Holy Trinity Ankeny
287 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★ - 5 ratingsHoly Trinity Lutheran Church
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IMITATION OF CHRIST
April 04, 2022 14:13 - 22 minutes - 16.9 MBSometimes we think that we humans are so broken and incorrigible that we cannot possibly think about imitating Jesus. After all, we think, he was the Son of God! Yet, we too are created in the image of that same God. We bear the image of God within us. Christ shows us what being a human truly is supposed to look like. In the texts today, the apostle, Paul, and Mary (sister of Lazarus) emulate Christ. Judas, on the other hand, is stuck in his old self. What can we learn about renewing our liv...
What Really Counts
March 28, 2022 13:54 - 17 minutes - 12.9 MBToday's family story is preceded by two other stories of lost and found. The first story is about 100 sheep where one is lost. The next story is about a woman who has 10 coins and loses one. Then we hear about a father who has two sons. This is a popular story from the Gospel of Luke, and so may be well known to you. Try to clear your mind and listen to it new. Ponder what it means to your life now in your family, in this faith community, and in the world situation.
GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS
March 21, 2022 14:16 - 15 minutes - 11.1 MBWe live in a world where everything has a price. Everything is a commodity to be marketed and sold. Our lives are accounted for in ways that keep track of debits and credits, what we pay and what we owe. This is so deeply woven into our ways of thinking that we treat God in the same way. Divine favor and blessing are to be earned. Bad things happen because we have not attended what we owe God. Into this transactional world, God speaks and says, “My ways are not your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8) Than...
CITIZENSHIP
March 14, 2022 13:29 - 21 minutes - 15.3 MBAs he sat in a Roman prison awaiting his fate, Paul writes a letter to his brothers and sisters in Philippi that is full of hope and joy. How is this possible when you are locked in chains and facing death? It is a matter of citizenship. Paul is indeed a Roman citizen, which is why he has appealed to the emperor to judge his case. Yet, more than a citizen of Rome, he is a “citizen of heaven,” and that makes all the difference.
SAVE US FROM THE TIME OF TRIAL
March 07, 2022 14:32 - 28 minutes - 21.1 MBThe temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is always a familiar but hard-to-understand story. It seems like an other-worldly struggle between “the devil” (all pointy tailed and horned) and the superhero of heaven, Jesus. That, however, makes the story of little use to us in our daily life. We don’t generally encounter “the Devil,” nor do we have divine superpowers. The truth of the story is that this devil is, in fact, all too familiar, part of our daily existences. The truth is that the tria...
Renew Us, Lord!
March 03, 2022 19:33 - 15 minutes - 11.3 MBToday the sign of the cross is made on your forehead. The ashes tell us who we are. "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Dealing with the Covid-19 virus the last few years has reminded us that death is a part of life, and the transient nature of life is ever before us. The ashes are a sign of our death and of our sorrow for sin. Yet, God is calling us to life, to renew us.
Who is Jesus?
February 27, 2022 20:32 - 21 minutes - 15.3 MBThe way we answer this question will determine the shape of our living and the life of the world. There are many answers available, but many of them leave us and the world unchanged, untransformed, unredeemed. The Feast of the Transfiguration reveals who Jesus is in ways that surprise, challenge and leave us free of our fear. Listen to him!
Be Merciful as Your Father is Merciful
February 21, 2022 14:16 - 18 minutes - 13.6 MBOur Gospel continues Jesus' Sermon on the Plain. Jesus preaches about mercy, which is manifested in our love for our enemies. Hear Jesus' radical, challenging sermon about living as Kingdom people and being like Jesus.
BLESSED TO BE BLESSING
February 14, 2022 02:07 - 19 minutes - 14.3 MBOn this Super Bowl Sunday, a day when millions of dollars will be spent on ads, food, prizes, travel and gambling, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor. Woe to the rich.” On a day when tables will be piled with food and drink, Jesus says, “Blessed are the hungry. Woe to those well fed.” What are we to make of this collision of values and worldviews? What is Jesus telling us about the reign of God, already here and not yet realized?
Does God Speak to Us?
February 07, 2022 14:38 - 17 minutes - 12.4 MBThe Word of God, we are told, is a mighty and powerful force. Yet, most seem to think it is just religious words printed in a book. Does God speak to and call us as it happened in ages past? Most of us probably shy away from such thinking, assuming we will be thought crazy. If God is calling you, what shall you do?
UNEXPECTED NEWS
January 30, 2022 22:14 - 15 minutes - 11 MBIt is easy to think Jesus is just like us, that he looks like us, votes like us and roots for the same team as we do. Today, Jesus' hometown hears who Jesus is and what love looks like. Jesus doesn't meet our selfish expectations; instead he reaches beyond us to bring good news to poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and gives freedom to the oppressed.
POWER WORSHIP
January 24, 2022 14:39 - 20 minutes - 15 MBThe constitutive action of establishing a new “normal,” a new reality on the midst of a broken world, is not a new program, a new building, a new idea, it is worship. Worship in our age has lost the power to create because we make it about us, and we expect so little. Nehemiah and the people of God knew better as they returned from exile. Jesus dared to declare that in speaking the promises of God, they actually happened.
WATER TO WINE
January 17, 2022 00:40 - 16 minutes - 12.2 MBThe first of the seven “signs” reported in John’s gospel happens at Cana as Jesus transforms about 90 gallons of water into 90 gallons of fine wine. Pretty neat trick. John does not share this story to amaze us, however. Instead, as with all the “signs” in this gospel, they tell us something about the nature and identity of God revealed in Christ. Each of the seven signs tend to refute some misshapen understanding of God we hold. What does turning the water of purification into the wine of c...
Baptism of Jesus
January 10, 2022 14:47 - 16 minutes - 12.1 MBOn this Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. Why did Jesus get baptized? What value is Jesus' baptism to us today? This text is appropriately linked to Isaiah's message to a band of uprooted men and women living in captivity. We have our own times of captivity when we feel overwhelmed, adrift, afraid, and when we don't quite measure up. Listen to God's message for you.
God's Plan
January 04, 2022 15:01 - 15 minutes - 10.7 MBWhenever bad things happen, someone inevitably calls it “God’s will” or “God’s plan.” The horrific wildfire this week in Colorado, the pandemic, perhaps even burning the toast in the morning can all become epiphanies – manifestations of God’s will. Are these things all part of God’s plan? In this preacher’s reading of scripture, not very often – if at all. God’s plan has been unfolding from before time, manifest in creation itself and in the Magi’s journey to Bethlehem. It is not a mystery. ...
LOSING JESUS
December 28, 2021 23:51 - 16 minutes - 12.7 MBJesus is twelve years old in our Gospel reading today. Having traveled to Jerusalem for the Festival of Passover, the family is on their way back home with a caravan of friends and family. After a day's journey, Jesus is nowhere to be found. Mary and Joseph return to Jerusalem to look for him. We, also, can lose Jesus. Find out how we lose Jesus and where we can find him. Learn how Jesus deals with our distracted nature and finds us.
LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS
December 25, 2021 15:50 - 14 minutes - 10.6 MBAs we observe the Nativity of Our Lord this year, there are lots of shadows and darkness around. The darkness of disease is still real, disrupting our gatherings and spreading through a new variant. The darkness of division seems to work its way ever deeper in families, communities, nations as we are all at each other’s throats for the smallest of things. The darkness of disaster brought about by climate change is frightening. We can put up some holiday lights, make cookies, and have a feast...
Hopes and Fears
December 20, 2021 15:04 - 16 minutes - 11.4 MBThe faithful people of Micah's day were longing for a shepherd king to be their hope, as they lived in constant fear of violence from the Assyrians. Hopes and fears meld before Mary comes to really understand that she is participating in God's actions to save the world. This year, like all years, has seen its share of changes in our lives. Hear Mary's prophecy of hope that the coming Messiah will bring. Hear how this hope will take away all fears.
A BROOD OF VIPERS
December 13, 2021 14:41 - 15 minutes - 11.5 MBWhen John the Baptist calls the gathering crowd a “brood of vipers,” he is not offering an insult. He sees in the mob a desire to run from the fire of judgment, just like snakes do. John warns that escape is impossible and that the whole of creation is subject to the correction of God. In a world where so much is so horribly wrong, John knows that God will not wait forever for things to be put right. So, what can we do in the face of judgment? John has an answer that is full of good news.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS – THE END IS NEAR
November 29, 2021 14:33 - 10 minutes - 7.62 MBWhile celebrations and decorations begin to shape the holiday landscape spreading a form of cheer everywhere, the Church declares on this first Sunday of Advent – “The End is Near!” We know that in our bones. As Jesus points out the wars, pestilence, destruction, and cosmic threats of his age, they all sound a little too close to home to bear. Maybe that is why we need all the decorations – to distract us from the truth. So what is the good news? Jesus has some thoughts on that subject.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
November 21, 2021 23:39 - 18 minutes - 14.3 MBWe live in an age where truth is relative. Everyone has "their own" truth. One result is that no common truth exists to hold communities together. We are divided over everything. Into that world comes Jesus Christ declaring, "I AM the truth."
Things Are Not What They Seem
November 15, 2021 13:51 - 15 minutes - 11.9 MBOur Gospel reading seems strange, with a heaviness of doom surrounding it. The entire chapter of Mark 13 is a form of apocalyptic literature which was commonly used in the Jewish community during times of war. It contained code language that the Jews would understand and their oppressors would not. Mark is relaying to his community that even through the temple was destroyed in war, things are not what they seem. God is still with them but no longer needs the temple and sacrifices. When we g...
SAINTS AND STEWARDS OF THE MYSTERIES OF GOD
November 08, 2021 14:35 - 17 minutes - 13.2 MBOn All Saints Sunday we celebrate that we are united, in Christ, with all the beloved who have died. We celebrate the faithful witness of those who were exemplars of faith in action. We also celebrate that, in the waters of baptism, we have been made saints – all of us. Yet, few of us feel very saintly. Saints are, in some sense, stewards – caretakers – of what has been given by God and the sufferings and pain of the world. When we embrace suffering, share what we have, and anticipate the fu...
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE
November 01, 2021 13:45 - 15 minutes - 12.1 MBOn this Reformation Day, we remember the search for truth that Martin Luther experienced and the conflict it generated within the church. Whenever the church drifts from the truth, a reforming is necessary. But what is truth? What does it look like and act like? Jesus tells us of Truth and how to find it.
Do I Have 20/20 Vision?
October 25, 2021 13:42 - 13 minutes - 9.66 MBToday's sermon is based on Mark 10:46-52 which tells the story of Jesus healing a blind man. Bartimaeus wants eyes to see so he can follow Jesus and the spiritual eyes that tell him Jesus is the Messiah. Through the eyes of Jesus we will see the world differently. Jesus gives us the sight to see the world as he does.
The Feast of Saint Luke
October 18, 2021 13:26 - 16 minutes - 12.5 MBToday we commemorate Saint Luke - Evangelist. Luke is considered the author of the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. Luke's account of the birth of Jesus is probably the most familiar in the gospels. It is the version complete with the shepherds in their fields who follow the star and the singing angels described in Christmas carols. Luke wants us to know that Jesus is a God who includes all people. His gospel describes the generosity and recklessness of God's love and forgiveness. He...
ONE MAN'S STORY
October 11, 2021 15:00 - 17 minutes - 12.5 MBWe meet a man who approaches Jesus asking for advice. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus gives him an answer that he was not expecting. Jesus gives an answer that disappoints and grieves him. His story is our story.
LOVING GOD, NEIGHBOR & CREATION
October 04, 2021 13:36 - 17 minutes - 12.6 MBObserving the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi is about love. Francis exemplified a love that sought unity with all things rather than seeing them as objects of mere affection. To objectify creation, other people, or God is to hold them at arm’s length and ask, “How does this object serve me?” To take something into our own being is to love. Francis learned that the yoke of Christ was light and easy to bear because Christ shared the burden.
STUMBLING INTO HELL
September 27, 2021 14:29 - 17 minutes - 12.8 MBJesus grabs our attention with calls to chop off limbs and pluck out our eyes if they keep us from embracing the reign of God lest they send us to the fire of hell. Happy thoughts, huh? Before we dismiss the text as lacking “positivity” or an example of religious hyperbole, we should listen to what is said – because it is Jesus speaking! What do we think about judgment and hell when Jesus points to those realities? What keeps you from embracing the way of Jesus Christ?
VICIOUS CYCLES & MERCY
September 20, 2021 13:35 - 14 minutes - 10.5 MBThe ancient Mediterranean world lived in a culture of vengeance which is a vicious cycle that continues to this day in some countries. Poverty is also a vicious cycle that pushes people to the edge of society and robs many of a future. Matthew was probably one who lived on the edge of society, on the edge of being able to support himself. Matthew was probably in dire straits with nowhere to turn but to a lousy job as a tax collector. Then Jesus comes and says, "Follow me." Matthew's life is ...
STICKS AND STONES…
September 13, 2021 12:33 - 21 minutes - 15.8 MBYou know the old saying about sticks and stones. It ends by saying the words can’t hurt us. It’s a lie. Words can inflict some of the deepest and most abiding wounds we bear. According to James, our tongues – the words we say – both betray our true selves and do great damage to each other and the whole community. In a world where social media, media, and our speech is full of hate, intolerance, misinformation and lies, cause so much harm, the gospel has a word of how we train our tongues to ...
THY KINGDOM COMES – CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
September 07, 2021 14:17 - 18 minutes - 14.1 MBWith all of the struggle and suffering in the world, it is good that scripture reminds us God has promised to redeem everything, someday; to wipe away tears, someday; to put an end to even death, someday. But when? How long must we wait? Scripture also tells us that the coming of God’s kingdom (future) is perhaps closer than we think.
The Heart of the Matter
August 30, 2021 13:22 - 16 minutes - 11.8 MBIn today's gospel Jesus is confronted by the scribes and Pharisees because his disciples are not following the tradition of the elders. Instead they are eating with unclean hands. Jesus instructs that evil comes from within a person. So how can we be cleansed from this evil? Listen as we explore external traditions and the mending of our hearts.
CHOOSE
August 23, 2021 13:23 - 17 minutes - 13 MBWe live in a world of choices. From the car we drive, to the cereal we eat; from the career we choose to the place we live we have choices. Very few of these choices, however, are life or death choices. Scripture tells us that faith is about a choice that does bear life and death consequences. First, God has chosen us. How do we respond? Do we chart the course of our daily living dedicated to the ways of death and division, the habits of the past, the way we have always done things? Or do we...
FLESH &BLOOD
August 15, 2021 18:20 - 18 minutes - 13.9 MBIn John’s gospel, one of the most challenging things Jesus says is that we must “eat his flesh and drink his blood.” What does this mean? Is it cannibalism? Is it a ghoulish take on the gentle Jesus we all know and love? It is about incarnation – the way in which God is manifest in Jesus Christ in flesh and blood. It is also about how Jesus becomes more deeply incarnate in each of us as we allow him to be the life blood that flows through our veins.
Broom Trees & Living Bread
August 09, 2021 14:00 - 17 minutes - 12.7 MBElijah is tired – sick and tired. He’s fed up and beat down. He’s at the end of his rope and out of ideas. So, he sits under a broom tree and waits for death – that final rest. Instead, God gives him bread and all else he needs to go on. That is what Christ, the living bread, offers each of us – everything needed to sustain our hope when despair is all we can manage.
ARE YOU HUNGRY?
August 02, 2021 14:00 - 16 minutes - 12.4 MBAll three of our readings address hunger. There is hunger for food as the Israelites journey in the wilderness. In our Gospel reading, the crowd is hungry and wants Jesus to feed them again as he did when the 5000 gathered and they received bread and fish. Today we also hear about spiritual hunger and the one who can feed us; Jesus the Bread of Life. In the Letter to the Ephesians, the author directs us to live our lives according to our calling, and part of that calling is to live in a fait...
Expectations
July 26, 2021 13:32 - 15 minutes - 11.3 MBLife is filled with expectations. Expectations we have of others and expectations we have of ourselves. Today, John's account of the Feeding of the 5000 relates a story about expectations placed on Jesus and how he responds.
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
July 19, 2021 13:15 - 19 minutes - 13.5 MBThe opening words of the well-known 23rd Psalm bring most people comfort. The pastoral images of still water, pastures and a table set are idyllic. The assurance of protection in the face of trouble gives us peace. That first line points to the source of this comfort and peace – The Lord. No other shepherd will do – and there are many pretenders. For those who feel lost, outcast, broken, forgotten; for a world full of violence and division, only one shepherd can bring us together and grant u...
TWO KINGDOMS
July 12, 2021 12:30 - 16 minutes - 12.2 MBTragic events happen, but how do we live in a world that sets priorities of pride and ambition ahead being a beloved community? There is another way of living, another kingdom that Jesus proclaims. This is a kingdom in which you are claimed and baptized to live God's mercy and justice.
DOMESTICATED JESUS
July 05, 2021 13:00 - 16 minutes - 12.1 MBIsn’t it strange sometimes how Jesus seems to think just the way I think, believe what I believe, and get annoyed with the same kind of people that annoy me? Strange indeed. When this happens, we know that we have domesticated Jesus the Messiah. We have turned him to our purpose and made him in our own image, instead of the opposite. This robs Jesus of the power to redeem and save. It is the wild, uncontrollable Jesus we need.
AN UNEXPECTED ANSWER
June 21, 2021 14:00 - 15 minutes - 11.4 MBJob wants answers. In his suffering, he wants to know why life is unfair, why he suffers, why bad things happen to him. Job wants explanations, information, reasons. He received no such things. His friends answer with ignorance. God, however, does answer – and the answer is quite unexpected.
The Kingdom Comes
June 14, 2021 17:09 - 18 minutes - 14.8 MBJesus told parables about the reign of God that were often puzzling and misunderstood. Using simple, everyday images, he taught that God’s work went on in hidden ways, sometimes with our help and often in spite of us. In a world where we despair about the size of our problems and the seeming smallness of our abilities and efforts, Jesus points us to sprigs, seeds, thistles, and poppies to find hope.
BROKEN PEOPLE; BELOVED COMMUNITY
June 07, 2021 13:04 - 19 minutes - 14.3 MBIt doesn’t take much to see that humans have a gift for division - for blame and self-justification. If we are honest, love does not come easy to the children of Eve & Adam. When God asked if they had eaten of the fruit of the forbidden tree, man blamed woman; woman blamed snake; and all blamed God. Even family provides no assurance of love. The presence and love of Christ is a game changer. Only when we are first beloved by God and then able to love the forgiving grace and mercy of God do w...
TRYING TO UNDERSTAND GOD
May 29, 2021 22:00 - 14 minutes - 10.6 MBOn Holy Trinity Sunday, trying to understand the triune nature of God can be difficult. There is one we must not forget…
DIVINE FINGERPRINTS
May 22, 2021 22:00 - 13 minutes - 9.92 MBOn the Day of Pentecost, it is easy to focus on the fire, you know, the fire that rests on the apostles who then go out and declare the gospel in many languages. That would be something, wouldn’t it? To see the fire resting on us. Don’t be distracted by the fire. The thing to notice is the fingerprints of God that start to be left behind as this Spirit leaves signs, marks, evidence all over the place to show us the resurrection in action. The shape of those finger prints are love, reconcilia...
Parking Lot Worship Service on May 16, 2021
May 16, 2021 14:00 - 27 minutes - 63.3 MBListen to the full worship service broadcast for the parking lot worship gathering on May 16, 2021.
THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE
May 15, 2021 22:00 - 9 minutes - 7.1 MBMany people think that eternal life is something that is far away and happens after death. Neither notion is really all that eternal, is it? It makes faith into a desire for escape from the world and all its suffering and pain. Yet, Jesus did not teach his disciples anything like this. So, what exactly is eternal life all about? It is about this world. It is about right now, not later. Come and see.
Do You Love Me?
May 08, 2021 22:00 - 17 minutes - 12.6 MBJesus asks this question of Peter three times after the resurrection. Each time Peter says, “Yes.” Certainly, we would do the same, right? But how do we love God? What does that look like? In John’s gospel and the First Letter of John, the answer is simple to understand, but challenging to do.
NO ONE IS AN ISLAND
May 01, 2021 22:00 - 22 minutes - 17.4 MBWhile we may all agree that, in principle, we are all part of family, community, church, we’re mostly rugged individuals making our own way in the world. We praise individual rights, individual choices, self-help, self-improvement, and self-actualization. Then comes Jesus saying, “I am the Vine, you are the branches” which threatens our individualism and replaces independence with mutual dependence. Is that good news?