Sermon: Trinity Sunday A (OT and Gospel)
The Feast of the Holy Trinity
15 June AD 2014
Title: Recreation (MP3 Audio)
Summary: When we start feeling tired, out of sorts, and in need of a break, we often seek some form of recreation. We involve ourselves in pleasurable activities — or the lack of any activity whatsoever — in order to refresh, restore, and recharge ourselves.
Because we’re only treating symptoms, we miss the cure — although we label it correctly, we mispronounce it and look for it in the wrong places. We need what the word clearly says: re-creation. We need to be remade in God’s image, not to merely clean and polish our fallen sinful images.
In Baptism, God recreated each of us. As we return to our baptisms in repentant faith, God continually recreates us. This gift comes in His Church through Word and Sacrament. Those who seek Sunday morning recreation on a lake or a golf course or in their own beds turn their backs on the only thing that can make them new — not merely feel new but to truly be new in body, mind, and spirit.
As long as we live in this fallen Creation, sin and its effects will continue aging, wearing down, and killing us. Yet we are already citizens of the New Creation and look forward to our resurrection to everlasting life. For from the Last Day forward, we will be remade completely in Christ’s image and will never need to be recreated again.
This catholic* faith we regularly confess in the Church’s creeds, including today, when many congregations joined in speaking the Athanasian Creed.
Text: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Genesis 1:1-2:4
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Recreation.
NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 8; Acts 2:14a, 22-36
*The “catholic faith” spoken of in the creeds doesn’t mean “Roman Catholic.” Rather, it is the faith of the entire Christian Church as it is rightly believed, taught, and confessed around the world and throughout the ages.
Tags: The Feast of the Holy Trinity | Trinity Sunday | The 1st Sunday after Pentecost | The First Sunday after Pentecost | Three Year Lectionary | 3 Year Lectionary | Series A | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | Creation | Fall | Adam | New Creation | Father | Son | Holy Spirit | Trinity | Baptism | Absolution | Communion | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 15 June 2014 | June 15, 2014 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Genesis 1 | Matthew 28 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Recreation | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings
15 June AD 2014
Title: Recreation (MP3 Audio)
Summary: When we start feeling tired, out of sorts, and in need of a break, we often seek some form of recreation. We involve ourselves in pleasurable activities — or the lack of any activity whatsoever — in order to refresh, restore, and recharge ourselves.Because we’re only treating symptoms, we miss the cure — although we label it correctly, we mispronounce it and look for it in the wrong places. We need what the word clearly says: re-creation. We need to be remade in God’s image, not to merely clean and polish our fallen sinful images.
In Baptism, God recreated each of us. As we return to our baptisms in repentant faith, God continually recreates us. This gift comes in His Church through Word and Sacrament. Those who seek Sunday morning recreation on a lake or a golf course or in their own beds turn their backs on the only thing that can make them new — not merely feel new but to truly be new in body, mind, and spirit.
As long as we live in this fallen Creation, sin and its effects will continue aging, wearing down, and killing us. Yet we are already citizens of the New Creation and look forward to our resurrection to everlasting life. For from the Last Day forward, we will be remade completely in Christ’s image and will never need to be recreated again.
This catholic* faith we regularly confess in the Church’s creeds, including today, when many congregations joined in speaking the Athanasian Creed.
Text: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. Genesis 1:1-2:4
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20
Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Recreation.
NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.
Other Readings: Psalm 8; Acts 2:14a, 22-36
*The “catholic faith” spoken of in the creeds doesn’t mean “Roman Catholic.” Rather, it is the faith of the entire Christian Church as it is rightly believed, taught, and confessed around the world and throughout the ages.
Tags: The Feast of the Holy Trinity | Trinity Sunday | The 1st Sunday after Pentecost | The First Sunday after Pentecost | Three Year Lectionary | 3 Year Lectionary | Series A | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | Creation | Fall | Adam | New Creation | Father | Son | Holy Spirit | Trinity | Baptism | Absolution | Communion | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 15 June 2014 | June 15, 2014 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Genesis 1 | Matthew 28 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Recreation | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings
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