Third Sunday after Pentecost

I first preached this sermon in Spanish; the English translation is below.

Lucas 9:51-62

Oremos… Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciónes de nuestros corazónes sean aceptables ante ti, oh Señor, nuestra fortaleza y nuestro redentor. Amén.

La semana pasada estuve de vacaciones, y Jamie y yo dedicamos dos días para andar en bicicleta en el Cape Cod Rail Trail. El sendero pavimentado tiene veintidós millas de largo y nos alojamos cerca de la milla nueve, así que un día fuimos hacia el sur y otro hacia el norte.

Un dicho que los ciclistas comparten con los excursionistas es: "No todos los que vagan están perdidos". A lo largo de nuestra ruta, hicimos un par de desvíos para ver un poco más de lo que había fuera de los caminos principales. Para cuando colgamos los cascos, habíamos recorrido más de setenta millas.

Por el camino, nos dimos cuenta de las diferentes maneras en que la gente usaba el sendero:

había ciclistas de carretera de competición entrenando para un evento más adelante este año; había personas paseando a sus perros y padres o abuelos empujando cochecitos. Algunos, como nosotros, iban en bicicletas eléctricas, mientras que otros andaban en bicicletas tradicionales y algunas pocas personas en bicicletas reclinadas. Muchos escuchábamos el viento, el canto de los pájaros y el tráfico lejano; algunos llevaban audiófonos y otros subían el volumen, impregnando el tramo del sendero con música.

El viaje de cada persona era diferente.

En nuestro evangelio de Lucas, escuchamos sobre el viaje de los discípulos con Jesús. Es el comienzo y un desafío.

Los samaritanos que encontraron en el camino los rechazaron. Otros dos hombres les hablaron, pero aún no estaban listos para unirse a Jesús y a los discípulos en su camino.

Jesús hace una declaración difícil: “Nadie que pone la mano en el arado y mira hacia atrás es apto para el reino de Dios.” (v. 62).

Es difícil porque a menudo nos enfrentamos a elegir entre lo que es bueno y lo que es mejor. No creo que Jesús dijera que los hombres que eligieron atender a sus familias y responsabilidades eran maloso incluso equivocados. Pero él no duda en llamar a las cosas por su nombre, y ellos no eligieron seguir a Jesús.

Al igual que ellos, tenemos albedrío, o libre albedrío, y si queremos vivir como discípulos, debemos seguir a Jesús con toda nuestra vida, y no solo de nombre.

A principios de este año, cuando ensene un estudio bíblico sobre los Salmos, uno de los salmos se junto con el poema de Robert Frost titulado "El camino no tomado", que termina con estas palabras:

Dos caminos se bifurcaban en un bosque, y yo...

Tomé el menos transitado,

Y eso marcó la diferencia.ⁱ

Una vida de discipulado es una elección costosa. Y es una que mira hacia adelante, dejando atrás lo que nos detiene, enfocándonos en la obra de la relación y la vida en común que nos espera.

Mientras Jamie y yo recorríamos el sendero, teníamos que enfocarnos en lo que nos esperaba. ¡Mirar hacia atrás en una bicicleta en movimiento es peligroso! Resulta que tampoco es la postura correcta en el ministerio. Cuando solo podemos ver dónde estamos o dónde hemos estado, no podemos tener “una visión de hacia dónde Dios podría llevarnos.”ⁱⁱ

En el ciclismo, mantener la cabeza en alto y la mirada al frente ayuda a mantener el equilibrio. En el ministerio, nos impide encerrarnos en nosotros mismos, esa misma postura profundamente encorvada de incurvatus in se que Martín Lutero define como la naturaleza del pecado.

Pero en nuestro recorrido, no solo teníamos que concentrarnos en nosotros mismos. Había cruces de caminos, puentes y túneles que cambiaban el terreno que recorríamos, y había otros usuarios del sendero. Sabíamos adónde íbamos, pero aún había muchas incógnitas que debíamos navegar.

En el Evangelio, Jesús nos dice que sigamos mirando hacia adelante. Habrá desafíos, habrá lugares difíciles y habrá dificultades, pero no viajamos solos ni estamos desprevenidos. Jesús está con nosotros y nos guía.

Oremos…

Dios Santo,

“Tú eres mi Señor; nada hay bueno fuera de ti”.

Aconséjame e instrúyeme.

Alegra mi corazón y mi alma, y permite que mi cuerpo descanse.

Muéstrame el camino de la vida y ayúdame a encontrar plenitud de gozo en tu presencia.

Amén.

ⁱ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

ⁱⁱ Brian Stoffregen. Exegetical Notes on Luke 9:51-62.

ⁱⁱⁱ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incurvatus_in_sei 

Luke 9:51-62

This past week I was on vacation, and Jamie and I took two days to ride bicycles on the Cape Cod Rail Trail. The paved trail is twenty-two miles long and we stayed near mile marker nine, so one day we rode south and another day we rode north.

A saying cyclists share with hikers is, “All who wander are not lost.”  And along our route we took a couple of detours to see a little more of what was off the beaten path. By the time we hung up our helmets we had ridden more than seventy miles.

Along the way, we noticed the different ways people used the trail – there were competitive road cyclists training for an event later this year; there were people walking dogs and parents or grandparents pushing strollers. Some folks, like us, were on e-bikes while others were riding traditional bicycles and a few recumbent bikes. Many of us listened to the wind and birdsong and distant traffic, some wore headphones and others pumped up the volume, soaking their stretch of trail with music.

Every person’s journey was different.

In our gospel from Luke, we hear about the disciples’ journey with Jesus. It’s early days, and it’s challenging.

They get rejected by the Samaritans they meet along the way. Two other men talk to them, but those men aren’t yet ready to join Jesus and the disciples on their way.

Jesus makes a difficult statement, saying, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (v.62)

It’s difficult because we often face choices between what is good and what is best. I don’t think Jesus would say that the men who chose to tend to their families and responsibilities were evil or even wrong. But he does not hesitate “to call a thing what it is”, and they did not choose to follow Jesus.

Like them, we have agency, or free will, and if we are to live as disciples, then we must follow Jesus with our whole lives and not in name alone.

Earlier this year when I taught a Bible study on the Psalms, one of the psalms was paired with the poem by Robert Frost called “The Road Not Taken” which ends with these words:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.[i]

A life of discipleship is a costly choice. And it is one that looks ahead, letting go of what holds us back, focusing on the work of relationship and life together that lies ahead.

As Jamie and I made our journey along the trail, we had to focus on what was ahead. Looking backwards on a moving bike is dangerous! It turns out that it isn’t the right posture in ministry either. When we can only see where we are, or where we have been, we cannot see “a vision of where God may have us go.”[ii]

In cycling, keeping your head up and your eyes ahead helps you maintain balance. In ministry, it keeps us from curving in on ourselves - the same deeply curved in posture of incurvatus in se that Martin Luther defines as the nature of sin.[iii]

But on our ride, our focus wasn’t all we had to attend to. There were road crossings, bridges and tunnels that changed the terrain we traveled and there were other trail users. We knew where we were going but there were still many unknowns to navigate.

In the gospel, Jesus tells us to keep looking forward. There will be challenges, there will be rough places and there will be difficulties, but we do not journey alone, nor are we unequipped. Jesus is with us and leading us.

Let us pray…

Holy God,

“You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Ps. 61:2)

Counsel me and instruct me. (Ps. 61:7)

Make my heart glad and my soul rejoice and let my body rest. (Ps. 61:9)

Show me the path of life and help me find fullness of joy in Your presence. (Ps. 61:11)

Amen.

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[i] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken

[ii] Brian Stoffregen. Exegetical Notes on Luke 9:51-62.

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incurvatus_in_se

Holy Trinity

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Psalm 8

John 16:12-15          

On this Holy Trinity Sunday, if you want a concrete explanation of the Holy Trinity, you are going to be disappointed. Because as much as we like neat definitions and dis-ambiguity, the truth is that God is more: more than we can understand, more than we can know and more than we can imagine.

I think what we hear in all of our texts today though is that God desires to be known. And each reveals a different facet of who God is.  

It matters how we think about God’s “is-ness”.

We may begin with who God is not:

God is not a distant clockmaker who sets the world in motion and then watches from a distant perch to see what we will do;

And God is not a puppet master, orchestrating world events for caprice or entertainment;

Nor is God a malevolent judge setting on the mercy bench to mete out punishments.

In Proverbs, we meet God the Creator who acted long ago, as Wisdom testifies to her formation before the beginning of the earth. (v. 22-23)

And in Psalm 8, we hear the Lord called majestic and sovereign, the one whose glory is chanted (v. 2) and how the heavens with their stars and their moons are the very work of God’s fingers (v. 3).

“Creation is…incontrovertible evidence of divine majesty.”[i]

In Psalms for Praying, Nan Merrill paraphrases the psalm’s description of the heavens as “the work of Love’s creation …the infinite variety of your Plan”. 

The next verses in the psalm shift to how God’s plans include humankind as co-workers and stewards of the earth, guardians of the planet, charged with care for all of God’s creatures - the land, the sea and the air we breathe. In his paraphrase, Leslie Brandt writes that the Divine “[assigns to us] the fantastic responsibility of carrying on [God’s] creative activity”.[ii]

Our Creator God isn’t alien or abstract, but the Lord we know intimately, albeit imperfectly and incompletely, through the very world we live in.

In John’s Gospel, God’s majesty as evidenced in the broad swath of creation becomes much more particular, as now we hear Jesus talking with his disciples during the Farewell Discourse before his arrest and execution. In verse 14, Jesus says, “[The Spirit of truth] will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Karoline Lewis, a Johannine scholar at Luther Seminary, writes, “In John[’s Gospel], to glorify is to make visible the presence of God, which is what the Holy Spirit does and what Jesus does.”[iii]

Episcopal priest Evan Garner goes even farther to say, “God cannot be understood but must be encountered through a relationship that grows from faith.” [iv]

As we consider how we understand the Holy Trinity

or who we know God to be,

our knowing is never mere intellectual assent to doctrine or beliefs, or even through our hearing the Word of God and the stories of Jesus, but through the transformation of our lives as “the Divine [is] living and acting and interacting with us on a daily basis.”[v]

Sometimes, like we sang about last Sunday, we hear God speaking to us in whispers, in “our neighbors’ urgent prayers” “or their “longing for rescue from despair.”[vi]

Other times, as at Pentecost, the movement of God and God’s Spirit is dramatic and noisy, a wind-born incarnation, and, like we heard in the acts of the apostles, it will not be contained or restrained.

Still other times, we experience God in the hand that reaches out for ours when we are hurting, in the encouragement that comes from our brothers and sisters in Christ, and in the very presence of Jesus in their faces and actions.

And of course, here in our sanctuary and worship we experience the presence of Christ at the Lord’s Table, in bread and wine, given for each one of us.

For all these glimpses of God alive and working in through and among us, we give thanks.

May we always pay attention to the places where we witness the power of God in ways, big and small.

I’ll end with a prayer from our Christian brothers and sisters at South Yarra Community Church in Melbourne Australia. [vii]

Let us pray…

O Trinity of Love,
your greatness is known in all the world
and your glory reaches beyond the stars.

In the first of your acts long ago, before the mountains were shaped
or springs brought forth water, you breathed your Spirit into being
to work beside you like a skilled artist, dancing joyously to the music of creation and delighting with you in the works of your hand.

In your child, Jesus Christ, you have revealed the glory and honor for which you created all humanity. When the world would not accept his truth and crucified him, you raised him to new life.

Through him, you sent your Holy Spirit to pour your love into our hearts; whispering your words into our ears.

Guide us now into all truth and fill us with the hope of sharing your glory. Amen.

---

[i] William Brown. Seeing the Psalms. 155.

[ii] Leslie Brandt. Psalms Now. 21

[iii] Karoline Lewis. “Holy Trinity - June 15, 2025.” Sermon Brainwave.

[iv] Evan D. Garner. “In the Lectionary: June 16, Trinity C (John 16:12-15)”. The Christian Century.

[v] Sundays and Seasons Resources, June 15, 2025.

[vi] Mary Louise Bringle. “God is Calling through the Whisper”. 2003.

[vii] https://laughingbird.net/

Day of Pentecost

I first preached this sermon in Spanish; the English translation is below.

Hechos 2:1-21

Oremos…Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean gratas a tu vista, Señor, fortaleza nuestra y redentor. Amén.

Esta semana, en mis clases de español, hemos estado hablando sobre desastres naturales: terremotos y tsunamis, huracanes, inundaciones y sequías.

Aunque tuvimos el huracán el pasado septiembre y los incendios forestales a principios de esta primavera, nunca había experimentado un terremoto. Es decir, hasta una mañana de hace unas semanas, cuando estaba en la cocina y la casa empezó a temblar.

Al principio, pensé que la secadora se había desequilibrado. Pero luego me di cuenta de que el suelo bajo mis pies temblaba. Los gabinetes vibraron y, casi tan repentinamente como había comenzado, todo, se detuvo y volvió el silencio. Tuve mi primera experiencía con un terremoto.

Además, en las noticias, hemos escuchado informes de terrores provocados por un hombre: violencia armada en lugares tan cercanos como Asheville y Hickory; ataques antisemitas en Colorado y hace unas semanas en Washington, D.C.; un ataque contra trabajadores humanitarios en Sudán y la retención de ayuda a los palestinos en Gaza.

Hay mucha incertidumbre y miedo, y sé que me resulta difícil saber cómo responder a la violencia que presenciamos en el mundo.

Como escuchamos en la lectura de los Hechos de esta mañana, no estamos solos. Los discípulos también experimentaron una conmoción.

Si bien a menudo usamos una vela para simbolizar la presencia del Espíritu de Dios entre nosotros, el texto sugiere que no es tan benigno. El Espíritu llega a los discípulos como un viento violento y en fuego.

No pasara despercibido.

No será ignorado.

Y nada volverá a ser igual.

Esta no es la primera vez que se menciona al Espíritu de Dios en las Escrituras.

No es la primera vez que el Espíritu de Dios ha sido dado a su pueblo.

Sin embargo, en las historias anteriores a esta, el Espíritu solía ser más particular e individual, y ahora es colectivo y comunitario.

La semana pasada, un grupo de nosotros estuvimos en Greensboro para la asamblea del Sínodo de Carolina del Norte de la ELCA. Allí tuvimos servicios, aprendizaje, compañerismo y elecciones, incluyendo la elección de una nueva obispa sinodal, la reverenda Emily Hartner. Grace envió a seis personas a la asamblea sinodal y, en total, participaron más de 600 personas en persona. El tema de la asamblea, sabiendo todo lo que se decidiría, fue "Dios esta llamando". Cantamos y oramos antes de tomar las decisiones y escuchamos la guía de Dios durante toda la asamblea. Fue un tiempo lleno del Espíritu Santo, alegre, a veces bullicioso y siempre sagrado, compartido en comunidad con el pueblo de Dios.

El titular principal de la asamblea sinodal fue la primera elección de una mujer para el cargo de obispa en Carolina del Norte. La ELCA ha ordenado mujeres durante cincuenta y cinco años, y esta fue la primera vez que una mujer se encontraba entre las tres candidatas finales de nuestro sínodo. De hecho, ¡ese Espíritu Santo, no tan gentil, sopló con tanta fuerza que las tres finalistas fueron todas mujeres! Les contaré más sobre la obispa electa Emily más adelante.

Pero su elección no fue el único evento que el Espíritu inspiró en la asamblea sinodal:

Tuve el privilegio de comisionar a cuatro laicos que han estudiado y practicado el oficio de predicar y que ahora serán enviados a predicar en congregaciones.

También aprobamos una resolución pidiendo a nuestros líderes eclesiales y congregaciones que defiendan activamente la labor de los Servicios Luteranos de Carolinas y las operaciones de reasentamiento de refugiados.

Celebramos otra nueva congregación; hace dos años, fue la Comunidad Amada de Cristo, bilingüe en inglés y español, cerca de Winston-Salem, y esta vez fue Emmaus, una congregación afrodescendiente en Kannapolis.

Y durante todo el evento, dimos gracias a Dios por los continuos ministerios del pueblo de Dios en tantos lugares diferentes aquí en Carolina del Norte, en todo el país y el mundo.

Nuestro texto y nuestras experiencias nos muestran cómo el Espíritu Santo viene a nosotros para sacarnos de la complacencia, despertarnos a la transformación y revitalizarnos, restaurando nuestra confianza en la presencia de Dios entre nosotros y en sus promesas. No es un momento dócil, doméstico ni silencioso, sino bullicioso y festivo a medida que despertamos a lo que Dios hace posible en, a través de y entre nosotros.

¡Gracias sean dadas a Dios!

Acts 2:1-21

This week in my Spanish classes, we have been talking about natural disasters – earthquakes and tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and droughts.
 
While we had the hurricane last September, and wildfires earlier this spring, I had never experienced an earthquake. That is, until one morning just a few weeks ago, when I was in our kitchen and the house began to shake.
 
At first, I thought the clothes dryer had gone off-balance. But then I realized the ground beneath me was shaking. The cabinets rattled, and almost as suddenly as they had begun, they stopped, and it was quiet again. I had my first experience of an earthquake.
 
Additionally, in the news, we have heard reports of manmade terrors – gun violence as close as Asheville and near Hickory; antisemitic attacks in Colorado and a few weeks ago in Washington, DC; an assault on humanitarian workers in Sudan and aid being withheld from Palestinians in Gaza.
 
There is a lot of uncertainty and fear, and I know I have difficulty knowing how to respond to the violence we witness in the world.
 
As we hear in the Acts reading this morning, we are not alone. The disciples also experienced upheaval.
 
While we often use a candle to symbolize the presence of God’s Spirit among us, the text suggests it isn’t so benign. The Spirit comes to the disciples as a violent wind and in fire.
 
It will not be overlooked.
It will not be ignored.
And nothing will be the same.
 
This isn’t the first time that God’s Spirit has been mentioned in Scripture.
 
It isn’t the first time that God’s Spirit has been given to God’s people.
 
However, in the stories before this one, the Spirit was often more particular and individual, and now, it is collective and communal.
 
Last week, a group of us were in Greensboro for the assembly of the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA, with worship, learning, fellowship and elections, including the election of a new synod bishop, The Reverend Emily Hartner. Grace sent six people to synod assembly and altogether more than 600 people participated in person. The theme for the assembly, knowing all that would be decided, was “God is Calling.” We sang and prayed before decisions were made and we listened for God’s guidance throughout the assembly. It was Holy Spirit-filled, joyful, at times rowdy, and always sacred, time spent in community with God’s people.
 
The top headline coming out of the synod assembly was the first election of a woman to the office of bishop in North Carolina. The ELCA has ordained women for fifty-five years and this was the first time there was a woman in the final three candidates in our synod. In fact, that not-so-gentle Holy Spirit blew heartily enough that the final three were all women! I’ll tell you more about Bishop-elect Emily a little later.
 
But her election wasn’t the only event that the Spirit inspired at synod assembly:
 
I had the privilege of commissioning four lay people who have studied and practiced the craft of preaching and will now be sent out to preach in congregations.
 
We passed a resolution asking for our church leaders and congregations to actively defend the work of Lutheran Services Carolinas and refugee resettlement operations.
 
We celebrated another new congregation; two years ago, it was the bilingual English and Spanish Christ’s Beloved Community near Winston-Salem and this time it was Emmaus, an African-descent congregation in Kannapolis.
 
And throughout we gave thanks to God for the continuing ministries of God’s people in so many different places here in North Carolina and across the country and world.
 
Our text and experiences show us how the Holy Spirit comes to us to stir us out of complacency, to awaken us to transformation and to re-invigorate us, restoring our confidence in God’s presence with us and God’s promises for us. It is not tame, domestic or quiet but raucous and celebratory as we awaken to what God makes possible in, through and among us.
 
Thanks be to God!