VIDEO: Life Together with Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison

Christ is risen; He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In this Life Together Digest, the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), speaks on the joy and hope we have in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Harrison also talks about the gifts we receive through Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. “You can rejoice in the midst of all the challenges of life, and you can know for certain Christ invites you to His own resurrection — and it’s a promise that holds good forever,” he says. View this month’s Life Together Digest at https://mailchi.mp/lcms/life-together...

Bulletin: Wednesday May 14, 2025

View the Bulletin for Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Worship Service: 2:00 p.m. with communion
Bible Study: 2:30 p.m. - Book of Malachi (30 min.)
All are welcome, bring a friend, neighbor or relative

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Kids Fishing Derby

Don’t miss the Kids Fishing Derby on Saturday, May 17, 2025
at Saxony Farm Lake (Addy Boy Lane, Saxonburg)

CLICK to Visit Registration Page

• No Entry Fee

• Open to all kids 14 and under

• Free refreshments

• Bait provided by Concordia

• Prizes all day

• Participants must have an adult chaperone — bring your own fishing pole and lawn chair

  Call Concordia Public Relations for more information at 724-352-1571, ext. 8268.

News from the Preschool

It’s already that time of year again . . . time to say goodbye to our students and families. It’s been an awesome school year . . . lots of learning, lots of laughs, and lots of Jesus! Before our students leave for the summer, we send them home with a “My Chapel Book”. It includes all of the lessons they learned during the year including a coloring page, the rhyme, actions and prayers for each lesson. 

Here’s a list of the Chapel/Jesus Time stories: 

• God Made Everything 

• Building Noah’s Ark 

• Baby Moses 

• The Exodus 

• Manna from Heaven 

• The Fiery Furnace 

• Daniel and the Lion’s Den 

• An Angel Visits Mary 

• Baby Jesus’ Birth 

• Wisemen Visit Jesus 

• Where is Jesus? 

• Jesus’ Baptism 

• Jesus Heals a Paralyzed Man 

• Jesus Calls Zaccheaus 

• Jesus Calms a Storm 

• Jesus Raises Jairus’ Daughter 

• Feeding of the 5000 

• Jesus Raises Lazarus 

• Jesus Enters Jerusalem 

• Jesus Cleans the temple 

• Jesus is Arrested 

• Crucifixion and Resurrection 

• Jesus Will Come Again 

• Jesus Loves Me 

President’s Perspective

Faithful Daughters of Zion: A Lifetime of Devotion and Service
There are many pillars of faith who have shaped Zion into the loving, worship-filled community we cherish today. Among these faithful are four remarkable women — Clara Hayes, Jane Kozak, Judy Dames, and Lois Klemash — who have each spent their lives serving the Lord and the members of Zion. These ladies have lived through many different seasons of life in our church and community, they embody what it means to walk in steadfast faith, and their legacies are rooted in love, service, and endurance. 

Planted in the House of the Lord 
Through baptism, confirmation, marriage, and raising children, these women have experienced all of life’s seasons within the Zion family. Whether born into the church like Judy, Clara and Jane . . . or invited in like Lois Klemash -- who found a spiritual home at Zion thanks to a childhood friend . . . each woman has been planted deeply in the rich soil of God’s house. 

They have served across every ministry and season. From Ladies Aid, Altar Guilds, Sunday School, Bible studies, Youth Groups, and Church Council, their hands and hearts have built the church from the ground up. Jane and Clara remember traveling to Jerusalem in 2006 with a group from Zion — a milestone that deepened their faith. Lois fondly recalls singing in the Pittsburgh Lutheran Choir under Zion’s own Carl Schmidt, who was Zion’s organist. Judy and other Zion friends were members of the Walther League, a youth group for Lutheran teens named for the first President of the LCMS. Judy served as Zion’s first paid office secretary, and Clara was the secretary for the Ladies’ Aid group. 

Faith Through Trial 
Their stories also carry the weight of sorrow — losing spouses, children, a godson and dear friends. Yet, through grief and hardship, their faith remained unshaken. The love of their church community and the presence of a faithful God sustained them, shaping a testimony of hope and resilience. 

Generations of Faithfulness 
These women have not only served in their own lifetimes — they’ve passed the faith on to their children, grandchildren and friends encouraging them to stay grounded in God’s Word and active in church life. Their example continues to inspire new generations to follow Christ with purpose and joy. 

As Zion looks to the future, we do so with gratitude for these living testimonies of God’s faithfulness. Their stories remind us that the church is not just a place — it is a people. Through every season, in trials and triumphs, God has worked through these women to bless Zion, one faithful act at a time. 

“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church … I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.” Romans 16:1-2 

A powerful reminder that women have always been vital leaders, helpers, and encouragers in the life of the church. May we continue to honor these wonderful women by also serving with the same heart, humility, and joy they’ve shown all these years. 

In Christ, 
Bob Schmidt 
Congregational President 

VIDEO: Sunday, May 11, 2025 - Complete Service

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AUDIO: Readings, Sermon & Adult Choir for Sunday, May 11, 2025

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First Reading -- Acts 20:17–35 
Now from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them: 

“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 

Epistle Reading -- Revelation 7:9–17 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” 

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the tenth chapter
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 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.” 

Faith Bell Choir (8 am)