Zion

 Jesus and Mary Magdalen Easter [L], Supper at Emmaus [R] 

Cleveland's German Evangelical Lutheran Church started in 1843, and in 1852 joined the Missouri Synod as Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church. Zion is a popular church name for some denominations, the temple in Jerusalem was on Mount Zion. The current building was their fourth and built in 1903.

The congregation had become famous when the pastor, Heinrich Schwann, brought in and decorated an evergreen tree on Christmas Eve 1851. This was the first church in America to have a Tannenbaum. The Yankee/English of Cleveland were upset with the Tannenbaum. The next year, other people had Christmas trees too.

 altar with Jesus and the four Evangelists

 Ecce Home [top], Good Shepherd [center] flanked by the Evangelists symbols

 Der Gerechte wird seines Glaubens leben. [from Romans i. 17]

 The just man liveth by faith

To-day, in "conservative" America, many people are upset with the use of a language other than English. Many Lutheran, and other German American congregations, spoke German in services until the first world war. The highest percentage of Americans have German ancestry. Not many speak German to-day. The United States has had xenophobia, and prejudice against the foreign born, and foreign speaking for many generations.

Ihr [aber] seid das auserwählte Geschlecht [from 2 Peter ii. 9]

But you are a chosen generation

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postscriptum: I noticed a couple of hours after i posted this, that there must have been a 'hiccough', most of the post repeated itself.