Worship for August 9th

Hello All!  Here is your Online Worship Service for August 9th!  Saint Paul continues to teach the people of Coriinth about the Counter Culture nature of the christian Faith.  Then, as now, we think the world works by Transactional dynamics...that you do something for me then I'll do something in return...Quid pro quo... but Saint Paul says, "Not so with our God. It begins with Grave...unmerited positive regard...

Here you go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4AaMRkj33I&feature=youtu.be

Blessings!

Sermon for August 2: Wheat and Tares

Hello All!  Unfortunately we had a last minute computer crash which has stopped our ability to upload the Trinity service prepared for you.  Hopefully we will have it available by tuesday.... BUT on the lucky side our wonderful Bishop prepared a sermon last week for congregations to use....and so we present that to you. 

It grows from the Matthew parable:

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.

https://youtu.be/vTztuIVm3m8

 God's richest blessings!

Treasure in Clay Pots

Hello and Blessings to all!

Here is your Online Worship from Trinity for Sunday the 26th of July.  We continue with Paul's Second Letter to the Gathering in Corinth.  This week he tries to explain how God comes at us very differently than the Greek ideas of the divine, They were looking for flawless perfection and God prefers to roll up God's sleeves and get shoulder to shoulder with humanity. We call it INCARNATION.  Paul describes it as a tresure in clay pots.

This is the First week our Video production has been done by Luke Polley. Welldone!  AND a Huge Huge thank you to David Schneider who shouldered a herculean task back in March and still supports Luke in videography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9DV_tI1MRU&feature=youtu.be

PS; the Benediction getting cut off was totally my fault.   I got over zealous in pre-editing! :)

Pr Wes

Forgiveness or Vengence....Saint Paul on Forgiveness

Saint Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians brings up the subject of forgiveness...a key tenet of the Judao-Christian faith and often misunderstood in the modern world.  Forgiveness was a step in a much broader dynamic which did not make the wrong simply disappear, but rather the goal was reconciliation and the health of the community. So here we go....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RovEIsgEgOg&feature=youtu.be

Online Worship! Second Corinthians July 12!

Hello All!

Here is your online Worship Service from Trinity!  In the Narrative Lectionary Summer is spent focussing on a couple Biblical books which often get passed over.  We just finished up a delightful and enlightening five weeks with Job. Now we move into the New Testament and Paul's SECOND Letter to the Corinthians!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-g-4A8EmQY&feature=youtu.be

Thanks again to our Worship Team!

Worship for July 4-5

Online Worship For July 5

Blessings everyone! In today’s service our story of Job wraps up.

Some think these verses were a “happy ending” added later to soften the book. I’m not so sure…Job is given everything back and then some. Children, grandchildren...but think about it. To love is to risk the vulnerability of heart wrenching pain as well...so Job is risking stepping back into LIFE . Job was written as a parable and as such, draws us into the story...many many life lessons here....

Job 41:1-8; 42:1-17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfZN2-xIuaI&feature=youtu.be

On this Fourth of July Weekend I would also call us to our "Better Selves" as citizens who make up this nation. Our final hymn today is America the Beautiful. Many have thought it would be a better national anthem since it calls us to a high, yet noble, ideal:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood ( and sisterhood!)
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Online Worship for June 14th with Communion option

Hello All! Our Narraative Lectionary takes us into the book of Job!  This is a wonderful Old Testament Story delving into the full depth and sometimes edgy realities of life. No simple answers or platitudes here!  

https://youtu.be/LUxn3hWSB38

It has been a long time snce we were physically together and many are yearning for Communion.  As you watch the Service put together by your Trinity Team there will be a time right after the sermon where you are invited to celebrate HOME COMMUNION if you wish. Our Bishop helped create this “at home” communion where, following Luther’s advice. The head of the household acts as Leader/Presider. Have bread, wine/grape juice ready. Light a candle and feel the everpresent love of God.

 LEADER: When our congregation gathered for Holy Communion with all the saints from every time and place, we heard again the story of God’s mighty acts and the love shown us in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The holy meal of the Lord’s supper was shared. Now we share this Word of life, and this bread and cup of blessing, that we may share in these same gifts and be strengthened by the Christian community, even though we gather separately for a time.

Confession & forgiveness

 LEADER: Let us confess our sins, all that we have done to hurt each other and ourselves, in the presence of God and of one another.

 (Pause for a moment of reflection.)

 EVERYONE: Most merciful God, We confess that we have messed up. With our words and our hands, we have not been kind to others or to our own selves. We are hopeless without your love. We are afraid of what could happen, so we forget that you are with us all the time to give us peace. We spend the night with worry instead of prayer. Forgive us again and fill us up with your abundant mercy.

 LEADER: God is rich in mercy and love. No matter how much you mess up every day, God’s love never runs out. Just as God’s love is for you, so is the meal set before us. You are forgiven and ready to feast at the table, in the name of the One who died to set you free from the power of sin, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 EVERYONE: Amen.

 Words of Institution

LEADER: In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

Bread is shared first:  The Body of Christ, given for you

Then the Wine/Grape Juice: The Blood of Christ, shed for you. 

Now return to the Video Service.....

 For the full explanation of Communion in Special circumstances please go to:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5af9bf757e3c3a51713bb137/t/5e876ca71b82d754a85dec58/1585933550958/SpiritandLife.pdf

Holy Trinity Worship!

Hello All!   Here is your worship service for June 7th, Holy Trinity Sunday!

The Narrative lectionary will have us diving into the Book of Job this month.  You can begin reading ahead if you wish! Not an easy book because it brings up as many questions as it solves...  but it is wonderfully honest and paves the way for real questions for real life. 

But, today, our sermon comes to us from our Churchwide Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton.  During this week of anxiety, turmoil and challenge she wanted to reach out to you all as your pastor, which she is.  Imagine being pastor of 5.5 mllion people.  

Andrei Rubleyev created a wonderful Ikon of the Trinity.   You can Google the image. The delightful thing about this ikon is, like the book of Job, it doesn't really answer questions, but it reveals a God who is, at God's deepest core, one of relationship, and has a place for YOU at the table.  

https://youtu.be/rk7tIt-8Dsc

A happy and blessed Trinty Sunday to you all!

Pastor Wes

Pentecost Trinity Online!

Blessings All you Beloved!

Here is your worship for Pentecost!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvKb1iD1hqk&feature=youtu.be

Our usual team have their parts....but we have also added a special Musical Expereince. AND as a special treat a ZOOM recording of a number Trinity folk doing the Scripture story in a variety of languages.

Remember that when the Holy Spirit rushed into the disciples lives She gave them the gift to be able to tell the good news of God's love in people's own tongue..... We are made ONE by God's care and love, not by becoming cookie cutter folk, but by celebrating EACH gift and dancing in relationship with all.

Blessings!

Pastor Wes

A Worship Service from Our Bishop! May 24th!

Hello Beloved Trinity Folk!

Here is your worship for this Week-end; provided by our Bishop, Kristen Kuempel, the Synod Staff and Musicians scattered across our Northwest Intermountain area! Enjoy hearing a different voice with a Good News for each one of you!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=phnrpkE2maY&feature=youtu.be

Next Sunday is Pentecost! Wear red on Sunday Morning...red PJ's if that floats your boat! The Holy Spirit, God's energizing, life giving wind presence is EVERYWHERE!

Needed now, more than ever! Real Love! Worship for May 17th

Here is your Worship Service for May 17th from Trinity Lutheran!

Saint Paul’s Ode to Love is often used at Weddings but he saw it as the key to Healthy Community….that, in a divided and contentious setting, 

https://youtu.be/7CGfY_85xpY

WE become the Change we want to see!  Saint Paul…via the Message and then personalized

I'm bankrupt without love.

Here’s your attitude!!

Love ( I will) never gives up.

Love (I will) cares more for others than for self.
I won’t want what I don't have.
I won’t strut,
Won’t have a swelled head,
Won’t force itself and my opinions on others,
I am not always "me first,"
Won’t fly off the handle,
Won’t keep score of the of others mistakes,
Won’t revel when others grovel,
I WILL take pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Will put up up with anything,
Trust God always,
Always looks for the best in others
Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.

Online Worship for May 10th ....Corinth!

Saint Paul's Journeys take him to rough and tumble Corinth, a port city that has quite a reputation. How this intersects with Mother's Day....I'm not quite sure.

The Narrative Lectionary folk have a wry sense of humor...

https://youtu.be/pKoilI-LNKA

God’s Peace as we delve beyond just "following the rules" into the more challenging but satisfying world of living "In Christ".

Albert Schweitzer wrote: The morality we have lived by was fragmentary only. We must abandon it in favor of the complete, all-embracing love expressed in “reverence for all life.” Reverence for life gives us the full chord, the harmony. By practicing reverence for life we are in a spiritual relationship with the universe; we are in harmony with it. (Albert Schweitzer, Thoughts for Our Times, pp. 10-11)

Online Worship for May 3!

Following our narrative lectionary, God's story has been centered in the Middle East and the Jewish people. With Jesus we traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Last week we were with Peter and John at the Temple... now, Paul takes up the Journey and, with Silas, moves across into Greece....into Europe. The Gospel is on the move!

So, put yourself in a Rick Steves, traveling attitude, from the comfort of your home, as we join Paul in Thessalonika. As Christians we are a pilgrim people...

https://youtu.be/37FeHiecgO4

You are also welcome to join us on Sunday morning from 10:30 to 11:30am for our ZOOM Coffee Hour. Same number and code as last week. We will send out a reminder email on Sunday morning.