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Sunday Morning Worship

April 7 at 9:00 a.m. ~ First Communion

April 14 at 9:00 a.m. ~ Palm Sunday Dramatic Reading of The Passion

April 21 ~ Easter Sunday at

6:30, 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. (Easter Sunday Breakfast served 6:45 - 7:45 a.m.)

April 28 at 9:00 a.m. ~ New Member Sunday

Wednesday Lenten Worship and Meal 5:30 p.m. April 3 and 10

April 18 ~ Maundy Thursday Worship at 5:30 p.m.

April 19 ~ Stations of the Cross from noon to 3:00 p.m.

and Good Friday Worship at 5:30 p.m.

APRIL 2019

Zion’s Good News

ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH

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For the Healing of the Nations in the Family Center

Community is invited.

April 28, 2019 4:00 p.m.

Worship in song, prayer and candle lighting.

Soup supper following.

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Easter is Coming, are you Celebrating? In the past few years, I’ve noticed that fewer people are celebrating Easter. Is Easter an outdated religious holiday, or is it something more? Why is Jesus’ death such a big deal? Bunny suit—check. Basket of candy—check. Egg hunt—check. El-egant dress or fancy suit—check. Reservations at favorite brunch spot—check. Sounds like Easter, doesn’t it? But while all these traditions might be fun, do they really tell us what Easter is all about? Is it more than a work holiday or an excuse to gather family? Is it just an outdated religious holiday? Or is there more to it? I believe it is. This Easter, why not spend a little quiet time with Jesus, thanking Him for His sacrifice, soaking in His Word and connecting with Him in a very real, personal and meaningful way? Let’s breathe in the Easter story and rejoice in the empty tomb—in our risen King and in His unfailing love for us, because “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Here is a prayer you might use, it is written by Joyce Rupp one of my favorite authors.

Risen Christ we turn to you with full reliance on your resurrected

presence with us here and now. We renew our trust in your grace to

restore our joy when it lies hidden in our entombed self. Turn us

again and again toward hope. Open our hearts to recognize you in

the garden of our everyday lives. Amen

Pastor Sue

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YOUR CHURCH STAFF

COUNCIL MEMBERS

President: Brenda Castellano

V. Pres.: Maryel Schoenfuss

Secretary: Carmella Moon

Treasurer: Marge Redetzke

Evangelism: Cory Wiesman

Faith Formation: Jackie Fischer & Isaac Thompson

Property: Lee Spindler

Stewardship: Amy Cournoyer

Worship: Lois Miller

PASTOR: Sue Eidahl

Home Phone: 687-4381

E-mail: eides@zionlc.com

Secretary: Lori Lang

E-mail: office@zionlc.com

WAYS TO CONNECT

WITH ZION

Write us at Zion Lutheran Church, 213501 Legacy Street, Stratford, WI 54484-9632

Phone us at 715-687-4110 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or leave a voice mail message.

Or email us at office@zionlc.com or directly to emails above. WEB SITE: www.zionlc.com

TRADITIONAL WORSHIP 9:00 a.m.

INDEX Page 1 April Schedule 2 Pastor Sue’s Letter 3 Bishop’s Easter Message 4 Bishop’s Message continued 5 New Member Sunday / FMSC / J-

Team and Little Lutherans 6 Easter Morning Breakfast / Confir-

mation Electives 7 Council Minutes / Building Update 8 Lilies & Palms / Zion Cookbook /

Cemetery Reminder 9 Scholarship Reminder / Bible

Study / Pi Day / Serving at Zion 10 Birthdays & Anniversaries / Face-

book 11 Church Staff and Index Pull out: April Calendar and Serving Schedule NEWSLETTER DEADLINE The 21st of each month. ANNOUNCEMENT DEADLINE Wednesdays by 9:00 a.m. WEEKLY E-MAIL Goes out on Monday morning. Email office@zionlc.com to be added to the receiver list. PLEASE keep the office updated: • Address & email changes • Births, Deaths, Hospitalizations • Phone / Cell changes

PASTORAL ACTS Pastor Sue officiated at the funerals of Laurie Elmhorst and Loraine Holtman; and the Baptism of Ivy Tews.

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What do we have to do to get the world’s attention? We’ve got good news, great news, the best news, but we can’t seem to get the attention of those who need to hear it the most. For a few years in my former parish I sent out postcards and Facebook posts hoping to catch the attention of those who weren’t members of my church and invite them to EASTER WORSHIP. I used cute designs from OUTREACH.COM. My favorite was a photo of a fuzzy blue stuffed toy bunny with the caption: Is the true meaning of Easter a little fuzzy? On the other side of the card was an invitation to worship at Trinity, the church I served. This year they have a photo of an adorable baby wearing floppy fuzzy bunny ears and the caption reads: Have you heard the real story of Easter? They also have a post card with the photo of a green field filled with colorful Easter eggs ready for the Easter Egg hunt. The caption reads: Hunting for more this EASTER? These clever cutesy cards are designed to get the attention of the world and invite non-members to come to their worship services. It is not a terrible idea to send a postcard in the mail or post on social media inviting people to visit your church, but it is it working? Does sending a card capture the world’s attention? What does it take to get the attention of the world? What does it take to get the attention of the family that lives in the yellow house across the street from your church building? Some seems to be so distracted, busy, engaged in daily living, or just get-ting by. Others seem anesthetized by mind numbing virtual reality activities on their computer, phone or TV screens. A few find time to worship at the gym, yoga class, running, or biking. Sometimes I just want to yell, HEY! LISTEN UP, I’ve got good news. But I know they won’t be able to hear me over the din of daily life.

(continued on page 4)

2019 Easter Message

May I have your attention please! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION for an important announcement!

MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION FOR AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, NOW, PLEASE!!!!!

APRIL BIRTHDAYS 1 - Marilyn Suckow Nancy Carl Don Kroening Harold Wrensch 2 - Colin Schwarze 4 - Carla Spindler Darlene Pawlik-Plank

Jett Schoenherr 5 - Mason Johnson Anne McShane 6 - Lois Miller Marjorie Kollmansberger 7 - Barbara Jannusch BreAnna Grell 8 - Sharol Hinkelmann Macie Frueh 9 – Lindsay White 10 - Jacob Hughes Isabelle Multerer 11 - Amy Cournoyer Dennis Kuyoth Alex Spaeth

Sharon Mikelson 12 - Lydia Burrows Sara Mercer 13 - Mark Andersen Laura Aschenbrenner Teresa Bornbach Savannah Schillinger Averi Johnson 14 - Al Grell 15 - Austin Cole Troy Ballerstein

16 - Sara Dasler 18 - Carmen Van Der Leest Marsha Sipple 20 - Alayna Hoesly Kali Thompson 21 - Nancy Schoenherr Nathan Zawislan

Juliet Fellenz Lisa Niskanen

22 - Ray Carl Emily Meyer

23 – Kohle Hilgemann 24 – Nicole Curtis 25 - Elmer Hayes Dylan Fischer 26 - Logan Gliniecki 27 - Dylan Schoenherr 28 - Ryan Brubaker 29 - Rachel Anderson 30 - Jason Dennee Tim Garrigan APRIL ANNIVERSARIES 6 - Bernie & Kecia Krueger 7 - Bud & Marilyn Suckow 8 - Jason & Candy Landwehr 9 - Terry & Charlotte Schoenherr 14- Mike & Kim Johnson 22 - Mathew & Angela Schiller 25 - John & Kathy Zuelke 27 – Ted & Jill Dasler 27 - Benny & Rhonda Knoll

Zion is on Facebook.

You can go to our website at www.zionlc.com and click on the link to

the Facebook page.

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Tuesday Morning Bible Study April 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30

from 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. in the Conference Room.

THANK YOU to everyone who supported our ‘Pi Day’ Fundraiser

Attention Zion Members Come share your love for Christ by volunteering during the worship service. There are many ways to actively participate: usher, greeter, communion as-sistant, basket carrier, acolyte, bell ringer, button pusher (media), etc. All members are in the rotation for greeting You are welcome to sign up on line to help out during the worship ser-vices. Go to SignUpGenius.com. If you are unable to serve at the assigned time please contact the church office and let Lori know as soon as you can. Thank you, Brenda Huther

So what do we do? We know that guilting, shaming, and judging doesn’t work. Should we just…Give up. Shut up. Close up? Nope. I’m too much of an optimist for that. I think there is one thing we as a church can do that might get the world’s attention. We can sneak up and love them up. I don’t mean sneak up like stalking, that’s illegal. What I mean is act like you love your neighbor in little ways so that eventually without you really know-ing it, you DO love your neighbor and you can be in a relationship in such a way that you can invite them to know and love Jesus, the real Jesus, the Jesus of Easter. Maybe the first step is caring enough about the folks that don’t know the story about Jesus life death and resurrection to send them a silly post card. Maybe a baby step is caring enough about the children who won’t hear the Easter story in Sunday school and inviting them to come to your church for an Easter egg hunt and before it begins tell them about Jesus in some simple way. Maybe you could care enough to get to know the name of the church neighbor in the yellow house and who knows where it will go from there. Care enough to get to know your neighbor, the Muslim family from Somalia that lives next to the grocery store. Care enough to get to know your immigrant neighbor, the Lati-no family that lives across the street from the school. Maybe the only way to get someone’s attention is to love them. That’s how God got my attention. God sneaks up on us, loves unconditionally, loves the world so much that he gave his only Son, and on the third day he rose from the dead, so that we might have life. That’s the real meaning of Easter. That’s the good news the world is dying to hear. They just don’t know it yet. Maybe YOU can love someone enough to tell them about it.

It’s Easter. Let’s go love-in Jesus’ name, Bishop Laurie Skow-Anderson

2019 Easter Message continued...

Reminder: Application Deadline is

May 1st at 5:00 p.m.

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Zion Cookbook We would like to put together a cookbook and need your help with recipes! Please drop any of your favorite old or new recipes in a box in the narthex with who it is from as well! The deadline that we will accept recipes until is June 1st. Thank you in advance! Any ques-tions you can contact Cory Wiesman.

Plan a great day with others from Zion and help out those who are in need of a meal. We will be packing meals - Saturday April 13th from 8am.-10am. @ Zion United Methodist Church- 2106 N Peach Ave. Marshfield, WI. 54449. Let’s fill the room with Zion members and have a great time!! Please sign up as soon as you can- we want you – we need you!! Any questions contact – Dan & Deb Wieland 715-687-4233

Little Lutherans (K– 3rd Grade) and J-Team (4th – 6th Grade) will meet on Wednesday, April 3rd and April 17th, at 3:00 p.m.

Lilies will be used to brighten our sanctuary for Easter. They may be given in honor or memory of family and friends. Lilies may be taken home following worship on Easter morning. Lilies are $10.00 and the deadline is Palm Sunday. Palms will be used for Palm Sunday. If you would like to help pay for

palms please do so. Yellow order forms for Lilies and Palms are available in the Sanctuary, or call the office.

Cemetery Reminder All memory flowers, etc. need to be removed from the cemetery on both Hwy 153 & 97 by April 15th. Anything remaining after that date will be removed by the Cemetery Team. This will help us when get-ting the cemeteries ready for Memorial Day 2019. If you wish to keep flowers, etc. for next year, please remove them yourself. Thank you for your help!

NEW MEMBER SUNDAY We will be receiving new members to Zion on Sunday, April 28th. If you are interested, or know of anyone interested in joining, please

call the church office at 715-687-4110.

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Council Minutes Zion Lutheran Church Council met on Monday March 18, 2019

President Brenda Castellano called the meeting to order Marge Redetzke led with devotions.

During the meeting the council:

• Approved the Secretary Report.

• Approved the Treasurer Report.

• Approved the Ministry Team Report

• Sent Thank You to Angie Guralski, Brooke Grell and Pat Emon.

• Approved GermanFest Request

• Approved FCA Request for Office Space

• We are still in need of 1 male and 1 female to attend the Synod Assembly.

• Reminder to all teams to get spring cleaning done before Easter.

• Disciples for Christ – Meet the Council – Sunday, April 14th 5:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Carmella Moon, Secretary *** A full copy of the Secretary’s Minutes is in the office.

Building Update 2019 Payment Bi-Weekly Start Payment Interest Principal Ending Dates Balance Amount Paid Paid Balance 12/07 & 12/21 $350,619.29 $ 3,100.00 $1,062.18 $ 2,037.82 $ 348,581.47 12/28 $348,581.47 $13,500.00 $ 13,500.00 $ 335,081.47 01/04 & 01/18 $335,081.47 $ 3,100.00 $1,018.49 $ 2,081.51 $ 332,999.96 02/01 & 02/15 $332,999.96 $ 3,100.00 $1,002.04 $ 2,097.96 $ 330,902.00

Total monthly principal payments $ 19,717.29 Total monthly interest payments $ 3,082.71 Balance of loan as of 02-15-2019 $ 330,902.00

Partners Bank Building checking acct balance as of 03-05-2019 $ 14,010.95

Join us Easter Sunday in the Family Center! Free-will offering will benefit our Youth Group.

CONFIRMATION ELECTIVES

Saturday, April 13th - “Feed My Starving Children”. Be part of an awesome, fun, and meaningful experience helping to feed hungry children thousands of miles away. Feed My Starving Children sends millions of nutritious meals all over the world each year, and we will help them do it! We will leave Zion in Stratford and go to Zion Methodist Church in Marshfield to pack meals and learn a little about hunger, poverty, and food insecurity. We will return to Stratford. Other members of the congregation will join us for the service activity at “Feed My Starving Children.” Wednesday, April 24th - “Choices”. How do we make the best choices? What is the “why”, “how”, and “what” behind your choices? We are sometimes blinded by what molds and shapes the decisions we make. How does being a child of God help us as we allow room for God to work in our lives?

Easter Morning BreakfastServed 6:45 – 7:45