Today’s texts offer instruction and encouragement for all who are occasionally overwhelmed by the “unhappy business” of life. Jesus urges us to take care and be on guard against all kinds of greed. We who have died with Christ in holy baptism have also been raised with him and are encouraged to elevate our thinking, seeking the “things that are above.” To that end we seek the sustenance of the Lord’s supper and the encouragement of God’s word.
Persistence in prayer evoked the admiration of Jesus and wins the attention of the Lord when Abraham intercedes for Sodom. The life of the baptized—to be rooted and built up in Christ Jesus the Lord—is to be rooted in prayer. God hears and answers prayer and so strengthens God’s own. “When I called, you answered me; you increased my strength within me.”
Perhaps the church, at its best, is “all ears.” Almighty God urges the faithful, again and again, to “listen up!”—to heed the word from above. So it was with Abraham and Sarah, with Mary and Martha, and the early church at Colossae. So it is today as we join the assembly to hear the word of God, the words of life.
To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind is to reflect God’s mercy in responding to one’s neighbor. That mercy found its most profound expression in the “gospel that has come to you”—namely the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That gospel mercy comes to us again today: at the font, at the altar, and from the pulpit. It is very near to you.
God is the source of our nourishment. Our Lord’s invitation to “take and eat . . . take and drink” is a repeated one. In the holy eucharist, in the word read and proclaimed, in the assembly of the people of God, the dominion of God has come near. Rejoice! Your name is written in heaven.
We have no good apart from God. That makes our Lord’s call to follow him an invitation to freedom. This is freedom to revel in the Spirit’s fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, and the like. This is the path of life.
This Sunday’s texts paint startling pictures of the horrific—the demonic—nature of sin. The church’s repeated celebration of the holy communion counters that tragic reality in a continued showing forth of the death of Jesus “until he comes.” It is a dramatic declaration of “how much God has done for you.”
“O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Today we celebrate the name of God: holy blessed Trinity. There is no other day quite like this one in the church’s year. There is no other god like ours. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Pentecost is a day of promises fulfilled. The promised Spirit of God is poured out. The baptized have become “children of God” and “joint heirs with Christ.” By the power of the Spirit we have seen the face of the Father in his only begotten Son and been saved by him. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
It is possible to hear in Jesus’ high priestly prayer, a prayer he offered shortly before his death, the petitions of the ascended Lord for his own throughout history—to our day—and beyond. Jesus prays for us. In holy baptism we become believers in God, have our robes washed in the flood of Christ’s forgiveness, and receive the gift of life forever with all the saints.
The Mission of Augsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church is to Glorify God by Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Worship, Witness, Education, Service, and Fellowship.
845 W Fifth Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (336) 722-8144
©2017 Augsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church
