June 2020

St. Paul’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church
109 S. Elm, Kewanee, Illinois 61443
Newsletter
Volume 32                                    June 2020                                           No. 6
               
Back to Church, with Precautions in Place
           
Thanks be to God, we have been steadily moving toward the times we have all earnestly awaited, a return to normalcy. Real normalcy, as opposed to the term “new normal” that some people like to use.
 
We’re not there yet, but we’re moving in that direction.
 
I have been in contact with CID President Mark Miller. He has advised me to follow the guidance of local law enforcement. I have been in contact with the Kewanee Chief of Police, and with the Henry County Sheriff. Both of them have advised me that we may proceed carefully as we loosen restrictions, though we ought not advertise our services too freely. Hopefully that day will also come soon, when we can again openly invite visitors to join us.
 
In the meantime, we begin loosening our restrictions beginning on May 30th,  the Vigil of Pentecost, and Sunday May 31st, Pentecost Sunday. The following guidelines are in place, in accordance with the CDC: 

• Entry only by the ramp in the parking lot.

 

• Materials for worship are available at the table in the hallway.

 

• Worshipers are asked to maintain at least 6 feet between individuals or families.

 

• People are asked to leave an empty pew in front of and behind you.

 

• Distribution of the Sacrament will be spaced between individuals or families of at least 6 feet on either side along  the length of the communion rail.

 

• People are asked to disinfect their own area after worship.

 
Beginning Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, our regular schedule resumes: Sunday mass at 8:30 am, and Wednesday mass at 7:00 pm.
 
We also plan resume Bible Class again beginning Sunday at 10:00 am, but with distancing measures throughout the gym. No breakfast will be served; you may bring your own snack if you wish.
 
Red and Tongues for Pentecost: if you wish and are able, you are encouraged to wear red this Sunday. We will also hear several languages on Pentecost. For more on this, see the back page of this newsletter.
 
+ Pastor Eckardt
 
Our Personal Need for Christ and One Another
Burnell Eckardt
From Gottesblog at www.gottesdienst.org, posted on May 18th, 2020
 
During these difficult days of the Coronavirus and its sad consequences, we will all do well to remember that the Lord Jesus will not leave his people in a state of isolation from one another indefinitely. He will not leave or forsake us, and has promised to help us in time of need. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. He will not leave us comfortless; of this we may be sure, for he cannot lie to us.
 
Politicians and pundits may want to talk about a “new normal” that includes routine social distancing and awareness of the dangers of personal contact, and some people may even opine that this is somehow a good thing; but we Christians know otherwise, and we long for the day when this crisis is over.
 
For we know that we are creatures of God, who himself entered our race in his holy incarnation. The Word became flesh; he did not despise the womb of the Virgin; and in our flesh he ransomed us from death and the grave by the shedding of his sacred blood. Not only so, but this same Jesus, in this same flesh, rose from the dead on the third day, and showed himself alive to his disciples. And he said to them, “Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have.” This same Jesus is he that took little children up in his arms and blessed them; he touched the eyes of the blind to make them see; he put his fingers into the ears of the deaf to make them hear. The Good Shepherd blesses his sheep by his warm embrace. And he feeds them his own Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament.
 
And since we are creatures of the Word made flesh, therefore we not only need continually to be thus receiving him, but to be with one another as well, for this is our innate need: for gathering, and togetherness, and touch, and embrace.
Love bears all things, and love never ends, says the Apostle. Thus while we may have to endure a period of trouble during which we find ourselves in greater or lesser degrees of isolation from each other (pity especially the poor elderly in nursing homes!), we also know that this crisis, this dreadful state of affairs, will pass; that it must pass. And we also know, because love never ends, that one day, hopefully one day soon, we will find ourselves free again just as we once were, free to be truly together again: free to mingle with one another, free to embrace our loved ones, free to find ourselves happily among excited crowds, free to visit the sick or the lonely, free to offer a hand to the weak, or personal service to someone who may need help with groceries, or the front steps, or the opening of a door, free even to walk with friends, to shake hands with people we meet, to play, to dance, to love. That day we await with fervent hope, confidence, and prayer. For Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
 
Listen and Watch at Home
 
Our website, www.stpaulskewanee.org, has easy-to-find podcasts (recordings of studies) that you can access and listen to on demand. There are podcasts of St. Paul’s on the Air, recordings of sermons, and occasional Bible classes as well. These are also sent to Facebook to make it easy to access the website from there. Have a listen, and spread the word. Our Facebook page, St. Paul's and Friends, also regularly posts live streamed (audio and visual) services you may access at any time. There is also availability at YouTube, at the Burnell Eckardt channel.

 June Birthdays:

6/5 Linda Rowe          
6/16 Berniece Harris
6/29 Jim Watson
 
Church Council
 
The council will be meeting on Wednesday, June 17th the usual third Wednesday. Please make a note of it.
Trinity Sunday June 7th
 
Trinity Sunday June 7th

During the early fourth century the Arian heresy was in its heyday, which denied that Jesus was the incarnate God and declared Him to be a mere creature.  As Arius himself put it, “there was a time before he (Jesus) existed.”  The bishops of the Church catholic saw the urgent need to confess the faith with clarity against this error, and so the Nicene Creed was crafted and modified through the course of that century.  This is why the Nicene Creed says so much about the divinity of Jesus.  Liturgically, there also arose a special Mass in honor of the Holy Trinity.  This Mass was not originally assigned to a definite day, but was, rather a “votive Mass” the time of whose observance was open to the choice of whatever priest was celebrating it.  It was not until the ninth century that various Western bishops began to promote a special feast of the Holy Trinity, usually on the Sunday after Pentecost. They used propers said to have been composed by Abbot Alcuin in 804.  The popularity of this custom became especially evident in northern Europe.  In 1334 if was finally received by Pope John XXII into the official calendar of the Western Church as the Feast to be held everywhere on the Sunday after Pentecost.
 
The Preface of the Trinity which we still use today is the same one which was used by Saint Gregory the Great in the year 600: “who with Thine only begotten Son and the Holy Ghost art one God, one Lord, and in the confession of the only true God we worship the Trinity in Person and the Unity in substance, of majesty coequal. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Thy glorious name, evermore praising Thee and saying: Holy, Holy, Holy,” etc.
 
The Feast of the Holy Trinity now belongs among the great annual festivals of Christianity. Although it is not observed with additional liturgical services outside the Mass, its celebration quickly took root in the hearts and minds of the faithful, and in all countries of Europe popular traditions are closely associated with this feast.
 
Chief among the Trinitarian traditions is the sign of the cross, whose origin dates practically to apostolic times.  In the third century, Tertullian speaks of it as an early Christian practice: In all our undertakings — when we enter a place or leave it; before we dress; before we bathe; when we take our meals; when we light the lamps in the evening; before we retire at night; when we sit down to read; before each new task — we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads.
 
Our observance of this Feast today is no less important than it was in the fourth century, as we find attacks on the divinity of Christ every bit as prevalent now as they did then. 
 
Resources for this article were taken from www.catholicculture.org
 
Holy Ground and Reverence
 
Remember the holiness of our worship space and these guidelines:

• When you come to worship, remember that the most appropriate attitude is one of prayerful reflection.
• Remember too to be considerate of others around you who are also preparing for worship. Conversations can wait until later.
• There are helpful short prayers conveniently placed on page 4 in the front of the hymnal.
• At the close of worship, any conversations should be muted, or carried outside the worship space.
• Preparation for the Sacrament:
  • Make use of the font as detailed in the lead article of this newsletter
  • It is laudable to reverence the Sacrament on entering and on leaving.
  • Ladies should wipe off lipstick if necessary.
  • The host is best received on the tongue.
  • The cup is most conveniently received by touching the bottom (not the cup at the top) when offered, to help the celebrant know when a sip has been taken.

 
June Ushers: Allan Kraklow, Steve Kraklow, Tom Wells, Jim Hornback.
 
Altar Guild Notes

• Color is RED for the Pentecost octave, May 31st until June 6th.
• Color is WHITE for Trinity Sunday (June 7th) and its octave, including the Sunday after Trinity, June 14rd.
• Color is GREEN for following Sundays (Trinity season).
• Color is WHITE for Wednesday, June 24th, the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
• Next meeting is Tuesday, June 2nd.

Church Picnic Pending
 
This year’s church picnic plans depend on the opening of parks and restrictions, as well as other considerations. As plans develop, we will advise the membership.

June Anniversaries:

6/17/1967 Robert and Mary Beth Jones
6/18/1960 Sandra and John Verplaetse
6/18/1977 Fr. Burnell and Carol Eckardt
6/18/1966 Don and Sue Murphy
6/19/1977 Dana and Carol McReynolds
6/19/1966 Bill and Judy Thompson
 
Concordia Catechetical Academy Cancelled This Year
 
Due to Coronavirus restrictions and concerns, the annual Concordia Catechetical Academy Symposium in Sussex, Wisconsin is cancelled this year.
 
In Our Prayers
Our list of prayer intentions at mass includes the names on the lists below.  To update the lists please inform pastor.in our parish:
Emilie Ricknell, John Ricknell, Linda Rowe, Emmy Wear, Sue Murphy, Don Murphy, Dick Melchin,,DeAnne Anderson, Bea Harris, Allan Kraklow, 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]
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]
Theresa Moore [Ricknells’ niece]
Carol Grigsby [friend of Jewneel Walker]
Tim Newman [Kemerling relation]
Melinda Fisa [Monroe Kemerling’s granddaughter]
Kathy Boeger [re Harrises]
Allison Leezer [relative of the Kraklows]
Christopher Lewis [nephew of the Eckardts]
Sandra Eppely [relative of the Murphys]
Matthew and Timothy Graveson [re Eckardts]
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
Brett Armstrong
regarding the spread of disease
in trouble:
any unborn children in danger of abortion
those suffering from unrest, persecution, and imprisonment in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Nigeria, India, China, Vietnam, North Korea, and elsewhere.
 
Red for Pentecost
 
This year we are trying a custom which for us is new, but which many churches have employed for a long time. It has been suggested to members who attend on Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, that they wear red clothing if they have it conveniently to wear. The liturgical color for Pentecost is red, and it marks the birth of the Christian Church, when tongues of fire appeared over each of the apostles as they began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. This custom commemorates that event.
 
Other Tongues for Pentecost
 
The tradition of portraying the “other tongues” of Pentecost will be kept as the opening verse of the Gospel on Pentecost will be read in eight languages.  The eight languages are Greek, Latin, Swedish, Spanish, Russian, German, French, and English, in which the entire Gospel will continue.
 
St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church
   109 S. Elm Street
   Kewanee, IL 61443