Bulletin: Wednesday June 12, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, June 12, 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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Shout Out to Students - Part 1 of 5

Anna Grimenstein graduated from Northern Illinois University on May 10th with a Master of Science in Biology. She now works in the Chicago laboratory of Syngenta, a global science-based agriculture and tech company, as an Entomology Lab and Field Technician.

Congratulations, Anna!

In His Image: Two Sexes, One Humanity

Did you ever catch the Canadian program, “The Red Green Show” on PBS? It was a comedy about a television handyman whose onscreen repairs often don’t go well, usually because of his own mistakes. A recurring feature of the show was the “man’s prayer”: “I’m a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.” Sure, it was funny. But in its repeated negative depiction of men, maybe it contributed to the ongoing subversion of masculinity by contemporary culture. 

Young men today, especially those outside the church, have grown up with a distorted view of masculinity. Too many of the motion pictures and television sitcoms they watched depicted fathers — if they were even around — as buffoons, while the ads sold the trope of the dumb dad. Meanwhile, many of their mothers probably had [feminist activist] Betty Friedan’s books on the shelf, while their sisters sported “anything boys can do, girls can do better” T-shirts and aspired to be like Mulan, Merida or Moana. These young men have grown up breathing the poisoned air of a radically feminist culture. Masculinity is toxic, they’re told, which seems obvious to anyone raised on this steady diet of pop culture. 

Enter Jordan Peterson. Or Joe Rogan. Or anyone with the common sense to say that there’s something good about being a man — that men should embrace their masculine distinctiveness or that being a man is not a punchline. If we’re surprised that young men today are attracted to figures like these, the joke’s on us. If we fail to recognize and encourage biblical masculinity in the church, we shouldn’t be surprised when young men seek out unbiblical and sometimes harmful caricatures of masculinity. 

On the sixth day, having crowned His creation with the man and the woman, God upgraded His assessment of His handiwork from “good” to “very good.” God wasn’t despising women when He made Adam to be head and Eve to be helper. Nor was He scorning men when He gave to women the distinct and beautiful capacity to nurture and sustain life with their own bodies. The differences between men and women are not something to apologize for but to celebrate. One common humanity comprises two distinct sexes; male and female He created them. 

Though the Fall has distorted the perfection of Eden, making burdens of man’s sacrifice and the woman’s receptiveness, Christ, who is the image of God (Col. 1:15), restores our broken humanity. In Christ, women are free to be women, and men are free to be men. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13). Our sisters and daughters need to know that femininity is good for them and of service to their neighbors. Our brothers and sons need to know that masculinity is likewise good for them and of service to their neighbors. 

The complementary natures of men and women compose a kind of living sermon. Having held up Christ as the example for husbands, and the church as the example for wives, St. Paul says: “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32). Every marriage preaches the greater reality of Christ and His bride, the church. 

When Adam woke from his deep sleep, he spoke the first recorded words of mankind, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Gen. 2:23). Adam and Eve had common bone and flesh, yet complementary roles and body parts. The man does what the woman cannot; she does what he cannot. Together they are more — much more — than Adam was alone. I hope and pray we’re on the precipice of a cultural watershed moment. Girls won’t put up with competing against biological boys in sports for long. Young men are gravitating to churches that hold to the beauty and goodness of biblical complementarity. What we believe and confess is not only true, but also good for human beings. Our young people are hungry for what the Bible teaches about men and women, the rich beauty of our Lord’s creation. They’re tired of the dull, gray sameness of egalitarianism. 

As I write this, the LCMS Office of National Mission, together with the Recognized Service Organization DOXOLOGY, is hosting a conference titled “Created Male and Female: In His Image.” Topics include pastoral care and spiritual support for those whose children identify as transgender, those who suffer with LGBT-related temptations, and families of those who have same-sex attraction. These are real issues, faced by real people in our own churches and families. The church, while upholding God’s design for creation, doesn’t turn its back on those struggling under the attacks of the devil, the world and their own sinful natures. We continue, as your church body, to look for ways we can provide care, and to develop resources to help. 

So, also, does Concordia Publishing House. For practical advice and real, biblical hope regarding God’s design for the sexes, check out three resources: the new book, (Dis)ordered: Lies about Human Nature and the Truth that Sets us Free, by my friend and LCMS Fifth Vice- President Rev. Christopher Esget; Man Up: The Quest for Masculinity by the Rev. Jeffrey Hemmer; and LadyLike: Living Biblically by Rebekah Curtis and Deaconess Rose Adle. 

by Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President of The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod — from Reporter, May 1, 2024 

Youth Group: BBQ Fundraiser

Youth Group BBQ Fundraiser

DOWNLOAD ORDER FORM
Sunday June 16th is the last day to order BBQ
Just in time for outdoor barbecues, Zion youth group is selling "ready to heat & eat" pulled pork, baby back ribs, and sauces from South Fayette company Rib Raiser BBQ. A percentage of each sale will help with expenses for our trip to the 2025 LCMS Youth Gathering in New Orleans. 

To order, download the linked order form, or call the church office at 412-221-4776, ext 203
Sale ends Sunday June 16, 2024 ... distribution is June 30th.  

President’s Perspective

Faith Springs Eternal -- Here Comes Summer! 
Let's be thankful to Almighty God for our blessings and welcome the summer months ahead with joy and thanksgiving. Hopefully you are all going to enjoy this summer with your family and loved ones and of course, your family here at Zion. If you attended the Quarterly Voters Meeting in April, you know we're going to soon have a Deaconess onboard at Zion, probably as soon as the month of July. This is a big step in the history of our church, and I hope you are looking forward to welcoming Joanna into our family. On behalf of the Council and Call Committee, let me personally thank the 61 members who attended that meeting so that we could extend the call to Joanna. 

June has five Sundays. On the final Sunday, June 30th, we'll have our Special Voters Meeting to adopt the budget for FY 2024/2025. Please attend that meeting. The operating budget for the next fiscal year should be over one million dollars, (or very close to it...), when the final figures are presented. Your church ministries are certainly operating at full-throttle these days. We are certainly a blessed parish and we will march onward as Christian Soldiers and continue to preach Christ crucified in the coming years. Please take an ownership stake in your church and attend the five Voter Meetings each year. 

If you missed three young ladies being confirmed last month, you really missed a wonderful example of what your church is doing to lay a foundation of Christian truth in the lives of our children. Putting on the armor that is the Word of God is an important defense against the foe. If you're not one of the nearly 60+ regular attendees at Bible Class between the services, you're missing a lot of "armor". Let me encourage you to join your friends each Sunday at Adult/Teen Bible Class. Have a bagel, relax and enjoy Pastor's presentations on various books of the Bible. 

You know, our church is capable of great things, in my opinion. We should try not to limit our potential by thinking purely in terms of our human limitations. Faith should always play a role in how we approach situations and problems. We need to realize we're chosen and not fighting alone either in our personal lives or as a church body. Pastor has posted a wonderful passage on the sign in front of the church. Our God is on our side, and He will watch over us, and pick us up and carry us as necessary. 

Our Catechism teaches, in defining "worship", that our "God wants to be worshiped through faith so that we receive from Him those things He promises and offers"; and that "the highest worship of God is faith that receives all that He promises in His Word." Further, "faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ and faith speaks back to God, using the words He has given." 

Pray for the Christians on earth, our LCMS, our District and circuit churches, and Zion. Amen. 

-- Paul Klemash 

VIDEO: Sunday June 9, 2024 - Complete Service

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AUDIO: Announcements, Readings, Sermon & Bell Choir for Sunday June 9, 2024

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Old Testament Reading -- Genesis 3:8–15 
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 

The Lord God said to the serpent, 

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.” 

Epistle Reading -- 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1 
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 

For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the third chapter
Then [Jesus] went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” 

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 

“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.” 

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”