Sermon for Pentecost 5: "Hanging on by a Thread"

 + 5th Sunday after Pentecost - June 27, 2021 +

Series B: Lamentations 3:22-33; 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; Mark 5:21-43

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Sometimes you get that feeling like you’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

Could be that your children or grandchildren are in high school or college, surrounded by temptations, distractions, and dangers - all the sirens’ noise that beckons them away from the faith you’ve tried so hard to instill in them. Could be that your relationship with a friend, family member, or spouse is broken in some way and you just don’t see how it’ll end in peace.. Maybe it’s the reality of trying to make ends meet in challenging economic times. Or perhaps it’s the endless list of doctors’ visits, pills to take, daily aches and pains. 

 

Whatever the case, it’s safe to say, at one point or another, we’ve all been there. Feeling like you’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

In today’s Gospel reading from Mark 5, there are three such people.

 

There’s a young girl near the end of her short life. Mark doesn’t tell us how long she’s been sick, or even what illness plagues her. All we know is that she is only 12, and she’s near the point of death. She’s hanging on by a thread.

 

Then, there is her dad, Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, Mark tells us. Mark doesn’t tell us how he heard about Jesus, but news about a miracle working rabbi named spreads fast. Like any parent whose child is sick, he’s desperate to find help. Fighting his way through the great crowd, he finally reaches Jesus. With nothing but a plea for mercy, he falls down at Jesus’ feet and begs him to heal her. He is hanging on by a thread.

 

There’s a woman suffering from some kind of recurring bleeding condition. Suffering has been her constant companion for as long as the little girl has been alive. She has been through twelve years of seeking doctors, twelve years of spending all she has, twelve years with nothing to show but more pain and empty pockets. She too, is hanging on by a thread.

 

All three were in need. All three had nowhere to turn. All three were hanging on by a thread. 

 

And that, as we know, is a desperate, helpless, frightening place to be. Everything feels insecure. Unsteady. Like life itself is unraveling. You’re hanging on by a thread. 

 

Unless of course, the thread that you’re hanging onto is connected to Jesus. It’s his hold on the other end that makes all the difference. 

 

That’s how it is for the three people in Mark 5. Jairus didn’t know what or how Jesus would do, but he was holding onto the thread of hope that he could do something to save his daughter. And he was right. Jesus is more than your average rabbi. He is the Son of God in human flesh. 

 

The woman, too, reached out to Jesus, believing, trusting, that if she just touched the fringe of his garments it would be enough to find healing. And she did. She found healing in the one who came to carry our diseases and bear our griefs and sorrows, by whose stripes we are healed.

 

Even the little girl awoke from the sleep of death simply by hearing the word Jesus spoke. Little one, arise. 

 

They lived, as our Lord calls us to live, that is, in faith in him. Trusting that when life feels like we’re just hanging on by a thread, Jesus is not letting go. He’s right there with you, holding onto you. That’s what God’s gift of faith does. Faith looks not inward to our doubt and despair, but to Jesus’ faithfulness and promise. Faith clings not our strength, but to Christ crucified and risen for you. Even when it feels like our faith is holding on by a thread, Jesus is the one holding that thread. And his hold on you is far greater than your suffering, doubt, despair, or even death itself.

 

Both Jairus and the woman Jesus healed knew that Jesus, who was holding onto them, was far stronger, and was holding on to them for dear life. And he was holding on with a lot more than a simple thread. Jesus held them, as he still holds you, in the power of his life-giving word, his new creation bringing death and resurrection, his powerful, living and active word that heals a woman’s bleeding and raises a little girl from the dead. 

 

So it is for you. Jesus promises you healing—if not now, then when He returns. Jesus promises resurrection—as He raised Jairus’ daughter and as He Himself rose on Easter morning. Jesus promises that whenever you feel like you’re just hanging on like a thread, Jesus is at the other end holding you safe and secure in his pierced, risen, and glorified hands. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Sermon for Pentecost 4: "Divine Power, Divine Compassion"

 + 4^th Sunday after Pentecost – June 20, 2021 +

Series B: Job 38:1-11; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Last fall our family stayed at a cabin near Mt. Rainier. And on the wall in the hallway was a three-dimensional map displaying the Mt. Rainier watershed. It was fascinating to see how all the mountain streams and creeks flowed into rivers, and converged into larger rivers. You quickly learn the truth of the old saying, all streams lead to the ocean.

 

Something similar is happening in Mark 4 as Jesus is in the boat with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee. In Mark 4 Jesus has one foot in the boat and the other in several OT storm stories. Think of Moses and the Red Sea crossing. Jonah asleep in boat during the storm. The Lord’s conversation with Job where he reminds him who sets the limits of the seas. 

 

With Jesus in the boat on the Sea of Galilee, all of God’s divine handiwork with water meet their confluence. All of Scripture is a vast watershed of God’s promises, all flowing downstream to Jesus. 

 

Recall the Exodus, how Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²² And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

 

Remember Moses’ victory song that was sung in Exodus 15. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble. At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

 

Consider parts of Psalm 107 as well…

 

Some went down to the sea in ships,
    doing business on the great waters;
²⁴ they saw the deeds of the Lord,
    his wondrous works in the deep.
²⁵ For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
    which lifted up the waves of the sea…
²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
²⁹ He made the storm be still,
    and the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰ Then they were glad that the waters^[c] were quiet,
    and he brought them to their desired haven.

 

Sounds a lot like Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4, doesn’t it? That’s no accident. All OT storm stories lead to Him who stills the storm. 

 

a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

 

Some call this a nature miracle. And it certainly is. In rebuking the wind and waves in Mark 4, Jesus reveals that he is the same Lord who also rebuked the waves of the Red Sea that Israel could walk through on dry ground; the same Lord who caused the storm to rise up and calm down again when the prophet Jonah was thrown overboard into the belly of the fish; the same Lord who reminded Job that he is the one who spoke the waves and sea into existence.

 

But for the disciples, and for us, it is also a teaching miracle. And to be sure, he’s teaching his disciples, and us, that he has divine authority and power over creation itself.

 

Only don’t think of power and authority according to our sinful desires. In our sinful flesh we think of power as something we use for ourselves: to bend others to our will, to do what we want when we want. We use power to satisfy our selfish, self-serving ways. 

 

Jesus, on the other hand, uses his divine authority and power, not for his own sake, but for his people, his disciples, for you. If you look at Mark 4 and 5 as a whole, you’ll see this play out. Jesus reveals his authority and power over the wind and waves, and calms the storm. Jesus reveals his authority and power over the demons by casting them out. Jesus reveals his authority and power over illness, healing a woman who’d been hemorrhaging blood for 12 years. Jesus reveals his authority over even death itself as he raises Jairus’ daughter.

 

Do all of these events reveal Jesus’ divine power and authority? You bet. But more than that, they reveal Jesus’ divine compassion. Jesus’ miracles aren’t meant to be a show of brute force, but of his mercy, grace, and love. Wherever Jesus goes he exercises his divine authority and power to save, rescue, redeem, and save you.

 

And so with the disciples we ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

 

This is the Incarnate Word – the very voice by whom the wind and waves were created; he speaks and they listen. This is YHWH himself who rebuked the Red Sea for the 12 tribes of Israel and now rebukes the Sea of Galilee for his 12 disciples. This is the prophet who is greater than Jonah who threw himself into the belly of the earth and came out again three days later to save you.

 

This is the Lord who calmed the storm. Who brings peace out of chaos. Who anchors himself to the cross to give you life out of death. Who rebukes your sin and washes you clean in the waters of your Baptism. This is the Lord who is uses all of his divine power and authority not for himself, but for you. 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 3: "Jesus the Sower"

 +3^rd Sunday after Pentecost – June 13, 2021+

Series B: Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Mark 4:26-34

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Atop the state capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska stands a 20 foot tall bronze statue of a man sowing seed with his out-stretched hand. It’s simply and aptly named, “The Sower.” A fitting image for a statue towering over the fertile plains and amber waves of grain. 

 

It’s also a fitting image for today’s Gospel reading from Mark 4 as we hear Jesus’ parable of the Growing Seed. Only the main character in this story no statue or nameless farmer. Rather, the Sower is Jesus. And as is the case with nearly all of Jesus’ parables, Jesus is the main actor; and his word and promise are the center of the story. 

 

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

 

Jesus begins this parable like many of his kingdom parables. The kingdom of God is like…a tree, a net, treasure in the field, or a growing seed. 

 

Now when we hear that phrase, “the Kingdom of God”, we tend to imagine something fixed in space, like a castle or the boundaries of a kingdom. A better way to imagine this phrase is to switch it from a noun to a verb. The kingdom of God is the active rule and reign of God. Not static, but dynamic. The ruling and reigning activity of God in Jesus. The image here is of a good and gracious king actively caring for his people. Visiting his people with his mercy and salvation.

 

Jesus says it is this – the active rule and reign of God that has come in him. The kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God is what he is and what he has come to do. To teach, heal, cast out demons – yes; and most of all, to live, die, rise, and ascend for us. 

 

Knowing that, Jesus’ parable of the Growing Seed is fairly straight forward. The man, or sower, is Jesus. The seed is his word, the Gospel. The ground represents those who live under God’s gracious rule and reign. The earth produces the grain automath, automatically. The rule and reign of God cause the seed, the word, to grow to maturity, just as those who believe in Jesus grow in him, all by his word and promise; and just like the seed, apart from human assistance. Eventually this growth leads to a harvest, a picture of the end times and the final judgment. Though not a negative judgment like when the weeds are thrown into the fire in other parables. Here’s there’s simply a ripe harvest that’s gathered and brought home. An image not of condemnation but of salvation; of not despair, but comfort. 

 

So far so good, you might be thinking. The meaning or interpretation of the parable seems simple enough. But the next question that often comes to mind is, “what are we supposed to do with it?” 

 

Perhaps the better question is not what do we do with the parable? but rather, what does Jesus intend for the parable to do with you? And to answer that it’s good to ask, “What is Jesus doing for his disciples with this parable?” 

 

Looking at the context, Jesus delivers this parable to his disciples to comfort and encourage them; to steady or anchor them. To assure them that in him, in his word, in his life – the rule and reign of God is at work and Jesus is all they need. 

 

Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel Jesus’ life and ministry don’t quite look like what the disciples expected from the Messiah. Sure, he’s done a few miracles. Healed a several people. Cast out some demons. But no grand displays of Messianic might and power. The Scribes think he’s working with Satan and even Jesus’ own family called him crazy. 

 

And yet, despite all appearances to the contrary. Despite murderous rejections and betrayals to come. Despite his family’s own rejections. Despite storms that threaten to swamp the boat. Despite demoniacs that scream and rulers that threaten. Despite suffering, torture, and death by crucifixion, the Son of Man will rise. Jesus will be King. Jesus’ word will go out. Many will believe. Many will follow. Jesus’ word will do what he says. The harvest will come. And it will be abundant. For Jesus is the King. His rule and reign will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus’ word is enough. It is sufficient. 

 

So it was for his disciples. So it is for you as well. Despite a pandemic and politics. Despite news reports and endless polls about how the church is shrinking. Despite living in a world where faithful Christian teaching is called bigoted hate speech and where Christians are mocked, ridiculed, or worse. Despite our own sin, our own temptations, and our own failures. Despite all appearances to the contrary, Jesus is ruling and reigning for you. God’s good and gracious rule and reign is here in Jesus, in his word, in his body and blood. 

 

God’s word is enough. Jesus’ promises are sufficient. Like his disciples in the first century, Jesus the Sower rules and reigns over you as well.

 

And should you ever doubt or despair of that, remember the kind of King you have in Jesus. In Jesus we see this parable in action. Jesus is the promised Seed, sown in mystery within the womb of Mary; he quickly sprouts, grows, lives, dies, and is buried, like a seed into the earth. But then he rose from the ground again and bears the fruit of the new creation for you. Fear not. Jesus is the Sower. And you are his precious harvest over whom and in whom he rules and reigns. Now and forever.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 2: "D-Day for the Devil"

 + 2nd Sunday after Pentecost - June 6, 2021 +

Series B: Genesis 3:8-15; 1 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Beautiful Savior Lutheran 

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Seventy seven years ago today the Allied forces launched history’s largest amphibious assault onto the beaches of Normandy, France. The time had come to invade Fortress Europe, open the long-expected second front against Nazi Germany, and bring an end to the war. 

 

In Mark 3, we witness Jesus conducting the original operation overlord. Though at first it may sound like nothing more than just another theological argument between Jesus and the Jewish religious authorities, this is much more than a war of words. It is a war between the kingdom of darkness and death, and the good and gracious kingdom, the rule and reign, of Jesus, the true and rightful King.

 

It is an invasion of cosmic proportions that begins among Jesus’ own relatives. What could’ve been a quiet meal quickly turns chaotic. The crowds gathered around Jesus, leaving no room to move, let alone eat. Meanwhile, Jesus’ family tries to seize him saying, “He is out of his mind.” 

 

This is what Jesus means when he says elsewhere that a prophet is not acceptable in his own town. At this point in his ministry even his own family misunderstands him. Calls him crazy. A couple books short of the full Torah. 

 

Although that’s nothing compared to what the Scribes accuse Jesus of being. They came down from Jerusalem saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”

 

Notice that the Scribes don’t question whether or not Jesus did anything miraculous. They don’t doubt that he healed and cast out demons. Rather, they attack Jesus’  power and authority to do these things. The Scribes didn’t think Jesus had lost his marbles; they thought he was in league with Satan. 

 

Jesus repels their foolish attack with a quick volley of logic. “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.” 

 

The Scribes’ accusation is a logical impossibility. If Jesus were on the devil’s side then he wouldn’t be waging war against him by healing and casting out demons. And yet, that’s exactly what Jesus does. His entire life is a warrior’s campaign to destroy the devil. Satan may appear to be a strong man, but Jesus is the stronger man. 

 

But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

 

Jesus reveals his battle plan: bind the strong man and plunder his goods. Jesus the Divine Burglar comes in human flesh, binds the devil, storms the dragon’s lair and reclaims you, his rightful treasure. We’re the plunder the Divine Thief carries off after He’s tied up the strong man. We who were once rebels and sinners are now Jesus’ greatest treasure through his victory on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross is D-Day for the devil, and victory for you.

 

This is why Jesus came. To free us from sin and death and the power of the devil. To forgive. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter.” 

 

Stop for a moment and ponder just how remarkable that verse is. How many sins? All. Yours. Mine. All. How many people did Jesus die for? All. How many of our sins did he pay for on the cross? All. 

 

Why then, we wonder, does Jesus go on to talk about an unforgivable sin? What does it mean when he says…”whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”

 

No doubt this is a tricky verse. But let’s look closely at the context. This whole conversation started with the Scribes accusing Jesus of teaming up with Satan. Rather than receiving the Holy Spirit, who fell on Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, they reject the work of the Holy Spirit by saying his work is the work of the devil. Rather than receiving Jesus as the Messiah they’re saying he’s the mouthpiece of Satan. Rather than receiving the kingdom of God that comes in Jesus they’re saying he’s an ambassador of the kingdom of darkness.

 

This is what Jesus means when he talks about the sin against the Holy Spirit. It’s not some particular sin that’s somehow worse than any other, but what the Scribes are doing here, which is a complete, fierce, and total rejection of the work of the Spirit through Jesus. It’s to say that heaven is hell, that God is the devil, the Spirit is Beelzebul, and Jesus is the devil’s servant. 

 

Usually we start to worry about this sin against the Holy Spirit when we’re concerned that we’ve sinned in some unforgivable way. First of all, know that if you’re worried about this sin you haven’t committed it. People who’ve committed this sin aren’t concerned about a troubled conscience. It’s called the unforgivable sin not because it’s so big and bad. Jesus has already dealt with big and bad sin for you on the cross. The unforgivable sin is unforgivable because it wants no part of forgiveness. 

 

That’s not you. You’re here. You’re forgiven. You’re baptized. You hear Jesus’ words. Receive his forgiveness. You live in his mercy and grace. You rejoice in his victory over sin and death and the devil for you. And don’t forget that even the so-called unforgivable sin can be forgiven. Remember how Jesus appeared to Saul the persecutor and turned him into Paul the apostle by the power of the very same Holy Spirit he had been blaspheming. 

 

Secondly, don’t forget what Jesus said right before that verse. all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. Not some. Not just the little ones. All. Jesus forgives you all your sin. Period. Full stop. You cannot out sin the love of Jesus on the cross. Sure we have big sins, and plenty of them. But Jesus is a bigger Savior.

 

To receive that good news. To believe in Jesus' forgiveness. To be rescued by and live in Jesus’ victory on the cross. This is what it means when Jesus says, “Whoever does the will of God is my mother and brother and sisters.”  

 

Sure he’s talking about his disciples there. But he’s also talking about you. You are part of God’s family. Redeemed. Rescued. Forgiven. Soldiers of the cross. Brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  

Sermon for Trinity Sunday: "A Gracious Mystery"

 + Trinity Sunday – May 30, 2021 +

Series B: Isaiah 6:1-8; Acts 2:14, 22-36; John 3:1-17

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a good mystery. Solving a riddle. Reading Sherlock Holmes. Watching Scooby Doo, Shaggy, and the gang unmask another dastardly villain.

 

Today on Trinity Sunday we celebrate one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith, the Holy Trinity. 

 

Today we join the Scriptures in celebrating not so much an event, like Jesus’ birth at Christmas or his resurrection at Easter, but God’s revelation of himself. That God is Three in One and One in Three. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God. A singular plurality and a plural singularity.

 

Today we celebrate not a when, but a who. Today we rejoice in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. That…We worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance. 

 

It’s Trinity Sunday, and there’s a mystery afoot. Ultimately, however, this mystery of the Holy Trinity isn’t a riddle to unpack, a puzzle to solve, or even a question we can fully answer, much less understand. Rather, the Holy Trinity is revealed in Scripture that we believe, teach, and confess. 

 

After all, one of the first things we confess when it comes to the Trinity is that God’s ways are far above our theological and intellectual pay grade. As Christian writer Dorothy Sayers once said about the Trinity, "The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Spirit incomprehensible, the whole thing incomprehensible." 

 

We must admit that it’s enough to make our heads explode, or at least toss up our hands with Nicodemus in John 3, and say, “What does this all mean?”

 

And that’s good for us. Trinity Sunday is a dip in the doctrinal deep end, a reminder that God is bigger than our heads, greater than our reason, and defies our tidy little categorical boxes. As baptized believers, we are born into a divine “mystery,” the mystery of God Himself. We are reminded that we do not imagine, invent, or otherwise cook up God, but God reveals Himself in the Person of His Son Jesus.

Turns out that we’re not alone in our limited understanding. That’s where we find Nicodemus in John 3. A Pharisee. A learned, respectable man. And yet he quickly found himself in the deep end of the theological swimming pool.

 

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

 

Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above  he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

And here’s where poor Nicodemus hits a wall. Born again? “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

 

No, not born again. Born from above, Jesus said. The word there is anothen; and it can mean “again,” but also “from above.” This is what John was getting at earlier in chapter 1 when he said that to all who believed in Jesus’ name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

 

Expecting a late night theological conversation between rabbis about the nature of miracles, Nicodemus ran smack dab into the middle of the mystery of the Holy Trinity…I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

 

Nicodemus learns a hard truth from Jesus’ words. As a teacher of Israel, he does not understand everything. The ways of God bringing life “from above” are a mystery to him. He is limited in his understanding and Jesus presses into that limitation, bringing Nicodemus to the hard truth that there is an end to his understanding.

 

Jesus’ words reveal the same hard truth to us as well. We’re all Nicodemus. Our understanding is limited. God’s ways are not our ways. And while Jesus’ words reveal that God’s nature is mysterious, they also reveal that God’s ways are gracious. 

 

For Nicodemus and for us, the mystery of the Holy Trinity all centers in Jesus. John 3 reveals the gracious work of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – who saves you by his love and grace.

 

The God who is beyond our understanding reveals himself in Words we can hear and understand. The uncreated God comes to us by means of his creation revealing his saving love in simple words, plain water, ordinary bread and wine. The incomprehensible God becomes comprehensible for us as he accomplishes the most incomprehensible, yet gracious act of all, as he goes to the cross to die for you. 

The Father loves the world, loves Nicodemus, loves you in this way, that he sends the Son to die and rise who sends the Spirit who leads us to the Son who brings us back to the Father. This is what it means to be born of God, born from above, born of the Spirit. God the Father is our Father. God the Son is our Brother and Savior. God the Spirit is our Guardian, Guide, and Friend. We are caught up in a mystery that defies our reason and our senses.

 

That’s why when we confess the Athanasian creed we’re not confessing that “we understand” but “we believe” and “we worship” the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity, neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the Substance or Essence of God.

 

Yes, indeed, we confess a great mystery in the Holy Trinity. But it a gracious mystery from our good and gracious Lord.

 

A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.