Zion Lutheran Church Congregation



  • Excerpt from January, 2025 "The Mountain Top Messenger" newsletter...

    God's blessings to you this New Year. Here we are entering into the year 2025. As I think of this year I am amazed. In just a few more days I will hit 70, yet another of those milestone birthdays that end with a Zero...
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January 2025 "The Mountain Top Messenger" Newsletter
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God's blessings to you this New Year. Here we are entering into the year 2025. As I think of this year I am amazed. In just a few more days I will hit 70, yet another of those milestone birthdays that end with a Zero. I am both amazed and thankful to have made it this far. As I have gotten older I hear of and know more and more people who haven't made it this far. I thank the Lord daily for allowing me to continue my journey this side of His eternity. While I do look forward to Eternal Life at peace with the Lord, I think there is still work here that he has for me to do, and I thank Him for that opportunity.

I have to mention here that one of the things we have accomplished recently is that the Monday morning Bible study group has just finished reading through the entire Bible. It took 12 years and made it through the delay of a pandemic but we finished in the Book of Revelation the week before Christmas. I want to thank all of you who have persevered for so long to achieve this goal. I spoke with Pastor Hyvonen to let him know we are finishing up as he was the one who initiated the study and he asked me to pass on his congratulations for all of those who finished up. We have been in discussions on what to tackle next and I believe we are going to take a look at the Augsburg Confession to start. If you would like to join us we start at 10:00 AM on Monday mornings and the study runs for an hour to an hour and a half.

I also wish to take a moment to thank all of you who shared Christmas Cards and gifts with June and I. We are very grateful and will do our best to thank each of you individually, but in the hustle and bustle of the season sometimes we miss someone. Thank you again and I pray that all of you had a Merry Christmas as well.

Just a reminder on our Wednesday evening services, which will be resuming on January 8th, the services will be starting 6:00 PM. Please join us if you have the opportunity.

On a closing note, I have been a little lax the last couple of months in the scriptural study content in my newsletter covers. I am sometimes challenged to find topics that might be of interest to all of you. So I have decided to help elevate some of the stress and taking on a topic that will get us through the upcoming year. Starting in February and for the next ten months, we are going to take a look at the Ten Commandments from both views of Dr. Luther in the Catechism and how those commandments conflict with the world view today. I think it will be an interesting study and will be helpful to us all. Let me know what you think, not only now as a teaching choice but as we go forward so I can have some feedback as to whether or not it is an informative study. I am excited for the research, presentation, and response. So as we prepare for this study, feel free to pull out four confirmation books and read through the Ten Commandments. If you have any particular questions please feel free to get them to me and we can address them in the study. If you don't have a copy of the small catechism, there is one located in LSB hymnal in the pews, I have a few extra in my office, I think there may be a couple in the library in the conference room, or I can certainly print off for you the sections regarding the Ten Commandments any time. Let's get to it in the New Year!

I pray the Lord bless you in this New Year.

The Lord Bless you and keep you, the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.

Amen.

Pastor Rick