Announcements and E-formation -- Aug. 14, 2024

A Message From Bishop Eaton

From “Shall” to “Will”

by Vicar Lisa

August 9, 2024

Recently the Louisiana Legislature passed a law mandating that all state-funded schools and universities prominently display the Ten Commandments in classrooms and cafeterias. Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah are considering similar legislation. This initially seems benign, even beneficial. After all, in our baptismal liturgy we ask parents and sponsors to promise that they will teach the newly baptized the “Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments” (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 228). Martin Luther even placed the Ten Commandments first in his Small and Large Catechisms.

Clearly the Ten Commandments are an important part of our corporate and personal life.

Let’s take a closer look at a Lutheran understanding of the Ten Commandments. The first use of the law is to compel civility through legal restraint and the threat of punishment. In short, it restrains the basic urge to look out for oneself at the expense of others. Without this, life would be violent and chaotic. The second use of the law is theological. The law accuses those who disobey it and makes offenders aware of their sin and the need for forgiveness. In this sense the law exposes our absolute inability to save ourselves and our complete dependence on God’s free gift of grace. With this, sinners are put to death and believers are raised to new life.

There is a third use of the law spoken little about by Luther that sees the commandments as a guide for justified sinners. The reformers did not want the commandments turned into a vehicle for “works righteousness”—or worse, self-righteousness. The Lutheran understanding is that keeping the Ten Commandments doesn’t make a person holy or justified—the death and resurrection of our Lord does.

The promise fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Christ—that we are a new creation—turns the Ten Commandments into promises: from something we shall do to something God is certainly going to do and that will be true for us.

One must ask to what end the Ten Commandments are being posted. The argument being made is that the Ten Commandments are a historical document. Others might argue that posting the commandments is for the moral and ethical edification of students. For Lutherans, the Ten Commandments are not a mere historical document but a holy text. The first three commandments are explicitly about God. Arguments by those who claim that the commandments serve as a foundation of law in this country, and therefore posting them doesn’t counter the First Amendment of the Constitution, ignore the inherently religious content and context of these words from God.

Lutherans have a long tradition of catechetical training. Luther wrote the Small Catechism because of the woeful ignorance he found among pastors and people during his Saxon Visitation. The Small Catechism was originally intended for parents to instruct their children. Nowadays, pastors, deacons or trained lay leaders carry out this instruction for youth and adults in congregations and faith communities. The point is not a rote memorization or the posting of an ancient text to be displayed along with other historical documents, but a theological and spiritual encounter that draws us closer to God.

Besides, Lutherans (and Roman Catholics) don’t number the Ten Commandments the same way that other Christian traditions do. Heaven forbid we come up with Ten Commandments merch. There would be mugs and T-shirts for the majority and a separate section for us.

The promise fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Christ—that we are a new creation—turns the Ten Commandments into promises: from something we shall do to something God is certainly going to do and that will be true for us.

In the fullness of time, when God is all in all, through the justifying grace of Jesus, we will have no other gods. We will not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord our God. We will remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. We will honor our father and mother. We will not murder. We will not commit adultery. We will not steal. We will not bear false witness against our neighbor. We will not covet our neighbor’s house. We will not covet anything that belongs to our neighbor. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton

Presiding Bishop

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

13th Sunday After Pentecost -- Aug. 18 -- 10 a.m. Worship with Communion

Council Meeting Minutes

Zion's Lutheran Church Council met after worship on Sunday, Aug. 11. The Secretary reports, Financial Secretary and Treasurer's report and a report on the Trust Fund were all approved.

Vicar Lisa will be at seminary Oct. 21-25.

We will help Pastor Clay feed his group at Cimino Park on September 8 for our God's Work Our Hands service project. A church picnic at Round-Up Park (worship and potluck) is scheduled for Sept. 15. We will continue our first Sunday presentations on Stewardship on Oct. 6.

Total income from the garage sale fund raiser is approximately $2,200 with some furniture left to deliver and funds to be collected. Thank you to all who helped haul things up from the garage, make donations, organize the items, greeted those who stopped by, delivered furniture and large items and those who helped clean up afterward.

The special congregational meeting is scheduled for August 18 where we will vote whether or not to continue our discernment process regarding becoming a Reconciling in Christ church.

We continue to update our congregational records which had gone missing for 11+ years. Following procedures from the constitution and bylaws, 16 people who have passed away, 46 who have moved out of the area, 1 person who has transferred to another Lutheran church and 8 who have resigned since January, 2011 were removed from the parish roles.

The church has received two anonymous letters over the last couple of months directed at Vicar Lisa and Julie "criticizing" their work at the church with respect to the RIC process. Vicar Lisa and Julie reminded the group that people from the LGBTQIA community and people of color receive these types of things on a regular basis. Church council, voted to report these to the police.

The next council meeting will be Sept. 22. Having no other business, the meeting was adjourned followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Respectfully submitted,

Julie Wersal, Church Council President

Announcements

• Fellowship Time: Join us after worship for coffee and conversation.
• Special Congregational Meeting: Following Sunday's worship, Zion’s will conduct a special congregational meeting to discuss and vote toaffirm the unanimous church council decision to continue the R IC discernment process. As the motion is being discussed by the voting members of the congregation, all points of view, whether for, against or neutral, will be provided an opportunity to be heard. As defined in our constitution (Chapter 8), "Voting members are confirmed members who, during the current or preceding calendar year, shall have communed in this congregation and shall have made a contribution of record". People who wish to attend via Zoom should use the following link:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81694574416?pwd=dbnDJk1uRveCBwTIDWbEaMyb3VIzQq.1--Meeting ID: 816 9457 4416 — Passcode: 323101
• Newsletter Deadline: The deadline for the September newsletter Connections is Thursday, Aug. 22. Please share your contributions with Jo Moss.
• God's Work Our Hands: Save the date for GWOH Sunday (Sept. 8), following worship, we will be preparing meals and feeding the needy at Cimino Park in support of Pastor Clay and the Way ministry. Then Sunday, Sept. 15, we will have our celebration worship and picnic at Round-up Park (near the fairgrounds).

E-formation – 13th Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 18

On this coming Sunday, the gospel reading from John 6 speaks in graphic language about eating Christ’s flesh and drinking his blood. But we aren’t cannibals. Come to worship, and discover how we can receive the meaning of these words.

The Readings in the Bible

John 6:51-58

There is considerable dispute among scholars concerning this passage. Some scholars argue for its historicity: since neither Hebrew nor Aramaic has the noun “body” that appears in the synoptic accounts of the last supper, John’s vocabulary might be closer to what Jesus actually said at some such meal. Other scholars argue the opposite: John is composing Christian polemic against the group he calls “the Jews,” who would have been scandalized by the idea of drinking blood. The passage does, however, accord with John’s over-the-top metaphoric style. The natural fact celebrated by John’s graphic vocabulary is that we all live off the life of others, from our mother’s milk to the flesh of dead animals. So, for John, the bread and wine are the very life of the Christ, whose death gives us life.

Proverbs 9:1-6

Scripture and the Apocrypha include several significant poems in which the Torah is likened to Wisdom, which is described as a semi-divine female. There is considerable scholarly debate about these passages. The simplest interpretation is that since the Hebrew noun “wisdom” is hokmah, a feminine noun, these metaphoric poems served in a clever way for the instruction of Jewish males, a literary commonplace in which both good and evil are depicted as females. A radically different interpretation is that some Jews had adopted the female deity Sophia from their neighbors and fit her into monotheism as a consort for Yahweh. The passage from Proverbs 9 contrasts Wisdom to Folly, a foolish woman who “is ignorant and knows nothing” (9:13).

Ephesians 5:15-20

The passage from Ephesians counsels Christians to live wisely. The author is assuming that Christians are meeting together for worship, which includes considerable singing. The passage includes an early form of trinitarian theology: filled with the Spirit, we praise the God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.

Zion's Lutheran Church

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785