Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved tent camping. When I was a kid, my family would go camping just about every summer. I love the adventure of camping—getting to be so closely connected with nature, listening to the raindrops fall on the tent fly while falling asleep, waking up to the sound of birds singing, and getting up every morning knowing that some new adventure awaits. I realize, though, that not everyone enjoys camping. Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Each year on the first Sunday after Pentecost, the church celebrates Holy Trinity Sunday. And on this day, we’re taught to confess the mystery of God’s being. We believe in one God and three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is God, and each person is not the others, but there is only one God. The Athanasian Creed does a thorough job of articulating this, but if you’re like me, all of its theological jargon and seemingly redundant language just ends up confusing you. So, the question that I think many of us ask on Trinity Sunday is, How do we understand the Trinity? How do we make sense of our Triune God’s nature? Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Do you ever feel like your life is nothing but a massive letdown? Do you ever feel as if nothing in your life is ever as good as you hoped or imagined it would be? Maybe it was a home renovation project. You had these grand plans for how it was going to go—every detail was planned. And when it was done it was going to be beautiful. But then reality struck. The project didn’t go as you planned. You hit hiccup after hiccup and by the time you finally finished the project, part of you was just happy to have it done, but the other part of you was a disappointed as you stood there thinking, “This is not what I hoped or imagined it would be.” O Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. When I was younger, I enjoyed the TV series “24.” It’s a show that centers around the main character, Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland. He’s an agent for the Counter Terrorist Unit, and his job is basically to singlehandedly save the country from a terrorist threat and to discover all sorts of other unknown issues over the course of a 24-hour day (thus the show’s name, “24”). For all that I remember the show for, there’s one thing that always sticks out—it’s cliff-hanger endings. Maybe you’ve seen shows that do the same thing. About 10 or even 5 minutes left in the show, everything is starting to resolve. Things are looking like they’re going to be okay, until Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Do you have trust issues? Chances are, most of us have trust issues, at least to some extent. We live in a culture that teaches us to not trust others. Let’s do this: I’m going to give you two different lists of things that I have done, and I want you to decide which is more believable. First: I have been to Pikes Peak in Colorado, I have been to Niagara Falls at least six times, and I have been to the highest point in the state of Tennessee. That’s the first group. Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. The 4th-century theologian Jerome, in one of his commentaries, tells a story about the Apostle John. John was old and frail, unable to walk, so his disciples would carry him into the gathering of believers on the Lord’s Day. Every week these were his words to the congregation: “Little children, love one another.” This went on week after week, until at last, more than a little weary of these repeated words, his disciples asked him, “Master, why do you always say this?” Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. This morning we celebrate the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist. He’s a man who is remembered for his work alongside some of the great Christian missionaries—men like the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Peter, and even his cousin Barnabas. He’s a man who is remembered for the legacy he left in Alexandria, Egypt, where he founded the church that produced some of the most brilliant and important theologians in church history—men like Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria. Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Our text for this morning is the First Reading from Acts chapter 3. This portion of Acts 3 is actually only part of a much larger story which starts at the beginning of chapter 3 and continues into chapter 4. The story begins with Peter and John going into the temple together. As they’re passing through, they see a lame man sitting there begging for money. The man looked at Peter and John and asked if they had anything to give him. Then Peter looked directly at the man and acted as if he was going to give him something. But then Peter said to him: I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk! (Acts 3:6). And then something amazing happened. Continue reading →

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. I’m not entirely sure why the Apostle Thomas has gotten such a bad reputation. In the church, when we think of the Apostle Thomas, we tend to think of “Doubting Thomas”—our story for today. But, believe it or not, Thomas is the Apostle who church tradition credits with bringing the Gospel message to India where he was later martyred for his faith. In John’s Gospel, Thomas is portrayed as loyal, though admittedly some-what pessimistic man. Though he maybe wasn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, he was undeniably a dedicated, passionate man. The first time Thomas makes an appearance in John’s Gospel is in the episode with Lazarus in John 11. Continue reading →