Last Month's Newsletter

OCTOBER 2024
  In the liturgies of confession and absolution in our hymnal, just before the confession of sins, there is a rubric (liturgical direction) that says, “Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.” In this hymnal this is not a “may” rubric, that is, it is not meant to be optional.
 
Modern people are uncomfortable with silence. We don’t know what to do with it. At home we fill the void with noise. Noisy children, as they get older, retreat to their devices and headphones and fill their silence with voices and music. Adults do the same. People who are home bound or in care facilities often turn on their TV sets just for the constant stream of sound. Anything but being left alone with our thoughts.
 
In church this awkwardness is even more pronounced. We tend to fill up the empty spaces with filler music or with filler words. People start feeling uncomfortable when the silence drags on. And yet this one place in our liturgy of confession calls for deliberate, planned silence. This time of silence has a distinct purpose. It isn’t there for us to let our minds go blank, or think, “When is that robed guy going to start?” It is to reflect on God’s Word as it relates to our life. It is to meditate briefly on the holiness of God, on his threats of punishment against sinners, on our sinfulness in light of the Ten Commandments, and on God’s mercy in Jesus Christ, his willingness to forgive us for Christ’s sake.
 
The Ten Commandments. These are God’s standard of what sin is and what offends his holiness. During the silence of confession, we do well to run through these commandments and how we have fallen short. To do this, we need to know them: No other gods, God’s name, God’s day, father and mother, killing, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, coveting. At the very least, we need to have p. 321 in the hymnal handy so we can read through them and examine our hearts and lives.
 
Ideally, we should examine ourselves before church, the night before or morning of receiving the blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Yet if we do not, the silent time provided before the general confession of sins gives us at least a few moments to prepare ourselves for a heartfelt confession of sins, so that we’re not just uttering empty words read from a page. If we use this silence purposefully, we won’t be uncomfortable with it. Rather, we’ll wonder why the silence isn’t longer.
 
The more we loathe the sin that clings to us, the more we’ll love the words of the absolution: “As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” God bless you in your use of the brief silence as you prepare yourself to receive the precious body and blood of your Savior.
 
Pastor Ludwig
 

---

An Introduction to Rev. Chad Schopp
 
Rev. Chad Schopp is a 2013 graduate of CTSFW.  He joined the US Army when he was 17 years old and met his wife, Tami, who was serving in the US Air Force.  After completing his initial enlistment, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2000.  He worked as a geologist for the USGS and the US Forest Service and as production geologist in an underground platinum-palladium mine in Montana.  Continuing to serve in the Army National Guard, he went to Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as an Infantry Officer.
 
Pastor Schopp was not raised a Lutheran, nor much of anything.  He and Tami became Lutherans together after they were married and had kids.  The first LCMS church they attended was in Fairbanks, Alaska while he was in college.  While working as a geologist in Montana, he started diving deeper into theology and serving as an elder.  He was mobilized with his Infantry battalion and served as an Infantry platoon leader in Iraq in 2004-05.  He later applied to CTSFW and started Summer Greek in 2007.  He was only able to complete two quarters before being mobilized and deployed to Iraq again in 2008, forcing him to take a leave of absence from the seminary.  He returned to the M.Div program in 2010 and finally graduated in 2013, retiring from the Army National Guard at the same time.
 
His first call out of the seminary was as a missionary-church planter for the Montana District with the charge to start a congregation in south-central Montana.  This congregation celebrated its 10^th anniversary in 2023.  He was later called to serve a dual parish in the North Wisconsin District.  Pastor Schopp has been back at the seminary since 2021, serving as an Admission Counselor and also served as “permanent vacancy pastor” for Shepherd of the City Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, training and supervising field workers and vicars assigned there.
 
Pastor Schopp and his wife Tami both enjoy hunting pheasants and grouse and diving shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and the Caribbean.  They have two grown sons, one son at home, and two granddaughters.
 

---

               
  Our Savior
     October Birthdays                               
  1  David Johnson (Karla)    16  Zachary Johnson
  3  Sharon Deilke                 18  Paul Haar            
  4  Bethany Andreasen         18  Viena Klipfel
  7  Beverly Thayer                21  Katy Schaff
  8  Dan Heinz                       21  Brenda Taffe
12  Justin Hofer                     23  Jackie Hales
12  Glen Rausch                    24  Isaac Nelson
14  Joann Pomplun                26  Alison Andreasen
14  Todd Salfrank                  28  Trina Tschappat      
           
                Anniversaries   
       21  Jordon & Alison Andreasen
       29  Stuart & Stacey Nelson
       31  Dave & Rayma Scepaniak
 
Meetings in October
LWML – Mon Oct 7^th at 3:30 pm
Elders – Thur Oct 10^th at 5:15 pm
Church Council – Thur Oct 10^th at 6:30 pm
Voters Meeting – Sun Oct 13^th at 9:30 am
Nursery Circle – Sun Oct 13^th after the service
Board of Education – Sun Oct 20^th after the service
 
The Quarterly Voters Meeting will be Sunday, October 13^th at 9:30 am.  Please attend to help conduct the business of the church.

Elders for October – Douglas Klipfel & Don Hoops

Acolyte Schedule:
Oct. 6 – Tristan Tschappat & Teigan McKown
Oct. 13 – Caleb Siebert & Tucker Brick
Oct. 20 – Rhyan Johnson & Cassie McKown
Oct. 27 – Dalton Lee & Caden Gelling

Portals of Prayer for October – December are available in the narthex.

Lutheran Witness – The September issue of LW is available in the narthex. It still includes the insert about our SD District. The October issue should arrive very soon!

Installation Service – All are welcome to the installation service of Rev. Chad Schopp as our Senior Pastor on Sunday, October 13^th at 4:00 pm. Rev. Scott Sailer will be preaching, Rev. Kevin Moore will be lector, and Rev. Alan Ludwig will be liturgist. A meal will follow the service. We ask Our Savior members to bring salads/side dishes, and St. John’s members to bring desserts. Pulled pork and buns will be provided.

LWML Sunday is October 6^th. This year’s theme is “Ready to Serve,” based on Luke 1:38 –
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:38).
As redeemed children of God, Lutheran Women in Mission give thanks for the opportunity to serve others as we have been served, to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord and that He came for all nations, and to respond with our mite offerings to support God’s mission. Our example has been the widow and her mites. The offering she made was observed by our Lord leading Him to share that her copper coins, her mites, were “everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43). May our mite offerings be blessed for our Lord’s kingdom.

The Senior Potluck will be Tuesday, October 8^th at noon.  Join us for good food and friendship.

The Annual Meatball Dinner at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Aberdeen will be Sunday, October 6^th, 4:30-6:30 pm. The cost is $12 for adults and $5 for children age 6-12.

A Circuit Reformation Celebration will be held on Friday, November 1^st at 6:30 pm at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Aberdeen. Please join us for this special service.

Coffee & Confessions – Everyone is welcome on Tuesdays at 6:30 am at Our Savior. We are studying the Lutheran Confessions from the Book of Concord.

Vespers – A short service of Vespers (LSB p.229) is offered Wednesdays at 6:00 pm, before Bible Study.

Wednesday Bible Study – Join us on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm.

Staff Devotions – Anyone is welcome to join us for a devotion on Wednesdays at 9:00 am in Pastor’s study.

Saturday Bible Study – October 12^th  9:00-11:00 am
The End Times. Although there have always been some strange ideas about the last days, for most of its history the church has been unified in its general understanding of the end of the world. Only in the last 150 years has a teaching known as Dispensational Premillennialism with its insistence on a secret rapture of the church gained wide acceptance among Evangelicals and Pentecostals. What basis is there for this? Where does Israel fit into God’s plan? Will there be a literal thousand-year millennial reign of Christ on earth? A literal seven-year tribulation? An appearance of the Antichrist enthroning himself in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem? Learn the truth about these and other notions.

LWML Fall Christian Life Workshop –
October 12, 2024
"Understanding Mass Media from a Christian Perspective"
Presenter: Rev. Dr. Jacob Bobby 
St. John's Lutheran Church
1009 Jackson St, Yankton, SD
For more info, go to www.sdlwml.org 
 
Lutherans For Life invites you to join fellow life-minded Lutherans celebrating life and equipping ourselves on life issues during the LFL Regional Conference Midwest at Hope Lutheran Church in Shawnee, Kansas, on Saturday, October 12, 2024. This one-day in-person conference features four national life-affirming, Gospel-motivated speakers, as well as fellowship, lunch, and a service opportunity. Limited childcare is available. Come and learn how the Lord calls us to follow Him and be “Life in the Darkness.” Details and registration at https://lutheransforlife.org/conferences/
Along with the one-day conference on Saturday, October 12 from 8am-4pm, the Hope Lutheran Church Life Team has created and will perform a special Life Concert on Friday, October 11 at 7pm.

St. John’s Columbia
October Birthdays
  1  Karen Hermans              21  Cyndy Larson     
  4  Sharon Zastrow              21  Belle Rae Sieber
  5  Joyce Wilson                  28  Cole Bisbee
  8  Heather Underberg         28  John Bisbee
17  Amy Patton                     30  Dominick Borge

Anniversary
  6  Alfred & Doris Larson
 

---

---