REMINDER: Important Voter’s Meeting Sunday 4/28

In recent weeks Zion's Call Committee has reviewed documentation from seven candidates, and from there narrowed its search down to two. Most recently, on March 20th the Committee interviewed the two candidates. Following the interviews and much discussion, the committee unanimously chose Joanna Lee as the candidate to whom they would like to extend a call. 

Joanna Ruth Lee (Johnson) was born in Saginaw, MI and grew up in Newton, NC. She is the daughter of an LCMS pastor, and the third of six siblings. While serving as an LCMS missionary in Taiwan, she met her husband, Richard (Chun Yu Lee). The Lees have a daughter, Janna, born in 2020, and a son, Leopold, born in 2022. 

Joanna will obtain her Master of Arts in Deaconess Studies this August from Concordia Theological Seminary at Fort Wayne, IN. She is currently interning at Perry Lutheran Homes and Christ Lutheran Church in Perry, IA. Prior to seminary, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music from Concordia University, St. Paul, MN. Joanna is a Rostered Director of Parish Music (Commissioned 2017). 

On Sunday, April 28th following the 10:30 service, a Voters' Meeting will be held during which the committee will recommend Joanna Lee for approval by the congregation. 

Please make every effort to attend this important meeting and participate in the call process. 

Bulletin: Sunday April 28, 2024

View the bulletin for Sunday, April 28, 2024
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins

THIS WEEK AT ZION

Saturday April 27
No Event’s Scheduled

Sunday April 28
Following the 10:30 service, a Voter’s Meeting will be held
during which the committee will recommend Deaconess Joanna Lee for approval by the congregation. 
Voter’s Meeting regarding Deaconess
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:00 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Children’s Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
Voter’s Meeting following second service — lunch served
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Monday April 29
6:00 p.m. - 1st Year Confirmation
6:30 p.m. - Faith Bell Choir Practice
7:00 p.m. - 2nd Year Confirmation

Tuesday April 30
6:15 p.m. - Grace Bell Choir Practice
7:15 p.m. - Adult Choir Practice

Wednesday May 1
2:00 p.m. Mid-Week Worship with Communion
2:30 p.m. - 30 min. Bible Study
(The 2:00 p.m. service is streamed Live on our YouTube channel)

Thursday May 2
6:30 p.m. - Event’s Committe Meeting

Friday May 3
No Event’s Scheduled

Saturday May 4
No Event’s Scheduled

Sunday May 5
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
9:15 a.m. — Adult/Teen Bible Study & Children’s Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service with Communion
12:00 Noon - Zion Women’s Ministries Spring Rally ADDITIONAL DETAILS
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Lutheran Church Extension Fund

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Greetings in Christ!

Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) has served the congregations, schools and associated ministries of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) for over 40 years. Our mission is to ensure you have the resources available to fulfill your call for God’s glory. In accomplishing our mission, we place LCEF District Vice Presidents in your area to help and support you and the congregations of the LCMS.

LCEF is currently seeking an individual to serve as the LCEF District Vice President in the Atlantic, Eastern and New Jersey Districts. I humbly ask for your assistance in identifying potential candidates to fill this critical role. Please know that this position is intended to help and support you and the congregations of the LCMS. It’s important we find the right person for this position. To support our search, we will be awarding a $1,500 referral grant to the congregation who assists us in finding the right person.

Please consider passing along the position description and application found HERE. Thank you for your assistance in finding the right person for this position and for your ser-vice to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Blessings, 

Vanda Toner 
Senior Vice President, District Solutions 
Lutheran Church Extension Fund 

Lutherans for Life: Unchanging

Only another --and greater--certainty can deliver us 
by Pastor Michael Salemink, Executive Director, LFL 

Springtime brings changes. Weather, wildlife, and wardrobe are switching. Timepieces, taxes, and athletics are shifting. Improvement? Erosion? Or just over and over again? Whichever, we rarely and barely keep up with all the moving targets. 

The sanctity of life has also seen its share of changes. Medical ultrasound machines arrived in the 1940s. Chemists first synthesized hormonal birth control in the 1950s. The “sexual revolution” started in the 1960s. Abortion access became mandatory in the 1970s. In vitro fertilization commenced in the 1980s. Physician-assisted suicide gained acceptance in the 1990s. Pill abortions arose in the 2000s. CRISPR genetic engineering originated in the 2010s. 

Public regulations and political regimes continue to fluctuate. Novel measures using death as a solution keep emerging. As the hymnwriter memorably said, “Change and decay in all around I see.” It echoes the Apostle: “the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31, in a discourse directly addressing marriage and sexuality). 

The whole creation convulses in the aftershocks of humankind’s fall. Since the forbidden fruit, sin and death have remained a constant of our race and our universe. Whatever our size or skills or circumstances, brokenness retains its hold. Evil may change clothes but never its core. 

Pastor Michael Salemink 

Only another—and greater—certainty can deliver us. The grace of Almighty God stands universal. The love of Jesus Christ still prevails as it always has and ever will. His work of creating proclaims every human life special—fact. His labor of redeeming proves every human life precious—truth. His activity of calling pronounces every human life priceless—reality. From the beginning—both the first moment of creation and the split-second of fertilization—until eternity this Gospel endures. 

We speak this truth because it changes even the hardest and darkest hearts. We show this love because it saves lives in the most desperate situations and despite age, appearance, or ability. And we receive every neighbor as a gift and privilege because we delight together in a steadfast, faithful, and unchanging God. 

VIDEO: Wednesday, April 24, 2024 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

AUDIO: Announcements, Readings & Sermon for Wednesday April 24, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

Leviticus 16:1-24 
The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died, and the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in  water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the  people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt  offering. 

“Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel.[a] And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. 

“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the LORD and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel. 

“And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. 

Luke 10:1-22 
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 

“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 

The Lord’s Prayer – The Sixth Petition
What is the Sixth Petition? 
And lead us not into temptation. 
What does this mean?
God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory. 

Bulletin: Wednesday April 24, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
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”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of BULLETINS