AUDIO: Announcements, Readings, Sermon & Men’s Choir for Sunday February 23, 2025

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Old Testament Reading -- Genesis 45:3–15 
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. 

So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him. 

Epistle Reading -- 1 Corinthians 15:21–26, 30–42 
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. . . . 

Why am I in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame. 

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the sixth chapter
[Jesus said:] “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 

“Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” 

Men’s Choir -- Beautiful Savior 8 am 

Serving in all seasons

Ed Kaelberer, 92, leads singalongs at the assisted living community where he resides in Parker, Colo., for an hour every Friday afternoon. A retired church worker, he served as minister of music in congregations in Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado. (Sandy Hiltman)

From LCMS’ “Reporter by Morgan Consier and Cheryl Magness

Two seasoned LCMS Lutherans are demonstrating, in their local communities, that God’s faithfulness never ends, nor does His call to serve one’s neighbor as He enables.

‘The room is always full’
Ed Kaelberer, a longtime minister of music in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), retired from church work years ago but still serves through music by leading singalongs in his assisted living community in Parker, Colo. Kaelberer’s son, Jon Kaelberer, says his father’s “love for music and serving others runs deep.”

Kaelberer, 92, didn’t set out to be a church worker. In high school, he was involved in music, but when an admissions representative from the Gale Institute in Minneapolis (formerly the Electronic-Radio Institute) came to talk to his class, he decided to enter the school’s program to become a railroad telegrapher. “It was a good job,” Kaelberer said. “I enjoyed it. But I missed music.”

Kaelberer enrolled at Concordia University, Nebraska (CUNE), Seward, Neb., where he studied organ, played trumpet and sang with the concert choir. He would go on to graduate from CUNE and serve as a minister of music in congregations in Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — more than 25 of those years at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Denver. He earned a Master of Music from University of Colorado, Boulder, and, in 1969, served as musician for the 1969 LCMS convention, which was held that year in Denver. “Paul Manz was the featured performer,” Kaelberer said. “I just oversaw the daily worship.”

After retiring from music ministry, Kaelberer continued to maintain an active schedule for many years as a performer for special events and concerts in the Denver area. He is no longer able to play in the broader community but finds joy in bringing music to his retirement community, where he moved after the death of his wife, Ruth, in 2020. Each week, on Friday afternoon, community members gather for an hour of singing, led by Kaelberer.  

“The room is always full,” Kaelberer says. “I pick a theme — hymns, patriotic songs, Christmas music, country/western — and we sing those songs for a half hour. Then I open up for requests for another half hour … or sometimes longer,” he says with a smile.

But with all of his varied musical experiences, Kaelberer says his most important musical contributions were to the church. “Music is so important to the church. It helps people with their faith. It’s the words, the message.” He is encouraged by the Synod’s Set Apart to Serve initiative, which seeks to build a culture of church work recruitment across the church. “We need more young people to go into church work.”

Asked what was, for him, the most rewarding aspect of being a church musician, Kaelberer said it was leading congregational singing from the organ. “People love the organ. It can do so much.” One of his most cherished memories is attending the farewell recital of a retiring organist he once taught. “I only got him started,” Kaelberer said. “He went on to study with Charles Ore [former organ professor at CUNE] and become a fine musician. But he dedicated the first piece on his recital to me because I was his first teacher. That meant a lot.”

Kaelberer acknowledges that church work is hard. “Everyone has an opinion. It doesn’t pay very well, and you don’t get many breaks.” But he says he’s “never been sorry that I did what I did. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I would.”

Ruth Werning, 103, is pictured at American Family Field in Milwaukee, where she threw out the first pitch before a Brewers game on Aug. 15, 2024. (TMJ4 News/Brendyn Jones/Used by permission)

Ruth Werning, 103, is pictured at American Family Field in Milwaukee, where she threw out the first pitch before a Brewers game on Aug. 15, 2024. (TMJ4 News/Brendyn Jones/Used by permission)

‘The blessings are countless’
On Aug. 15, 2024, before the start of the Milwaukee Brewers–Los Angeles Dodgers game at American Family Field in Milwaukee, 103-year-old Brewers fan Ruth Werning threw out the first pitch, marking yet another item off her personal bucket list. It’s a list that included things like “become a Lutheran school teacher,” “marry a pastor” and “have children,” all of which she has also checked off. Through it all, the constant in Werning’s life has been her faith, which she continues to share with anyone she meets, especially her neighbors at Harwood Place in Wauwatosa, Wis., where she has lived in an independent-living apartment since 2006.

Born in 1921 to devout Lutheran parents and raised in the Milwaukee area, Werning got her two-year teaching degree at Concordia College (now Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis.) and served as a Lutheran school teacher. She continued to teach until she and the Rev. Waldo Werning were married in 1945 and moved to his first pastoral call. The couple went on to have five children, and Ruth stayed home with them until they went to school. As the family moved for Waldo Werning’s calls, Werning found ways to serve those around her as a pastor’s wife. “I was part of the connection [with the congregation], and it was a very important part of my life,” Werning said.

Once her children were in school full time, she returned to school herself to obtain her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Her particular area of interest was in special education, both for children with learning disabilities and for gifted students. She loved to help them learn each in their own ways and at their own paces. She was a listening ear to those who might have felt like others didn’t want to hear what they had to say.

Werning credits her love of serving others to the example her parents set for her in childhood. When she was a child, her parents took her to every Sunday and midweek service at church. They were active in serving their congregation and with organizations such as the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and Milwaukee’s Kinderheim and Altenheim homes (now The Lutheran Home).

Throughout her life, Werning has continued to watch for opportunities to serve others and share the blessings God has given her. After she retired from teaching in 1989, she continued to work with gifted students at Concordia Lutheran School in Fort Wayne, Ind. She then worked with a group called Future Problem Solvers of America within that school until moving to Wisconsin and continuing her work with Future Problem Solvers at Divine Savior Lutheran School in Hartland, Wis. Even before she moved in to Harwood Place, she was volunteering at The Lutheran Home, leading a program for seniors with early-onset dementia. Since becoming a resident, she has been an active volunteer, even emceeing the annual Christmas program put together by residents.

Werning never thought she would end up living to be over 100, as her mother died at the age of 88. Her sister, however, lived to be 104, so that is Werning’s next goal.

When asked for her advice for living to be over 100, Werning said: “No. 1 is all praise and glory to God. I say that, and I mean it. There would not be one thing going on without Him leading and guiding me. The blessings are countless.”

“If I can witness just by my daily living, just by being God’s child in all that I do, then I will have completed my purpose in life, because that’s the only reason I’m here, to be a servant of the Lord,” Werning said.

Werning takes each day as an opportunity to serve and build community with those around her.

“So many people say, ‘I don’t know why the Lord hasn’t called me home yet. I don’t know what the Lord wants me to do,’ said the Rev. Derek Wolter, chaplain at The Lutheran Home and Harwood Place. “Ruth is taking that gift she has of making connection and continuing, even with her prayer life, to keep a connection with people and letting them know ‘You are important to God.’ ”

Werning feels content with what she has accomplished in life.

“I have accepted [God’s] blessings for so long in my life,” Werning said. “And when it’s time for Him to call me home, I’ll accept that blessing too, by God’s grace.”

Werning’s second piece of advice, as someone who has lived over a century, is telling people to always choose joy, no matter their circumstances or what obstacles they might be facing.

“They may not see any joy in their life right now, but it’s there because the joy of salvation in Christ doesn’t change.”

That joy of salvation shines through Werning, especially to those at The Lutheran Home.

“She is full of joy and happiness. And reaching out to others,” said Sheri Polczynski, executive director of Harwood Place. “She walks the common areas each day. She’s stopping in at staff doors and checking in on them, making them laugh, making them smile.”

“The joy is definitely there. It’s not forced. The joy is … present in Ruth because she is … so grateful for God’s presence in her life,” Wolter said. “It just springs forth.”

Werning’s faith has sustained her throughout her life, and she encourages people of all ages to keep the Lord at the forefront of their lives, whether they are young or old.

“Keep the Lord with you no matter how old you are. It’s not a case of ‘I’ll live my life without worship, without God, because later on when I get older then I’ll spend more time in worship,’” Werning said. “It doesn’t work that way. Eternity may start today, this moment, for anyone.”

Every morning, with her coffee thermos in hand, Werning sits in her recliner to pray. She prays for those close to her, including five children, 10 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and the staff at The Lutheran Home. With all those people to pray about, it takes her a while to get to everyone’s names individually.

“By the time I get down to the youngest great-grandchild, sometimes I have to stop and think, ‘Did I get all five in that family by name?’” Werning said. “Not that the Lord wouldn’t know if I said, ‘Bless all my grandchildren.’ ”

Werning tells those about whom she is praying that she is doing so, because she wants them to notice the work that God is doing in their lives through those prayers and to encourage them to keep people in their lives in their prayers as well. She continues to live her life, thanking the Lord for the countless blessings He has given her.

“I am so blessed. It’s the last thing I say at night, in the middle of the night, and in the morning. I am blessed by the Lord. … And I thank God every day for everything, all by God’s grace.”

 Morgan Consier (morganconsier@wccta.net) is an editor and writer who lives with her husband and children in central Iowa. 

Bulletin: Sunday February 23, 2025 + This Week at Zion

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THIS WEEK AT ZION

Saturday February 22
No Events Scheduled

Sunday February 23
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)

Monday February 17
6:00 p.m. - Confirmation
6:00 p.m. - Grace Bell Choir Practice
7:00 p.m. - Confirmation

Tuesday February 18
6:15 p.m. - Faith Bell Choir Practice
7:15 p.m. - Adult Choir Practice

Wednesday February 19
2:00 p.m. - Mid-Week Worship Service
2:30 p.m. - 30 min. Bible Study
(Service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Thursday February 20
7:00 p.m. - LWML Meeting (Additional Information)

Friday February 21
6:30 p.m. - Family Bingo Night and Pot Luck Dinner (Additional Details)

Saturday February 22
No Events Scheduled

Sunday February 23
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)

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We Mourn the Loss of Dennis Finney

We Mourn the Loss of Dennis Finney
It has pleased the Lord to call unto Himself our brother-in-Christ, Dennis Finney, this morning at 11:00. Dennis had suffered cardiac arrest earlier this week and was in the ICU at the hospital. Funeral details will be forthcoming. Please continue to pray for his wife, Melanie; his mother, Esther; and the rest of his family. May the Lord comfort them with the assurance of eternal life in Him.

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Shout Out to Students (Part 2 of 2)

Joshua Grimenstein, a senior at South Fayette HS, broke the SFHS school swimming record in the 100 Fly - a record that was 26 years old. Joshua now holds 4 high school records - the 100 Backstroke, 200 IM, 100 Fly, and the 500 Freestyle. In the fall, Joshua has committed to swim at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI, where he will double major in Computer Engineering and Computer Science. 

The 2025 WPIAL Swim Championships take place February 27th and 28th at Trees Pool at PITT, and Joshua has qualified in numerous events - as well as several relays with his brother Daniel. 

Go Joshua and Daniel! 

Shout Out to Students (Part 1 of 2)

Pippa Carter, a 7th grader in the Mt. Lebanon School District, performed with her String Quartet from the Mellon Middle School Orchestra at Mt. Lebanon’s annual Winter Market & Holiday Celebration on December 7th. The quartet played a festive selection of Christmas hymns and carols. 

Bravo, Pippa! 

VIDEO: Wednesday February 19, 2025 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study (the Book of Malachi): 2:30 p.m
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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