CHURCH MOUSE. Pastor s Desk. True Men of God. Important June Dates. Greeters

Transcription

1 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 CHURCH MOUSE For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Important June Dates 2 Men s Bible The Parkview 8:00 AM 4 K-5 Field Trip to Syracuse Zoo 5 Staff Mtg. 2:45 PM 5 Elder s Mtg. 7:00 PM 6 Alter Guild Mtg. at Zion at 9:30 AM 9 Commemoration Dinner 5PM 10 Food and Fellowship 12 Pre-K Graduation 7:00 PM 14 K-5 Closing Ceremony 7 PM 15 Last Day School Celebration at Highland Park 16 Strawberry Festival Parade 21 Church Council Mtg. 7 PM 25 Pastor on Vacation through July 7th Pastor s Desk True Men of God **Bible Study Saturdays 10 The Parkview ***There is no Sunday School June through August Greeters 3 Don and Willie House 10 John and Jenny Ceccherelli 17 John and Peg Holton 24 Steve Dornblaser 3917 Waverly Rd., Owego NY And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Ephesians 4:

2 Ushers 3 Matt and Lori Hoyt 10 Peter and Heather Roseboom 17 Hallett Family 24 Brian and Jackie Schendel June Birthdays 4 Peg Holton (Lindstrom) June Anniversaries 6 Scott and Sharon Ludwig 19 Jason and Adina Setzer ***Please contact Debbie in the office to add your birthday/ anniversary dates. One of the greatest spiritual problems of our age is the crisis of manhood. The Church must answer the questions the world is asking: What does it mean to be a man? Is it merely anatomy or a set of behaviors? Is there such a thing as manhood? Is manhood good? Does it matter? Is there some kind of standard of manhood, and why should anyone care if men don t measure up? The Church must answer. And the Church has THE answer. We know what it is to be a true man from the One who made man and became the true Man: Jesus Christ. He's the only answer to the overwhelming confusion of manhood in this age, the only One who can make us men right and whole, true and good. Now I m talking directly to you, fellas. The first step in addressing this problem in our culture is to start with ourselves: we must realize and admit that we are not the men we should be. None of us really are. That's why we all keep working at becoming better men. And we must admit that we lack the strength and tools to make this happen ourselves. The only true and good Man that ever walked this broken earth is Jesus. So we men look to Him to learn what it is to love, what it is to be weak, to be strong, to be true and good. We sit at His feet and listen. We learn from our Master how to be men. More often than not, it's much different than we would expect it to be, but it always ends up being right and being deeper than we imagined. And Jesus is more than just a man. He's also God Himself. So as you listen to Him, as His words get into you, you don't just learn. You are changed. He works on you, works in you, to make you more like Man was always supposed to be, the true and good Man you will become because of Him. This isn't a 10-step program or helpful advice or a set of lifehacks. This is a new life. A life of constant learning and setbacks and growth. But through all the struggles, through all the failures, through all the guilt and shame and everything else, God never gives up on you. Because that's who He is. He's already given everything you need for this, before we even asked. That's how He loves you: unconditionally Waverly Rd., Owego NY

3 He's even already set up for you a place to hear and learn and train and be changed in all of this: the Church. There you'll hear that life-changing Word in the company of other men just like you--men struggling with their past and present, working to be better men, and knowing they can't do it themselves. That's why they come. They become your brothers-in-arms. We're all in this together. Brothers, join me in praying for the men of our world, that our Father bring them to the Truth (John 6:65) and make them true men. Pray that our brother, the Christ, equip us with His Sword the Word (Eph. 6:17) and send us to speak the Truth to them. Pray that the Spirit of power (2 Tim. 1:7) give us strength to fight against the old Adam within each of us that shrinks from the great task and mantle of Manhood. Know that God always answers these kind of prayers by giving us Himself. Come to the place where He is present and active to do so; come to the Divine Service. Gather within the Church. It s the place all true Men belong. Within the fortress of the Church we become true Men. Within the Church we train under the tutelage of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. And from the Church we Men march forth to do and defend Good in this broken world, with our Captain, the Christ, leading the charge. Arise, true Men of God. The world needs you. +Pastor Heath Art: Christus Victor, artist unknown. The words in the book Christ is holding are Latin for: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please consider submitting an article/ pictures from life events (eg: the birth of your own baby or grandchild or family vacations/celebrations/ birthdays). Please include a caption to go with the picture. We will also accept announcements that have to do with the Church life at Zion. Please send to Adina-she has a mailbox in the office or you can send her an at asetzer01@stny.rr.com. The deadline for any submission is the 20th of the month Waverly Rd., Owego NY

4 Grace Lutheran Church New Building Dedication & Dinner Grace Lutheran Church had a fire which destroyed their facility on May 18, The entire facility of sanctuary, preschool, and offices was destroyed. This event only solidified the fact that the physical building is not the church; God s people are the church, His church. God has since blessed them with resources to build anew! Grace will dedicate their new 709 Main Street, Vestal June 3pm Please RSVP by June 10 GraceLC@GraceVestal.org Phone: Waverly Rd., Owego NY

5 Choir members Grace Lutheran Church of Vestal, NY will dedicate its new church building on Sunday, June 24 at 3 PM. We will have a festival choir singing We are a Church by Jay Althouse. If you would like to join the celebration choir, you are welcome! We will rehearse at 10 AM on Saturdays, June 16 and June 23 for about an hour. At 2:30 PM on Sunday, June 24, we will warm-up our voices for about 30 minutes. All will be at 709 Main Street, Vestal. Your pastor has more information, including an mp3 file of the anthem. Send me an at zingerline@stny.rr.com if you intend to sing God s glory at our dedication, please Waverly Rd., Owego NY

6 They need us to be Lutheran by Matthew J. Garnett For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor.1:18). I can t imagine St. Paul s words here being any truer than they are for the Lutheran church I attend each Sunday. Walk into that place during any given service, and you ll see men dressed in what can only be described as togas with colorful sashes, waving their hands about in all kinds of strange ways, and making what seem to be hubristic statements like I forgive you all your sins. All this takes place while the people in the congregation bow and kneel and do weird things with their hands in response to the colorfully dressed men leading the service. To be sure, there was a time when I would have unequivocally labeled all of this as folly. But now, as someone who has tried everything from Christian Fundamentalism to witchcraft, I must say, I love it. Once it was foolish; now it is genuine, meaningful, and indeed, divinely powerful. Why I needed Lutherans When I say I ve tried everything, that is a gross understatement. For instance, the way I tried fundamentalism was to adopt all of their doctrines and make my way onto their clergy roster. I made my decision for Christ, was baptized and stopped drinking, chewing tobacco and dating girls outside of the in-group. I took very seriously the charge to win souls. If I didn t do my part to win souls, after all, then people might go to hell on my watch. As a soul-winning pastor, I used rock music, comedy and feel-good self-help lectures to bring in outsiders. God be praised, we baptized a lot of people in that effort. Some still have their faith to this day. Unfortunately, most do not Waverly Rd., Owego NY

7 Those who lost their faith included me. It seems axiomatic to me now that those who take seriously all that Evangelical fundamentalism teaches will crack under that kind of pressure. To put it in Lutheran terms, it is an all-law environment. My reaction to this was not to seek the Gospel, but to escape the Law by running to the far left, mainline church world. I found no peace there, either. As it turns out, the liberal Christians I encountered had more rules and taboos than the Fundamentalists. The only difference was, they made up their own rules. Strike two for me. In the Evangelical world, the Gospel was not properly taught. In the mainline Protestant world, the Law was twisted and mangled. I was honestly seeking answers in all the wrong places. After a lifetime of searching for truth on the cutting edge of religious thought and finding those experiences to be utterly vacuous, the answers came when I finally acquiesced to the fact that Holy Scripture, understood through the Lutheran Confessions and lived out in the traditions of the Church, held the keys that could unlock the door. The solution, I found, was not to get new but to get old as old, ancient and traditional as I possibly could, all while dodging the landmines of medieval Rome and the East by going back with Luther and the Reformers to the Church Fathers and the Biblical text. Now, when that man (my pastor, whom I once thought to be silly), puts his hands on my head and tells me my many sins are forgiven when he teaches me how to be a better man right from Holy Scripture, founded on the power of the Gospel; when he puts Christ s body and blood into my mouth and His words into my ears well, the folly of the cross has now become the power of God for me. It is comforting beyond comprehension to know that the Lord has brought me and my family safely home. Despite all my best efforts to stay out in the pigsty of life and eat bean pods, the Holy Spirit, defying my own reason and strength, has welcomed me back to my Father s house using what appears to be foolishness to the world: the Lutheran tradition. Now, each Sunday in His house, the gifts of Christ await us on His altar of undeserved grace and favor, and we partake knowing that on the day of His reappearing, we will celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb, whose kingdom will have no end! Not a bad way to spend a lifetime if you ask me and an eternity, for that matter! Why the world needs Lutherans Like the liturgy I now love so well, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God Waverly Rd., Owego NY

8 For Lutherans in our current cultural and religious context, the Gospel of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins, woven throughout our liturgical life, is a singular kind of folly one dearer to our hearts even than the most meaningful ceremony. We actually believe that the bread and wine of the Supper are the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. We believe that water combined with God s word saves us from hell and grants us adoption into the kingdom of heaven. We believe that mere words the word of the cross have power to rescue us from evil, save our souls and help us begin again to obey the commands of Holy Scripture. This Gospel that we cling to as Lutherans is well worth looking a little foolish for. So I say to you, my brothers and sisters: Don t be afraid to be Lutheran all the way Lutheran! It s what I needed. It s what my family needed. I am convinced that those who are being saved don t need the pop-evangelical smoke and light show. They need rich, traditional music and liturgy, laced with beautiful ceremony. They don t need us to be libertine in our ethics and morals or to be fed the antinomian, all is grace message so common among us here in America. They ve had their fill of living like hedonists. They need unwavering instruction drawn fearlessly from Holy Scripture. They don t need pastors to be a combination of Jerry Seinfeld and Tony Robbins telling them how to have their best life now. They need the simplicity and purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins put into their ears and onto their lips and foreheads with forthright preaching, bread, wine and water. Put simply, they need us to be Lutheran! Matthew J. Garnett is the husband of Jennifer, the father of two children, a member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Ind., a professional truck driver and host of the audio broadcast In Layman s Terms. Find this article online at blogs.lcms.org/2018/they-need-us-to-be-lutheran 3917 Waverly Rd., Owego NY

9 Beware of spiritual Trojan horses by Rev. Paul Beisel, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Most people know something of the epic tale about the Trojan Horse. In the mythical tale of the Trojan War, the Trojan horse was the ploy that the Greeks used to sneak into the city of Troy and overtake it. As Christians, we need to beware of spiritual Trojan horses and take care not to be like the Trojans, unwittingly bringing the Enemy or his deadly teachings into our midst through seemingly innocent vehicles. One good example of a potential Trojan horse in the Church is inspirational literature. Suppose you are at the bookstore, and you come across a devotional book that has a nice cover and eye-catching artwork or photography. As you browse its pages, it seems as if the author is speaking directly to you and to your situation in life. You purchase it and read its pages uncritically, never taking into account the fact that the author belongs to church group you ve never heard of, has never studied theology formally, and does not understand the important distinction between Law and Gospel. In subtle ways, false and misleading teachings can make inroads into your mind and heart as you read a book like this, just as the Greeks sneaked their way into Troy. Books are not the only Trojan horses that Christians need to be on guard against. Christian music is also full of potential Trojan horses. Perhaps you have listened uncritically to Christian music, assuming that if it s played on a Christian radio station, it must be okay. As with the devotional book, you may not pause consider the source of the song, the theology of the songwriter, or his or her Christian background. Especially when we care more about the driving beats and melodies than the message behind them, music can also easily become a conduit for false teaching and bad theology Waverly Rd., Owego NY

10 Perhaps you have already encountered Trojan horses in your life. Maybe you have had an experience similar to mine, in which a Christian song I enjoyed singing when I was younger turned out to contain impure teaching. Experiences like these underscore the point that as Christians, we need to be discerning when it comes to the literature we are reading and the music we are hearing and singing. Whenever we consume media even Christian media we should be carefully asking ourselves: What is the source? What is the writer s theology? What is the Christian message that is being taught? You are what you eat is applicable in a spiritual sense as well. We might also say of our media choices, You are what you consume. As a Christian parent, I have a responsibility to shepherd my children to make sure that they are not bringing false theology into their ears and hearts through books and music that are fun or enjoyable. I need to beware of spiritual Trojan horses. As a pastor, I also need to be aware of this danger. This is one of the reasons that I value our church s hymnals so highly. I know that these worship materials and hymns have undergone a critical, doctrinal review by our church leaders and have been carefully considered and approved by the whole Church body. I and my congregation members can trust that here, at least, there are no Trojan horses to contend with. We can be certain that we are being fed and taught the pure Gospel and not something else. Yet there remain many other Trojan horses that Christians need to be aware of. Don t let these things into your heart and soul without examining them carefully first. Whether you are considering literature, music, television, movies or even speakers, it is always good to look past the glitter and see if there really is gold underneath. Ask yourself: What is this supposedly Christian work really saying? What is it not saying? What is missing? Who is saying it, and why? We live in a health-conscious culture nowadays, one in which many people are highly critical about the food they put into their bodies. Is it gluten-free? Is it non-gmo? Is it organic? Preservative-free? Locally sourced? How much more discerning should we be about spiritual food? Who would not want to take great care when it comes to their spiritual diet? In all these things, then, let s take our cue from St. Paul s words to the Philippians: And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ (Phil. 1:9-10). Find this article online at blogs.lcms.org/2018/beware-of-spiritual-trojan-horses 3917 Waverly Rd., Owego NY

11 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 Weekend Bible Studies This Month Join Pastor Heath for Bible Study 10am on Parkview Restaurant (145 Front St, Owego) or 9:15am on We re walking through the story of Scripture and hear how God has written us into it. This month we ll study the early years of the kingdom of Israel as recorded in 1 & 2 Samuel, focusing on the fall of faithless King Saul and the rise of faithful King David. Bring your Bible and a pen! We will NOT meet on the Saturdays of June 16 or 30, as Pastor will be out of town Waverly Rd., Owego NY

12 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 BOOK OF THE MONTH Man Up! The Quest for Masculinity by Jeffrey Hemmer What does it mean to be a man? Sacrifice. Man Up! doesn't tell you to take down the feminists or reclaim your God-given role and rights. Real masculinity starts with giving of yourself for the good of those around you and in your care. It's counter-cultural and it's exactly how God designed biblical manhood. This book is a call to fix your eyes and your hope on the Man up on the cross and to find in His selfless sacrifice the perfect example for manliness in our self-indulgent, self-centered society. That's where Man Up! really stands out in the crowd. Don't pick up these pages expecting to find an ideal man you should strive to be. This book is anchored in a different ideal. In the person of Jesus Christ, God became man. What Adam lost in his rebellion, Jesus restored in His Incarnation. Jesus is the perfect man. His example sets the paradigm for perfect masculinity. But more importantly, His sacrifice obtains forgiveness and mercy for the rest of us men who are bound to fail in this Godgiven task to be good men. Men in all stages of life will appreciate this refreshing perspective whether you're searching for footing in this crazy culture, seeking a godly relationship with your wife, or looking for guidance on raising children. Find this book on Amazon.com, or through Concordia Publishing House online at cph.org or by phone at (800) Waverly Rd., Owego NY

13 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 The Men of Zion The Heath family extends a hearty thank you to all those who helped them build a fence! Submit your project ideas for the Men of Zion to Pastor Heath or one of the elders. Projects can include Repairs, maintenance, and construction of homes and buildings and landscaping and machines for your family or others' all kinds of opportunities for the Men to pool their labors to help their neighbors. Come share your experience, hone your skills, and enjoy the fellowship of the brotherhood. Men and boys of all ages are welcome. Watch for the details of our next meeting Waverly Rd., Owego NY

14 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 Zion Lutheran School Commemoration Dinner In commemoration of all the years our school has served the families of this community, and in thanks for the faithful service of the teachers, staff, and volunteers, Zion will soon host a commemoration dinner. Please watch for the date and time. All the families of those who have attended or served at Zion Lutheran School are invited to come. Please help spread the word and invite as many people as you know! Please also bring all kinds on memorabilia yearbooks, banners, photos and more for us to display. We will also have a microphone available for people to share their memories of ZLS. We welcome all the help we can get to make this a great event. Please talk to Pastor Heath to find out how you can help Waverly Rd., Owego NY

15 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 Copies of WORLD MAGAZINE are now available for reading WORLD magazine reports the news from a Christian worldview: interpreting world events under the reality of the Christian faith. They strive to provide clarity relying on the talents of highly skilled, professional journalists and commentators so you receive stories that are factbased and put into their proper context. You get the news straight up, unburdened from points of view that fight against ultimate truth. In an over-communicated world, we need trusted voices that rise above the cacophony of the public square with disciplined, discerning journalism that seeks and speaks truth regardless of the cost. WORLD was created by concerned Christians just like you to be that clarion voice of wisdom. Review recent Zion and consider subscribing! 3917 Waverly Rd., Owego NY

16 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 Continuing education for the confessional Lutheran. Issues, Etc. is a radio talk show and podcast produced by Lutheran Public Radio in Collinsville, IL and hosted by LCMS Pastor Todd Wilken. Recent topics have included: The Movie "'Solo: A Star Wars Story,'" The Visitation, Jesus Welcomes Little Children, The Marriage of Priests, Deaf Ministry, The Person & Work of the Holy Spirit, The Sanctity of Marriage, Stewardship, Ramadan, The Book of Nehemiah, Jacob's Family, and more. Listen live or on-demand at and on the LPR mobile app Waverly Rd., Owego NY

17 Zion Lutheran Church Sunday School 9:15 AM Worship 10:30 AM June 2018 Do you have a recipe that your friends and family love? We want to share them in the Church Mouse. Please submit any recipes/pictures to Adina (asetzer01@stny.rr.com) by the 20th of each month Waverly Rd., Owego NY