Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church Orlando FL

Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of 14 my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21. I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.” In our own faith formation, it’s amazing to see how our Good Father has always been there for us: in our brokenness, in our ignorance, in our joy and in our sadness.  Our Father has never left our side; always faithful, always good.

This is Trinity Sunday, the Sunday after Pentecost, a day the Christian Church historically has celebrated one of its central beliefs, that of a triune God. As the glorious Hymn states: "God in three persons, blessed Trinity!” The very first Anglican Article of Religion states: “There is but one living and true God.... the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power and eternity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The Trinity: God is three persons; each person is divine, yet there is only one God. Can you see why the concept of the Holy Trinity is so hard to grasp? Let’s dive into this Holy partnership together on Trinity Sunday!

For Christians, Pentecost is a holiday on which we commemorate the Holy Spirit falling on the early followers of Jesus. Before the events of the first Pentecost, which came a few weeks after Jesus’ death and resurrection, there were followers of Jesus, but no movement that could be meaningfully called “the Church.” Thus, from an historical point of view, Pentecost is the day on which the church was started. So today we can say: Happy Birthday Church!

God is good…all the time. Our brains can’t truly comprehend the reality of it, but God. Is. Always. Good. There is so much that this statement implies and knowing that this good God loves us should radically change the way we do life.

Sometimes we need reminding that God is always with us: with us in our joy and in our sadness, our praise and laments, our mountain top moments and our darkest of broken days. God is always there, restoring us and making our soul whole.

James was one of Martin Luther’s least favorite books in the Bible. In fact, he wanted it out of the Bible for good. James spoke about what our faith looked like in practice. In Luther’s time, works played a large part in salvation. Luther wanted to make sure everyone knew that we were all saved by grace. However, James asks the question, “What good is it to have faith but not works?” Today we look at what faith looks like in action.

We’ve been trained to have logical brains. Whether it’s in science or fact-checking what we read: we want proof; just the facts please. The problem is, faith doesn’t work like a textbook. As Christians we have hope and faith in the things we can’t see or prove. There’s a reason Jesus said, “Blessed are those that have not seen me, but still believe.”

Grace is the cornerstone of Lutheran theology. Whether we like it or not (or deserve it or not), we find ourselves swept up in this relentless grace. We fall and we will continue to fall time and time again. The good news is that God is always there to embrace us in His grace.

According to theologian Paul Tillich, one of the three great anxieties humanity faces is that of meaningless/emptiness. Some people spend their whole lives searching for meaning and a purpose. Have you ever asked, “Why are we here? What is the meaning of it all?” Good news: God has something to say about our place in the universe.

To someone that’s been going to church for a while, the story of resurrection can become mundane.  We say the words and we’ve heard the story:  Jesus died and rose again.  The Gospel message is anything but mundane.  It’s time to reintroduce this incredible story that is still transforming lives all over the world.