We gather for a Worship Service on this Sunday, March 10th, 2024, Fourth Sunday in Lent in person at the Chapel (2700 W 14th Street) at 11:00 a.m.

To join us at the Chapel, buzz Zion Church (Bob Bucklew) from the Directory at the front of the 2700 Building on the campus of San Sofia apartments or enter from the accessible ramp from the rear parking lot. When you arrive, call Bob at 216-375-5323 to open the parking lot gate.

The Sunday Bulletin is attached in PDF format. You may use it as a devotional during the week.

UPCOMING EVENT:

OWLS Cleveland (Older, Wiser, Livelier Seniors) cordially invites you to our March meeting. We will gather on Wednesday, March 13th, 2024, 11:30AM – 1:30PM at Zion United Church of Christ, 2700 W. 14th Street, Cleveland (on the campus of San Sofia Apartments).

Join us for lunch and meet our guest speaker, Michael O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor. Then join in an art project with local Tremont artist, Angelica Pozo. Get acquainted with your neighbors, find out who the OWLS are, and hear about future activities. Door prizes and favors. Masks are optional.

To help us make sure we are prepared, please RSVP for the lunch and/or the art project by March 9, 2024. Call Beverly to RSVP: 216-310-6810.

The Focus Scripture Readings are Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21

Numbers 21:4-9
The lesson today in the Hebrew Scriptures from Numbers veers from the theme of covenants that we have been following. The lesson is not about a covenant, but that God provides a way to life even when the people disobey God’s ways. The people once again are complaining against Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. They complain there is no food or water, except that they “detest this miserable food.” They were tired of the manna God provided. So poisonous serpents came and bit the people, and many died. The scripture reads that God sent the serpents, but what if the serpents biting the people were really the people “biting” each other with their complaining and slander? The people came to Moses and confessed their sin, and Moses prayed for the people. God told Moses to make a poisonous serpent and set it on a pole, for everyone who looked at the serpent on the pole would live. Moses did so—he made a serpent of bronze, and everyone who was bit lifted their eyes, and upon looking at the serpent, they lived. Once the people stopped looking at the problems right in front of them and lifted their eyes, they were able to find a way to live together.

John 3:14-21
These verses in John 3 are the second part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a Pharisee who has come to see Jesus by night. Verse 14 begins with using the story of Moses and the serpents in Numbers 21:4-9. The people were saved when they looked to the serpent on the pole, when they looked beyond what they could see in front of them—the poisonous grumblings that had infiltrated the camp—and instead looked to God and God’s ways. So the Chosen One must be lifted up, according to John’s account, on a cross. As the people in Moses’ day were saved from poison when they looked up, those who believe will be saved when they believe in Jesus and will have eternal life. While vs. 16 is one many know by heart, it is just as important to know vs. 17, that God did not send the Only Begotten to condemn the world, but to save the world. The condemnation comes for those who love the ways of the world more than the ways of God, but those who know the truth know the goodness of God’s created intention for us, and their works reflect that intention.

Sermon/Reflection: “What Happened at the Cross?” by the Rev. Scott Rosenstein, based on the readings of Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21.

Please join us this Lenten season to give thanks to God and to seek the companionship of Christ in-person at Zion Chapel.

Lenten Blessings,
Pastor Scott Rosenstein
216-273-7561 – church
216-577-1514 – mobile

Bulletin Cover Image:
Crucifix 1150-1200
The Romanesque crucifix made in Castile-Leon Spain hanging in the Fuentiduena Chapel in The Cloisters, NYC