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Faith like a Child—13th Sunday after Trinity

8/30/2015

Readings: 1 Kings 3:5-28; 6:1, 11-14; Ephesians 2:19-22; John 2:18-22

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Newly crowned 12 year old Solomon went to Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:4) To a place where the Lord had not promised to be. He went outside of God’s order. His father David had only sacrificed at the Tent of Meeting where the Lord promised to be. (1 Kings 3:3) But not Solomon. He spread it around. Yet God is gracious. He chooses us not because of our merit or worthiness, but because of His grace and favour found in Jesus Christ. So He appeared to Solomon at Gibeon. (1 Kings 3:5)

Jesus in Jerusalem—12th Sunday after Trinity

8/23/2015

Readings: 1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1; James 1:13-14; Matthew 23:37-39

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

There was Jesus days before His crucifixion, which would gather in millions to His kingdom, mourning over the city where He Himself had been present so long in His temple saying, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone all who are sent to you. How I long to gather you under My wings. But you were not willing."

Bathing Beauties—11th Sunday after Trinity

8/16/2015

Readings: 2 Samuel 11:1-27; 12:1-25; 1 John 1:8-10; Matthew 1:1, 6

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

She was bathing. In her garden. In full view of the palace. Did she know the king was there? Did she not realize anyone would see? We don’t know. But what was David doing? Why was he up there playing the peeping Tom? He should have been waging war. King-ing it up. Protecting his nation from the aggressors around him. Doing his duty. Being a father to his people. A strong protector. Not a pervert to his officers’ wives.

David’s Ammunition—9th Sunday after Trinity

8/2/2015

Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13; 17:1-58; Ephesians 6:10-17; Matthew 26:51-56

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Saul had failed to do what the Lord had commissioned and commanded him to do. He was rejected by the Lord not because he was a sinner—he was that, but so are we. Not because he failed to believe—we all waiver of ourselves, but the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and enlightens us in the Christian faith. So we all pray regularly, “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” No, Saul was rejected because he had been specifically authorized by the Lord, through Samuel, to do a certain task: to be the king, and follow certain commands. He didn’t do them. The more he departed from the Lord’s ways, the Lord’s commands, the Lord’s foreordained paths for him, the more he turned away from the Lord’s word. That was key. He turned away from the Word of the Lord. As in, he turned away from THE Lord, from the word of God who would later be made flesh to save sinners like you and me and Saul. But when you turn away from the Lord, from His word, from His judgment of your sin and His salvation of you from your just punishment, then there is nothing left for you.

Salivating for Saul—8th Sunday after Trinity

7/26/2015

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Readings: 1 Samuel 8:1-10, 19-22; 12:1-25; 13:1-14; Acts 13:21-22; Luke 1:31b-33

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Change was afoot. A king. The time of the judges was over. The people had been agitating for a king for a while. Since the time of Gideon, also known as Jerubaal (1 Sam. 12:11; Jdg. 9:1-6), when they crowned his son as king. They had wanted a king. But the problem was that this was a nation called into existence by the Lord. It only existed because of the Lord. It only continued as long as the Lord’s name was upon it. Their ancestor Abraham had a barren wife, Sarah. She birthed their father, Isaac, miraculously at 90 years of age, because the Lord promised it. They were the result of a continuous string of miracles. Just as the Church today is. Kings and governments have constantly tried to stamp out this Christian church for the last 2000 years. Yet, miraculously, when it seems the Church is dead, the Lord raises it from the dead. He causes it to spread. To increase. To pour forth renewing this world. Persecution can’t destroy it. Persecution can’t stamp it out. No, far more dangerous than the world to Christ’s Church is Her own faithlessness and apathy toward Her King.

Hannah Prayer Heard--7th Sunday after Trinity

7/19/2015

Readings: 1 Samuel 1:1-20, 24-28; 2:11-12, 18-23; 3:1-20; Acts 9:3-9; Luke 2:52

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

She was barren. Her rival was not. (1 Sam. 1:2) What folk remedies, what old wives tales, what positions had she tried with her husband? Barrenness hurts when you want kids. You ask yourself, why is my body rebelling? It hurts even more when you believed the Lord’s promise to your family that through a son of your family He will bless all families of the earth. (Gen. 12:3) He will save the world crushing the power of sin, Satan, and death. (Gen. 3:15) For in this family sons were a heritage from Lord. (Ps. 127:3) They were a sign of the Lord’s salvation for every family of earth. She believed. So, why did the Lord seem to be against her? Why did she have no children? And then there was her rival: Peninnah. (1 Sam. 1:6-8)

Ruth's Mighty Man of Valour--6th Sunday after Trinity

7/12/2015

Readings: Ruth 1:1-5, 8-22; 2:1-13; 4:1-17; Ephesians 5:31-32; Matthew 1:1, 5-6

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

In ancient Israel there was no life insurance, no Canada Pension Plan, no Old Age Security, or widows benefits. But there was always family. And in order to take care of the fatherless and the widow the Lord had instituted a practice called the “Kinsman redeemer”. (Deut. 25:5-10; Lev. 25:23-28, 47-55) That is, if a man dies without giving son to his wife so that there would be someone to take care of her in her old age, then his closest male relative makes sure she has a son. He marries her. Of course you can see problems that may be brought about by this arrangement. For though a woman may be your wife, the son is not reckoned as your son, but as the dead man’s son. (Lev. 25:6) And if he already had a wife, does he really want another? Think of the complications… And of top of all that, what if you never have another son of your own, then your land and your relative’s land goes to your “relative’s son”. So you can see why men might be a little weak kneed about doing what the Lord says to do.

Samson: When I Am Weak... --5th Sunday after Trinity

7/5/2015

Readings: Judges 13:1-7, 17-25; 16:4-31; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Matthew 12:29

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Samson the strong man. An odd and strange story. A story of a fool in love? Yes. A story of an oaf who followed the desires of his flesh which led to his downfall? Yes. The story of Christ saving His Church? Yes. All these contradictions exist in one man’s story for Our Lord promises to work good out of everything, even our own sin. (Rom. 8:28) For by His cross He has taken death itself and bent it to His will, by His death defeating death, by His death atoning for your sin, and by His death opening the way to life eternal in your death.

Gideon: Man of Valour---4th Sunday after Trinity

6/28/2015

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Readings: Judges 2:1-8, 11-19; 6:1, 6, 11-16, 36-40; 7:1-23; Luke 18:7-8

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

There’s scaredy-cat Gideon threshing his wheat down in a hole. A winepress in the ground. He’s just minding his own business trying to find a bite to eat before the big bad schoolyard bully Midianites come and take away his lunch money. And the Angel of Lord—the second person of the Trinity, God in human form, Jesus before taking on our flesh—strolls up, plops Himself down under the tree by that wine press, and pears down at Gideon and says, “The Lord is with you, oh mighty man of valour.” (Jdg. 6:11-12) Our Lord loves irony. Yet this is the key to the story of Gideon. Gideon is not what the Lord says. Yet the Lord says, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel.” (Jdg. 6:14) The Lord’s Word creates what is not. (Gen. 1:3) Gideon is a scrawny, fraidy-cat pipsqueak. The Lord declares him mighty. Gideon has no strength. The Lord declares him strong. This is not wishful thinking. This is the Lord who called heaven and earth into existence by His Word. (Gen. 1) He who is the Word of God. (John 1:1-3, 14) What He says happens. (Jdg. 6:34)

Joshua at Jericho--3rd Sunday after Trinity

6/21/2015

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Readings: Joshua 5:10-6:27; Hebrews 11:30-31; Mark 1:14-15

In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Us, them. We, they. White hats, black hats. “Are you for us, or for our enemies?” “NO.” (Josh. 5:13-14)

The Passover had just happened. (Josh. 5:10) Israel remembered that the Lord had saved them from slavery 40 years earlier. The Lord had brought them into the land, crossing Jordan. (Josh. 3-4) At Passover they ate of the Land that flowed with milk and honey, and grain too. The manna stopped. (Josh. 5:11-12) They could make their own honey cakes now. God had given them a land that flowed with all the ingredients they needed. A land like Eden. But first to conquer to the land.