Women of Zion … We Need Your RSVP’s

Hello Women of Zion!
We have two exciting events coming up to close out 2025, and we are in need of your RSVP's!

Christmas Crafting Night and Quarterly (very brief) LWML Meeting
Thursday, November 20, 7:00 p.m., Zion Fellowship Hall
Join us as we make a no-sew quilted Christmas tree. Please bring a snack or dessert to share.
RSVP TO TEVIA (grmnstns@live.com) NO LATER THAN NEXT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH
 
Christmas Ornament Exchange
Sunday, December 14, 5:00 p.m., Napoli's Restaurant Bridgeville
Join us once again as we gift (and maybe steal) the ornament we never knew we needed!
Please bring a new ornament of your choice wrapped with no tag. 
Cost is $30 per person (cash or checks made payable to Zion Lutheran Church with Ornament Exchange in the memo line)
RSVP TO TRACEY (tharris@zlcb.org) BY MONDAY, DECEMBER 1ST (Payment should also be made by December 1st)

Trustee News

Last month, a brand-new Vulcan commercial kitchen range was delivered at Zion, replacing the 57-year old unit that was installed when the church was first built, and for which repair parts were no longer available. 

In the pre-dawn darkness on October 2 (see photos above), four very strong and capable employees of Hobart Appliance Service removed the old 1,000-pound range and installed the new unit, navigating a difficult path down the outside stairs, into the lower hallway, through four heavy steel doorways that had to be removed to provide clearance, and into the kitchen. It was an impressive feat of strength and mobility without a single scratch or dent to any part of the stove or church! Our Head Trustee, Mike Debowski, was there along with them, coordinating the delivery. In fact, Mike spent many hours prior to the delivery meeting with commercial range suppliers, researching various models for purchase, and finally prepping for delivery of the oversized item (including removal of interior and exterior doors, and taking precise measurements to determine the best delivery path). 

The new range has a built-in griddle that will come in handy for cooking pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and bacon! Is a future church pancake breakfast in the offing? Stay tuned! 

The next time you see one of our Trustees -- Mike, Paul Hayes, Jim Oelschlager, Ben Meyer, Deborah Sterba, and Linda Kroeger -- let them know you appreciate what they do to keep our church, school, and parsonage in good shape! The Trustees are always looking for new members to support the work of managing and maintaining all church property. As the saying goes, “many hands make light work”, and we can always use some extra hands. God bless! 

Angel Tree 2025

The Food Bank would like to bless the 30 registered children with gifts at the December distribution. Starting November 16, you will have the opportunity to participate in purchasing a gift for a child in need. If you wish to participate, choose an angel gift tag marked with the child’s age from the tree set up in the back of the church. Please use the sign-up sheet to record your name next to the number and age listed on the angel. Then purchase a gift costing around twenty dollars. Return your unwrapped gift with the gift tag attached no later than Sunday, December. 14. 

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Zion is a church partner of the Bridgeville Area Food Bank, which is operated out of Bethany Presbyterian Church on Washington Rd. in Bridgeville. The food bank distributes non-perishable food and hygiene products to needy families within the Chartiers Valley and South Fayette communities. Our congregation collects food monthly for the Food Bank (monthly announcements -- like the one at the top of the page -- are in each Zion newsletter). 

Barb Oechslein is Zion's volunteer Food Bank coordinator. Additional volunteers are always needed! If you're looking for a way to serve others and get involved in the community, reach out to Barb at barb@zlcb.org to learn more! 

Bulletin: Sunday, November 16, 2025 + This Week at Zion

View the bulletin for Sunday, November 16, 2025
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins

THIS WEEK AT ZION

Saturday, November 15
No Events Scheduled

Sunday, November 16
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. – Youth Group Putt-Putt Golf & Spiritual Conversations Bible Study
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Monday, November 17
6:00 p.m. - 1st Year Confirmation Class
7:00 p.m. - 2nd Year Confirmation Class

Tuesday, November 18
6:15 p.m. - Bell Choir Practice
7:15 p.m. - Adult Choir Practice

Wednesday, November 19
2:00 p.m. - Midweek Worship Service with Communion
2:30 p.m. - 30-min. Bible Study, Psalm 118
(Service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Thursday, November 20
6:30 p.m. - Ladies Christmas Crafting Night & LWML Quarterly Meeting (additional details)

Friday, November 21
No Events Scheduled

Saturday, November 22
4:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Michael Migyanko Baptism & Reception

Sunday, November 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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CLICK THE UPCOMING EVENTS GRAPHIC to go directly to our UPCOMING EVENTS page

Sunday’s Bible Study: Spiritual Conversation Workshop

In this four-week series, starting Sunday, November 16, 2025 we will examine
The Eager Conversationalist/Spiritual Conversation Curve Workshops
Drawing on Barna Group data contained in the 2018 monograph Spiritual Conversations in the Digital Age, Lutheran Hour Ministries is offering two workshops: the first, Eager Conversationalists, examines spiritual conversations. It offers insights to help us become more intentional-more eager-to engage in spiritual conversations with others. The second, The Spiritual Conversation Curve, offers help in getting past conversational hurdles. This is possible when we focus on someone’s “spiritual posture,” so as not to impose a conversation that’s forced or ill-timed.

A video and downloadable PDF’s will be available for home use — coming soon.

Inspiration: What Does This Mean?

The October 2025 issue of The Lutheran Witness provided definitions and explanations of nine different words we use often as Lutherans — and unpacked how other denominations use those terms differently. 

Definition: 
Inspiration is God’s divine action whereby the Holy Spirit breathed into the biblical authors not only the ideas but the very words of Holy Scripture, making every part of the Bible the infallible, inerrant Word of God. 

Lutherans Confess: 
“All Scripture is breathed out by God,” wrote Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16. Lutherans teach “verbal inspiration,” meaning that every word of Holy Scripture was inspired by the Holy Spirit. We believe that this inspiration extends to all of Scripture. 

Through His Word, God reveals Christ’s atoning work on the cross for the salvation of humanity. However, Lutherans do not believe that this core message is the only thing in Scripture that is inspired. Lutherans teach that all of the details in Scripture, such as doctrine, chronology, historical events, geography, etc., were all inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

God is the true Author of every word of Scripture — which makes it qualitatively different from all other human writings. Since God cannot err, His inspired Word contains no errors in any part (LC IV 57). As Psalm 12:6 puts it, “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” Because Scripture is God’s inerrant Word, Lutherans hold that the Bible is “the judge, rule, and norm. According to them — as the only touchstone — all teachings shall and must be discerned and judged to see whether they are good or evil, right or wrong” (FC Ep, Rule and Norm, 7). All right doctrine and theology are judged according to the standard of Scripture. 

Unpacking Other Definitions: 
Subordinated to church tradition: While the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges that Scripture is “inspired,” the language of Vatican II teachings leaves room for potential errors in Scripture on non-salvific matters. Catholics also subordinate the authority of Scripture to church tradition and papal authority and maintain that Scripture’s meaning and authority are determined by the Catholic Church’s magisterium. In other words, in Catholic theology, “inspiration” does not guarantee Scripture’s independent authority — the Scriptures need the church to authoritatively interpret them. Similarly, Orthodox theology sees Scripture and tradition as two aspects of a single divine revelation, with the church’s liturgical and patristic tradition serving as the interpretive key to Scripture’s meaning. 

Subject inspiration: Mainline Protestant denominations often adopt something called “subject inspiration,” the view that God inspired the biblical writers’ thoughts or persons rather than their words. This position leaves room for significant human error in Scripture while maintaining that it contains God’s revelation. Some describe the Bible as “containing” God’s Word rather than “being” God’s Word, making human reason and experience judges over scriptural authority. The historical-critical method often assumes that errors exist, requiring scholarly reconstruction of the “original” message — which often dismisses things like prophecy and miracles. 

Propositional truths: Many evangelical denominations strongly affirm biblical inerrancy, often with language similar to the Lutheran Confessions. However, their understanding frequently lacks the Christocentric focus that characterizes Lutheran interpretation. Evangelicalism sometimes treats Scripture as a collection of propositional truths rather than as the living Word that creates faith through Law and Gospel, thus divorcing biblical authority from its proper purpose of proclaiming Christ. 

Ongoing inspiration: While generally affirming biblical inspiration, many Pentecostal and charismatic movements emphasize ongoing revelation through prophecy, tongues and direct spiritual experiences. This can diminish Scripture’s unique authority by placing contemporary “revelations” on equal (or even superior) footing with biblical texts. This can subordinate the biblical texts to subjective spiritual experiences. 

From Scripture: 
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). 

From Our Confessions: 
“We know that God does not lie [Titus 1:2]. I and my neighbor and, in short, all people, may err and deceive. But God’s Word cannot err” (LC IV 57). 

“See how they love one another”

Roseto, Pennsylvania. Its reputation: the healthiest town in America. At the center of that claim is an amazing story.  

Many of the inhabitants of the town trace their ancestry to the village of Roseto Valfortore, located 100 miles southeast of Rome. The medieval village centers on a town square and a church named Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Narrow stone steps run up the hillside flanked by rows of stone houses with red tile roofs. The major industry there: stone quarries, located in the surrounding hills. Villagers would walk 4 to 5 miles each way to work, down the mountain and back, leaving early and returning late.

In 1882, a group of 11 Rosetans set sail for New York City. They spent some time in what is known as “Little Italy,” and then travelled 90 miles west to a location near Bangor, Pennsylvania, in order to work in a slate quarry there.

The initial 11 immigrants were followed by 1,200 more Rosetans over the next few years. They bought land on the rocky hillside and built closely clustered stone houses resembling those they left behind in Italy, only with slate roofs. They also built a church near the center of town, naming it, predictably, “Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.” The church became the center of their social and spiritual life. The town thrived. The Rosetans planted grapes and made homemade wine. They opened bakeries and other small shops. For several decades, the inhabitants spoke mostly Italian, the exact dialect spoken back in Roseto Valliafore. They gathered regularly in social clubs and community centers. They worshiped and celebrated their holidays and holy days and significant events in each other’s lives. They rejoiced together and in times of death and misfortune they grieved together. It was evident that no matter what life brought their way, they were in this together, to love and support each other. No one would suffer alone, no one would live their life alone, no one would die alone.

So what made Roseto, Pennsylvania, remarkable? Simply put, rarely did anyone living in Roseto under the age of 65 get heart disease or die of a heart attack, in contrast to the surrounding towns. The medical community began to take note of this. A physician by the name of Stephen Wolf from the University of Oklahoma launched an investigation into the reason why. This was a time, by the way, before cholesterol lowering drugs and aggressive measures to prevent heart disease. He analyzed physicians’ records. He took medical histories. He studied their diet. In fact, the death rate in Roseto was ½ that of the United States as a whole. Medical clinicians were baffled. What would explain the medical miracle they were observing? Not only was heart disease almost non-existent—there was also hardly any suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, cancer, or ulcers. People simply died of old age. All the while, they ate sausages and pepperoni year round. A full 41% of their diet consisted of fat. Neither diet nor exercise explained their findings. No one ate yogurt or did yoga. Quite a few of the inhabitants, typical of that time period, smoked.

To make a long story short, the answer to the clinicians’ quest lay not in diet or exercise or the location of the town or genetic good fortune. The answer was Roseto itself. The Rosetans had maintained over the years an exceptional sense of community. People knew one another, and they visited with one another frequently. They stopped to chat on the street. They cooked with one another and ate meals with one another. They attended church together and met together in their 22 social clubs. The conclusion of the medical community was that the people of Roseto were exceptionally healthy not for any of the reasons normally associated with maintaining good health—but because of their sense of community. Roseto was a place where people, in the truest sense of the term, “belonged” and were cared about. 

Our churches are at their best when they reflect a sense of community, where people love and care for one another. Jesus says in John 13: 35, ‘By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if ye have love for one another.” “See how they love one another” is a famous quote attributed to the early Christian writer Tertullian in the 3rd century, which in turn quotes pagans observing the early Christians. It refers to the remarkable love, unity, and charitable acts the early Christians displayed toward each other and those in need, which stood out in contrast to the surrounding Greco-Roman culture.  

We live in a rather cold and indifferent age. People live next door to one another and never talk. They don’t know who their neighbors are. The medical community maintains that the isolation experienced by many takes its toll on us mentally, emotionally and physically.  People self-isolate, and yet surveys show that people at the same time actually crave a sense of community. They want to belong. They want to be cared about and have an opportunity to care for others. They desire to be “connected,” --a desire which appears to have increased in the aftermath of Covid.

The church from its earliest days is described as a community—a community of faith and love, a place where we “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6: 2), where people are “devoted to one another in love.” (Romans 12:10). Acts chapter 2 says that the early Christians “ate together with glad and generous hearts” and “provided for another as any had need.” They knew that the fellowship they enjoyed in the present would continue in eternity (Revelation 7:  9-17), which made it a pretty special thing.  

Perhaps you are a small church. You may not have a lot in terms of programming. Sometimes leaders of small churches will say: “What do we have to offer?” My answer is: community. You offer a place where people can find a sense of community. Better still, in this community, at its center, stands the Savior, offering us forgiveness, life and salvation.

So plug in the coffee pot. And have your pot luck suppers. And gather as God gives you opportunity, with a door open to those outside. Invite others. Share the love of Christ. You can be someone’s spiritual Roseto, where people can experience the love of the Savior through you, and find spiritual health and healing in the name of Jesus.