Category Archives: Feasts and Festivals

Holy Trinity

Posted on by

John 3:1-17 / Trinity Series B / 03 June 2012 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? – John 3:12

Poor Nicodemus. He comes to Jesus by night to have a little rabbi to rabbi conversation. Compare theological notes perhaps. Talk a little shop, teacher to teacher. He even offers Jesus the highest of complements: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Clearly, Nicodemus is impressed. Not bad for a Pharisee.
Continue reading →

Pentecost: Wind, Fire, Words

Posted on by

Acts 2:1-21 / Pentecost B / 27 May 2012 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

Pentecost. Fifty. Fifty days after the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread there was the harvest festival. The ingathering of the winter wheat. And the celebration of the giving of the Torah to Moses on the mountain accompanied by wind and fire.

Fifty days after the Jesus’ passover from death to life comes the harvest, the ingathering of the first fruits. Three thousand baptized and added to the number of the disciples in one day. And again there is wind and fire. The wind is heard; the fire is seen. The wind is the breath of the crucified, risen, and now reigning Lord Jesus blowing out over His Church, filling it with His breath and His words. There is proclamation in all the known languages and dialects of the Mediterranean world, from the mouth of simple Galileans who had never taken a language course before. Everyone heard the good news of Jesus in his own language and dialect. “For you.” In your ears, no doubt about it.
Continue reading →

Shine, Jesus Shine? Not Yet!

Posted on by

Mark 9:2-9 / Transfiguration B / 19 February 2012 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

And Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God having come with power.” (Mark 9:1)

The some “some standing here” were Peter and James and John. Sorry, no Andrew. He got left out. Three is more symbolic than four, so three disciples it is. Not four and certainly not six. Seven would be the next acceptable number. Or all twelve, but one of them was rotten. Andrew and the others would see the kingdom of God having come with power in Jesus’ death and resurrection. But for now, here in what is almost the exact middle of Mark’s Gospel, it is given only to Peter and James and John to see this “sneak peek” of Jesus’ glory as the Son of God.
Continue reading →

Name and Circumcision of Jesus

Posted on by

Luke 2:21 / Name and Circumcision of Our Lord / 01 January 2012 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21 

It’s one little verse in Luke. Easily overlooked in Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ birth and infancy. But the verse demonstrates Luke’s attention to detail. Up until this verse, he does not refer to Jesus by name. In Bethlehem’s manger he is simply a baby, a swaddled newborn with no name. When the shepherds visit, they don’t ask what most people ask when a child is born, “What’s his name?” He didn’t have a name a week ago, until today. Today He gets His name Jesus, and with His name He gets the mark of the covenant: circumcision.
Continue reading →

Christmas 2011

Posted on by

John 1:14 / Christmas Day / 25 December 2011 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

Note:  I am indebted to a 1964 sermon by Rev.  Alton F. Wedel for many of the thoughts and words expressed in here.  This sermon is dedicated to his memory. – WMC

The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.

This one sentence captures the heart and essence of Christmas. This is more than a miracle; this is a mystery. A profound revelation full of meaning. When you get past the angels and the shepherds and the stable and the manger, when you peel back the soft sentimentalities and the holiday expectations and the nostalgic remembrances of Christmases past, there remains this infinitely deep Mystery that goes to the very depths of our existence: The Word became Flesh and dwelt among us.
Continue reading →

But Wait, There’s More!

Posted on by

Matthew 05:01-12 / All Saints / 06 November 2011 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

In the life of the believer, there is both the now and the not yet. What is seen is now, what is not yet is not yet seen. There is the now of faith and the not yet of sight. All Saints Day is about the now and the not yet. The now of this life and the not yet of the life to come.
Continue reading →

Reformation: Back To The Basics

Posted on by

Romans 03:19-28 / Reformation / 30 October 2011 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:19-28)

It doesn’t get more basic than that, does it? This is the heart of the Christian faith. In fact, this is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. A sinner, condemned by the Law, sentenced to death and damnation by God’s own law is justified, declared righteous by a forensic act of God’s Word, by faith, trust in Jesus Christ and His atoning blood shed on the cross, apart from works of the law. How much clearer could Paul have been?
Continue reading →

Holy Trinity

Posted on by
Reply

Matthew 28:16-20 / Holy Trinity A / 19 June 2011 / Holy Trinity – Hacienda Heights, CA

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

And the catholic faith is this: that we worship one God in three persons and three Persons in one God, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the Substance.

“Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, a feast day devoted to the mystery of the Godhead, a mystery that must be revealed in the Word and by the Word made flesh, a mystery that cannot be known by our own reason or senses. And let’s be honest here. If we were going to invent a god and a religion, we would not start with the paradox that God was three in Person yet one in Essence. It just doesn’t make sense. Or as the writer/apologist Dorothy Sayers put it: The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Spirit incomprehensible, the whole thing incomprehensible. And that’s how it should be. Any god that fits neatly inside of your head is not God.
Continue reading →