Sermon for Easter 3

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Third Sunday of Easter, April 26, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

Better Than We Had Hoped For
Luke 24:13-35
(Other Readings Appointed: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25)

As we have gone through the accounts of the events of the first Easter Day, we are struck by the many “moods” that we hear being felt and lived out by the people who were a part of this life and world changing event. All throughout the telling of these great happenings we are met by those who are filled with fear and sorrow; with joy and gladness; with doubt and with faith; and with any other host of emotions besides and in between, all depending on the person or people we are looking at.

Today’s Gospel takes us to the events of the afternoon and early evening of that great “first day of the week”, where the Risen Jesus meets two of His followers on their way out of and away from Jerusalem as they journey to a town called Emmaus. Saint Luke tells us that these two travelers are most likely rather saddened people because of the conversation they were having with each other, “talking…about all these things that had happened.” And into this conversation comes another traveler, unknown and unrecognized by them, who joins them on their journey away from Jerusalem.

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Sermon for Easter 2

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Second Sunday of Easter, April 19, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

Peace Be with You!
John 20:19-31
(Other Readings Appointed: Acts 5:29-42; 1 Peter 1:3-9)

On this Second Sunday of the Easter Season, the Gospel appointed for this day remains the same each year. John’s Gospel unfolds for us today the scenes which occurred on the evening of Easter Day and on the Sunday following, as Jesus comes to the disciples and shows Himself alive to them. And as we noted in our worship together on Easter, there is much that is similar between what we hear about those events of the first Easter Day and the times that we currently find ourselves in during this moment of pandemic.

We do not have to go far into the Gospel we heard today to notice those similarities. “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews.” Here we see the disciples “self-quarantining”, shutting themselves off from the outside world. And why? Well, we know why. They were afraid of something “out there”, something that made them fearful for their very lives. The disciples knew what had happened in these days—that the leaders of their people had arrested, tried, and convicted Jesus, their Teacher; that these same leaders convinced the Roman governor, Pilate, to sentence Jesus to death; and that Jesus had suffered the gruesome fate of a common criminal, to die by crucifixion. The disciples were right to be afraid of what was going on outside those locked doors, for most certainly what had happened to Jesus would be what the religious leaders also had in mind for them, Jesus’ followers. It was necessary for them to hide out and lay low, until a plan could be made to get out of town, back to Galilee, and maybe somehow just get back to a “normal life” again.

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Sermon for the Resurrection of Our Lord

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Day, April 12, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

The Most Different Easter Ever?
Matthew 28:1-10
(Other Readings Appointed: Acts 10:34-43; Colossians 3:1-4)

You’ve probably heard this before. You may have even said it yourself. I know that I have. It seems to be the often-repeated phrase that many of us Christian believers have used to describe what we are all thinking and feeling at this time. And that thought is simply this: “You know, this Easter is the most different Easter that I’ve ever known.”

And let’s honestly face it, this Easter is different. We are missing each other. We are yearning for the fellowship that we are unable to have because we cannot gather together as we would wish. Our church home is empty except for those of us working here so we can still virtually worship together. And even though this way of worshipping does allow us to still “be together” to hear God’s Word, to sing His praise, and to offer our prayers, it’s just not the same. To be honest, as your Pastor, I would much rather be seeing you all here in these pews than talking to you through a camera. I would much rather be singing and shouting our “Alleluias” together live and in person rather than wondering how they sound in your homes. And I most certainly would rather be gathered with you around the Lord’s Table today to celebrate the Feast of Christ’s victory which gives us life now and life forever.

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Sermon for Holy Saturday

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Noonday Prayer on Holy Saturday, April 11, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

The Lord Will Deliver
Daniel 6:1-24
(Other Reading Appointed: Psalm 16; Matthew 27:57-66)

Holy Saturday is a tremendous Sabbath Day. It recalls for us the first Sabbath, where God, having completed all of His work in the creation of the world, takes His rest; blessing that day and giving it to His creatures for a day of rest and renewal in our lives of labor. On this day, we see the Lord Jesus, having completed all His work for our redemption and salvation, He now rests in His tomb in the sleep of death. And it is with Him that we too rest, and wait, and watch, looking for the coming dawn of the promised Third Day—the day of Resurrection.

As we wait, watching with our Lord in a solemn vigil, the Church has often taken this moment to read through the Old Testament Scriptures, hearing the stories of how our God created us, and since the Fall into sin, has again and again shown His mighty and powerful hand to rescue and save His people. Each story of salvation in the Old Testament is one which points to the mighty works that we have recalled together through the days of this Holy Week—where through cross and grave God has saved His people eternally in His Son.

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Sermon for Good Friday

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Vespers for Good Friday, April 10, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic. The sermon was also part of the 2020 Lenten Worship theme of “Eyes on Jesus”.

God’s Eyes
John 19:17-30
(Other Readings Appointed: Psalm 22:1-21; Isaiah 52:12-53:12)

O Savior of the world, who by Your cross and precious blood has redeemed us:
Save us and help us, we humbly beseech You, O Lord.

During this Lenten Season, we have taken up the invitation to view the Passion of our Lord Jesus through the eyes of those who saw Him as He went through it. We looked through the misjudging eyes of those who could not understand His care for sinners. With the eyes of Judas, we saw how one could look at Jesus with betraying eyes. Along with Peter, James, and John, we had sleepy eyes that were wearied with our own needs and cares rather than watching with our Lord in His suffering. Then with Peter alone, surrounded by those who accused him of being a follower of Jesus, we have seen our own denying eyes. And with the murderous eyes of the religious leaders and the worldly eyes of Pilate, we saw how our own vision, shaped by the things of our sinful flesh and the thinking of this world, can find it so easy to just get rid of this Jesus because He doesn’t “fit” into the way we believe things ought to be.

Finally on this Good Friday, we come to look at all of these events which make up Jesus’ Passion through one more set of eyes. Today is God’s Friday, and it is through His eyes that we are now invited to see the Passion of His Son.

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Sermon for Holy (Maundy) Thursday

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Vespers for Holy Thursday, April 9, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic. The sermon was also part of the 2020 Lenten Worship theme of “Eyes on Jesus”.

More Than Meets the Eye
Matthew 26:17-30
(Other Reading Appointed: 1 Corinthians 10:16-17)

Last night, our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith began their celebration of the Passover. Part of the ritual that surrounds that festive meal are what is known as “The Three Questions” which are often asked of the “father of the supper” by one of the children. And the first of those questions is: “Why is this night different from all other nights?” In this moment we find ourselves in, there are perhaps many ways to answer that question, like, “On other nights we eat together, but on this night we eat by video conference.”

But the actual answer to that first question in the order for the Passover meal is to begin the retelling of the account of how God had rescued His people Israel from their slavery in Egypt through the last of the plagues He sent against the Egyptians: the death of the Firstborn. While the Israelites ate a meal in safe quarantine behind closed doors marked with the blood of the lamb they were eating, the angel of death did its work in bringing about God’s judgement on Egypt through the death of their firstborn, “both man and beast”, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of the livestock” (cf. Ex. 11-12). And when this plague had done its work, Pharaoh finally relented to the request given by God through Moses, and set free all the people of Israel from their slavery and ultimately to return to the land promised to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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Sermon for Wednesday in Holy Week

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Vespers for Wednesday in Holy Week, April 8, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

“Is It I, Lord?”
John 13:16-38
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 62:11-63:7; Romans 5:6-11)

Years ago when I was in high school, I took advantage of the fact that Spring Break took place during Holy Week one year, and I made a trek to a local church to attend their service on Wednesday in Holy Week. At that service, I was introduced to a title that has been traditionally given to name this particular moment in Holy Week: Spy Wednesday. This name was created because of the historic Gospel reading for today; where Judas conspires with the chief priests, agreeing to betray his Master to them for thirty pieces of silver, thus becoming a spy within the ranks of the disciples.

What was also interesting about this service was that twelve candles were placed upon the altar to represent the twelve disciples. As the Gospel was read, and as Judas is mentioned agreeing to betray Jesus, one of the candles was snuffed out, symbolizing that the light had departed from Judas, allowing Satan to work within him, leading Judas to do this dreadful thing.

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Sermon for Tuesday in Holy Week

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Vespers for Tuesday in Holy Week, April 7, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

His Cross Embraces All
John 12:20-36a
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 49:1-7; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31)

In the Gospel for this Tuesday in Holy Week, we see that Jesus, even with everything He had going on around Him at this moment, was not so busy that He refused to see those who sought Him out. John tells us, “Now among those who went up for the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip…and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” We do not know who these Greeks were, what their relationship was to the God of Israel, or even what it was that drew them to seek out Jesus. None of these questions are answered for us, save one—that they were Greeks. Perhaps this is all that John felt that those who heard his Gospel account of Jesus’ life needed to know about them. Yet we still want to know more. We want to understand why this Holy Week meeting between Jesus and these “strangers” is even important to have been mentioned.

What John must want us to take away from his identification of these visitors as Greeks is simply to understand that they were not Jews; members of the house and faith of Israel. In short these were Gentile outsiders. And even if these Greeks who came up to Jerusalem for the Passover were what was known as “God-fearers”—Gentiles who believed in and followed the God of Israel, but who did not fully convert to the faith by not submitting to circumcision, they remained in a sense outsiders who were unable to be fully accepted by their fellow believers and made truly a part of those numbered as the children of Abraham.

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Sermon for Monday in Holy Week

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier at the Office of Vespers for Monday in Holy Week, April 6, 2020. The service was livestreamed owing to the current pandemic.

Love Begets Love
John 12:1-11
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 50:5-10; Hebrews 9:11-15)

When we look at the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final week before His Passion and Resurrection, there is no clear timeline of what He did during the days between Sunday when He entered into Jerusalem and the beginning of His Passion on Thursday evening and the events following. We do hear of different events that occurred—His cleansing of the Temple, His teachings concerning the signs of the End, and the various tests and confrontations which He had with various members of the religious leadership.

In the Gospels, all from the Gospel of John, which we hear over these opening days of Holy Week, rather than trying to create a timeline of what might have happened on a particular day, these readings invite us to reflect on the love of Christ for all people, as well as bidding us to consider what our Lord’s love stirs within us and our response to what we have received from Him.

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Sermon for Palm Sunday

A sermon preached at Trinity-Mount Rainier on Palm Sunday: The Sunday of the Passion, April 5, 2020. It was delivered on livestream owing to the continued epidemic crisis.

Jesus, Did You Know?
John 12:12-19
(Other Readings Appointed: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26-27)

In stressful times, some of us might let our thoughts wander back to “happier, easier times”. As I was thinking about the message to bring to us all on this Palm Sunday, I let my mind go back to Christmas. Hopefully those were happier times for many of us. But what crept into my mind was the one of the often unbidden “ear worms” of the Christmas Season. The song is familiar both in religious circles, as well as being a piece that is played often on secular radio because of the many artists who have covered it.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the song that I was thinking about was, “Mary, Did You Know”. Although I can’t find too many things to complain about it, other than its being seemingly overplayed along with so many other Christmas “hits”, the song is an interesting reflection which places us into Mary’s shoes, so to speak, telling her what we know because we know “the end of the story”, and asking her in essence whether she would have done what she did if she knew what it all meant for her future and the future of her Son.

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