Weekly News from Zion and our Ministries Under the Cross: Evergreen Academy & Nina's Place

January 3, 2024

2024 Ministry Emphasis

SENT WITH THE SPIRIT

Family • Church • Community

In the fall of last year, we were given a great gift of historical documents about the stained glass windows in the church from the company that created them more than 50 years ago. These papers included architectural drawings, correspondence, and handwritten notes about the project. Among them was a scrap of paper that contained a Bible verse and clues to the features of the windows. The Bible verse was

"As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

John 20:21

The window on the north side depicts Jesus on the cross with symbols related to Jesus' preaching, healing, and celebrating the Last Supper. The window on the south side (pictured above) depicts Jesus in a posture of blessing with symbols related to home/family, church, and city (community). Because the artist worked in abstract, you really have to think "outside of the box" to discover what is what.

As we think about this year and concluding our celebration of Zion's 65th Anniversary in February, we are using the latter window's themes to frame our ministry emphasis for 2024. For generations, Zion has been a place to gather and be nurtured in body, mind, and spirit. But, we don't remain here. In every instance, Jesus sends us out: to our families, to our church, and to our community. If we are not building relationships and growing in our faith in each of these areas of our lives, we have missed the point of Jesus' sending.

There will be more to say about how our ministries strengthen each of these circles, but we take heart in knowing that the Spirit goes with us every step of every day. May 2024 be a spirit-filled year of purpose and meaning for all of us.

To God be the glory,

Cantor Kurt R. Schmidt

3rd Annual Casual Christmas

Our 3rd Annual Casual Christmas is on the books, and was an especially enjoyable way to spend the only Sunday in the Christmas season of the church year. We enjoyed hot chocolate and coffee, sweet treats, teaching on Jesus' first experience at the temple in Jerusalem, the singing of Christmas carols, and wonderful fellowship. Thank you to everyone who attended. There was also the thought that we might worship outdoors again before the weather warms up too much, so stay tuned for more details!

New Discipleship Resources for 2024

Thanks to the fruitful discussion and encouragement of those who gathered for our Wednesdays in Advent to read "I Am a Christian" by Thom Rainer, we have a series of resource guides on the first three marks of discipleship.

Want to grow in your faith and relationship with God & Jesus? Begin with these three: pray daily, worship weekly, and study God's Word. The guides (linked below) illustrate why these practices are important, but also offer strategies for strengthening your discipleship habits.

As the new year has just begun, it's not too late! You can read through the Bible chronologically (the order in which the content was written) with just a few chapters a day using a plan from the Blue Letter Bible.

Opportunities to "Just Show Up"

First Friday in January

Friday, January 5, 2024 at 6:00 p.m.

Pizza Piez

614 SE 10th Street

Deerfield Beach, FL 33441

Last year, January's First Friday was also at Pizza Piez as we were preparing to open Nina's Place the next day and wanted a restaurant close by. Why mess with success? Join us as we celebrate another First Friday and stay tuned in next week's newsletter for a report on the first year of Nina's Place!

Don't make dinner plans and come as you are! We enjoy delicious food and one another's fellowship. We each pay our own way, but everyone is invited to the table — friends, family members, and neighbors!

As the next step of the process of selling the school property, the council has called a special meeting on Sunday, January 14th immediately following worship for the sole purpose of approving the recommended listing agreement with our realtor. This will allow him to list the property publicly and receive bids for sale on our behalf. We hope that you'll come for worship and stay for the very brief meeting.

65th Anniversary Celebration

Registration Links Are Live: Please Register & Help Us Spread the Word to the Zion Family, Near and Far

Our schedule for February's anniversary & homecoming celebration is now live on our website! It includes an opportunity to volunteer at Nina's Place, an alumni cookout and game afternoon, class/decade gatherings, the confirmation of two young people in our congregation, and the rededication of our church sanctuary and pipe organ. We hope that you will plan to join us!

It takes a team to make something like this happen. We are also looking for volunteers to help us plan the following events that weekend:

Friday evening's Welcome Reception

Saturday afternoon's Alumni BBQ & Game Day

Saturday evening's Class/Decade Gatherings

Sunday's dessert reception after the Hymn Festival

If you're willing to help with the details, please reach out to Cantor Kurt Schmidt.

Opportunities to Serve Joyfully & Give Selflessly

Last Sunday to Donate for Our Reverse Advent Calendar

Thank you to everyone who has given so generously. We are still in need of more pancake mix, syrup, and condiments (mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, peanut butter, and jelly).

If you would like to donate financially rather than shop, click here. We will do the shopping for you. Food donations can be dropped off at the Evergreen Academy office or at worship on Sunday mornings. Thank you!

Nina's Place is celebrating one year of operation this Saturday, January 6th! Stay tuned for next week's newsletter for a reflection and report on our first year of serving the community and being ambassadors of hope.

Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

Baptism of Our Lord

Our re-creation in baptism is an image of the Genesis creation, where the Spirit of God moved over the waters. Both Mark’s gospel and the story in Acts make clear that it is the Spirit’s movement that distinguishes Jesus’ baptism from John’s. The Spirit has come upon us as upon Jesus and the Ephesians, calling us God’s beloved children and setting us on Jesus’ mission to re-create the world in the image of God’s vision of justice and peace.

Sunday's bulletin can be found on the homepage of our website.

New Ways of Praying

In December, we renewed a practice of praying for people by name on Sunday mornings. All names submitted online (click here) by Saturday at noon will be added to Sunday's prayers of the people. In order to keep our prayer list current, all names must be resubmitted each week if you desire continued prayers.

The Rev's Thoughts & Recs

On Sunday we discussed God promising Simeon he would see the Messiah before Simeon died. God kept God's promise when Joseph & Mary brought baby Jesus to the temple. This beloved hymn reminds us of God's promises to us as we reflect on our promises to God in 2024.

Cantor Kurt R. Schmidt

954-421-3146, option 2 (Church) • 954-913-2125 (Cell)

kschmidt@zion-lutheran.org

Zion is a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community, and extends God's radical welcome to all people, because we're all created in God's image.