Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, May 26, Holy Trinity Sunday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  The text was Romans 8:12-17 .  The Holy Trinity is something we will never fully understand in this life because it is a mystery. I love how the mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, who lived from 1099-1179, described the Trinity as “sound and life—wondrous splendor which is life in all things.”  How does that “sound and life” infuse us and the church? It all starts with the work of the Holy Spirit. That is how God’s people become so intimate with God. By the Spirit, the deeds of the body are put to death. Here, “death” points us beyond mere physical death. We will all die some day. However, Paul is talking about the life-destroying power of death that, in partnership with sin and the law, keeps life from being what God created it to be (Boring & Craddock). Paul contrasts two ways of life with two different results. Living according to the flesh ends in death, while li...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 5/27/2018 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Romans 8:12-17 .  The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is something we will never fully understand in this life because it is a mystery. So, I’m not going to try to explain it. However, I love how the mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, who lived from 1099-1179, described the Trinity as “sound and life…wondrous splendor…and which is life in all things.” How does that “sound and life” infuse us and infuse the church? It all starts with the work of the Holy Spirit. That is how God’s people become so intimate with God. By the Spirit, the deeds of the body are put to death .  Here “death” points us beyond mere physical death. We will all die someday. However, Paul is talking about the life-destroying power of death that in partnership with sin and the law, keeps life from being what God created it to be (Boring & Craddock). Paul contrasts two ways of life with two different resul...

This is the reflection I shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Second Reading: Romans 8:12-17 12 Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”  16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. This Sunday we celebrate the Holy Trinity, the only feast concerning a doctrine of the church. I must admit that at first glance, I didn’t exactly see the connection between the T...

This is the message I shared with God's people at St. Mark Lutheran Church and St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sun., 5/31. The scripture text was Romans 8:12-17 . How many of you are familiar with the series of books and pictures called, Where's Waldo? For those of you unfamiliar with this series, the pictures consist of a sea of people and you have to locate the character, Waldo in the midst of the busy pictures. It is quite a challenge to do so. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday. When looking at today's readings, we may wonder, "Where is the Trinity?" Although the word trinity is not used in the Bible, our God in three persons is woven into the very fabric of our reading from Romans. Did you notice the names for God in the Romans reading? Just shout them out when you see them. This passage starts out in an odd way, " So then..." This tells us that Paul is drawing conclusions from the previous verses in which he made it clear that the ...