Help Build a Rose Parade Float

Sign Up Now for a "Bucket List" Experience at the 2026 Rose Parade
Registration is open to serve as a Petal Pushers volunteer who will help bring to life several floats for the 2026 Tournament of Roses Parade scheduled for January 1 in Pasadena, CA. The Petal Pushers, a group of thousands of volunteers who decorate the Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) float and up to nine others each year, will begin working on the 2025 parade floats the three Saturdays prior to Christmas (Dec. 6, 13, & 20). They will then work two shifts a day beginning Dec. 26 until the floats are completed.

Individuals ages 13 and older can work as little as one shift, or as many as they want, on a variety of tasks necessary to complete the floats, including attaching thousands of roses, carnations, lilies, mums, and other flowers, as well as natural materials, such as seeds, coffee beans, and leaves, to create the beauty and splendor of the floral floats traveling down Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard on parade day. Volunteers of all skill levels are needed; whether this will be your very first time, or you are a seasoned veteran, there are dozens of jobs to do.

Building off of the 2026 Tournament of Roses Parade Theme, "The Magic in Teamwork", the LHM Float Committee proudly presents its Diamond Anniversary Float, "Bringing Christ to the Nations". For 75 years LHM has started the new year with a Christian Message of hope in Jesus Christ in the form of a floral Rose Parade Float. This year's float features a Team Jesus Blimp flying over the world and coming forth from the church as Jesus celebrates with 12 modern-day disciples as it features the message ALL WELCOME.

"Only about forty individuals are needed each year to work on the LHM float, so the majority of Petal Pushers decorate other parade floats, which brings in funds to lower the cost of the LHM float being part of the annual event," says Dick Gast, chair of the LHM Float Committee. "Working on a variety of floats allows our volunteers to meet people from diverse backgrounds who join us from all across the country, believers and nonbelievers alike, offering a chance to make new friends, network, and share expressions of the faith that gives true meaning to this experience." Visit petalpushers.org for more information about the Petal Pushers, the tour options, or to register to decorate.

Did you Know?
As the only Christian float in the Rose Parade, the LHM float provides a Gospel witness to viewers everywhere, from along the parade route to TVs worldwide. The float is a self-funded project of the Southern California District of the Lutheran Laymen's League and is not included in LHM's operating budget.

Zion’s own Barb & Wayne Oechslein have served as Petal Pushers … they are happy to share their thoughts on this wonderful experience!

Want to be a Voice for Life?

Three Ways to Make it Happen!

• It only takes one! A Life Advocate works with their pastor to share God’s Love For Life!

• Grab your friends! A Life Team is a group of life-affirming volunteers at church creating meaningful and fun ways to support life!

• Strength in numbers! A Life Chapter is one or more churches working together to impact their communities

Learn more at LutheransForLife.org

VIDEO: Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m. with communion
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. - Psalm 90 with Pastor Grimenstein
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

AUDIO: Readings & Sermon for Wednesday, October 22, 2025

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m. with communion
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. - Psalm 90 with Pastor Grimenstein
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

Deuteronomy 21:1-23 
If in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess someone is found slain, lying in the open country, and it is not known who killed him, then your elders and your judges shall come out, and they shall measure the distance to the surrounding cities. And the elders of the city that is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has never been worked and that has not pulled in a yoke. And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister to him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every assault shall be settled. And all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall testify, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. Accept atonement, O LORD, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. 

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her. 

“If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him children, and if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved, then on the day when he assigns his possessions as an inheritance to his sons, he may not treat the son of the loved as the firstborn in preference to the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn, but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the firstfruits of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. 

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. 

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. 

Matthew 16:1-12 
And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. 

When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

The Lord’s Prayer – The Second Petition
What is the Second Petition? 
Thy kingdom come. 
What does this mean?
The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also. 
How does God’s kingdom come?
God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. 

Audio: Readings, Sermon & Men’s Choir for Sunday, October 19, 2025

Our software/technical issue has been resolved, and the recording for Sunday, October 19, 2025 is now available.
Click on the black bar above that says “Audio: Readings, Sermon & Men’s Choir for Sunday, October 19, 2025”

View the bulletin for Sunday, October 19, 2025
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins

Old Testament Reading -- Genesis 32:22–30 
The same night [Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” 

Epistle Reading – 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5 
As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the eighteenth chapter
[Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” 

Men’s Choir -- Come Thou Fount (8 am) 

Bulletin: Wednesday, October 22, 2025

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m. with communion
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. - Psalm 90 with Pastor Grimenstein
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

We Mourn the Loss of Mary Louise Hutula

Mary Louise Hutula, née Engel, 81, of McMurray, PA, passed away peacefully on October 17, 2025. Born on May 26, 1944, in Davenport, IA, to John Francis Engel and Edna Henrietta Thomsen, Mary lived a vibrant life defined by compassion, faith, family, and community service. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Mary graduated from L’Anse High School in 1962, where she shone as a cheerleader and was actively involved in numerous clubs, showcasing her spirited nature. She earned a nursing degree from Northern Michigan University in 1964, pursuing her passion for helping others. That same year, she married her high school sweetheart, David N. Hutula, in L’Anse, MI, and together they shared 61 years of marriage, building a legacy of love and togetherness. In 1970, Mary and David moved to the Pittsburgh area, where they established deep roots.

A devoted mother, Mary is survived by her two sons, Scott Hutula (wife Joanna) of Concord, NC, and Craig Hutula (wife Gretchen) of Tolland, CT. She cherished her role as a grandmother to Karina Hutula of Augusta, GA, Mitchell Hutula of Charlotte, NC, and Grace Hutula of Tolland, CT. She was also preceded in death by her brothers, Paul Engel of Greenville, MI (survived by his wife, Kathy), and Artie Engel of L’Anse, MI.

Mary’s dedication to her community was profound. As a skilled nurse, she served with care at Baraga County Memorial Hospital in L’Anse, MI, Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI, and St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. Her leadership shone as president of the Peters Township PTA around 1975, championing education, and as president of the Giant Oaks Garden Club for multiple years, where she nurtured her love for gardening. In 1974, she co-founded the Pacers Track Club and coached for many years, inspiring young athletes. An avid tennis player, she brought her competitive spirit to local USTA teams in the South Hills area, forming lasting friendships. Mary’s faith was a cornerstone of her life; she was an active member of Hope Lutheran Church and Zion Lutheran Church, where she led the altar guild and acolytes, serving with devotion and grace. She found great joy spending time at the family cabin on Big Lake in Covington, MI, where she cherished moments of peace and connection with loved ones. Her kindness, warmth, and enduring spirit left a lasting impact on her family, friends, and community.

Family and friends received from 3 to 5 p.m., on Friday, October 31, at the Warchol Funeral Home, Inc., 3060 Washington Pike, Bridgeville. A funeral service will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 1, 2025, at Zion Lutheran Church in Bridgeville, PA, followed by a light meal. The family extends special thanks to Ridgecrest in McMurray for the exceptional care Mary received over the past year. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to the Alzheimer’s Association - Greater Pennsylvania Chapter (alz.org/pa) or Zion Lutheran Church in Bridgeville, PA, in honor of Mary’s compassionate spirit and faithful service. View and add condolences at: www.warcholfuneralhome.com