Bulletin: Sunday, May 17 2026 + This Week at Zion

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THIS WEEK AT ZION

Saturday, May 16
8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Concordia Lutheran Ministries Fishing Derby. Cabbot, PA (Additional Details)

Sunday, May 17
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
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)

Monday, May 18
6:00 p.m. - 1st Year Confirmation Class

Tuesday, May 19
7:15 p.m. - Choir/Men’s Practice

Wednesday, May 20
No Mid-Week Worship or Bible Study This Week

Thursday, May 21
No Events Scheduled

Friday, May 22
No Events Scheduled

Saturday, May 23
9:00 a.m. - Outdoor Workday – Spreading Mulch - Hosted by the Trustees (additional Details)

Sunday, May 24
PENTECOST
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
(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

From the Desk of Rev. John Pingel

- By Rev. John Pingel, President, Eastern District of the LCMS 

Happy Easter! I can say that all through the Easter Season, which, as you probably know, lasts seven full weeks. How important it is that we greet one another often with words of reverent joy: “Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!” 

On Easter Sunday I noticed a larger than usual attendance at worship. In fact, there was a couple I didn’t know sitting directly in front of me. I did my best to greet them. I politely asked their names and bid them “welcome.” As I looked around, I noticed other visitors and began to ponder: How well will these fellow travelers on life’s highway be received? I know the pastor will do his best, but who among our members will take the time to welcome them? Will they emerge from church with a favorable impression? Will they be inclined to return? 

My ponderings lead me to one of my favorite subjects, which is HOSPITALITY in churches. We all like to think of ourselves as “hospitable.” But how hospitable are we, really? True hospitality requires some effort and intentionality. The koine Greek word used by St. Paul for “hospitality” is “philoxenia.” Literally, “philoxenia” means “love of strangers.” It describes a specific virtue of welcoming people who are not part of one’s immediate circle of friends and acquaintances with tangible care and generosity. Paul uses this word and its related forms to describe a core duty for Christians. In Romans 12:19, he instructs believers to “practice hospitality”. When Paul tells the early Christians to “be hospitable” he isn’t telling them to be kind-hearted to friends. He’s telling Christians that we are called to show kindness and compassion to those we do not know at all. 

It is helpful to place the word which Paul used in its cultural context. In Paul’s day, especially in large cities such as Rome and Ephesus, people were arriving with a common need: a place to reside during their brief stay. Remember, there were no Comfort Inns! For a Christian to be perceived as being hospitable, he often had to open his home to receive those displaced, or traveling through the area, since they relied on others for shelter, food, and protection. For this reason “philoxenia’ was a very important thing; it had a lot to do with one’s reputation. There was almost nothing worse than being deemed “inhospitable.” Word would surely get around! 

Let us apply this concept to what we often refer to as our “church home.” How open and hospitable is our church home to those traveling on the road of life, be it on Easter Sunday or any other day of the year? In reality, true ministry often happens between holidays. Most of those who visit and wind up joining our church, arrive—not on Christmas or Easter—but on other days; like the 15th Sunday after Pentecost, the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany, or Labor Day weekend, for example. Therefore we must not “place all our eggs in one basket” with an over-emphasis on holidays, but rather cultivate a “culture of hospitality” all year long. It must include certain behaviors and be offered very intentionally, flowing genuinely out of love. 

Allow me to extol the virtue of the coffee pot, the freshly baked cookie, the hand extended in fellowship. How might I sing the merits of the friendly smile? How commendable the eye of one who notices the newcomer at the door and takes the time and makes the effort to offer the stranger in our midst, the kind word and honest inquiry: “What brings you our way, friend?” As a parish pastor, there was no sight which delighted my heart more than seeing one of my parishioners sitting with a visitor, refusing to allow him to sit alone at a church event. 

The hospitality we extend is at least as important as our attempts at what we often refer to as “outreach.” We may speak in glowing terms of “outreach” and yet fail miserably at the coffee pot. Of what value is bringing people, often at great expense and effort, through our door and then, for want of a better term, “blowing it” by either failing to recognize them or ignoring them because we are too busy talking to our friends? Philoxenia suggests otherwise, calling us to set aside our own needs for a moment, for purposes of tending to the needs of others and listening to the concerns of their hearts. Once again, the hospitality Paul suggests is a very intentional thing. When he says we need to be “given” to hospitality he uses the word “dioko” which means “to aggressively pursue something; to ardently follow after something until you finally catch it.” We are to put great effort, says Paul, into learning how to be welcoming and helpful. Romans 12:13 might very well be taken to mean, in the words of one commentator: “Hotly pursue and never stop pursuing the goal of becoming hospitable until you have caught on to the idea and genuinely become a hospitable person.” 

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is often referred to as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” With this image in mind, allow me to commend to you the words of Pastor John Duke, Jr. to the people of Salem Lutheran in South Buffalo, which I think sum up nicely the mission of the church: 

“That is why we are here … We are literally a pastureland for people, where the Good Shepherd calls. We are one part of an enormous pasture in Christ’s Church. This is our purpose. From our property, Jesus is making an appeal to every passer-by, everyone walking a dog, everyone pushing a stroller, everyone in doubt, making a passionate appeal that he loves them and wants them in his pasture of peace with us, where quiet waters flow.” 

Pioneer on the Lake: Multiply the Mission Campaign

Multiply the Mission Campaign

Multiply the Mission is more than a campaign… it’s an opportunity to help a place where faith grows, families connect, and lives are impacted through Christ.

From retreats and camps for all ages to Pioneer Fest and the many exciting things ahead, God is continuing to move through Pioneer on the Lake in incredible ways.

We invite you to watch, share, and help spread the word about what this mission is all about. Every share, every prayer, and every donation helps make these moments possible for so many.

Thank you for being part of what God is doing here at Pioneer. 🙌🏼

Click here to donate 👉 https://www.clover.com/pay-widgets/b2f1c988-7bd0-45fa-ae93-b5c59f8836e4

Men’s Fellowship Event

BOCCE: A Men’s Fellowship Event
Join the Men’s Fellowship Group for an afternoon of lawn bocce, food and fellowship on Saturday, June 13th from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the church grounds. Sign up in the narthex.

Questions, call Rich Berardelli at 724-480-5501

SERVICE CANCELED: Wednesday, May 13, 2026

SERVICE CANCELED: Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
Pastor is sick.

CANCELED: Ladies Bunco Night - Friday May 15th

CANCLED:
Ladies Bunco Night
Friday May 15, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in Zion’s Fellowship Hall
RSVP to Tracey Harris tharris@zlcb.org by May 13th
Bring an appetizer or dessert to share

So what’s Bunco?
Bunco is a dice game with twelve or more players, divided into groups of four, trying to score points while taking turns rolling three dice in a series of six rounds. A bunco is achieved when a person rolls three-of-a-kind and all three numbers match the round number which is decided at the beginning of the round. Video of how Bunco is played — view below
No experience necessary!

Life Together Digest: How Does Baptism Justify?

In this Life Together Digest, the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, connects Christ’s glorious resurrection to your Baptism. “Through the resurrection, Baptism justifies,” says Harrison, emphasizing that “[Jesus’] resurrection is the promise of eternal life for you.” Indeed, we confess that “we were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4).

View this month’s Life Together Digest at https://mailchi.mp/lcms/life-together...