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John 03:01-17 / 2 Lent A / 20 March 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA The word that runs through our three readings this morning and connects them is the word “faith.” Trust in the promise of God. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Hims should not perish but have eternal life.”

This is bottom-line Christianity. This is the core of what you and I believe and confess as Christians. This is what makes Christianity “Christian.” It’s the chewy nougat center without which Christianity becomes just another religion among religions. This is what sets Christianity apart from the world’s religions and what many people, even those who call themselves Christian, don’t get. God justifies the ungodly. God counts faith in His promise as righteousness. God grants this as an unearned and undeserved gift, completely apart from any work that we do.

Matthew 04:01-11 / 1 Lent A / 13 March 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA Every once in a while, events in the world trump the liturgical calendar and even the assigned readings. Such was the case in September of 2001 and such is the case this morning, the first Sunday in Lent.…

Matthew 5:38-48 / 7 Epiphany A / 20 February 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA You, therefore, will be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Mt 5:48 If you listened carefully, you will have noticed that I pulled a Law/Gospel fast one on you. You heard the Gospel reading say, “You therefore, must…

Matthew 05:21-37 / 6 Epiphany A / 13 February 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA Very often, when a doctor wants to make a diagnosis, he has to look at your insides. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way since the days when the only way to do that was “exploratory” surgery, where he literally…

Matthew 5:13-20 / 5 Epiphany A / 06 February 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA Salt, light, and the Law this morning from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He’s preaching on a mountainside to His disciples with the crowds overhearing. He’s just blessed them with His nine Beatitudes, blessings, which we heard last week.…

Matthew 5:1-12 / 4 Epiphany A / 30 January 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA “Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them.” (Mt 5:1-2) Jesus' teaching begins with a word. Blessed. In Greek, makarios. Not…

Matthew 04:12-25 / 3 Epiphany A / 23 January 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA Now when he heard that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew into Galilee. Mt 4:12 John is arrested, sequestered in Herod’s dungeon. The charge: He criticized the morals of the king. Herod had taken up with his brother’s estranged wife,…

John 01:29-42 / 2 Epiphany A / 16 January 2011 / Holy Trinity - Hacienda Heights, CA “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” In one, simple sentence, John the Baptizer completely summarizes the whole work of Jesus Christ and the entire Christian faith. Everything else you can say about…