ZION - could anyone please explain what this is?

It's a National Park in Utah.

Zion is the City of David in II Samuel 5:7, and it is a mountain of Jerusalem. But in Hebrews 12:22 it refers to the Church.

Zion is the Jews home and capital on Gods Holy mountain in Jerusalem and denotes a lifestyle of religion

Zion is a mountain in Israel, but has come to symbolize the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish homeland (the promised land).

Zion was also the name of the underground city in The Matrix. Obviously, the filmmakers used that name because of its Biblical usage of "homeland".

Zionism is a religion based on the belief that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people.

Mormons refer to Zion in a similar fashion, except obviously their homelands are inside the United States and not in Israel.

Rastafarians refer to Zion as being in Africa, specifically Ethiopia. They also sometimes refer to themselves as being the African children of Israel.

So you see... in general, Zion means homeland. But many different cultures use the term differently. Most traditionally, it refers to Jerusalem in Israel.

(Mount) Zion is an ancient Hebrew designation for Jerusalem, but already in biblical times it began to symbolize the national homeland (see eg, Psalm 137.1-6). In this latter sense it served as a focus for Jewish national-religious hopes of renewal over the centuries. Ancient hopes and attachments to Zion gave rise to Zionist longings and movements since antiquity, culminating in the modern national liberation movement of that name.

"Zion" ( "Tzion", actually )means "Kingdom of Righteousness".There were actual places called "Zion", but it was meant to be understood as a metaphorical kingdom where harmony reigned. A righteous person is called a "Zaddik" (Tzaddik) in Hebrew, and the derivation is the same as that of "Zion"

1.a. The historic land of Israel as a symbol of the Jewish people.

b. The Jewish people; Israel.

2. A place or religious community regarded as sacredly devoted to God.

3. An idealized, harmonious community; utopia.

Ethiopia

Zion is God's Church here upon the Earth. Anyone who is a member of that church is a part of Zion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion