Bulletin: Wednesday, January 21, 2026

View the bulletin for Wednesday, January 21, 2026
2:00 p.m. - Worship Service
2:30 p.m. - Bible Study (Galatians)

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We Mourn the Loss of Carol Schrag (update)

Carol Schrag Obituary
From the Warchol Funeral Home Website

Carol L. Hetrick Schrag, 77, of Cecil Township, passed away at home on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on January 20, 1948, in Pittsburgh, a daughter of the late Kenneth and Helen Maruca Hetrick. On March 4, 1972, she married William Schrag, who survives. Surviving along with her husband is a son, Ken (Bethany) Schrag; and a daughter, Pam (Jason) Trentini; four grandchildren: Will Schrag, Claire Schrag, Emily Trentini and Sam Trentini. Carol was a longtime and devoted member of Zion Lutheran Church. All services and burial were private, by the Warchol Funeral Home Inc., 3060 Washington Pike, Bridgeville, 412-221-3333. Memorial donations may be made to Zion Lutheran Church, 3197 Washington Pike, Bridgeville, PA 15017. View and add condolences at: www.warcholfuneralhome.com

A New Wednesday Afternoon Bible Study

On Wednesday January 21st, we will be starting a new Wednesday afternoon Bible Study …
Galatians

2:00 p.m. - Worship Service
2:30 p.m. - Bible Study (30 min.)

Join us for this intimate service followed by a Bible Study on the book of Galatians
Bring a relative, friend or neighbor

Where Do You Fit?

Doug Krantz chair of the Board of Education for Zion Lutheran Preschool talks about how this might be a good fit for you.

Love Thy Neighbor: Outreach & Evangelism

By: Mike Wallace, Congregational Vice President 

Outreach refers to the activities, events, and human care ministries that we do as a congregation to engage the non-churched people in our community by meeting their needs in some way. Outreach focuses on actions that demonstrate God’s love for those around us who don’t have a church home. Examples include food banks, festivals, seminars, preschool programs, church suppers, etc. 

Outreach provides opportunities for a congregation’s members to meet, and continue contact , with non-churched people in the community. Through these repeated “touch points” that emphasize caring and support, relationships are built between individuals in the two groups of people. 

Once relationships are established through outreach, evangelism can happen. Evangelism is nothing more than sharing the Good News of the Gospel. When individual Christians share their faith in Jesus and His forgiveness with others, it is called Witnessing. Of course, evangelism also happens through a church’s Word and Sacrament ministries, i.e., worship services and Bible studies. God can, and will, work through the witness of congregational members, and the evangelism work of Pastors, to lead unbelievers to faith and connect them to His Church. 

Remember: Outreach and Evangelism/Witnessing share the same goal . . . However, outreach is primarily an action; Evangelism is primarily a message . 

St. Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 provides insights into effective outreach and evangelism/witnessing: 

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. 

This passage reminds us that we can actively and intentionally “plant and water the seeds”, but God does the work of making them grow into faith! We must understand that church growth (i.e., the numbers) is the Holy Spirit’s concern. 

Pray 
Help me Lord to be a good steward and servant of your gifts and for others to see Your Love for them in all that I do. In Jesus name, AMEN

VIDEO: Sunday, January 18, 2025 - Complete Service

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Old Testament Reading -- Isaiah 9:1–4 
There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder, 
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian. 

Epistle Reading – 1 Corinthians 1:10–18 
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the fourth chapter
When [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.” 

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.