Trinity Sunday 2024

John 3:1-17

¹ Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." ³ Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

⁴ Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" ⁵ Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, "You must be born from above.' ⁸ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷ "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Trinity Sunday

Today in the Church's Year of Grace we celebrate a doctrine, a teaching, rather than an event. Scripture strongly implies God as triune or three-in-one, but scripture never uses the word trinity. In the year 325 the Council of Nicaea articulated the doctrine of the Trinity. We often recite the Nicene Creed during worship as a testimony. Orthodox Christians in mainline denominations like the ELCA, PC(USA), United Methodist, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox churches are formally and officially Trinitarian. Some others–Disciples of Christ, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confess Jesus as Lord and speak of the godhead (a term we also use), but don't claim to be Trinitarian.

Rather than attempting an analogy that never approaches the essence of the godhead, Early Church Fathers and Mothers frequently talked about the perichoresis of the Trinity. "Peri" refers to in the vicinity of, around, nearby. "Choresis" has the same root as choreography. Father, Son, Holy Spirit interact with each other, interpenetrate, share similar functions. The Trinity models our interactive and cooperative lifestyles and ministries. You probably know Irish Christians made the shamrock plant with its three equal leaves into a famous trinitarian symbol!


Today's Gospel…

… is from the community gathered around John the beloved disciple. We meet the religious leader Nicodemus coming to Jesus, the light of the world, in the dark of night. John's gospel brings us Jesus' seven "I am" sayings; although it's not one of those, in this passage Jesus essentially announces "I am the Snake" that heals, saves, redeems, brings us eternal life. [Check out Moses in Numbers 21:9.] With his crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, in a sense Jesus' "lifting up" is triune. Today's gospel reading includes John 3:16.

John 3:3, 5, 11 – the Greek original brings us John's famous double amens! Jesus says, "Amen, amen," that the Douay-Rheims retains, yet that dramatic phrase otherwise gets translated "truly, truly," "verily, verily," "most assuredly," or other less evocative words.

John 3:3 is the only time the fourth gospel mentions kingdom/reign of God. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say Reign of Heaven/Kingdom of God literally all the time, but John doesn't. This wonderful scripture passage contains other riches including verse 16, "God so loved the world," possibly the only verse some people have memorized; many claim John 3:!6 as their life scripture.

If Nicodemus sounds doubly familiar, he's the same Nicodemus we read about in John 19:38-42, when along with Joseph of Arimathea, he anoints Jesus' body for burial and lays it in the tomb Joseph has donated.


Holy, Holy, Holy

"Holy, Holy, Holy" without a doubt is the most famous and best loved Trinitarian hymn. It acclaims a "Holy" for each person of the Trinity.

"Jesus answered, 'Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" John 3:5-6

We baptize using water and the trinitarian formula, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Holy, Holy, Holy triune God. Matthew 28:19 is the only scriptural occurrence of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit baptismal formula; it was a later addition to the text. The early church probably baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Jesus the Savior, or with similar words. However, the early church would not have imagined that baptism into the redeemer and savior Jesus would not also encompass baptism into the Holy Spirit of life Jesus bestows on us.

Day of Pentecost 2024

Acts 2:1-8

¹ When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴ All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵ Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶ And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

⁷ Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?

Spirit - Wind - Fire

Starting with creation, the witness of scripture reveals innumerable ways the Holy Spirit always has been present. God always has been triune—this gift and reign of the Holy Spirit of life is nothing new! But… the Holy Spirit constantly is doing something new. As theologian Jürgen Moltmann explains, "…the Holy Spirit is…the creative and life-giving, redeeming and saving God… present in a special way."

Every year we revisit images of visible fire and audible wind as evidence of the HS's presence among us and within us. The wind of pentecost cleans, refreshes, clears, renews. The fire of pentecost sears, burns, purifies. A year after a wildfire, new seedlings cover the forest floor. Some seeds need to be singed by fire in order to open. The forest service regularly engages in controlled burns.


The Day of Pentecost

As with many events we read about in scripture, no one knows the exact location of this gathering, but strong tradition claims it was in the same upper room as Jesus' last supper / founding meal we remember on Maundy Thursday.

Everyone from everywhere was in Jerusalem for the Jewish Pentecost to celebrate the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant and the wheat harvest. Parallel to Easter and Pentecost, Shavuot refers to seven weeks – "a week of weeks" – after Passover. The day of Pentecost is one of the three most major Christian festivals; the Jewish Pentecost was one of three mandated festivals.

Pentecost sometimes is called the Birthday of the Church. Just as for God's people Israel, the Ten Words bind us to each other and to our God. As for Israel and for all people everywhere, an adequate, quality grain harvest is a life-sustaining essential.


Where We Live

Before Jesus' Ascension, his disciples ask if now he'd finally "restore the kingdom to Israel," and Jesus told them the question was wrong, because "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." [Acts 1:8] In other words, they would help "restore the kingdom."

Remember the Golden Calf Event in Exodus 32? God said, "Moses, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Moses replied, "God, your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt." Which is it? Moses' people or God's people? It's both/and.

• Luke 4:18-19 begins Jesus' public ministry with the HS;
• Luke's book of Acts begins our public ministry with the Holy Spirit.


Filled with the Holy Spirit

"The holiness that cannot be contained in the [Jerusalem] Temple dwells in us." Matthew Skinner, Luther Seminary Baccalaureate, Saturday 25 May 2024

O enter, Lord, thy temple,
Be Thou my spirit's guest,
Who gavest me, the earth-born,
A second birth more blest.
Thou in the Godhead, Lord,
Though here to dwell Thou deignest,
For ever equal reignest,
Art equally adored.

Paul Gerhardt, 1653; translated by Catherine Winkworth
Tune: Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren
Scripture: Acts 2:17

Ascension /Easter 7B

God has made Christ the head over all things.
Ephesians 1:22

Ephesians 1:15-23

¹⁵ I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love] toward all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶ I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, ¹⁷ that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸ so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹ and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.

²⁰ God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²² And God has put all things under Christ's feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ascension Thursday

To paraphrase the Heidelberg Catechism, we move from Christmas-Incarnation with the mystery of Spirit in Flesh, to Ascension, with the mystery of Flesh in Spirit.

Although the Solemnity of the Ascension is on the fortieth day of Easter, a Thursday, since most people don't attend worship on weekdays, churches usually observe Ascension three days later, on the seventh Sunday of Easter.

Ascension or ascendancy declares Jesus Christ's authority, rule, reign, stewardship, lordship, and sovereignty. You may have noticed "authority" is a big deal in Mark's gospel? As Ephesians 1:20 does, we sometimes express that reality by saying Jesus is "seated at God's right hand." Unlike human governments and different from aspects of life any of us have a bit of authority over, with Jesus there are no checks and balances. His authority, his ascendancy is absolute.

As we revisit and relive salvation history, the Savior's ascension means we're really getting ready to celebrate the indwelling Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the Fiftieth day of Easter. That renewed awareness helps us prepare for the half year long Time of the Church, Season of the Spirit when we act as Jesus' representatives everywhere—and we count Sundays after Pentecost.


Where We Live

Ephesians 1:20 explains, "God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places." This power, this immeasurable greatness (v.19) is the Spirit of Resurrection from the dead!

What does it mean for us that Jesus has ascended? Jesus' lordship and authority means we possess the forgiveness and new life God offers us in and through Christ. Jesus' reign or ascendancy means we're able to live in the fully human way Jesus showed us, caring for our human neighbors, stewarding creation, respecting ourselves as image-bearers of the Divine, all in ways Jesus has taught us. Because of Jesus' ascension, we share Jesus' own authority as the Holy Spirit guides us.

Jesus Christ's ascension means hope for the future and abundant blessings for all creation. Because of the Savior's ascendancy, the power of the Holy Spirit of life is ours.

Heidelberg Catechism again:

• Why is the Son of God called Jesus, meaning Savior…?

• Why is the Son of God called Christ, meaning Anointed…?

• But why are you called a Christian?

Because by faith I share in Christ's anointing, and I am anointed to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

May the crucified, risen, and ascended Jesus Christ reign in all of our lives!

Easter 6B

Let the sea thunder and roar with all its creatures
the world and all that dwell in it! Psalm 98:7

John 15:9-17

⁹ As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. ¹² This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

I really really really like my blog on this scripture from three years ago when Covid felt more threatening and we still were being extra careful to consider our neighbors. I couldn't do as well today; please check it out for:

• A poem by Jeff Shrowder

• Observations about client-patron expectations vs the intimacy of friendship

• Love etymology with some C.S. Lewis

• Obedience, freedom, and community

• A quote about freedom from MLK

• Reflections on the overall Covid-pandemic situation