Bulletin: Sunday February 18, 2024
View the bulletin for Sunday, February 18, 2024
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THIS WEEK AT ZION:
Saturday February 17
No Events Scheduled
Sunday February 18
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:15 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
6:00 p.m. - LCMS Youth Gathering Kick-Off meeting for teens & parents
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)
Monday February 19
6:00 p.m. - 1st Year Confirmation Class
6:30 p.m. - Faith Bell Choir Practice
7:00 p.m. - 2nd Year Confirmation Class
Tuesday February 20
6:15 p.m. - Grace Bell Choir Practice
6:30 p.m. - Adult Choir Practice
Wednesday February 21
2:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Communion & Bible Study
7:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Communion (No Bible Study)
Thursday February 22
6:00 p.m. - Adult Confirmation Class
Friday February 23
No Events Scheduled
Saturday February 24
No Events Scheduled
Sunday February 25
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:15 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)
Lutherans for Life
On Jan 18-20th, several Zion youth and their parents made a trip to Washington DC for the national March for Life, as well as the Lutherans for Life (LFL)/Youth4Life (Y4L) Conference held before and after the March itself. Around 200 youth and adult leaders attended the LFL- sponsored event. Session topics included: "Bearing Witness to the Sanctity of Life with Courage & Compassion", "Created Male & Female", and "Finding Joy in the Midst of Brokenness". It was a wonderful experience for all involved!
College Care Packages a Success
Thank you for your contributions to the college care packages!
Last fall, thanks to your generous contributions, we were able to fill nine boxes with snacks, gift cards, and advent devotions … one for each of the college/graduate students in our congregation. It’s always a nice feeling to be remembered from home. We will be collecting again for the Lenten care package mailings in late January. Thank you for your support.
Cheryl Debowski
College Care Package Coordinator
VIDEO: Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024 - Complete Service
View the Bulletin for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024
2:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
7:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative
Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.
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Old Testament Reading -- Joel 2:12–19
Epistle Reading -- 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10
The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the sixth chapter
AUDIO: Readings & Sermon for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024
View the Bulletin for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024
2:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
7:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative
Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
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Archive of BULLETINS
Old Testament Reading -- Joel 2:12–19
“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the elders;
gather the children,
even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her chamber.
Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples, ‘
Where is their God?’”
Then the LORD became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
The LORD answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations
Epistle Reading -- 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Working together with Him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says,
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the sixth chapter
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
AUDIO: Funeral Service for Mitchell Fitzgerald - Wednesday February 14, 2024
View the Funeral Bulletin for Mitchell Fitzgerald
Funeral Service at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday February 14, 2024
(Readings start at 6:30, Sermon starts at 11:20)
First Reading -- Psalm 118:1-9
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
Out of my distress I called on the LORD;
the LORD answered me and set me free.
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
The LORD is on my side as my helper;
I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in man.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
Second Reading -- Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Third Reading -- Matthew 6:25–33
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The Gospel of Mark 5:1-20
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
We Mourn the Loss of Mitchell Fitzgerald
Age 27, of Peters Township, on February 7, 2024. Beloved and cherished son of Timothy A. and Jodi L. (Herschaft) Fitzgerald; loving brother of Timothy E. (Kami L.) Fitzgerald, Jared M. Fitzgerald, and Jennifer J. Fitzgerald; proud uncle of Timothy E. Fitzgerald; adored grandson of Alice J. and the late Lawrence J. Fitzgerald, and the late Victor and Jacqueline Herschaft; great nephew of the late Albert Hatala and Etta and John Meehan; also survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Mitchell was a lifelong member of Zion Lutheran Church; he loved the Lord and sought to bring others to faith. He was a graduate of Peters Township high school, where he excelled as a wrestler and football player. He went on to study at the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown, where he continued to wrestle. He earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the California University of PA, with a 4.0 GPA. Mitchell served as a combat engineer in the U.S Army Reserve with the 420th Engineer Company in Indiana, PA. He was a counselor, a coach, and a soldier. Mitchell was a talented musician, he enjoyed playing the keyboard and singing. He was a lover of all sports including but not limited to football, wrestling, skateboarding, snowboarding, hockey, boxing, MMA, riding and racing dirt bikes, and more. Mitchell was a protector, a guardian, and a warrior. He was the guy who would stick up for anyone and give you the shirt off his back. He was a little stubborn, but he was also kind, smart, dependable, and had a great work ethic. He loved to make people laugh. He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him.
Family and friends received on Tuesday from 3-8 PM at the Warchol Funeral Home Inc., 3060 Washington Pike, Bridgeville (412.221.3333). A funeral service will be held on Wednesday at 10 AM at Zion Lutheran Church, Bridgeville. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests donations to the Gary Sinise Foundation.
Bulletin: Ash Wednesday February 14, 2024
View the Bulletin for Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024
2:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
7:00 p.m. - Worship Service with Imposition of Ashes and Communion
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative
Visit our YouTube channel — Click the red “subscribe” box, and then click on the “bell” next to that box to receive Live Streaming notifications. You must be logged into YouTube to activate these features.
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
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