The Scammers are at it again!

Another scammer targets Zion!
Unfortunately, once again a fake email has been circulating to Zion members .... the email appears to come from "Pastor Edward O. Grimenstein" and might start with a simple ….
”Let me know if you are available at the moment”
or perhaps a request for a favor" OR "money and/or gift cards." 

THIS EMAIL IS A SCAM.  PLEASE DO NOT EVEN RESPOND TO IT! 

Know Who You Are

I am a fan of comedy. Especially sarcastic comedy. One of the kings of this genre is Jerry Seinfeld. He recently spoke at Duke University’s graduation ceremony and mentioned being sick of the phrase, “Follow your passion.” He said to let go of the idea that one thing is your passion and to make your best effort at anything. Making the effort even if it fails is worthwhile. He also said to pay attention and fall in love. He spoke about enjoying the richness of human life. It was a good speech. (You can find it on YouTube.) 

I would like to add to Mr. Seinfeld’s speech another piece of good advice: Know who you are. For Christians, it is essential to participate in the richness of the human experience knowing that you are a child of God, baptized into Christ, redeemed through His saving grace, and called to love and serve each other. If you know this much, you will live life to the fullest. Oh, and yes, it will be hard. I am not saying live YOUR best life. I am saying live THE best life IN CHRIST. One guided by truth, not by the misconstrued philosophies of our culture’s mindset: “Follow your heart because it knows best.” The truth is in the Word of God: 

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). 

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). 

So let go of the idea of your heart knowing things and open your ears, which are spiritually connected to your heart, to the Word of God, which will give you wisdom and strength to carry out your vocations in life. The Word in Jeremiah 17:10 says: 

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” 

We face many challenges in life, and they are all meant to bring us closer to Him who gives life to the fullest. It is the work of Satan to attempt to kill that life. John 10:10 tells us: 

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” 

Live abundantly, friends, graduates, loved ones, and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! Know who you are and to whom you belong. Amen. 

Make Church Part of Your Weekend Plans

Share the “Good News” with Friend and Family
Zion Lutheran Church, Bridgeville, PA
Sunday Services at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Bible Study and Children’s Sunday School at 9:15 a.m.

MISSION STATEMENT:
Zion equips, educates, and encourages believers in Christ, sending them into the world to share the Gospel.

Bulletin: Wednesday November 20, 2024

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m.
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. — The Book of Hebrews
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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Archive of AUDIO “Readings & Sermons”
Archive of VIDEO “Complete Service”
Archive of BULLETINS

LCMS Hurricane Relief

Help bring Christ’s love and mercy to those affected by hurricanes

Images below from Gulfport and St. Petersburg, FLorida show some of the devastation fellow Lutherans are experiencing. Please help with your prayers and donations! 

Christian Hope in a Hopeless World

By Matthew C. Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
From The Reporter, October 25, 2024

My dear friends in Jesus, as I write this, I’ve just returned home from a week of meetings with our partner church in India, the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC). I had not realized it, but it has been over 50 years since the last sitting LCMS president visited. In the last decade, the Synod’s relationship with the IELC has been difficult, due in largest measure to internal lawsuits and divisions in the Indian church, but this was an incredibly hope-filled and eventful visit. I hope to share more about it in the near future, but for now, I would like to use this visit as a backdrop for some broader thoughts about our Christian hope in a world that seems increasingly hopeless, especially during this difficult election season.

First, we must acknowledge that what challenges our hope here in the U.S. pales in comparison to what our dear friends in India suffer — challenges that we can only imagine. We, as a Synod, have known of these challenges firsthand for over a century. In 1894, the forerunner of today's LCMS called the Rev. Theodore Naether to be its first official missionary. Naether arrived in India the next year and spent the rest of his life working tirelessly to spread the Gospel there. So, the first international mission of the LCMS is very special to us, but it is even more so to our sisters and brothers in India.

During my recent visit there, news came that in Ambur, Tamil Nadu, India, former LCMS missionary Alice Brauer had died. Alice spent a lifetime humbly seeking out the poor, sick and needy, providing them with medicine, taking them to receive treatment, and sharing the Good News of Jesus with them. She was unable to travel to our recent meetings due to declining health, yet I give thanks to God that she was able to die knowing that the relationship to which she had given so much of her life was back on track.

Who is my neighbor?
Over the course of my trip, bad news from around the world kept surfacing. During my flight to India, as I watched my plane skirt around Tehran on the in-flight map, I couldn’t help but wonder if the lunacy of the anti-Semitism driving the war in the Middle East might spill over into domestic air travel. After my arrival, I began receiving texts from our presidents of the LCMS Southeastern and Florida-Georgia districts. They shared news about the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Helene. On another call, my dear wife informed me of the rush to purchase basic goods because of the looming dockworkers strike on the East Coast (which has now been postponed). And now we have received the sad news — which we anticipated, but hoped wouldn’t happen — that the Lutheran Church of Australia has endorsed women’s ordination. Out of the ashes we will support a new and faithful Australian Lutheran church.

Frankly, it was a relief at times to be in India, where things like transgenderism, biological males participating in women’s sports and concomitant lunacies are barely on the radar screen.

One night during my stay, I found clips from the vice-presidential debate coming up on my cell phone; specifically, on the topic of abortion. I was disgusted when one of the candidates, who belongs to a biblically unfaithful (non-LCMS) Lutheran congregation, expressed the summarily un-Lutheran and unbiblical ethical principle: “Mind your own business.” As you, my friends, well know, we can’t mind our own business when it comes to caring for our neighbor:

And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” (Gen. 4:8–10) 

Sadly, we don’t have to look very far here at home to see our brothers’ and sisters’ blood crying out from the ground in the form of rampant sin against God’s gift of life and His desired order for His creation. 

Fear and foreboding 
Speaking of home, I don’t have to remind you that we find ourselves facing another election. I heard recently that a pastor made a mildly positive comment about former president Trump in a sermon. A long-time parish-ioner in that church has not been back in the pew since. This is just one example of the tension throughout our country. Politics are hot all the time, but right now they are white hot. Some lament how woefully absent poli-tics and political recommendations are in the LCMS, and they want us to provide them. Others will read what I write here and think I’m way over the top just to mention it. 

But some things need to be said. On issues of religious freedom (non-interference with the church’s schools and institutions), abortion, medical ethics and transgenderism, there are clear biblical positions. In the U.S. to-day, it is also clear that the political right is closer to the church on these issues than the political left. Other is-sues — like immigration, labor policy, military policy (aside from the promotion of sexual aberration), taxation and the size of government — are arguable. Still, all these issues have strongly related ethical questions, and we do well as citizens to consider those. Peo-ple, including business owners, should not be taxed unfairly. The government should wield its powers justly, and citizens should abide by the law. And we, who as citizens in a republic are both rulers and subjects, should exercise our right and duty to vote. 

Lest anyone begin to lose his mind reading this, let me point you to what Jesus says: 

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:25–28) 

Every Christian leader who has ever lived has beheld the turmoil around him and been convinced the end of the world is at hand: St. Paul. Augustine. Luther. C.F.W. Walther. I think it is too. But, my dear friends, Jesus has got this: “When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31). “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Jesus says to us, when all this crazy stuff is going down, don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up hope. Don’t lose faith in Christ. In fact, the chaos is an indication that this life is short, its concerns transitory. Christ’s redemption, His “buying back” of the world from sin, death and the devil, is coming to a completion. This world continues until the last of the elect is brought to faith in Christ, and not one iota longer. What happens in this world is important. But it is not of ultimate importance; Christ is. Forgiveness is. Eternal life is. 

Like me, you may sometimes feel like you’re going to lose your temper -- or even your mind -- over the foolish-ness that comes each election year. But whatever you do, don’t lose Christ. Better yet, know that He will not lose you: 

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:28–30) Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 

Thanksgiving Eve Services: 2:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m.

Sergiu Trifa, Seminarian student

Thanksgiving Eve Services
Join us Wednesday November 27, 2024 for our Thanksgiving Eve services at 2:00 & 7:00. Thanksgiving offerings will support Seminarian Sergiu Trifa, a native Romanian who has assisted Ukranian Lutheran refugees (see below). 

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Sergiu Trifa is a native Romanian currently in his second year at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN with the goal of becoming a Lutheran pastor. He's the son of Rev. Sorin-Horia Trifa, a Romanian pastor who works with the LCMS. His story is one of faith in action, most notably his mission work in Romania, where in 2022, he led thousands of Ukrainian refugees from their war torn communities to safety in Romania.

In order to support Sergiu's journey toward becoming a pastor, Zion will be designating all offerings at our Thanksgiving Eve Services to his educational expenses. The cost associated with pursuing a seminary degree in Pastoral Studies is formidable, and is sometimes a severe obstacle for students. It is our hope that we can support this amazing young man, as part of our broader efforts to support the development of more full-time church workers for our Lutheran congregations!

You may donate via check or cash in your envelope. Please make checks payable to "Zion Lutheran Church." You may also mail your check to the church office or contribute online.