00
November
Anniversaries
11/5 Steve and Berniece Harris
11/10 Gayle and Phil Beauprez
November
Birthdays
11/13 Shannon Peart
11/19 Steve Kraklow
11/20 Jewneel Walker
11/30 Charlene Sovanski
Shut
ins
Mary Hamilton at home; Anna Baker
at home; Emmy Wear at Williamsfield Home in Williamsfield.
November
Ushers
Otis Anderson, John Ricknell, Bill Thompson
Daily Prayer
For daily
prayer in the homes of members, the following helps are offered:
As a
minimum, when you rise in the morning and go to bed at night, follow the
catechism. That is, repeat the
invocation (In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen), say the Apostles’ Creed, and Say the Our Father. If you wish, you may add Luther’s morning or
evening prayer.
You are
encouraged to use your hymnal for a richer daily prayer. The order of matins (morning) or vespers
(evening) is easily adoptable for personal use.
The hymnal
is also a good resource for a schedule of daily readings. See page 161.
These readings correspond with the material in Every Day Will I Bless Thee: Meditations for the Daily Office, my
book of meditations for daily use, available at the church office (price of
available books is listed nearby).
Altar Guild News
Notes for November:
The first Sunday in November is red,
for All Saints. Then it turns to White for All Souls (Wednesday, November 4th).
Then the color changes to green, until we observe Thanksgiving on Wednesday
night, November 25th. Color for
Thanksgiving is White. Following this
service, the color is changed to violet for Advent: the First Sunday of Advent
is November 29th. Then the color turns to Red for St. Andrew’s Day,
which we will observe the following Wednesday.
Our
November meeting will be November 3rd at 6 pm.
Mourning a Miscarriage
We mourn with Pastor Peter Eckardt
and his wife Allison who miscarried her baby at 11 weeks. We trust in the mercy
and goodness of Almighty God toward the little one, and we pray for his comfort
upon the newlyweds. Martin Luther once
wrote a tract entitled “Comfort for Women Who Have Had a Miscarriage.” It is
available online at the Synod’s www.lcms.org web site. Type the title in the
search box to access the file.
In Our Prayers
In addition to our
shut-ins, our current list of prayer intentions at mass includes the names on
the lists here following. Anyone wishing
to update the list by addition or subtraction, please inform the pastor.
in our parish:
Sandra Verplaetse
Emilie Ricknell
Linda Rowe
Ann Baker
Sarah Corzine
Berniece Harris
and all of our shut-ins.
and also:
Anna Rutowicz [granddaughter of Harrises]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s daughter]
Jill Matchett [at request of Diana Shreck]
Lorene Foglesong [at request of the Kraklows]
Cathy Van Wassenhove [re Sandra Verplaetse]
Shelly DeBord [at request of the Watsons]
Liam Hampton [at request of the Murphys]
Jackie Hampton [at request of the Murphys]
Maria Thorndike [at request of the Murphys]
Annie Eastman [at request of Svetlana Meaker]
Keith Ruggles [Barb Kraklow’s brother]
David Fowler [at request of the Murphys]
Robin Hampton [at request of the Watsons]
Melissa Hayword [at request of the Kemerlings]
Emily Corzine [Sarah’s sister]
Dennis Hoag [at request of Diana Shreck]
Nancy Popejoy [relative of Sharon Hartz]
Jeff Autery [friend
of Chris Erickson, with cancer]
John Molburg [friend
of Sandra Verplaetse]
Dave Colgron [friend
of Tom Wells]
George Medernech [Jan
Schoen’s father]
in the military:
John Eckardt
Donny Appleman [re Ricknell]
Thomas Kim [re Shreck]
Michael and Katherine Creech [re Murphy]
Richard Heiden [re Eckardt]
Carter Wills
Luke Van Landigan [grandson of Dick Melchin]
Jaclyn Alvarez [daughter of Kris Harden]
in trouble:
any unborn children in danger
of abortion
those suffering from unrest,
persecution, and imprisonment in Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Laos, North Korea, and
elsewhere.
and our own church
Epiphany Day of Reflection on Wednesday,
January 6th, 2016
This winter (tentatively), a day of reflection is planned
for Epiphany Day, which is a Wednesday. Although it is a weekday, it is our
appointed day when a good group normally come for worship, so the following
schedule is proposed:
1:00 p.m. Opening mid-day prayer service
1:30 p.m. Seminar (day of reflection):
The sixteenth
retreat in the Theological Reflection series is entitled,
“PONDERING THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN”
At this retreat, we’ll take an in-depth look at St. Matthew
2.
4:00 p.m. break for dinner
7:00 p.m. Epiphany Mass
7:45 p.m. Wine and Cheese reception
Mark your calendar!
Back to First Things: Online
Every
Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., we hold an instructional course on basic Christian
teaching (the catechism, with special emphasis on Exodus). It’s open to all,
and is recorded and aired on St. Paul 's
on the Air every Sunday morning at 7:30 CDT on WKEI, AM radio 1450 on the dial.
It is also podcast every (following) Wednesday
at Pirate Christian Radio (www.piratechristianradio.com)
at 9:00
am CDT, as, by the way, are many other fine Lutheran programs you might want to
check out.
It is also available on demand, through a
facebook page: www.facebook.com/backtofirstthings.
The recordings are all there, and can be accessed at any time through the
Internet.
St. Paul’s and Friends Online
Speaking
of online things, if you do have access to the Internet, you should also seek
to find “St. Paul ’s
and Friends” at Facebook. It’s a closed group, so you need an invitation. Just
ask Pastor.
Remember
First Saturdays!
As you may recall, our elimination of the janitorial
position for financial reasons has increased the need for volunteer help. We
have some people who have been spending time every week doing vacuuming and
dusting and general cleaning. It’s a labor of love, a recognition that our
little parish needs volunteers.
This
also means that the first Saturday morning of every month is especially set
aside for extra volunteers to come help with some of the things that get missed
or need extra work. We’re all in this together: your trustees have been putting
in countless hours on large and small projects, from repairs to windows and
bell tower to some deep cleaning in areas that don’t get looked at very often.
So,
what about you? Could you spare a little time on the first Saturday of the
month? It could be any time, actually, but when volunteers assemble to work
together, it does tend to make the load seem a bit lighter. There’s
encouragement in numbers.
Next
up: Saturday morning, November 7th, at around 9:00 a.m.!
First Tuesday
November’s First Tuesday events will be
held on November 3rd: Altar Guild at 6 p.m. Vespers is at 6:45, and
Elders meet at 7:15.
Thanksgiving
Worship
As usual, our Thanksgiving Mass
will be held on Wednesday evening prior, at 7:00. All members are encouraged to come.
The Lighter Side
What kind of music did the Pilgrims like? Plymouth Rock
If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?
Pilgrims
Why can't you take a turkey to church? They use fowl language.
What do you get when you cross a turkey with a banjo? A turkey
that can pluck itself!
What did baby corn say to mama corn? Where's popcorn?
If the Pilgrims were alive today, what would they be most famous
for? Their age
Why do pilgrims pants keep falling down? Because their belt
buckles are on their hats!
What's the key to a great Thanksgiving dinner? The turKEY
What happened to the Pilgrim who was shot at by an Indian? He had
an arrow escape
Why did the turkey cross the road? It was the chicken's day off
What’s a pilgrimage? It’s how old a Pilgrim is.
If the Pilgrims came on the Mayflower than what does the teacher
come on? The scholarship.
What would you get if you crossed a turkey with an evil spirit? A
poultrygeist
What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its
diameter? Pumpkin pi.
Who
are we?
[a question asked in the brochure we provide to
inquirers]
“We are a Lutheran parish of
Christian people who rejoice in our salvation, and in having the Word of God
among us.
“When we hear the Gospel our hearts
rejoice and are glad. We sing, and our choir sings, and our liturgy expresses
our unspeakable gladness in the solemn dignity that befits holy joy.
“The Lord Jesus Christ here lavishes
us with His eternal gifts and mercy. The Master serves the servants, and this
wondrous mystery delights and humbles us in His presence.
“We welcome you to share this joy
with us.”
This, according to our brochure, is the reason we gather, and the reason
we are a parish of Christian people.
There is really no other reason.
We don’t have a mission statement, like many companies and associations
do; we don’t state objectives for progress.
That’s because we are a congregation of hearers. We come together to hear the word of God,
which is preached in our midst.
It’s important to remember this,
especially when we consider, as virtually all congregations do, what to do
about financial shortfalls and budget woes.
We are not a business, and we are not incorporated. The designation “not-for-profit” truly
applies, because we aren’t interested in making money. We do need to make ends meet, and we always
struggle to come up with ways to do that, but of course, that’s not an end in
itself. We exist as a parish for only
one reason: to hear and receive the gifts of God, and to rejoice in them. For this reason, the most appropriate thing
to do, in the interest of the welfare of the parish, is to pray that God in His
mercy would bless us.
That, admittedly, isn’t much of a
“stewardship” sermon; and it would probably have stewardship advisors shaking
their heads. Indeed there are many
stewardship programs we could purchase (for a pretty penny) which may well give
us plenty of “success” if we followed their directives. But unfortunately their directives are
generally contrary to what’s at the the heart of our existence. Put plainly, we do not exist in order to
teach people how to give, but in
order to instruct people as to what they have received. The former
objective would make us a law-oriented parish, while the later is oriented
toward Christ and His Gospel. It’s a
tricky thing to keep straight, but critically important.
So of course let’s all
remember to do our part in giving (actually most of our membership does, and
without even needing much encouragement by way of reminders), but let’s
remember first of all that we must learn to be as Mary of Bethany was, sitting
at Jesus’ feet and hearing His Word.
(reprinted from November newsletter 2006)
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