Zion Lutheran Church LCMC

This Week at Zion May 13 – 19, 2012

Pastor Ron — Sun, 13 May 2012 10:42:46 +0000

This Week: May 13 – May 19, 2012

Today: Mother's Day

9:00am Sunday School

10:15am Worship Service

Tuesday 15^th: 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

Wednesday 16^th: 6:30pm Contemporary Service

7:15pm Bells

7:15 Friends of Zion

Thursday 17^th: 9:30am Quilting

Dates to Remember May 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:12:57 +0000

Dates to Remember in May 2012

1st 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

2nd 10:00am WOZ/LSSM Meeting

2nd 1:00pm-3:00pm Euchre

2nd 6:30pm Contemporary Service-Communion

2nd 7:15pm Bell Practice

3rd 9:30am Quilting

3rd 6:00pm Youth Lock-in until 9:00am on 5th

5th 4:30pm-7:00pm Roast Beef Dinner

6th 9:00am Sunday School

6th Donation Sunday-Cleaning Supplies

6th 10:15am Worship Service– Communion

6th Baptism of Avonlea Jenkins

7th 7:30pm Joy Circle

8th 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

8th 10:00am-12:00pm Food Pantry

8th 6:30pm Council Meeting

9th 6:30pm Contemporary Service

9th 7:15pm Bell Practice

10th 9:30am Quilting

13th 9:00am Sunday School

13th 10:15am Worship Service

15th 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

16th 6:30pm Contemporary Service-Communion

16th 7:15 Bell Practice

16th 7:15pm Friends of Zion Meeting

17th 9:30am Quilting

18th 9:00am-3:00pm Attic Treasures Rummage Sale

19th 9:00am-3:00pm Attic Treasures Rummage Sale

20th 9:00am Sunday School (Last Day)

20th 10:15am Worship Service-Communion

21st 7:30pm Altar Guild

22nd 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

22nd 10:00am-12:00pm Food Pantry

23rd 6:30pm Contemporary Service

23rd 7:15pn Bell Practice

23rd 7:30pm Alpha Omega Bible Study

24th 9:30am Quilting

27th Summer Service Hours Begins

27th Noisy Sunday-Families in need

27th 8:00am Worship Service

27th 9:30am Worship Service

29th 9:00am-12:00pm Aspiring Hands

30th 6:30pm Contemporary Service

30th 7:15am Bell Practice

31st 9:30am Quilting

Men’s Bible Study Breakfast May 23, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:11:20 +0000

Men’s Bible Study Breakfast Saturday, May 23 , 2012 at 9:00 am

Come and have breakfast with the guys! Watch a DVD, and then discuss how it relates to everyday situations or life. Bring your appetite!

Noisy Sunday May 27, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:10:30 +0000

Noisy Sunday

Noisy Sunday is the last Sunday of the month. Bring your extra change (or bills) to share with Zion’s families in need. Our next noisy Sunday is May 27, 2012 will be for Families in Need. Thank you for saving your change (and bills); together we make a difference, we are keeping Noisy Sunday a success

Summer Services at 8:00 & 9:30 am Starting May 27, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:09:42 +0000

Summer hours begin on May 27th. Our service times will be at 8:00am and 9:30am.

Bring a friend and join us at one of our services!

Attic Treasures Rummage Sale May 18 & 19, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:04:26 +0000

Attic Treasures Rummage Sale

Make plans today to sort, sell, help set-up or clean up! Sale is May 18^th and 19^th from 9:00am-3:00pm with clean up on the 20^th. We need all the helpers we can get!! You can start by finding treasures in your attic, basement, garage, storage shed . . . you name it. Items needed include (but are not limited to): small furniture, used small appliances, glassware, kitchenware, and, of course, new and gently used summer and winter clothing. In order to be productive and organized, your donated items must be turned in by Thursday, May16^th,but you can start bringing them in now.

If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Ron.

Summer Picnic June 24, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:02:13 +0000

Summer picnic for Zion and members’ friends will be held on June 24th. Games, prizes and fun. Potluck will begin after church service. Mark your calendars now

Feed Your Neighbor Food Pantry May 8 & 22, 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:01:10 +0000

Feed Your Neighbor

Our Feed Your Neighbor Food Pantry will be open on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month. May 8 and May 22 from 10:00am-12:00pm. If you know someone that is in need of help during these hard times, please let them know about Zion’s Food Pantry.

We are in need of juice, green beans, canned fruit (pears and pineapple) and monetary donations. Thank you for your donations! If you are interested in seeing how the Food Pantry works please join us on a Tuesday.

LCMC Update 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:58:51 +0000

LCMC UPDATE 2012

Today the total has grown to 770 congregations.

· U.S. Congregations—681

· States Represented —42

· U. S. Territories—2

· Countries—11

Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ is an association of congregations and individuals who are:

· Free in Christ

· Accountable to one another;

· Rooted in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions;

· Working together to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations.

We have a great respect for the reality that the church is where the people of God gather together around Word and Sacrament. The local congregation is where the church becomes a concrete reality for God’s people.

At the same time we are joyously aware that each congregation is a part of the greater body of Christ. The actions of each congregation within our association reflect on our association as a whole And the actions of our association reflect on the whole body of Christ. For this reason we have committed ourselves to a common set of ministry standards.

Congregations have significant latitude in ordering and shaping ministry in their local setting, and we intentionally have made joining and leaving the association simple. We have also agreed to a disciplinary process for addressing congregations whose actions violate our agreed-upon statements of faith and practice.

Pastor’s Corner May 2012

Pastor Ron — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:56:50 +0000

Not Just Any Body Luke 24:36-48

If Jesus has a body when he comes back, this suggests that bodies count. All bodies count.

He makes the point, as strongly as he can, that he's come back as a guy with a body.

DO YOU REMEMBER THE TRANSFIGURATION?

What TWO PATRIARCH'S appeared in the AIR on the top of the MOUNTAIN?

MOSES (Died) ….ELIJIAH (Taken into HEAVEN ALIVE)

Yet BOTH APPEARED in their BODILY FORM. I believe that is a very POWERFUL MESSAGE to US.

Once a DEAD MAN,—- JESUS is a DEAD man NO LONGER. He's not RETURNED as a GHOST from the haunts of the dead. He's ALIVE.

He's come back as a GUY with a BODY. He invites them to count the CRUXIFICTION SCARS. He tells them to TOUCH HIM.

Once you're RESURRECTED,– being treated as a GHOST is something of an INSULT. His FLESH is as REAL AS THEIRS.

JESUS is now in Jerusalem straight from that APPEARANCE seven miles down the Emmaus Road.

He DIDN'T take the time to EAT THE BREAD he BROKE THERE,– so it's no surprise he's hungry. Like an INSISTENT KID at supper time he asks, "Have you anything here to eat?"

Broiled fish is available. He takes a piece. HE EATS IT.

Jesus comes back with A BODY. This suggests that BODIES COUNT. That ALL BODIES COUNT.

He THREATENS his disciples with LIFE. Makes them really UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE. There and everywhere they are to become carriers of RESURRECTION,–CONTAGIOUS WITH FORGIVENESS.

ALL bodies COUNT. Peter GETS the POINT. A witness to Jesus now ALIVE AGAIN, Peter knows there's POWER TO HEAL that DISABLED MAN who BEGS at the gate of the TEMP EL. There are NO COINS to put in HIS CUP,— but by the POWER of JESUS the RESURRECTED. Peter PULLS HIM UP,– and off the beggar goes –WALKING in the distance.

Frowning AUTHORITIES cannot FIT THIS into their IDEOLOGIES,– and so off TO COURT Peter is HAULED. There he uses THE DOCK as a PULPIT to TALK about this Jesus back from THE DEAD with BODY that is ALIVE.

Straight-talking Peter,– having his LIFE THREATENED,– now is positively CONTAGIOUS with RESURRECTION. For him ALL BODIES COUNT because the FIRST ONE has COME BACK AGAIN from the WHIPPING,–THE CROSS,–AND THE GRAVE.

It may seem an unreligious thing to talk about bodies. But GOD makes them,–GOD sustains them,–GOD and resurrects them. For HIM they are something HOLY,– whether the body of Jesus,–or yours,– or mine.

Jesus shows up, complete with body, THERE in the Upper Room,– HERE on our ALTAR,– as his Church,— which includes YOU and ME,– and on his throne of glory in heaven.

And Jesus shows up–he tells us himself–not as a GHOST,– but as a BODY, somehow in the SICK,– the POOR,– the HUNGRY. He still asks us that question: "Have you anything here to eat.

He shows up, not as a GHOST,– but as a BODY,– in all bodies that are DISHONORED: the ADDICT,– the PROSTITUTE,– the CRIME VICTIM,– the SOLDIER or CIVILIAN killed in war. Jesus keeps showing up. We may threaten him with DEATH,– but he threatens us with LIFE. To him all bodies COUNT,– for all are HIS. Over against all this, the Gospel gets in our face with Jesus as a guy who's back from the dead with a body, shows his wounds, munches on fish, and threatens his disciples–and everybody else as well–with life. That he shows up, complete with flesh, shouts out that bodies count, all bodies count.

Give him credit for this: he's consistent. What he ropes those startled disciples into being is not his spirit, his mind, or his good thoughts. What they become instead is his body. Flesh as real as his. Back alive from death. Carriers of resurrection.

In a world full of bodies, used and abused, sanctified and desecrated, where sight and touch and other senses help us get around, it seems only right that God have a body. This body, like ours, is tangible and wounded. Yet it's alive, and threatens all comers with life. We call it Christ's Body, his organs and limbs, his Church.

Like other bodies, this one is beautiful yet often embarrassing. It doesn't always function right. It can be its own worst enemy. Even at its best, it is persistently local, and places demands upon us.

Jesus returns from the dead and meets his disciples in different places: the garden, the Emmaus Road, the seashore, the Upper Room. He witnesses to them that he is alive, this guy back from the dead with a body. He isn't content to send them a postcard from heaven: HAVING A GREAT TIME. WISH YOU WERE HERE. No. He shows up among them as his own witness.

And he recruits as witnesses those other people with bodies. He wants them to move out and tell everyone who will listen and everyone who won't that bodies count, that he's back from the dead with a body, threatening them with life.

Those who recognize his witness become witnesses themselves. They put their bodies on the line. They become contagious with the forgiveness they've caught, carriers of resurrection.

That's what this back-to-life Jesus wants of us: not names on a list, or "pew potatoes." Jesus wants us as witnesses. Not airy spirits or pious ghosts, but bodies like his own with wounds to show, bodies that witness to resurrection, threatening the world with life.

For the only Easter some people may ever see is the Easter they see in us.

And the ONLY GOSPEL people may see is the GOSPEL of JESUS through US!

Happy Mother's Day to all of our Zion Family. May you be showered with gifts and attention worthy of your service.

Pastor Ron and Karen.