Holy Trinity Ankeny
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Episodes
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
The "signs of the times" can be frightening. Violence, division, warfare, government shutdowns, corporate layoffs leave us reeling. The "signs of the times" can leave us feeling helpless, sure that there is nothing that can be done. The "signs of the times" can make us passive, hoping someone else will deal with the problems. The "signs of the times" are passing away. People of faith are called to live and be "si...
A woman marries seven brothers. They all die. The Sadducees think they've created the perfect trap: whose wife will she be in the resurrection? Checkmate, Jesus. Except Jesus isn't playing games. His answer flips everything and invites us to live as children of the resurrection, free from fear's grip. Wrong questions. Right answer.
Readings: Job 19:23-27a | Luke 20:27-38
Christians today don't like to think of themselves as "holy." That is reserved for superhero Christians. Perhaps a little false humility or a desire to keep expectations low makes us shrink from claiming our divinity as ones created in the image of God and redeemed by Christ's love. Christians today also don't want to get anywhere near thoughts of death or sadness, even though, in Christ, death has been overcome. That makes the Fea...
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, th...
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.
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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 te...
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...
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