A name, a promise, a life

Zion is a name that carries a promise.

Originally used as a name for Jerusalem, the royal city of ancient Israel, Zion came to mean something more in the preaching of God’s prophets. They promised that God would build a new Zion. In this new and holy city, God, man, and all creation would dwell together in perfect peace (Ezekiel 37:24–28).

“The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing,” wrote the prophet Isaiah. “Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 35:10). Such promises of Zion echo throughout Holy Scripture. God’s people loved Zion because they loved the promise: God would dwell with them forever.

That promise has now become a reality in our Lord Jesus Christ. He is God in the flesh, the beloved Son of the Father who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary to die for our sins and rise again. Now ruling at the right hand of God, He has promised to be with His believers “always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Wherever Jesus is, there God dwells with His people—there is Zion.

So where is Jesus? Jesus is where He promises: in His Church, forgiving sinners through the preaching of His Word and the gift of His sacraments (Ephesians 1:22–23). By this ministry, God is gathering new citizens into His holy Zion (Philippians 3:20), dwelling with them now by faith and by sight in the world to come.

By calling this congregation Zion, its founders made its purpose clear. Here is a place where Jesus dwells, building His heavenly city through the gift of faith. As we look forward to the day when we will see God’s holy Zion with our own, risen eyes (Revelation 21:1–6), we gladly bear its name, trust its promise, and live its life.

If Zion is a name that carries a promise, then Lutheran is a name that carries a pledge.

In this congregation, you will know clearly what we believe and teach. It will not change with a transition from one pastor to another, nor will it rely on social trends or the will of the people. Zion is a confessional church—that is, a church publicly committed to a written confession of faith known as Lutheran.

God desires such plain speaking in His Church. He does not want His people “blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14), but “built upon the solid rock” of His Word (Matthew 7:25). Jesus sent preachers into the world for this purpose, promising, “He who hears you, hears Me” (Luke 10:16).

As St. Paul writes, the Church must publicize the truth with such sincerity, because “the love of Christ compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14, Ephesians 3:9). Love requires clarity of doctrine, so that God’s people may not languish in doubt but have full assurance of faith. In that spirit of love, Zion has made plain its confession by adopting the word Lutheran.

We believe and confess what Lutherans have always believed and confessed: the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith written in Holy Scripture and taught by the Church for thousands of years. A simple summary of this teaching appears in the Lutheran church’s Small Catechism, part of a larger confession published by Lutherans in 1580 called the Book of Concord.

If you have questions about this faith, or wish to learn more about it, one of Zion’s pastors would be happy to speak with you.

Zion is a promise. Lutheran is a pledge. Church is a life.

The kings who ruled the ancient city of Zion had a calling from God: to shepherd His people (2 Samuel 5:2). What do shepherds do? Shepherds give life to the sheep—a good shepherd even “lays his life down for the sheep” (John 10:11) so that they may live.

This royal calling finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He laid down His life on the cross, revealing Himself to be the true Good Shepherd. “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” He says about His sheep (John 10:10). His sheep are all those who believe in Him, or as Scripture calls them, the Church.

The Church has a life to live, and she receives this life from Jesus Himself. He and the Church are united, Holy Scripture teaches, like a husband and wife in marriage—they are one flesh (Ephesians 5:25–32). St. Paul goes so far as to call the Church the body of Christ, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22–23). To live the life of Jesus, we must live the life of His Church.

What is that life? Old Zion shows the way. Zion was “the city of our appointed feasts,” where God’s people went to celebrate the temple sacrifices and give thanks. In the same way, the Church finds its life in the Lord’s Supper, where we eat and drink what Jesus sacrificed for us on the cross and give thanks to Him for His great salvation.

This Holy Supper strengthens our union with Jesus, because it is His true body and blood—just think: the true presence of God in the flesh! The Church, which is His body, needs this holy food. It is resurrection and life, and it carries the forgiveness of sins. With this gift of His body and blood, our Lord confirms His promises to us and strengthens our faith.

From that gift, the rest of the Church’s life unfolds: baptizing new believers, learning the Word of God and sharing it; thanksgiving, prayer, and praise; loving one another; blessing our enemies; acts of mercy; patience in suffering; and caring for the creation as God has ordered it. These things are the life given to us at our Shepherd’s table. As one great preacher of the Church, St. Augustine, put it, “Eat what you are; then go and be what you have eaten.”

If you wish to commune at Zion, and have not done so before, please contact one of its pastors concerning admission to the Shepherd’s table. It is a gift worth all our time and attention.