Trinity Sunday | 1st Sunday after Pentecost - A
R. Craig Mccreary
All of my life, as I am sure of that in most of your lives, I have had to live by the
numbers, and it has only gotten worse. There was a time when if you could manage to
keep your social security number and telephone number in your head you could pretty
well count on getting through the day unscathed. Those days are gone forever. I believe
that the downward slide began with the invention of the area code. All right, I innocently
went along believing that little harm would come and that could even be some benefit.
What did I know? It did not take long for the postal service to get into the act with the
addition of the zip code. Now, when I make a purchase I feel like a prisoner reciting
home phone, business phone, cell phone, zip code in five and nine number versions, PIN
number,...
William H. Shepherd
The more I listened, the more I heard desperation.
"It is possible for there to be light and darkness without the sun and the moon," she said as she launched into a long explanation gleaned from some dubious website. "And of course the days are not real days, but eras," she concluded.
"But the days are defined as alternating periods of light and darkness," someone replied. "Are you trying to tell us that there was darkness for thousands of years, and then light for another thousand?"
"That's one possibility," she said.
"But what about the sun and the moon?" someone else asked. "Weren't they moving at the same rate they are now? How could there be darkness for thousands of years, if the sun comes up every morning?"
"...
"It is possible for there to be light and darkness without the sun and the moon," she said as she launched into a long explanation gleaned from some dubious website. "And of course the days are not real days, but eras," she concluded.
"But the days are defined as alternating periods of light and darkness," someone replied. "Are you trying to tell us that there was darkness for thousands of years, and then light for another thousand?"
"That's one possibility," she said.
"But what about the sun and the moon?" someone else asked. "Weren't they moving at the same rate they are now? How could there be darkness for thousands of years, if the sun comes up every morning?"
"...
David Kalas
For so many Christians, including likely most of the people in our pews this Sunday, there are a handful of doctrines which they’d rather not have to think much about. The doctrine of the Trinity, the idea of the eternality of God, and the affirmation that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine are all so conceptually difficult that, even if folks say they believe them, they couldn’t begin to explain them. And so, you and I are tasked this week with the assignment to preach about something that is confusing — perhaps even off-putting — to our people. We are called to preach about the Trinity.
Mark Ellingsen
An eternally loving, life-changing Triune God!
Genesis 1:1--2:4a
The First Lesson is the product of one of the four distinct oral traditions which gave rise to the first five books of the Bible. Most scholars deem it to be the P strand’s version of the origin of the cosmos in six days. This tradition seems to have been developed by temple priests dating back to the sixth century B.C. The prose of the text is rhythmic (evident in the contrasts between chaos and what was created, comparing the divine command and what Elohim does). This may suggest the hymnic origins of the Lesson. This version of the creation story is more cosmological than the anthropocentric version of creation which follows immediately after the Lesson ends. The later account...
Genesis 1:1--2:4a
The First Lesson is the product of one of the four distinct oral traditions which gave rise to the first five books of the Bible. Most scholars deem it to be the P strand’s version of the origin of the cosmos in six days. This tradition seems to have been developed by temple priests dating back to the sixth century B.C. The prose of the text is rhythmic (evident in the contrasts between chaos and what was created, comparing the divine command and what Elohim does). This may suggest the hymnic origins of the Lesson. This version of the creation story is more cosmological than the anthropocentric version of creation which follows immediately after the Lesson ends. The later account...
Wayne Brouwer
Walking through a carnival midway at the county fair, a man met his neighbors, a young couple with their small daughter between them. The little girl was carrying a HUGE fluff of cotton candy on a paper tube, trying to munch at it as best she could.
After greeting her parents, the man knelt in front of the lass and exclaimed, “That’s a mighty big treat you have there! It’s bigger than you are! How are you going to get all of it inside of you?!”
The girl paused for a moment between sticky chews, and then said, “I can do it! I’m bigger on the inside than the outside!”
There are optical illusions, and not all of them at a county fair midway carnival, that make us strain our eyes in wonder, aren’t there? Theologically speaking, the Christian doctrine of the...
After greeting her parents, the man knelt in front of the lass and exclaimed, “That’s a mighty big treat you have there! It’s bigger than you are! How are you going to get all of it inside of you?!”
The girl paused for a moment between sticky chews, and then said, “I can do it! I’m bigger on the inside than the outside!”
There are optical illusions, and not all of them at a county fair midway carnival, that make us strain our eyes in wonder, aren’t there? Theologically speaking, the Christian doctrine of the...
David Kalas
You probably have, as I do, certain email applications that allow you to view your emails as "conversations" or "threads." For example, the emails that my staff and I have exchanged on a certain subject are all grouped together in my inbox, even if they are separated by months in terms of when they were written. And if I happen to write a reply to any one of the emails other than the very latest in a given thread, my email application will tell me that I am not responding to the most recent part of the conversation.
This Sunday, you and I are presented with the creation story in Genesis. As we are, we may naturally think in terms of the larger thread of our cultural conversation about creation. And we may feel an implicit pressure to respond to the latest part of the...
This Sunday, you and I are presented with the creation story in Genesis. As we are, we may naturally think in terms of the larger thread of our cultural conversation about creation. And we may feel an implicit pressure to respond to the latest part of the...
William H. Shepherd
Schuyler Rhodes
The more I listened, the more I heard desperation.
"It is possible for there to be light and darkness without the sun and the moon," she said as she launched into a long explanation gleaned from some dubious website. "And of course the days are not real days, but eras," she concluded.
"But the days are defined as alternating periods of light and darkness," someone replied. "Are you trying to tell us that there was darkness for thousands of years, and then light for another thousand?"
"That's one possibility," she said.
"But what about the sun and the moon?" someone else asked. "Weren't they moving at the same rate they are now? How could there be darkness for thousands of years if the sun comes up every morning?"
"There's no...
"It is possible for there to be light and darkness without the sun and the moon," she said as she launched into a long explanation gleaned from some dubious website. "And of course the days are not real days, but eras," she concluded.
"But the days are defined as alternating periods of light and darkness," someone replied. "Are you trying to tell us that there was darkness for thousands of years, and then light for another thousand?"
"That's one possibility," she said.
"But what about the sun and the moon?" someone else asked. "Weren't they moving at the same rate they are now? How could there be darkness for thousands of years if the sun comes up every morning?"
"There's no...
In his play As You Like It William Shakespeare wrote those familiar words: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." The expression would seem to leave the theater without an audience, although some would suggest that many persons of the human race are spectators rather than actors.
Be that as it may, the view that the world's a stage challenges us this Holy Trinity Sunday to consider the stage God the Creator built and then to discern among the cast of characters who plays which role and who has been seized by the manager for reaching out to the rest of the cast.
Genesis 1:1--2:4a
Be that as it may, the view that the world's a stage challenges us this Holy Trinity Sunday to consider the stage God the Creator built and then to discern among the cast of characters who plays which role and who has been seized by the manager for reaching out to the rest of the cast.
Genesis 1:1--2:4a
In comment on the three lectionary texts for today, you will read consistent suggestions, if not warnings, not to turn Trinity Sunday into a classroom experience in which an effort is made to convey the doctrinal meanings of the Trinity.
You have to be a Greek among the ancient Greeks, an idealist, a philosopher, to want to try to make sense of the doctrine. Most of our minds do not work in ways that match its formulations and its witness.
Recognizing that, what do we do? First, phone your friendly neighborhood seminary and borrow a theologian. Let her stumble through the dogma. Then, second, preach in the aura, the penumbra, the field of vision and inquiry that the Trinity creates or impinges upon.
I've read good suggestions that the deepest...
Lectionary Commentary and Sermon Illustrations
Emphasis Preaching Journal provides in-depth lectionary-based commentary on lectionary texts, plus thousands of sermon illustrations to help you create riveting sermons.For over 45 years, Emphasis has provided subscribers with scripturally sound, lectionary-based commentaries and sermon illustrations that connect with the people in the pews.
For each week, Emphasis writers delve into the heart of the lectionary readings, providing you with several fresh, solid ideas -- based squarely on the lectionary texts -- for creating sermons that speak powerfully to your audience. They look for overall themes that hold the readings together. Then, they zero in on the themes and the specific scripture links, suggesting directions for the sermon and worship service. Since a single idea each week may not provide what you are looking for at that particular time, writers suggest several, giving you the opportunity to select the one that matches your specific needs.
