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Peace, Shalom!

By Vicar Lisa

“Peace” is a word we often use to describe Jesus’ ministry. The angel announcing Jesus’ birth said he came to bring peace on earth. Peace is often part of our worship liturgy, hymns, prayers. We even share God’s peace!

We hear the word so often we may have lost the full meaning of peace. The most common Hebrew concept that relates to our word “peace” is shalom, meaning wellness, wholeness, healing…even salvation. The Lord wants shalom for those who are broken, hopeless, or filled with fear. It has both a physical and spiritual dimension. If I want shalom for you, that means I am willing to share what I have so that you can have what you need. Your well-being is important to me. When Jesus said he came to give life abundant, he was talking about shalom.

Peace is connected to justice, to the right ordering of relationships. Peace as gift and task means that we will talk about the peace that passes understanding, the peace that calls us to share with others in need and work to end the oppression of those who don’t count in today’s market economy. Our concern for peace encompasses the well-being of both individuals and society in pain. 

The advocacy work of the church demonstrates that we want to bring peace to this world, to identify those who are marginalized, and to give voice to the voiceless as Jesus did. Our concern for peace will encompass the whole world, not just our country, our church, or our kind of people.

In Matthew 5, we read Jesus’ beautiful words called the beatitudes. Verse 9 says “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Be blessed, be children of God. Shalom.

 

Serving This Sunday, Third Sunday of Easter, April 14

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

 

Announcements

  • Weekday Bible Study: Bible Study will be held at, 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, April 17, and April 24. Pastor Jan Everhart will begin a study on the book of Mark. Suggestions on what to study next are requested.
  • Church Council: Church council meets at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 14, following fellowship.
  • Flowers: There are plenty of days available for sponsoring flowers. Select the available date in the flower book at the back of the sanctuary, write your name and any commemoration you would like to see included in the bulletin. A minimum donation of $35 is encouraged and donation envelopes are in the flower book, too.
  • Green Flower Trays and Vases: If you have taken green flower trays or vases home, please return to the church.
  • Fellowship: Join us after worship on Sunday for coffee and chatter.

E-formation – The Third Sunday of Easter, April 14, 2024

Easter continues. Each year, the gospel on the third Sunday of Easter is a resurrection appearance. All three readings this Sunday contain fragments of early Christian preaching, with the Johannine emphasis quite different from that of Luke-Acts.

Luke 24:36b-48

The risen Christ is here among us, eating with us, and that meal is part of the proclamation of the Messiah risen from the dead on the third day and offering forgiveness to all nations.

Acts 3:12-19

We need to beware of perpetuating the primitive Christian tendency to blame the Jews for Jesus’ death. Here critical biblical studies are a welcome gift for the preacher. The most profound Christian theological understanding is that we, our sins, were the cause of Jesus’ death. But we stand with Acts 3 when it calls Jesus the servant of God, the holy and righteous one, the author of life, the Messiah of God, through whose suffering we are saved.

1 John 3:1-7

The baptized live in the hope that through the power of the risen Christ, their lives will be marked by extraordinary countercultural love. Yet it is Christ, not the community itself, who is righteousness. Christian tradition has admired 1 John but balances its depiction of communal perfection with Pauline realism about sin.

Zion's Lutheran Church
zionsluth@gmail.com
719-846-7785