What Does Tomorrow Hold?

What does tomorrow hold? That’s the question on everybody’s mind that is behind Jesus’ question of His disciples on the mountainside: “Why Are You Anxious? “

This is a powerful and important question our Lord asks His disciples up on the ...mountain. Notice He doesn’t ask “if” the disciples are anxious. He asks them, "Why Are You Anxious?"

It is one He asks every one of His baptized children. "Why Are You Anxious?" And it is one He asks of you, His beloved ones gathered at Trinity today as we approach the close of our congregation at the end of October and the uncertainty that tomorrow holds. "Why Are You Anxious?"

Again, it isn’t a matter of "if," or "whether or not" you have anxiety right at this moment, but when —because it happens to us all, including those closest to the Lord like the disciples to whom He is speaking in our Gospel reading today--"Why Are You Anxious?"

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, "What Does Tomorrow Hold?," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3901

[Artwork for today's OT reading: "Elijah & the Widow of Zarephath," oil on canvas by Nicolaes Maes—b.1634, d.1693.]

“Rise and Go Your Way”

TEXT: Luke 17:19 An [Jesus] said to the [thankful Samaritan leper], “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Dear Baptized and Cleansed Ones of God,

“Rise and go your way!” This is what the Lord, your God, is telling you every time you hear the words and name by which you were born again from above and into the kingdom of heaven--in the name of the Father ,and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity, "Rise and Go Your Way," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3896

“And who is my neighbor?”

TEXT: And behold, a lawyer stood up to put [Jesus] to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

It’s a great question the lawyer asks, isn’t it? "And Who Is My Neighbor?"

The simple answer is--yes, you guessed it--Jesus. Ah, but unlike the lawyer, we don’t have Jesus standing right in front of us. Or do we?

[Artwork: “Le Bon Samaritain,” by Aimé Morot,1880.]

To hear and/or read the entire sermon preached for the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, "And Who Is My Neighbor?," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3886

"Be Opened"

Last week the tax collector showed us how the Lord lifts up the lowly and only the lowly. This is the life of Baptism, the life of repentance and forgiveness of sins that is a daily thing by which “the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge (come forth—be opened up like a butterfly) and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. As St. Paul writes in Romans, chapter 6: 'We were buried with Him through Baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.'”

Now today, as we approach another anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on our soil, our Gospel not only shows us the healing of one deaf and mute 2000 years ago, but speaks God’s Word to us today so that our sinful Ears, Mouths, Hearts, and even heaven itself “Be opened” to us now.

To hear the entire sermon preached for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, "Be Opened," click on this link. http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=3879