February 2020

  St. Paul’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church
109 S. Elm, Kewanee, Illinois 61443
Newsletter
Volume 32                                   February 2020                                            No. 2
CANDLEMASA coincidence of two First Class Feasts of our Lord occurs this year on February 2nd: The Transfiguration of Our Lord and the Presentation of Our Lord for Sunday. Traditionally the Transfiguration was observed in August, and there was no possibility of a coincidence of date. This changed some time ago in the traditional Lutheran sanctoral cycle when the Feast of the Transfiguration was sensibly moved to the Epiphany season as the last Sunday after Epiphany, a great instance of manifestation (epiphany) of our Lord. But now the coincidence of date becomes an issue in years such as this 2020 when two Feasts of the First Class fall on the same day and one of the Feasts must move to a weekday following.
 
At St. Paul’s we will be observing the Presentation of Our Lord in Sunday February 2nd, and transferring The Feast of the Transfiguration on the following Wednesday, at our usual midweek mass.
 
The Presentation of Our Lord and the Purification of Mary is also traditionally called Candlemas, due to the laudable custom of providing hand-candles to the congregants. The hand-candles are lit twice during the service. The first occasion is at the opening, just after the blessing of the church’s candles. A moment is taken to allow for the hand-candles to be lit from hand to hand, beginning with the pastor, who lights his from an altar candle. When all have lit their candles, the congregation then processes by rows to reverence the altar with candles lit, while the Nunc Dimittis is sung. The people extinguish their candles when they return to their pews, just prior to the Introit. The second occasion for lighting the hand-candles is just prior to the Preface: as before, a moment is taken while the candles are again lit from hand to hand. The candles remain lit until after the consecration of the Elements, at which point they are extinguished.
 
Look forward to Candlemas on Sunday, February 2nd, and then to the Transfiguration on Wednesday, February 5th.
 
A meditation on this Feast is on the back page.
 
-Pastor
 
TRANSFIGURATION
The Transfiguration of Our Lord will be observed on Wednesday, February 5th. See page 4. A meditation on this Feast is also on the back page.
 
Central Illinois District – Mission Story
Mission Council: Rock Island Circuit

The Rock Island Circuit Mission Council, also called the Hispanic Council, began in 2002 with a project. Pastors and laypeople in the Rock Island Circuit knew that Spanish-speaking Pastor Pablo Dominguez was coming to East Moline, called as a District Missionary. They also knew he would be starting Hispanic ministry in the Quad Cities from scratch. Initially, those who gathered as the mission council thought of themselves as the church council that he did not have at the time.

Circuit churches sent one representative apiece to the mission council. Its meetings provided information about Pastor Dominguez’s work and sparked interest. The mission council also became a way to bring to bear and coordinate various skills that members of circuit churches wanted to contribute to the Hispanic mission: carpentry, bookkeeping, laying carpet, etc.

In time, the mission council also provided financial support to the mission. The council opened its own bank account. For a while it paid various expenses such as van insurance. In 2019 the council closed its account, for Cristo Rey Lutheran Church had assumed responsibility for all the expenses which the council had been paying. And several council members were instrumental in arranging fundraising projects in circuit churches to help Cristo Rey return $10,000 of subsidy money to the Central Illinois District in 2019.

Council members have enjoyed learning about Hispanic culture. Pastor Dominguez has taught them a great deal, not only about culture but also about servanthood in Christ.

The Rock Island Circuit Mission Council’s role has changed over the years. Yet its commitment to Christ and to the cause of Lutheran mission outreach to Spanish-speaking residents of the Quad Cities has remained. The Lord has used its dedicated efforts in cooperation with the Central Illinois District.  “I thank my God . . . because of your partnership in the Gospel” (Phil. 1:3-5).

February UshersOtis Anderson, John Ricknell, Bill Thompson; Jim Hornback.
 
February Birthdays
2/2      Mindie Fisher2/4      Joshua Kraklow2/5      Tom Wells2/17    Monroe Kemerling2/23    Carol McReynolds 
Shut-ins
Mary Hamilton has moved to Fort Wayne. Emilie Ricknell is at home. Emmy Wear is at Williamsfield Retirement Center; Dick Melchin is at Hammond-Henry Hospital in Geneseo.
 
Altar Guild Notes
Altar color is white throughout January and on February 2nd and 5th, on which we celebrate the Presentation of our Lord and  the  Transfiguration of Our Lord, respectively. On February 9th, Septuagesima Sunday, the color is violet, and the color remains violet throughout February.

Soup Suppers Again?
Our Lenten soup suppers would begin the Wednesday after Ash Wednesday (March 4th) if we choose to have them again. There would be five on the schedule, since there is no supper scheduled for Holy Week. Pastor will be away for March 11th and 18th, however, so the will be no midweek masses on those days. Let’s discuss this informally during February.

February Council MeetingThe February council meeting is scheduled for the second Wednesday of the month, a week earlier than usual. This is February 12th, at 5:30 pm.
 
 
 
In Our Prayers
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:
Emilie Ricknell, John Ricknell, Linda Rowe, Emmy Wear, Sue Murphy, Don Murphy, Dick Melchin, DeAnne Anderson, Bea Harris. Allan Kraklow, Jim Watson, Dana McReynolds, Sandra VerPlaetse,
 
               and beyond our parish:
Anna Rutowicz [granddaughter of Harrises]
Katy Rutowicz [granddaughter of Harrises]
Jody Rutowicz [Harrises’ daughter]
Julie Ross [Svetlana Meaker’s daughter]
Elizabeth Godke, Sharon Field’s mother
Brandt and Oneda Hendrickson [Ricknells’ relatives]
Helen Woods [Sue Murphy’s sister]
Janice Hart [Judy Thompson’s sister]
Caleb Cleaver [Ricknells’ grandson]
Dennis Hoag [Adam Shreck’s father-in-law]
Sue Harris [Steve Harris’s sister-in-law]
Nancy Callahan [Don Murphy’s sister]
Rachel Smith [Emmy Wear’s cousin]
Yvette Baker [Dale’s daughter-in-law]
Warren Williams [relative of the Kemerlings]
Bud Harfst [Sue Murphy’s brother]
Tony Stoner [friend of the Murphys]
Dylan Harden [Chris’s grandson]
Theresa Moore [Ricknells’ niece]
Carol Grigsby [friend of Jewneel Walker]
Tim Newman [Kemerling relation]
Karla Perkowski [Monroe Kemerling’s daughter]
Louise Tharp
Melinda Fisa [Monroe Kemerling’s granddaughter]
Pastor Kenneth Wegener
Pastor Karl Fabrizius
Pastor Brian Feicho
Robert Hultman, Kewanee Care resident who has requested pastoral care
 
               in the military:
John Eckardt
Donny Appleman [at request of the Ricknells]
Richard Heiden [at request of the Eckardts]
Luke Van Landigan [grandson of Dick Melchin]
Jaclyn Alvarez [daughter of Kris Harden]
Eli Wetzel
Traven Wetzel
Shawn Wetzel
Eric Verplaetse [Sandra’s grandson]
Jake Mahaffey
Trevor Shimmin
               in trouble:
any unborn children in danger of abortion
victims of wildfires in Australia
those suffering from unrest, persecution, and imprisonment in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Nigeria, India, China, Vietnam, North Korea, and elsewhere.

Robin Sighting Contest:Who can find the first robin of spring? Call Pastor if you see and can verify one. Can anyone break the Kraklow string? This is the seventh year of the contest. Past winners:
 
2019: Steve Kraklow
2018: Steve Kraklow
2017: Barb Kraklow
2016: Judy Thompson
2015: Carol Eckardt
2014: Michele Keehner
 
The robin, of course, is something we regard very highly because it is a sign of spring; and the approach of spring is also the approach of Easter; and the approach of Easter is enough to cause us abiding joy.  So rejoice in the robin, O Christian!
 
And know this: as sure a thing it is that the robin comes, even more sure is the Resurrection of our Lord.

February Anniversaries
None
 
First Tuesday
The first Tuesday events (altar guild, vespers, elders) will be held, God willing, on Tuesday, February 4th. Altar Guild at 6 pm; Vespers at 6:45; Elders at 7:15. All members are always encouraged to join us for First Tuesday Vespers, as you are able.
 
THE TRANSFIGURATION
The Transfiguration of Our Lord normally comes as the last Sunday after the Epiphany, just prior to pre-Lent. This year is unusual.
 
Since February 2nd is the last Sunday after Epiphany, it presents a conflict with the Presentation of Our Lord and the Purification of Mary, which always falls on the 40th day after Christmas. The article on the first page of this newsletter explains that Feast.
 
Traditionally the Transfiguration was observed in August, and there was no possibility of a coincidence of date. This changed some time ago in the traditional Lutheran sanctoral cycle when the Feast of the Transfiguration was sensibly moved to the Epiphany season as the last Sunday after Epiphany, a great instance of manifestation (epiphany) of our Lord. But now the coincidence of date becomes an issue in years such as this 2020 when two Feasts of the First Class fall on the same day and there is a legitimate question over which should take precedence and move the other to the following calendar day. A consensus among the editors went with the Transfiguration, but it was not a strong consensus; it was more of a shoulder-shrugging, head-scratching consensus. In addition, the editors of Gottesdienst are certainly not, nor have they ever been, in any position to make authoritative ‘rulings’ on such matters. When offering liturgical directions and advice, they tend to do so from a standpoint of traditional considerations, most of which are uniform and easy to discern as to  their propriety.  In this case, however, there was no traditional basis from which to draw. Therefore we have arrived at a genuine matter of adiaphora, indifferent things. Liturgical pastors are utterly free to make up their own minds on this, without damage to what is the preferred tradition, as there is no preferred tradition: two equal First Class Feasts fall on the same day. One must be transferred to the next. Which? At St. Paul’s in Kewanee, the Presentation will be observed on Sunday the second, but the Transfiguration must also be observed, so it will move to the next midweek mass, February 5th.
 
The Transfiguration is the capstone of the observances of the Epiphany of Our Lord. Epiphany means manifestation, and the Gospels during this season all deal with various manifestations of the glory of Christ. Epiphany Day contains the coming of the wise men to Bethlehem, led by a star. The Sunday after Epiphany has the boy Jesus in Jerusalem, amazing the scholars in the temple. On the octave of Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord recounts the opening of the heavens and the Father’s declaration that Jesus is his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. On the following Sunday is the wedding at Cana, at which Jesus turns water into wine, his first Galilean miracle. The following Sunday has the healing of the centurion’s servant. Other Sundays that sometimes follow during longer Epiphany seasons likewise show forth Christ’s glory. Always the last Sunday contains his glorious Transfiguration before Peter and James and John. During this unusual year this Feast will be observed the Wednesday after the 2nd of February, due to the conflict with the Presentation of our Lord and the Purification of Mary. Both are First-class Feasts of Our Lord, and worthy of extra effort on the part of the congregation to attend.
 
A meditation on this Feast is on the back page.
 
Ash Wednesday
The first day of Lent, Ash Wednesday, is on February 26th this year. Pastor and Carol are due in Florida for her father’s 90th birthday. Pastor Matthew Synott from Trinity in Peoria will be filling in for the imposition of ashes and the Ash Wednesday service at 7 pm. There will be no Ash Wednesday morning mass this year.

Meditation: The Presentation of Our Lord and the Purification of Mary, February 2
Reading: St. Luke 2.22-32
 
Today our Lord appeared in the temple, according to the word of the Prophet, Suddenly the Lord, whom ye seek, shall appear in his temple.  This is forty days after His birth. Now forty days signifies purification, as Moses and Elijah were purified by their forty days in the wilderness, and as our Lord Christ proved his purity by his own forty days in the wilderness, and as the faithful attend with diligence to the purification of the flesh through fasting in the forty days of Lententide.   So forty days are assigned for the purification of a woman who had given birth to a son, for in childbirth woman bleeds, giving a sign of death, and evidence of her need for purification.  But the Blessed Virgin brings not only the turtledoves which the law prescribed, but the very Sacrifice himself, which the law foretold.  Christ, who with divine and human nature is greater than two turtledoves, and who, having clean hands and a pure heart according to the words of David, is the most holy and pure sacrifice to cleanse and purify our Blessed Mother Mary (Is she not our mother, who is also the mother of Christ our Lord our Brother?) and all the people of God with her.
 
Meditation: The Transfiguration
Reading: St. Matthew 17.1-9
 
Consider well the transfiguration of our Lord, for there you see the true state of all flesh before God in Christ.  For all flesh is grass, as the Psalmist says, and withers and decays; yet in the Incarnation, God has joined Himself to human flesh and filled human flesh with His own Godhead as the Apostle says, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now since this is so, what can be said of those who have received the body of Christ?  Shall they not also be transfigured, as He was? Shall they not rise and live in glory with Moses and Elijah and all the company of heaven? Verily, Moses was assumed into heaven, as was Elijah; see therefore what has become of them: they dwell bodily where Christ is now ascended, in token of the assumption that all of our bodies shall receive at the Last Day.  Yet that Day is not yet; therefore let us hear Him, as the voice from the cloud commanded.  For He is the One of whom Moses had said, Him you shall hear, and whom Elijah portrayed with all the prophetic wonders he worked. Now the One whom Moses and the prophets foretold is come.  Yet He is come not to receive glory but to exchange it; thus, when He comes down from the mount, He will suffer, that we may be glorified in Him.
 
St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church
   109 S. Elm Street
   Kewanee, IL 61443