Trinity Lutheran Church; Arendtsville, PA

Trinity continues its tour of Jesus' parables, this time met with the parable of the wheat and the weeds. While Jesus' explanation seems pretty cut and dry, we also remember as a congregation that we always hear Jesus words through his death and resurrection.

As Trinity enters a time of dwelling in Jesus' parables, we begin with the parable of the sower. Full of seed scattered everywhere, this text stretches our understanding of the bounds of God's grace and love for the whole world.

In the 11th chapter of Matthew Trinity hears a lesson that seems to be a soft message for all who eagerly answer Jesus' calling. And yet, in the text surrounding our lesson and in our own very lives we see that no one answers Jesus' calling fully, we all struggle with our own stubbornness in light of Jesus' teaching, and we are all met with a God who draws near, replacing a pattern of stubbornness...

As Trinity returns from its Summer Picnic on June 25th, we settle into a familiar text with a stressful, anxiety filled background of division. Nevertheless, God appears here to both draw us into communion with God's own self and one another for the sake of a gospel of grace and mercy in our world.

On this third and final Sunday of Trinity's focus on stewardship, we remember all the ways that God has blessed and gifted us individually and as a congregation for generations before us. Now it is our turn as Trinity to be the caretakers of these gifts of God, centered in the gospel message for one another, our neighbors, and generations to come.

As Trinity hears the familiar commission of Jesus for his apostles, we continue our focus on the gifts of God in our lives and what kind of fruits God grows through our stewardship.

On Pentecost Sunday Trinity celebrates the experience of being a congregation together, and how God has created, is creating, and will create good gifts through this congregation by the stewardship and sharing of our individual gifts

On the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Trinity focuses on the voice that gives us and all people promise, hope, and love throughout our lives.

As Trinity hears Jesus' claim that his disciples will do the very things he has done throughout the gospel (and even more! we consider the people we look like and act like, and even consider how God has made us each a bit like God's own self.

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Trinity celebrates Creation Sunday as well as the imagery of Christ as shepherd and gate. While these images seem to be an odd pairing, they both boil down to voice of God in our daily life.

As Trinity walks through the road to Emmaus text, we reflect on the places where we know Christ to be in our regular Sunday assembly, and in the ways that Jesus surprises us in everyday life, revealing his presence to us in an instant.

As Trinity is faced with a familiar text of "doubting" Thomas on the Second Sunday of Easter, we are met with a life-long view of Jesus' love for Thomas, and a life-long understanding of Jesus' love for us as well.

Happy Easter! Trinity celebrates the resurrection of Jesus in joyful fashion, remembering that just as God appears to Mary and Mary with the most common of words, God dwells with us in the most common of places and experiences.

As Trinity enters Maundy Thursday we use Jesus' question for the disciples to reflect on the new commandment before us, to love one another as Jesus has loved us.

On this Palm Sunday, Trinity reflects on the Passion of Christ, the love of God for all people, and the arms of Christ's love that have held us in family and neighbors throughout our lives.

On the 5th Sunday of Lent, Trinity considers what it means to be a resurrection people, and take a deeper look at how resurrection impacts our daily life.

On the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Trinity joins the crowds of people and the man born blind in John 9. As we hear that Jesus is the light of the world, we see how Jesus' light tells the truth of what is in our hearts as the love of God is handed out freely.

On the third Sunday of Lent, Trinity joins Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Remembering the baptismal foundation of God's love for us and the world from last week, Trinity enters into confusion and grounding as Jesus offers the living water to people quite different from himself. Likewise, we consider the people in today's world who are quite different from us, and what it mean...

On the Second Sunday of Lent, Trinity turns to the foundation of their faith, seen in the water and the Word of baptism, centered in the love of God for the whole world.

Trinity is joined this first Sunday in Lent by Rev. Richard Jorgensen, Director for Evangelical Mission in Region 8 of the ELCA. In a walk through Jesus' own temptation story of Matthew 4, Rev. Jorgensen leads us in a consideration of our own temptations, emphasizes awareness in the subtle allure and misdirection of temptation, and points to God's love that calls us from temptation and lifts us up...

On the final Sunday before Lent, Trinity considers Jesus' strange command for the disciples to tell no one of the Transfiguration event "until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead." As Jesus teaches us that we cannot see to glory of Christ without the cross, we also learn that Jesus continues to transfigure the reality around us in the places of the cross throughout the world today....

As Trinity concludes its look at the 5th chapter of Matthew, we encounter one more very difficult lesson telling us to love our enemies. In all reason this may seem ridiculous, and yet we discover that God has a habit of bringing new life into places that seem unchanging with a creativity that breaks the binary of everyday life.

The commands from Jesus in the Matthew 5 text for today may seem grating and harsh and impossible. As Trinity encounters these words from a selfless, unconditionally loving Christ, we consider together what this means for our calling as Christians in this world.

Trinity encounters God speaking, and the power that comes with that, in a familiar Matthew 5 text of calling and promise to be salt and light for the world.

As Trinity finishes its January focus on stewardship, we sit with a text of God's blessing towards specific groups of people in the world. As we see these blessings as not earned but full of grace, we pray for the stewardship and grace to become a part of God's blessing in this world.