Trinity Lutheran Church; Arendtsville, PA

We apologize! The text for this Sunday was accidentally cut off in our recording. For your own reading and meditation, the Gospel text is from Matthew 1:29-39. This Sunday, Trinity follows Jesus to dwell with Peter's mother-in-law, realizing our own vulnerable need to be filled and healed by Jesus before we turn to serve our neighbor.

On a third Sunday of focusing on stewardship, Trinity considers what stewardship of spirit looks like in our modern context, connecting the ministry of Jesus with our very own call from God to this same ministry.

Trinity continues its stewardship focus in the context of Jesus' calling to Simon, Andrew, James, and John in Mark 1. Together, as we realize that we too are living into changing identities as individuals and as a congregation, we trust God to dwell with us as our journeys unfold.

On the Second Sunday of Epiphany Trinity hears the positive and negative stories Nathanael expresses in the gospel text, and asks what stories we similarly hold within our own hearts. In this midst of all these understandings, we hear a call to be good and careful stewards of the stories we tell to and about one another.

On Christmas Eve Trinity gathers with young and old (and one butterfly!) to hear the good news of God in Christ Jesus once again. This night, we hear a message of invitation into the work of the Kingdom of God as well as a message of deep love for us and for all people.

On the Third Sunday of Advent, Trinity caps off our Advent journey with another story of John the Baptist. Reflecting on John's own act of testifying to the light we too hear a call to testify to what we see God doing in our everyday lives, recognizing that sharing each of our stories is meaningful act of ministry.

On the Second Sunday of Advent, Trinity continues its journey of looking for God in everyday life with the familiar calling of John the Baptist. In this calling, we the good news that God is already creating good things in the midst of the whole world, and that we are invited to be a meaningful part of this work.

On the First Sunday of Advent, Trinity begins the journey within a text of great promise and woe. In the midst of this apocalyptic text, we hear a call to look for God in everyday life, trusting that while all will be changed as God draws near we will live all the more fully.

On this Christ the King Sunday, Trinity celebrates Jesus' strange reign, a reign that dwells with the hungry, thirsty, strange, naked, sick, and imprisoned ones. In the midst of such selfless love, for us and for all people, we are called to share this good news with all the world.

Trinity is blessed to welcome Rev. Dr. Mark Oldenburg, Steck-Miller Professor of the Art of Worship and Dean of the United Lutheran Seminary Gettysburg Chapel as preacher and presider this morning. Oldenburg points us to a call of stewarding the gifts God gives us, a call of promise and encouragement, a call to stick our neck out for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.

In what appears to be an ungracious parable at first glace, Jesus leads all who would hear his lesson to a place of preparation and readiness. This preparation and readiness is not just for salvation later but for God's work in the world today, work that we are called to and do in the grace of God.

On All-Saints Sunday, Trinity remembers those who have taught us how to run the race set before us, and that God dwells with us in the midst of the toughest parts.

As Trinity joins in celebrating 500 years of reformation, we remember our roots as a people of the truth of God, experienced and lived out through the Gospel of Christ Jesus.

As Trinity skirts the trap religious leaders have laid for Jesus in today's text, we recall the proclamation of our baptismal liturgy: "You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever." We belong to God.

Trinity dwells in a gospel of being clothed with the gifts of Christ, and the responsibility that comes with such clothing. As we pray for the world to change, we look for the church to change it.

As Trinity hears a Gospel story of parable and murderous intent, we consider our baptismal callings as stewards of the gospel and how we respond when God calls us into action.

After hearing so many stories of God in Christ Jesus calling us to live lives of radical forgiveness and generosity, the text for today brings Trinity to the position of examining how (or if) our beliefs change in the Sunday and daily presence of God.

The parable of the landowner freely giving the same daily wage to all who worked regardless how long they worked regularly brings up issues of what is fair. Yet, today Trinity hears the landowner - and the Kingdom of God - is primarily concerned with being generous, making sure that all have what they need to live and thrive.

This Sunday, Trinity struggles with a parable of costly forgiveness, considering what the calling of Christians today might cost us.

As Trinity hears several pieces of familiar text, we work together to discover how they form an emphasis on justice for the most vulnerable. From our church building to our homes, from our giving to our spending, as individuals and as community, we look for the ways we are called to be advocates and caretakers of the most vulnerable in our communities while recognizing that we may all find ourselv...

As we hear the familiar calling of Jesus to "pick up your cross," we consider what this looks like in today's world. Ultimately, we come to understand that Jesus' calling is full of blessing and grace for us and the whole world, even as the cross weighs heavily upon the church.

As Trinity dwells on a text involving the office of "loosing and binding" that Peter is called into, we look at our own actions of Confession and Forgiveness in the church, point to the central nature of God in Christ Jesus in these experiences, and our own callings of loosing and binding in today's world.

As Trinity hears a text about Jesus' almost not giving grace to all, we also hear good news; God's grace expands to each one of us, God's grace expands to those whom our society pushes away from us. Like Christ experiences, we are called to dwell with and beg on behalf of the modern day Canaanites of our society.

Trinity picks up from where it left off last week, this time with the text of Peter (briefly) walking on water in one hand and the news of white supremacists gathering in Charlottesville, VA in the other. Together, we recognize that at the center of our lives and faith must be the calling of Christ to be disciples in this world and nothing else. Though we may be called to things that feel overwhel...

Trinity engages this morning with a text that feels very familiar. This time, though, we wrestle with the question "What if Jesus' disciples said 'No'?" In this question, we are called to reevaluate how we view our discipleship in daily life, and whether Christ is truly central to all that we do.