“Lord, will those who are saved be few?” You wonder sometimes. I sure have. How many will be saved? When you look at the condition of the world around you, when you look at the state of the church today, when you consider the diminishing impact that Christianity seems to have in the world, you begin to wonder. Will only a few be saved in the end? How many are going to make it past those pearly gates? Will you?
Luke 12:49-53 / 13 Pentecost / 18 August 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Just what you wanted to hear, I imagine. You expect peace from the Prince of Peace, and instead you get division. You expect Jesus to focus on the family and bring the family together, because, after all, the family that prays together is supposed to stay together, and you get Jesus saying He’s going to set father against son, mother against daughter, in-law against in-law, and divide houses of five, three to two. And will you be in the majority or the minority? And which will be on Jesus’ side?
This is the same Jesus who at His birth the angels sang of “Peace on earth”. The One who said “Peace I leave with you , my peace I give to you.” The One who said, “Peace be with you” to His frightened disciples. Here the Prince of Peace speaks of a fire, a baptism, and division.
Luke 11:1-3 / 10 Pentecost (Proper) / 28 July 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” But, isn’t prayer something “natural”? It isn’t. We don’t know how to pray. Prayer is anything but natural for a natural-born sinner. We are born deaf to God’s Word and mute to prayer. We must be taught. The only prayer we can pray is “Lord, teach us to pray.” And the Lord does.
Luke 10:25-37 / Pentecost 7 (Proper C) / 14 July 2014 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
There was a man who fell among thieves on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. It was a dangerous road. The steady stream of pilgrims made it prime picking grounds for thugs and thieves alike. This man was probably returning home from Jerusalem when he was jumped by robbers who stripped him, beat him bloody, and left him for dead in the ditch at the side of the road.
Luke 10:1-20 / 7 Pentecost (Proper) / 07 July 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
“The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” (Luke 10:16)
To be sent with authority is to be sent for certain. Jesus is sent from the Father to the world. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He in turn sends others to go in His stead and by His command. With His authority. To hear one whom Jesus sends with His authority is to hear Jesus Himself. To reject one whom Jesus sends is to reject Jesus. And to reject Jesus is to reject the Father who sent Him.
Luke 8:26-39 / Pentecost 5 (Proper 7C) / 23 June 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
There is no place Jesus won’t go to save. No crosses He will not bear. No darkness He won’t enter. No hells to which He won’t descend to seek and to save the lost.
Luke 7:36-8:3 / Pentecost 5 (Proper 6C) / 16 June 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
There are two kinds of sinners in the world. Those who recognize their sin and those who don’t. Those who recognize their sin are broken and contrite and confess their sin. Those who don’t recognize their sin are smug, self-righteous, and judgmental of others. Those who recognize their sin, recognize Jesus as the Savior of sinners. Those who don’t recognize their sin do not recognize Jesus and wonder, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” God’s desire is that you recognize your sin and so recognize your Savior and trust Him for your forgiveness. Those who recognize their sin are eager to hear forgiveness. Those who do not recognize their sin have no use for forgiveness. Both are sinners. Both are forgiven in Christ.
Luke 7:11-14 / Pentecost 3 (Proper 5C) / 09 June 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
It’s a rule at funerals - the younger the death, the bigger the crowd, the more grief and weeping there is. There is something deeply and profoundly tragic about death at a young age. No parent expects to bury a child. The grief is compounded at this funeral in Nain because the mother is also a widow. First her husband and now her only son. That meant not only the grief of death but also the uncertainty of the future. Her means of support died with her son. What would she do now?
Genesis 11:1-9 / Pentecost C / 19 May 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
Words. Without words there is no communication, no exchange of information and ideas, no communion, no community, no way to organize and mobilize. Without words we would be unable to reach out to another person, to have any form of meaningful relationship. You’ve probably had this experience, when you are in a foreign land or encounter someone from a foreign land. You don’t speak the same language. Aside from a few gestures and grunts, you can’t express much to each other much less order a ham sandwich and a Coke. Without common language and words we would be isolated individuals, left to ourselves and our thoughts without any way of expressing them.
Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20 / Easter 7C / 12 May 2013 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA
We’ve been focused on God’s city during these weeks of Easter. We have heard its liturgy, marveled at its gates of pearl, its streets of translucent gold, its beautiful multi-colored foundations refracting the light of Christ in all the colors of the rainbow. We have delighted in its perfect symmetry, its Israelite gates that are open to the four corners of the world, its endless day in the light of the Lamb.
Today there is one more vision, one more view of the glory to be revealed on the Last Day. A River and a Tree.