VIDEO: Sunday, July 5, 2026 - Complete Service
Each service at Zion Lutheran Church (normally the first of our two Sunday services) is streamed LIVE on our YouTube channel. These streams are for Sunday’s, Wednesday’s, Lenten, Advent, and special services. The entire service is streamed from beginning-to-end. Weddings and Funerals can also be streamed, if requested in advance.
Audio: Announcements, Readings & Sermon for Sunday, July 5, 2026
This audio-only file includes all the readings from scripture, along with the sermon — and when available, the announcements, adult choir, men’s choir, and/or bell choir. Also posted along with the audio file is the text for all the scripture readings, and a link to the current bulletin, and our YouTube channel if you prefer to watch the LIVE Stream.
View the bulletin for Sunday, July 5, 2026
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins
Old Testament Reading -- Zechariah 9:9–12
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
Epistle Reading -- Romans 7:14–25a
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the eleventh chapter
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Wishing Everyone a Happy Independence Day
250th Anniversary of the United States of America As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation, we honor and thank the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. We also extend our deepest gratitude to all those who have served, and continue to serve. May God bless them and their families, and may God bless the United States of America.
– Bob Schmidt,
Congregational President
Click the link below to read the complete story …
250th Anniversary of the United States of America As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation, we honor and thank the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. We also extend our deepest gratitude to all those who have served, and continue to serve. May God bless them and their families, and may God bless the United States of America.
– Bob Schmidt,
Congregational President
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
-
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Bulletin: Sunday, July 5, 2026 + This Week at Zion
Download/view the latest bulletin. It’s filled with our hymns, the order of service, all the readings from scripture, prayer requests for family & friends, service participants, communion statement, about our worship, the schedule of events for this coming weeks, along with announcements, news updates, happenings, and more!
View the bulletin for Sunday, July 5, 2026
Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of Bulletins
Saturday, July 4
Happy Independence Day!
No Events Scheduled
Sunday, July 5
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service
9:15 a.m. — Bible Study (The Gospel of John) & Children’s Summer Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)
Monday, July 6
No Events Scheduled
Tuesday, July 7
No Events Scheduled
Wednesday, July 8
2:00 p.m. - Midweek Worship
2:30 p.m. - Bible Study (30 min.) The Book of Ruth
(The 2:00 p.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)
Thursday, July 9
6:00 p.m. - Adult Confirmation/New Member Class (class 1 of 6)
Friday, July 10
No Events Scheduled
Saturday, July 11
No Events Scheduled
Sunday, July 12
8:00 a.m. — Worship Service
9:15 a.m. — Bible Study (The Gospel of John) & Children’s Summer Sunday School
10:30 a.m. — Worship Service
(The 8:00 a.m. service streamed on our YouTube channel)
CLICK THE UPCOMING EVENTS GRAPHIC to go directly to our UPCOMING EVENTS page
PIONEER FEST 2026: Sun. July 19th
Join Us for the 5th Annual Pioneer Fest on Sunday, July 19, 2026
Celebrate 80+ years of Christian ministry on the shores of Lake Erie.
Experience Western New York’s premier FREE Christian music festival, featuring worship, live music, and FREE family fun for all ages!
Join us for the 5th Annual Pioneer Fest at Pioneer on the Lake—a joyful, family-friendly celebration of all that the Lord has done and continues to do through this ministry.
Enjoy a full day on the shores of Lake Erie with lake breezes, beautiful views, and activities for all ages. Pioneer Fest features ice cream, bounce houses, face painting, tractor train rides, touch-a-truck experiences, mounted police units, live music, and so much more.
Our Country Store will be open throughout the day serving hot dogs, hamburgers, Perry’s Ice Cream, and additional refreshments.
👉 Please bring a lawn chair or blanket.
Parking Information
Parking is available at our Herr Road / Lake Shore Road lot, with a short walk to our lakeside property. Overflow parking is available nearby, with shuttle bus transportation provided to and from the event.
Join Us for the 5th Annual Pioneer Fest on Sunday, July 19, 2026
Celebrate 80+ years of Christian ministry on the shores of Lake Erie.
Experience Western New York’s premier FREE Christian music festival, featuring worship, live music, and FREE family fun for all ages!
Join us for the 5th Annual Pioneer Fest at Pioneer on the Lake—a joyful, family-friendly celebration of all that the Lord has done and continues to do through this ministry.
Enjoy a full day on the shores of Lake Erie with lake breezes, beautiful views, and activities for all ages. Pioneer Fest features ice cream, bounce houses, face painting, tractor train rides, touch-a-truck experiences, mounted police units, live music, and so much more.
Our Country Store will be open throughout the day serving hot dogs, hamburgers, Perry’s Ice Cream, and additional refreshments.
👉 Please bring a lawn chair or blanket.
Parking Information
Parking is available at our Herr Road / Lake Shore Road lot, with a short walk to our lakeside property. Overflow parking is available nearby, with shuttle bus transportation provided to and from the event.
Interested in learning more about the Lutheran faith?
Pastor Grimenstein will be starting an Adult Confirmation Class soon (tentative start date is Thursday, July 9th) for those interested in learning more about the Lutheran faith who are considering church membership. The class is also open to current members interested in a "refresher" on the basics of the faith. The class will meet every week from 6:00-6:45 p.m. for six weeks and will cover topics ranging from Baptism to the Ten Commandments.
Please email Zion secretary Susie Bishop secretary@zlcb.org to let her know you’re interested in joining the class.
Pastor Grimenstein will be starting an Adult Confirmation Class soon (tentative start date is Thursday, July 9th) for those interested in learning more about the Lutheran faith who are considering church membership. The class is also open to current members interested in a "refresher" on the basics of the faith. The class will meet every week from 6:00-6:45 p.m. for six weeks and will cover topics ranging from Baptism to the Ten Commandments.
Please email Zion secretary Susie Bishop secretary@zlcb.org to let her know you’re interested in joining the class.