Holy Trinity Ankeny

Reformation Sunday isn't a history lesson. It's a mirror. God promised to write on our hearts - and that reformation is still happening. Jeremiah 31:31-34 | Romans 3:19-28 | John 8:31-36

As we observe the Feast of St. Luke it is common to focus on stories of healing. Tradition holds that Luke, the writer of a Gospel that bears his name and the Book of Acts, was a physician. Luke’s story of Jesus and the Church, however, is far more than a collection of healing stories. More than the healing of individuals, Luke tells us of how Jesus heals the whole world and sends his followers – the church – to do the same.

There is a lot of discussion and questions about “Christian Nationalism” these days. It is a not a new phenomenon. It happens whenever people mix faith and patriotism into a stew that becomes neither patriotic nor faithful. It probably first appeared when Emperor Constantine won the battle at the Milvian Bridge under a banner with a cross. From that point, using Christ as a tool for political power became part of history. Today, the American version seeks to victimize those we disfavor, call empathy and compassion, diversity, and equity evil. The Word of God, however, will not be chained to any nation or ideal. We are citizens of God’s reign, not any country. The healing of one of the enemies of Israel, a citizen of another nation, makes the point.

Habakkuk stands on the city ramparts, watching violence rage below, crying "How long, O Lord?" Centuries later, Jesus' disciples hear impossible commands and plead, "Increase our faith!" Jesus' answer might surprise you: the faith you already have is enough. It's not about your strength — it's about God's.

Today's sermon is based on the Gospel of Luke 16:19-31.   

Confederate bonds seemed like solid investments in 1862 - today they're worth $20 on eBay. Jesus's parable of the dishonest steward reveals which currency will outlast them all.   Luke 16:1-13 | Amos 8:4-7

I don’t think I’m alone in being tired of the state of the world. What will address the warfare, violence, hatred, and just general meanness of this world? In a world where power, winning, material success, being number one, are the way we see things and what we strive for, there seems little hope of changing things. On this Holy Cross Day we are reminded that the way of the cross seems foolish in a winner-take-all world, but that foolishness has the power to save.

Being a disciple of Jesus is more than being a member of a church. There are costs to placing Jesus at the center of life to the exclusion of other things. Being a disciple leaves marks, and it begins with the cross affixed to our foreheads in baptism.

A grandfather's coffee cup, a splash of milk, and a kitchen table full of chaos. Sometimes the most profound truths about God's kingdom hide in the most ordinary moments. If you've ever felt like you're scanning the room with your plate in hand, wondering where you belong, turns out your place was never in question. Proverbs 25:6-7a | Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 | Luke 14:1, 7-14  

Keeping the sabbath is often seen as an obligation. In this age, a time-worn, quaint vestige of a more religious culture. For Jesus, sabbath is not an obligation. It is a celebration of the freedom we’ve been given to be the people God calls us to be instead of filling the roles others give us. To observe Sabbath is to be fully human.

When Jesus announces that he has come to bring fire upon the earth and division to families it is a little off-putting, don’t you think? Is he announcing punishment or is there a message of grace and good news buried somewhere in the midst of the perceived threat? We should always be aware that baptism into Christ is a baptism that puts to death the claims of this world and ushers in a radical new way of living. We are marked with the cross of Christ!

What if Jesus isn’t guarding the locks but breaking them open—freeing us from the prisons we didn’t even know we were defending? Genesis 15:1-6 | Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 | Luke 12:32-40

We build, we store, we cling. But beneath all that effort—what’s actually holding you? Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 | Colossians 3:1-11 | Luke 12:13-21

When Jesus’ disciples ask him to teach them to pray, he gives them the Lord’s Prayer (or Our Father). He then instructs them with parables that assure them of God’s attention and desire to give us what we need (not always what we want?). Prayer is about a relationship with the living God, not getting favors. Throughout scripture we can find God’s people asking for things in prayer only to have God answer with something else. God teaches us to pray by example.

When "crazy busy" becomes your default answer to "How are you?", maybe it's time to learn a different way to breathe. What if the story of two sisters arguing is about more than just dinner prep—and what if Jesus' response changes everything about how we serve? Genesis 18:1-10 | Colossians 1:15-28 | Luke 10:38-42

What if eternal life doesn’t begin at the destination, but in the ditch? What if the most important part of the journey isn’t where you're going—but what interrupts you along the way? Deuteronomy 30:9–14 | Colossians 1:1–14 | Luke 10:25–37

Jesus sends 72 (or 70) workers out to proclaim the peace of the reign of God and its imminent approach. The number is a symbol – Genesis says that there are 72 (or 70) nations in the world. Jesus is sending messengers to the four corners of the earth. There are only a few workers for such an enormous harvest. Times have not changed. As churches close, seminary classes dwindle and volunteers disappear we might wonder our fate as the church. This text is Jesus’ reply.

What if the only way forward... was to set fire to everything holding you back? 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 | Galatians 5:1, 13-25 | Luke 9:51-62

We humans are good at applying labels to each other. Short, fat, black, white, loser, winner… We drop bombs on “enemies,” we feed (or chastise) the “hungry. We apply a label and we think we know a person. When Jesus encounters a gentile, demon-possessed, man who is as good as dead (he lives in the cemetery), Jesus sees none of the labels. Instead, he restores the man to his standing as a human, a child of God. Christ sees you for who you are, not for the labels you bear. And he sets us free.

Jesus once said, “You cannot bear it now.” We usually think of the unbearable as pain—and rightly so. But what if the unbearable isn’t only sorrow? What if it’s also joy too overwhelming to carry, love too deep to explain, grace too beautiful to hold?   Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31 | Romans 5:1–5 | John 16:12–15