Nesquehoning

Zion LutheranOn Sunday, Zion Lutheran Church, Nesquehoning, will celebrate Back To School Sunday, with a blessing of students, backpacks, teachers and administrators. Each student will receive a blessed cross key-chain that can be attached to their backpacks. Morning worship begins at 9 a.m. Vicar Sharon Richter will preside. Visitors are always welcome.On Sept. 13 several Panther Valley Lutheran congregations will join forces to participate in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Helping Hands community service day.We will have lunch at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Summit Hill and then proceed to the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery to do cleanup, repairs and maintenance tasks as assigned by the cemetery board. Each participant will receive a T-shirt for the event. Please sign up at one of the churches or contact Vicar Sharon Richter at 570-645-6674 if you would like to participate.Come and enjoy dinner and spirited conversation at the new Puzzling Parables Class, alternating weekly between Zion Lutheran Church, Nesquehoning and St Paul's Lutheran Church, Summit Hill, on Sundays 6-7:30 p.m.On Sept. 20, the menu is fried chicken and we will cover Matthew 2:1-16, the parable of the workers in the vineyard, a difficult one for Americans to understand, with our tradition of fairness. God operates on a different principle: grace for all, which sometimes seems unfair to us.Sept. 27, 6-7:30 p.m., the menu is sausages and we will consider Luke 16:1-8, the parable of the shrewd manager. This parable is puzzling because it seems to encourage dishonesty.If you plan to attend and have not signed up, please call Richter at 570-645-6674 so we can be sure to have enough dinner. A freewill offering will be collected. See either St. Paul's or Zion's Facebook page for the full calendar and menu plan for upcoming classes.Contact the Times News at 800-443-0377 or

tneditor@tnonline.com.