Zion Lutheran

Seventh Sunday of Easter May 4, 2008 GOSPEL John 17:1-11 On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus prays to his heavenly Father, asking that those who continue his work in this world will live in unity.

    After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,  ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do.  ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.              ⁶I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you;  ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.  ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.  ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.  ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

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Fourth Sunday of Easter April 13, 2008 GOSPEL John 10:1–10   Jesus uses an image familiar to the people of his day to make a point about spiritual leadership. Good shepherds bring people to life through Jesus, but those who avoid Jesus are dangerous to the flock.   Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.  ²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.  ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.  ⁵They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”  ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.              ⁷So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.  ⁸All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.  ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

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Easter Sunday Festival Worship

Sunday March 23, 2008    8:30     Gospel John 20:1-18 This morning began with confusion: the stone was moved and the tomb was empty. Disciples arrive, then angels, and finally Jesus himself. Out of the confusion, hope emerges, and a weeping woman becomes the first to confess her faith in the risen Lord.   Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples returned to their homes.           ¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

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Lenten Meditation 40 Days of Community: We’re Commissioned to Reach Out Together March 12th, 2008

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Fifth Sunday in Lent 40 Days of Community: We’re Created to Worship Together March 9, 2008   GOSPEL John 11:1-45   Jesus is moved to sorrow when his friend Lazarus falls ill and dies. Then, in a dramatic scene, he calls his friend out of the tomb and restores him to life.   Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.  ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”  ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,  ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.              ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”  ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”  ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.  ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.”  ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”  ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”  ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.  ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.  ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”              ¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,  ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.  ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.  ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”  ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,  ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”              ²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”  ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.  ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.  ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.  ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  ³⁵Jesus began to weep.  ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”              ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.  ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”  ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.  ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”  ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”             ⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

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Lenten Meditation 40 Days of Community: We’re Commissioned to Reach Out Together February 20, 2008

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Transfiguration of Our Lord 40 Days of Community: We’re Compelled to Love God’s Family February 3, 2008 GOSPEL Matthew 17:1-9   Shortly before he enters Jerusalem, where he will be crucified, Jesus is revealed to his disciples in a mountaintop experience of divine glory called the transfiguration.   Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.  ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.  ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.  ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  ⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”  ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear.  ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”  ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.              ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

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GOSPEL Matthew 2:1-12   God’s promise shines bright in the night as magi follow a star to honor a new king. Strangers from a faraway land, they welcome the long-awaited messiah of Israel.   In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”  ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ⁶’And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”   ⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.  ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.”  ⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.  ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.  ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

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Fourth Sunday in Advent December 23, 2007   GOSPEL Matthew 1:18-25   Matthew’s story of Jesus’ birth focuses on the role of Joseph, who adopts the divinely-begotten child into the family of David and obediently gives him the name Jesus, which means “God saves.”

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.  ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly.  ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  ²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:  ²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.”  ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,  ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

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First Sunday in Advent December 2, 2007   GOSPEL Matthew 24:36–44   Jesus describes his second coming as a sudden, unexpected event that will bring salvation or judgment upon people caught up in the usual affairs of daily life. He urges people to be alert and expectant.   ³⁶But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  ³⁷For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  ³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark,  ³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.  ⁴⁰Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  ⁴¹Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.  ⁴²Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.  ⁴³But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  ⁴⁴Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

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