Did you know you are an Heiress?

“The boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance.” – Psalm 16:6

Introducing another Zion Church Women’s Bible Study

“The Inheritance” presented in DVD by Beth Moore

Your Presence is requested!

Location:  

Zion Church Hinsdale Fellowship Hall

Meeting dates:

Every Thursday morning for 9 weeks.

January 12, 19, 26,

February 2, 9, 16, 23,  

March 1, & 8

Time: 9:15am-11:00am

Childcare provided at no extra cost

Cost: $30.00 which includes class booklet and other class materials. Make checks payable to Zion Lutheran Church.

There is no homework involved in this study!

RSVP as soon as possible. Click for registration form: REGISTRATION PDF  and return to the Zion church office c/o Jean Albert- 204 S. Grant Street Hinsdale.

Why Christmas is on December 25 

By Dr. Gene Edward Veith

The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from pagan celebrations. The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, the argument goes, is really a spin-off from these pagan solar festivals. According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated.

Despite its popularity today, this theory of Christmas’s origins has its problems. It is not found in any ancient Christian writings, for one thing. Christian authors of the time do note a connection between the solstice and Jesus’ birth: The church father Ambrose (c. 339–397), for example, described Christ as the true sun, who outshone the fallen gods of the old order. But early Christian writers never hint at any recent calendrical engineering; they clearly don’t think the date was chosen by the church. Rather they see the coincidence as a providential sign, as natural proof that God had selected Jesus over the false pagan gods.

It’s not until the 12th century that we find the first suggestion that Jesus’ birth celebration was deliberately set at the time of pagan feasts. A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday.  In the 18th and 19th centuries, Bible scholars spurred on by the new study of comparative religions latched on to this idea.  They claimed that because the early Christians didn’t know when Jesus was born, they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiah’s birth and celebrating it accordingly. . . .

There are problems with this popular theory, however, as many scholars recognize. Most significantly, the first mention of a date for Christmas (c. 200) and the earliest celebrations that we know about (c. 250–300) come in a period when Christians were not borrowing heavily from pagan traditions of such an obvious character.  In the first few centuries C.E., the persecuted Christian minority was greatly concerned with distancing itself from the larger, public pagan religious observances, such as sacrifices, games and holidays. This was still true as late as the violent persecutions of the Christians conducted by the Roman emperor Diocletian between 303 and 312 C.E. . . . .

There is another way to account for the origins of Christmas on December 25: Strange as it may seem, the key to dating Jesus’ birth may lie in the dating of Jesus’ death at Passover. This view was first suggested to the modern world by French scholar Louis Duchesne in the early 20th century and fully developed by American Thomas Talley in more recent years.  But they were certainly not the first to note a connection between the traditional date of Jesus’ death and his birth.

Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar.  March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception.  Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.

This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.” Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice.

MEN OF COURAGE & ENCOURAGEMENT APRIL 20-22, 2012

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour radio program, will be the guest speaker at a Men’s Retreat to be held at Camp LuWiSoMo in Central Wisconsin. Click here: MENS RETREAT BROCHURE for a brochure with more information.

Who Are Our Pastors?

    Two gifted men who teach us, mentor us, counsel us, help us, serve us, guide us, care for us, accept us, encourage us, motivate us, humor us, and forgive us.

    We are so blessed to have 2 men who are true pastors. Thank you Pastor Klein and Pastor Haberkost for your tireless concern and love for all of us here at Zion, and for keeping our focus on our one true Savior – Jesus Christ.

    And thank you Sharon and Marilyn, for helping them to be the best they can be for us here at Zion. May God bless you both!

You are invited to come to a new program being offered at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 47^th and Brainard, LaGrange called GRIEFSHARE. Topics and issues are for those who have experienced the death of a loved one. GRIEFSHARE meets weekly and the content is Christ centered and biblical.  Whether or not your loss was recent or years ago, you will learn valuable information to help you in the grief process. No loss is the same and we realize this. The videos and discussion include normal people who have lost a loved one. Also featured are Christian grief counselors with insights that are very practical.

The first GRIEFSHARE group meets Thursday Oct. 13th from 6:30-8:30 pm in the Heritage room at St. Johns.  This group will meet for thirteen weeks, with breaks for the holidays. You can come to all sessions or choose which to attend, since each topic can stand alone.  Please remember that your loss is shared by others. It is good to know that others care.  May God’s love continue to comfort and strengthen you.

For more information please call St. John’s Lutheran Church at 708-354-1690

Hi! My name is Debra Miller!

 I grew up surrounded with music in a family that loved to share their musical talents in church.  My grandmother on my father’s side was a piano teacher who also played accordion in a band.  One of my earliest memories is watching her play piano and lead Bible songs at Vacation Bible School in church in Iowa.  It seemed like her voice was always scratchy and wobbly, but she sang from her heart and with conviction.  She will be 99 years old next month!  

Our home was filled with the sounds of my mother teaching piano students in our living room nearly every day after school.  My sisters and I each played two instruments and even my father liked to polish up his version of “Nola” from time to time.  My mother was always involved in children’s vocal and instrumental music at our church and was also a substitute organist. 

My parents now live in Florida where my mother continues to teach piano and they are active in their church.  Both of my sisters live near St. Louis.  My older sister has two daughters who attend a Lutheran school.  My younger sister married an ordained minister who has served with the US Army in Iraq twice.  He came home in February, 2010 after serving as communications officer and pastoral counselor in Baghdad.  He currently works for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

I started playing piano and French horn in church services when I was in junior high and accompanied services and other events on the piano when I was in high school.  After finishing my undergraduate work in piano and French horn performance at Northern Illinois University, I was offered an accompanying Assistantship at NIU.  While working on my Masters degree in Accompanying/Chamber Music, I also studied organ.  In the over 20 years I have been a church musician I have served as service accompanist, hand-bell choir director, choir director, children’s choir director and contemporary ensemble leader.

My husband Ryan and I are full-time freelance musicians, teach private music lessons, and perform with various groups and instrumentalists in the Chicago area.  We have homeschooled our three children for the past 10 years.  Our oldest, Kyle, commutes to Columbia College in Chicago where he is in his second year of studying music business. Kayla has two more years of high school and is very interested in musical theater and dance.  Kevyn is a freshman and loves baseball and guitar.

I look forward to working with Pastor Klein and the people of Zion Lutheran as we work together to minister to each other through music.

 “Be filled with the Spirit.  Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit.  Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.” – Ephesians 5:19

Beginning Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Zion is expanding its midweek Christian education program to include 3rd and 4th grade.  Now, Zion Congregation is offering a Biblically based program for children grades 3-8 every Tuesday afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.  God’s Word will help to inform and prepare children with the kind of values needed in these challenging times.  Christian fellowship with others, music, snacks, and caring teachers await your child.  To download a registration form click this link: STUDENT REGISTRATION 2011-12

Call or write for more information:

Pastor Klein at 630-323-0384 or pastor.jay.klein@gmail.com.

We walked on October 23, 2011,with 9 local churches for CROP Walk . The host church was Christ Lutheran Church, 60 55^th Street in Clarendon Hills, IL. 

CROP Walk is a nationwide campaign, but community based with 25% of the funds raised going to Hinsdale Community Services, and the remaining 75% collected going to Church World Services, a well-respected partner in the battle to address poverty and food insufficiency worldwide.

As we walked through the streets of Clarendon Hills this year, we will not only raised funds, but raised awareness of the tragic human suffering, both locally and globally, that is a reality for too many people who suffer daily with hunger and poverty related purposes.

For more information about Church World Service and Crop Walk, visit www.churchworldservice.org

Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT-Caritas

Four Zion members, Doug Day, Bob Jensen, Bruce Mack, and Jim Paul, recently returned from Joplin Missouri where they helped victims of the recent tornado that smashed through their town. 

 Jim Paul, Bruce Mack, Bob Jensen

Happy to Be Alive!

Massive clean-up!

Total Destruction

A Message From Pastor Klein:

Four of Zion’s people, Doug Day, Bob Jensen, Bruce Mack, and Jim Paul, recently returned from Joplin Missouri where they helped victims of the recent tornado that smashed through their town.  They each set aside other pressing moments in their lives to go and help others in need.  This got me to thinking about the life we live in this world and the life we live by faith in Christ.  Borrowing from retired Ft. Wayne seminary professor Kurt Marquart, I’d like to share with you some thoughts.

What does it mean to live out our lives as Christians in a broken and sin-filled world?  A reading of Scripture reveals that the real point of our life in Christ and the feeding of our faith through Word and sacrament is that we might gain an ever-firmer hold of Heaven and meanwhile become ever more useful on earth.  We have, after all, been “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before-hand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).  Cars, too, are not made to be fueled and oiled forever at service-stations.  Rather, they are serviced in order that they might yield useful mileage in getting us where we need to go.  Real good works before God are not showy, sanctimonious pomp and circumstance but as Martin Luther writes, they are as if “a poor servant girl takes care of a little child or faithfully does what she is told” (Large Catechism, Ten Commandments, paragraph 314).

How God-pleasing and right it is for the royal priesthood of believers to renew and pursue their sense of joy and high privilege in their daily service to the Lord (1 Peter 2:9).  The “living sacrifice” of bodies, according to their various callings, is the Christian’s “reasonable service” or God-pleasing worship, to which St. Paul exhorts the Romans “by the mercies of God” (Romans 12:1).  Or, as St. James puts it: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).

Each and every day is a gift from our heavenly Father, one that we are to live out in our baptism, rejoicing in the purchased redemption from sin and death that Christ has won for us.  Our words and our good works give witness to this new life, a testimony that the Holy Spirit has (and is!) transforming us out of the old Adam and into the new – a saint and a holy one of God’s!  Amen and Amen!

LEARN TO MAKE MUSIC’S NEW HOME IS NOW AT ZION LUTHERAN SCHOOL!

Learn to Make Music is a non-for profit organization that brings quality music education and programs to the young musicians of the western suburbs of Chicago. They are committed to providing a high-level musical opportunity – bringing together professional teachers and motivated students in a positive and nurturing environment.

The Hinsdale Conservatory of Music was started in 2009, and our first school – The Downers Grove Conservatory of Music – was opened in 2007. Between the two locations there now 10 teachers and more than 100 students.

Directors Ryan and Debra Miller both have Masters degrees in music and have both been active performers and teachers for more than 20 years. As parents of three home-schooled children (who are all accomplished musicians on multiple instruments), they have a unique perspective on how music education shapes people’s lives and how important it is for parents to find quality, educational experiences with good musical role models for their children. For more information about Learn to Make Music, click on the following link: www.learntomakemusic.com