Scripture – ESV
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 –
Does not wisdom call?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
"To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.
"The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
Psalm 8 –
O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Romans 5:1-5 –
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
John 16:12-15 –
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Bob’s thoughts:
It has been some time since we last worshiped here and it took a while to realize what was different: there were some children in worship. It seemed so much more alive with them there…I felt Christ was welcoming them to come to Him. I often feel Christ’s Presence in worship but don’t always know why; today the children with their smiles breathed life into the congregation.
A question was raised in the children’s message: can you get oranges from an apple tree? It brought back pleasant memories from my childhood.
There were two dump sites near where I grew up. One was used mostly by a hinge company, and we would dig through the sawdust piles to find brass hinges to take to the scrap yard. On the side of the dump was a large yellow delicious apple tree that was easy to climb from which we brought tons of apples home to Mom. But back to today’s message. There was a tree that someone had grafted others into, so we picked pears, apples, and plums from the same tree.
On the opposite dump there was a gnarled old peach tree that always reminded me of the fig tree that Christ cursed. It produced large, juicy fruit. When our son was killed it was like my memory banks were erased, so I am thankful for this inadvertent jog to a pleasant memory.
There was a contemporary song I didn’t remember ever hearing that I enjoyed, “Come, Join the Dance of Trinity.” The well-developed message on the Trinity was explained and supported biblically.
I sense exciting things coming for this church and pastor and I look forward with hope and optimism.
Jan’s thoughts:
It’s been way too long since we last worshiped at this church…8½ years to be exact. The pastor is a friend and greeted us warmly, as did many others. The pastor serves this church and another Lutheran congregation nearby so I was glad we’d arrived early and had time to catch up before worship.
I was also glad for the open windows and fans and that the humidity was reasonable.
I appreciated the order of worship printed in the bulletin as it provided all the liturgy in an easy-to-follow format.
Most churchgoers are familiar with the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed; today we read the Athanasian Creed. If you would like to learn about how God can use one person, I’d suggest reading up on the work of Athanasius and his defense of the divinity of Jesus Christ and later of the Holy Spirit. I sure learned a lot.
The pastor lamented the current shortage of pastors and then thanked all the fathers and father figures present with the reminder that we can’t have enough good men in the lives of children. Amen to that.
As it was Trinity Sunday, the untitled sermon focused on the Holy Spirit, hence the reading of the Athanasian Creed. She stated that humans in general find it difficult to explain the Trinity due to limitations of our language, but the concept is Scriptural and worth consideration. Martin Luther preached about the Trinity more than any other reformer.
The pastor characterized the Trinity: The Father is the Speaker, the Son is the Word, and the Holy Spirit is the Hearer, and stated that the Trinity is indeed a mystery, but one we can trust.
I was grateful to participate in Holy Communion.
Our prayer for this church:
Lord, we pray Your continued blessing on Your church and that their hearts are always open to Your leading. Amen.
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