Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church

In the gospel reading for this coming Sunday, Jesus says several surprising things: that he has come to bring, not peace, but a sword; and that followers must love him more than they love their own family members. Come to worship to meditate on what these sayings might mean, and at the table, be strengthened to live the surprising life of the Christian.

In the gospel reading for Sunday, Jesus calls the twelve apostles and sends them out to continue his work of proclaiming the good news and healing the sick. Come to worship so that you can hear this good news and, at the table of the Lord, be strengthened for the tasks of healing the sick and casting out evil in the name of Jesus.

This image was originally posted to Flickr by Claude Renault at https://www.flickr.com/photos/clodreno/239052439/. It was reviewed on 20 December 2006 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

This coming Sunday, we hear the call to follow Jesus. In doing so, we join Christ at his table, where we are healed and raised from death. Come to worship, and may your faith make you well.

In Paolo Veronese’s sixteenth-century painting of the healing of the bleeding woman, the artist has shown the woman’s hand extended, reaching out to touch Jesus’ cloak.

On every Sunday of the church year, we praise our triune God. Yet on this coming Trinity Sunday, we attend especially to the mystery of our three-in-one God. Come to worship and receive the blessings that the Trinity gives.

A famous icon depicts Emperor Constantine I and the bishops assembled at the Council of Nicaea in 325, displaying what we call the Nicene Creed, which was finally approved in 381 and which many Christians recite together on Trinity Sunday.

WEAR RED THIS SUNDAY

This coming Sunday is Pentecost, the fiftieth day of Easter, and we keep the resurrection of Christ by celebrating the Spirit of the Risen Christ in our midst. Jesus Christ has not gone away but is here with us: we stand to greet him as we hear him speak in the gospel reading, and we share in his body in the meal.

St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, is home to some biblical stained-glass windows. One is dedicated to the Pentecost story. Note that above the disciples are the flames of the Spirit, and at the top is a depiction of the church as a ship in which, through baptism, we sail together toward God.

The Pentecost window at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC. Franz Mayer & Co. of Munich, Germany, represented by the studios of George L. Payne of Patterson, New Jersey, 1966. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.