From the Pastor’s Desk

And so you set aside the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they are doctrines.” (Matthew 15:6b-9 EHV)

At the quarterly Voters’ meeting on Sunday, April 21, the Board of Education brought a proposal to move the LES Christmas service off Christmas Eve to another date. They had their reasons. Those not in favor of this also brought their reasons. In the end, a majority of the Voters approved keeping the LES Christmas Service on Christmas Eve. If you ask me what I thought, it didn’t matter to me either way. I will continue to carry out the duties of my gospel ministry among you based on the will of the congregation according to God’s Word. But one thing caught my attention. One argument for keeping the LES Christmas Service on Christmas Eve was that “this has always been tradition at St. John’s.” It made me think of the passage above and prompts me to sound a warning.

The context of the passage is that the Lord Jesus was chastising the Pharisees for holding one to “tradition.” Just so you understand, after the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity, the Jewish rabbis recognized that it was Israel’s unfaithfulness toward, and disobedience of the law covenant the Lord had made with Israel at Mt. Sinai that had resulted in the exile. To make sure this didn’t happen again, the rabbis came up with a lengthy set of regulations that, in their minds, would prevent the Jews from breaking the law covenant. These extra-regulations became the “tradition.” Jesus points out the dangers of holding to “their tradition”: 1) their man-made tradition became more important to them than God’s Word; 2) they thought they were good in outwardly following their tradition, but their hearts weren’t into worshiping God; 3) their allegiance to their tradition caused them to miss and reject the Messiah God had promised to send through them, Jesus Christ.

There was an old tradition in the WELS, and, if I understand correctly, it was also practiced here at St. John’s, in which the men sat on one side of the church and women and children sat on the other side. We no longer do that. Why? We eventually recognized that the tradition was not beneficial in promoting family worship (not to mention the extra burden on mothers). Sometimes traditions aren’t for the overall good of the congregation. We, at St. John’s, used to have a tradition of having German services in between the two English services. We no longer do that. Sometimes, traditions run their course and aren’t beneficial for the congregation anymore.

Hey, I’m for tradition, if it is beneficial for the members as a whole. But I am not a slave to and I pray that you are not a slave to, “This is our tradition,” or, “This is what we traditionally do,” if it is detrimental to our congregation as a whole. The vote was to keep the LES Christmas Service on Christmas Eve. Good! That is, if the intent was that this is good for the congregation as a whole and not just for the sake of tradition. The Elders and Church Council have heard me say this: we need to be a “for us” and not a “for me” congregation. The “for me” or “what I want” attitude is the spiritual problem that has resulted in lack of church attendance, financial struggles, and a far less than optimum involvement in activities and programs. If “for me” has become the tradition here at St. John’s, I don’t want it, and this is the start of me, your spiritual shepherd, changing that. Please pray about this.

Serving you in Christ,
Pastor Paul Schaewe

Worship Update

This Month: The month of May gives us the second half look at our Savior’s resurrection. This part of RISEN TO GIVE focuses on what our Savior is looking for from us whom he has redeemed. Note that the first Sunday of the month is Confirmation Sunday. Also, the last weekend of the month begins the church year transition from the life of Christ to Christian living, beginning with the series ONLY JESUS. The service details are in the following table.

Greeters for February

Altar Committee for February
Gretchen Trumble

Congregational Acts

Baptized, 4/7/24
Beau Allen Clark, infant son of Kyle and Samantha (Lane) Clark

Thank you!
Easter for Kids: 46 children attended and spent the morning with us listening to stories, doing crafts, playing in the gym, singing, and dancing to fun videos. We also held our annual Easter Egg Hunt after the event. Thank you to our members for their generous donations that allowed our team to fill 1,000+ eggs for our egg hunt! Thank you, also, to Thrivent Financial for their grant that enabled us to put goody bags together for each child.

The Events Group would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped with the meals during the Lenten season and Easter breakfast. Many hands helped with providing desserts, serving meals, and clean-up afterwards. It was very much appreciated! We served and shared fellowship with about 540 people over the weeks of Lent and Easter breakfast.

We’re always open to suggestions and feedback from our fellow congregants. We welcome any who would like to join our group, also!

Evangelism Committee - News and Notes
Young Adult Group: We are starting a new group called the “Young Adults Group”. This group is intended to provide fellowship opportunities for all members who are fresh out of high school going up to age 40. We are tentatively planning each meeting to have a short topical Bible study as well as some fun activity. No matter if you are married, single, dating, or engaged, if you are part of this age range, you are warmly invited to attend. (Any member who feels young at heart is also invited to come!) We will meet at church on Thursday, May 16th at 7:00 pm.

Reminder for Families: The Evangelism Committee is gearing up for its summertime Open Playground/Sack Lunch program. This will take place every Thursday at 10:00 am starting the week of June 10 and going to the week of August 5th. All of our families are invited to come. Please bring your friends with you! We’d love to see you there.

Volunteer Opportunities: Looking for a way to help out? Volunteer to be one of our weekend greeters at worship. We’d be happy to have you on our greeter team as we welcome all people – member and visitor alike – to worship. Please talk to Becky Behrmann if interested. Also, if anyone would like to help deliver our weekly services folders to our shut-ins, please talk to one of the pastors. We’d be happy to help you connect (or reconnect) with our shut-ins so that they still feel connected to our church family.

Event Committee News
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, August 10th, the event committee is sponsoring a ceramic craft day, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. This is open to everyone, ages 10 and up; children must be accompanied by an adult. Paints and brushes will be provided. Flyers will be out soon showing which pieces will be available and the price for each. Projects must be paid for in advance; deadline to order is July 14th. Watch for more information!

Other Announcements

School and Church families, we need your help! Here is a great way to show love and support to our area homeless. We can put into action our compassion for even those we don’t know or don’t appear to have anything in common with, just as in the parable of the Good Samaritan. We have applied for the Community Care and Compassion grant that is sponsored through our Synod. You may remember hearing about it during the WELS Connection that was played after each church service a few weeks ago. It is a grant designed with Christian Outreach in mind. The Grant will match our contributions dollar for dollar up to $2,500.00! We are going to use the money to buy items to make “Rescue Bags” to distribute to our local homeless shelter - the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission. The upper grades will help shop, assemble and distribute the bags. The Mission has sent a list of needed items. Normally we would collect the needed items; however, this grant matches monetary donations. There will be envelopes to donate in both the school and church. Deadline will be Sunday, May 12th. The Deadline is short for two reasons: we just learned about this Grant and we need to complete our mission before school ends so the students can help. The Rescue Mission is in dire need - they have received only half of their usual donations. Any amount you can spare will be matched and greatly appreciated. Blessings to you.

Ascension Service: Mt. Olive will host this year’s Ascension service for the area WELS churches on Thursday, May 9th at 6:30 pm with Holy Communion. Mt. Olive will also provide refreshments after the service (602 Sidney St.). Pastor Zach Steinke will serve as liturgist. Pastor Mike Killinger (Bethel) will serve as preacher. Karen Coberley (Mt. Olive) will serve as organist, Pam Hart (Trinity) as choir director, and Shannon Hatzung (Trinity) as choir accompanist.

If you would like to sing in the choir, contact Pam Hart (989) 600-7572. Please identify yourself and your church. There are two rehearsals at 6:30 pm. They are Tuesday, April 30th at Trinity and Tuesday, May 7th at Mt. Olive. Summer Office Hours begin June 3rd . The office will be open from 9:30 am - 2:30 pm, closed on Fridays. Regular office hours will resume after Labor Day.

School News

Graduation dates: We ask God’s continued blessings on our students and look forward to seeing many of their smiling faces next year at St. Johns! Preschool and Kindergarten Graduation will be on May 19th: 3-year-old at 12:00 noon; 4-year-old at 2:00 pm; Kindergarten at 4:00 pm. The 8 th Grade Graduation Service will be held in church on Friday, May 31st, at 6:00 pm; grades K-8 will be singing. M.A.L.L. League Track Meet, for grades 1-8, will be held at Garber High School in Essexville on Friday, May 24th, starting at 10:00 am. Come cheer on our school!

The MLS Track Meet will be held on Wednesday, May 29th, at Cardinal Field. Come cheer on our 5th – 8th graders as they participate in races and field events! Events begin at 10:00 am.

Last Day of School/Picnic is Thursday, May 30th. When the students are released, we will go to Williams Township Park, 1080 W. Midland Rd., Auburn, for our school picnic. A Hotdog lunch will be provided.

Registration and Enrollment: The school year is drawing to a close! Please look over the re-enrollment paperwork that was sent home in March with your student(s) and turn your signed tuition worksheet and FERPA consent form(s) to the school office. Complete your PowerSchool online registration for each returning student, and log in to FACTS to verify your bank account information. This must be done by the end of the current school year. Visit https://www.stjohnsbc.org/sjlsenrollment for more info.

Playground Evangelism: From July 1st – through July 29th, Mrs. Peil will be having ‘Playground Evangelism’ on Monday evenings from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, to give children and families a chance to get together and visit. The parking lot will be open so bring your lawn chair and plan to have a great time visiting while the children have fun playing on the play-ground. Everyone is invited, so bring a friend. In case of rain, the evening will be cancelled – we will not meet in the gym. Popsicles provided, so come join us!

Teacher Call update: the call extended to Mr. Andrew Danner of St. Paul’s, Plymouth, NE, to serve as our 7th & 8th grade Teacher/Principal has been returned. We will now go to the Assignment Committee at MLC and request a teacher for a one year call. Call Day at MLC is May 18th.

St. John’s Summer 2024 Basketball Camp: we invite boys and girls in all skill levels, to learn basketball basics in a Christ-centered environment.

AGES: Grades 1-8 (Boys + Girls)
DATE: July 9th -11 (Tuesday through Thursday)
PLACE: St. John's Lutheran Church & School - Bay City
COST: $25/student

• Morning session (9:00 am-11:00 am) Gr. 1-4

• Afternoon session (12:00 pm-2:00 pm) Gr. 5-8

• Basketball , T-shirt, and a snack is included in registration cost! Space is limited. You must register for this event. To register, please visit our school’s website, click on the most recent Cat Tracks, and use the link provided.

Preschool Packets for the 3 year-old and 4 year-old preschool classes for 2024/2025 are available in the school and church offices. In order to attend, the child must be 3 or 4 by September 1st and toilet trained.

MLS News
Registration for our 2024 MLS Summer Camps is now open! Our camps emphasize teaching teamwork, fundamentals and skills in a positive, Christian setting. The camp directors see this as an opportunity to use the beautiful facilities of Michigan Lutheran Seminary to work with our synod’s youth. Our staff is dedicated to making our camps a positive experience for each camper.

Family Discount: If you will be registering for more than one camp within the same household we now offer a 15% family discount. Enter the code FAMILY when ordering to receive the discount. You MUST be signed up for multiple camps to use the code. If you use the code and have only signed up for one camp your order will be voided. To register visit www.mlsem.org. Registration ends on June 1, 2024 at midnight.

MLS Graduation Activities: The annual Commencement Concert will be held on Friday, May 24th, at 7:00 pm, in the MLS Gymnasium. The Graduation Service for the Class of 2019 will be May 27th, at 10:30 am, also in MLS Gymnasium.

Around the WELS

Retirement News: Our former 7th/8th grade teacher and principal, Michael Falk, is retiring after 51 years in the teaching ministry. First Lutheran Church and School (415 Devendorf St., Elkhorn, WI 53121), would like to invite anyone from our church/school to join them in wishing him God's blessings on his retirement in a special service on May 26th at 10:30am. A light meal will follow.

Gloria Dei Lutheran, of Saginaw, would like to extend an invitation to our congregation to join them in an evening of fellowship. They will be showing the feature film, “His Only Son”, which delves into a major event from the Old Testament, about Abraham and Isaac. This movie is rated PG-13 and the run time is 104 minutes. The feature will be shown on Friday, May 31st; doors open at 6:30 pm. There will also be a small concession stand available.

Church Council Notes –April 16, 2024

Elders’ Report

• No membership changes

• The Elders reviewed contacts they have made with inactive members.

• The Elders discussed Pastor Schaewe’s call to Grafton & Geneva, Nebraska.

Trustees Report

• Two new faucets have been installed in the downstairs bathrooms.

• The bell problems have been resolved.

Board of Education Report

• The Board, together with the faculty, recommended seeking a one-year teacher assignment from MLC to cover Mr. Paulsen’s teaching duties next school year.

• The Board began discussions on how to cover Mr. Paulsen’s administrative duties next year.

• The Board approved a gym-use agreement for WELS members (which includes giving a donation to St. John’s for use of the gym).

Treasurer’s Report

Total offerings for the 1st quarter were $125,147; $6,112 less that what we had budgeted. Income from other areas was $20,027; $20,923 less that what we had anticipated in our budget.

Old Business

• The Council plans to review with the voters at the upcoming meeting the plans for withdrawing funds from the Endowment Fund, if needed, during the ongoing financial crisis.

New Business

• The Council voted to pass on the Board of Education’s recommendation to request a one-year teacher assignment from MLC to the voters.

• The Trustees discovered some leaking in the stone slabs of the bell tower.