REMINDER: Deaconess Call Day - Streamed Live 5/16

Tune in Live for Concordia Theological Seminary's Deaconess Placement ceremony during which Joanna Lee will receive her official call to Zion! 
The event will take place this Thursday, May 16th at 10:00 a.m. in Kramer Chapel at CTS in Fort Wayne. 

Go to ctsfw.edu/callday (then scroll down to Deaconess Placement and click the "WATCH" button)

More Josephs, Please

More Josephs, Please 
By: The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer, professor and chairman of the Exegetical Department at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind 

I'd be happy with another Samson to rout the Philistines, another David to slay Goliath. I can think of more than a few places where I'd like Joshua to march around seven times. But what we really need is more Josephs. 

Our own hymnal calls him Joseph the Guardian. But, really, he was more than that. He was to Jesus a true father, to Mary a true husband. Depictions of Joseph as an old man do him a disservice. The Bible teaches us that Jesus had brothers, including James, Jude, and Simon. Sisters too. To all these, and Jesus as well, Joseph was provider, protector, and model. He loved Mary as his wife. And Jesus was known as the carpenter's son, even as another identity would later be revealed in the Jordan River. 

The world, of course, hates Joseph, because the world hates the One Joseph provided for. If the world loved Joseph, the world would love natural marriage and the family. If the world loved Joseph, it would do everything it could to make sure that every child had mom and a dad. If the world loved Joseph, it would do everything it could, like Joseph did, to preserve the lives of our littlest children. Yes, Jesus was the only begotten Son of God from all eternity. But then He became one of us, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, and was given an earthly father, and then a family of brothers and sisters. In the mystery of the Incarnation, even God's Son needed a Joseph. 

How much more are the children of our age in need? What is the leading indicator of just about everything bad? The lack of a father, that is to say a Joseph, in the home. Will the neighborhood be safe? Get more Josephs. Will an infant be safe? Not with a live-in boyfriend, whose presence makes a home very dangerous indeed. The kid deserves a Joseph. Someone who doesn't see the child as an obstacle to the woman he sleeps with. Would Christians like their children to grow up and stay in church? Well, for that, there's a Joseph. A guardian against the thugs? Joseph. Someone who may even whisk a family away from tyranny, knowing that the family takes precedence over the state? Joseph. So sure, I'll take a Gideon, a Samson, or a David. Throw in a Solomon, a Joshua, and a Moses. Better yet, give me millions of Josephs. 

The Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty (LCRL) is a religious liberty organization in Washington D.C. that serves as a voice for the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and its partners in the public square. The LCRL provides input, education, advice, advocacy, and resources in the areas of life, marriage, and religious liberty and seeks to engage in discussions with lawmakers, media, and the public to uphold the rights and respon-sibilities of Christians in society. It also connects and equips missional leaders across the country through its Champions for Liberty Network.

VIDEO: Wednesday May 15, 2024 - Complete Service

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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AUDIO: Readings & Sermon for Wednesday May 15, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
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.

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Numbers 16:23-40 
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” 

Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.” 

And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men offering the incense. 

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the LORD, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the LORD said to him through Moses. 

Luke 19:29-48 
When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” 

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” 

And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” 

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. 

The Sacrament of Holy Baptism
What is Baptism? 
Baptism is not just plain water, but it is the water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word. 
Which is that word of God? 

C Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of Matthew: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt. 28:19) 

Bulletin: Wednesday May 15, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m.
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”
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Set Apart to Serve

All members of Zion are invited and encouraged to take a brief survey for Set Apart To Serve, the LCMS national initiative to recruit future pastors and church workers.

Please complete the survey by Wed. May 15th!

Is there a young man in your congregation you would like to encourage to consider becoming a pastor? How about someone who would be a great Lutheran school teacher, deaconess or DCE? Jesus gives His church people who work full time in service to the Gospel. He told us to pray for such workers. Along with our prayers, the LCMS has begun Set Apart to Serve (SAS), an intentional effort to encourage young people to consider church work as their lifelong vocation. Your opinion can help improve SAS. Please take a brief survey at lcms.org/set-apart-to-serve-survey and let us know how you think SAS can be beneficial to your congregation. Thank you.

Change vs Unchanging

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 
by Diane Albers, President of Lutherans For Life 

Change, change. Nobody likes change, least of all Lutherans! But, of course change is inevitable. From the moment you began, you changed very quickly. By the time you were attached to your mother’s uterus—a week after fertilization—you were a growing cluster of 100 cells. 

After you are born, adults will comment on how big you are getting as you learn to walk and talk, and soon you're off to school. You're changing and growing into your own person, and suddenly—or so it seems to adults—you're graduating from high school. The next phase is job training or college and then a job. You get married, raise a family, and, all too soon, you are the one who needs care from your offspring. Change is inevitable. 

For a long time abortion was illegal, but change came with Roe v. Wade, and it was not a good change. At first, not many people protested this change, and even some religious leaders and church bodies agreed that it was a good decision. However, some church bodies, like Roman Catholics and some Lutherans became more vocal For Life. Leaders like Lutherans For Life’s own Dr. Jean Garton, Nellie Gray (founder of the March for Life—there were 20,000 at the first March in 1974), and Dr. Bernard Nathanson (former abortionist who produced The Silent Scream in 1984) began to educate people on preborn life. 

Of course, things changed with the Dobbs decision, which moved the abortion issue back to the states. We know that our work is not done. We still have to support our pregnancy help centers and work with the politicians in our state to uphold life-affirming laws. But the whole abortion issue has changed with the mobile abortion units that travel along state lines, major companies paying for abortions and travel expenses for employees, and, worst of all, chemical abortion pills that can be ordered online without a doctor involved at all. 

As the For Life movement grew up, other life issues have been added: living with disabilities, adoption and foster care, infanticide, cloning, stem cell research, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and more. Life is being assailed from so many directions. This can be frustrating, anger-inducing, and depressing. We want to uphold the blessings of Life, but what can we really do to change things 

Life with all its changes is a good and perfect gift from the Father, and nothing can change that. We know that there will always be changes in laws and politics, and we can only change that as best as we can. We take comfort that the Father does not change like shifting shadows. In today’s world, changes are swift and inevitable, but our faith and trust in our unchanging God are the comforts that sustain us!