Trinity Blog

Isaiah 2:2-4

² In days to come
            the mountain of the Lord’s house
  shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
            and shall be raised above the hills;
  all the nations shall stream to it.
³      Many peoples shall come and say,
  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
             to the house of the God of Jacob;
  that he may teach us his ways
            and that we may walk in his paths.”
  For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
            and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
            and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
  they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
            and their spears into pruning hooks;
  nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
            neither shall they learn war any more.

My Parents once lived in a flood plain.  Unbeknownst to them when they purchased the house, but the new housing development in which they purchased the second house was next to a creek and the creek liked to overflow.  But, the developer, built the house on a hill, higher than the water level when the creek floods.  So, when the creek overflows, the water goes over the road and into the fields but yet the house stood dry because it was built on a high hill and the water would not come up to it.

So too, is it with the house of Yahweh.  The prophet Isaiah says, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills.  Just as my parent’s house stood on the crest of a hill above the flood plains so too has the “house of Yahweh” been established on the highest of the mountains and raised above the hills.  Isaiah was looking and thinking of a time to come when the temple of Solomon was considered to not be the highest in physical elevation, but the highest in spiritual elevation.  The passage takes on new meaning, when the house of Yahweh is transfigured from the Temple of Solomon made of cedar and brick into the Temple of Jesus made of flesh and bones.  A temple is the building or container in which the divine spirit rests.  Jesus is in fact the new temple of the Holy Spirit, and due to his exaltation, He has been established as the “highest of the mountains and raised above the hill.” 

The point Isaiah is longing for is the time when all the nations shall stream to it.  Many peoples shall come and say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.  Not just a Jewish thing, excluding all others deemed unholy or unclean, but a time when the house and mountain of God receives true glory, when all peoples desire to approach God through the temple.  Once again, he is probably thinking of a time when everybody worships in the temple of Solomon, but however takes on new context in Jesus Christ.  Instead of tied to a physical location require a physical pilgrimage on the behalf of the human, the temple of Christ now makes a spiritual pilgrimage to be where the man or woman is.  The pilgrimage longed for by Isaiah is no longer people making pilgrimage to the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem but the people making pilgrimage to the Temple of Jesus Christ inside them.

But what would be the point of such a journey, either to Solomon’s temple or Jesus’ temple?  That he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  The point of coming to Jesus’ temple is to be taught his ways or perhaps way of life, and that we may walk in his paths or perhaps his attitudes and behaviors.  The way of life, the way of righteousness, these are the reasons for being instructed from the Word of God which comes from the House of God. 

But what would be the point of such instruction?  He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples.  They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.  The point of the instruction is for God to instruct and teach his people peace.  Through the Word of God going forth and the instruction from God leaving the temple, God teaches people peace and wellbeing instead of conflict and warfare.

After only a cursory glance at our world, one can easily see the need for our world to continue our studies in peace and wellbeing.  How many bombs and bullets are spent each day to maim and obliterate lives and livelihoods?  How many words and accusations are spewed each hour to divide and attack both allies and enemies?  How many blows, either physical or emotional are thrown at our friends and family, to control and hurt?  Nations against nations, peoples against peoples, neighbors against neighbors, destruction, and ruin, instead of wholeness and well-being.  Swords and spears instead of plows and pruning hooks.

But, if God’s house is the highest, if the nations stream to Jesus Christ, if instruction goes forth from Zion, if Jesus shall judge between parties, then… they will beat their swords into plowshares.  The very tools of death and destruction become the tools of life and creation.  Nation shall not life up sword against nation.  Instead of lifting instruments of violence and ruin, those instruments will be lifted against each other for love and compassion; because of Christ.  This means that now is the time for the swords and spears to be transfigured from tools of destruction to tools of creation.  Now is the time for war and conflict to become unity and edification.  Now is the time to build up instead of blowing up each other.  Now is the reign of Peace and Well-being of Christ and the doom of war and destruction!

Luke 17:11-19

¹¹ On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³ they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵ Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶ He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸ Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

When I was in middle school, I was on the soccer team.  One of the drills that I did at home to hone my reflexes was to kick the soccer ball at the side of our woodpile.  The edges of the woodpile were not smooth due to the unevenness of the wood logs, and this resulted in the randomness of the ball’s return.  I would kick the ball into the side of the woodpile and the ball would bounce off and return to me in a random direction.  Sometimes it would bounce back to the left or to the right, sometimes straight up and sometimes over my head.  But I knew that every time I kicked the ball into the pile it would always come back to me. 

Thanksgiving is exactly like my soccer ball.  God has given us many gifts and now is the time for us to give back to God.  The ball is kicked, and it returns to the kicker, God has given many gifts to us, now is the time for us to give back something to God.  In our story of the ten lepers, Christ has given the grace of healing to ten individuals burdened by an incurable skin disease.  But only one, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice.  He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.  The one leper recognized the gift of healing and returned to give back something to Christ.  He came back to give back thanks and praise.  God, through Christ, gives to us, we return to God, through Christ to give something back: thanks, and praise.  Giving back thanks becomes Thanksgiving to and for God.

For some of us, this day finds us like the leper having been given gifts of healing from our illnesses and injuries.  But for many of us, this day finds us unhealed, coping with many infirmities and difficult circumstances.  Certainly, many are struggling with COVID-19, many are wrestling with financial insecurities of being in quarantine, many are combating loneliness and separation from our families in our self-made bubbles (and we should be).  But we most certainly look at our situations and see the overwhelming problems.  Instead of giving back thanks and praise to God, we see our difficulties and give back to God angst and anguish.  Instead of giving back gratitude and words of blessing to God, we gripe and complain about our sufferings in life.  We do not thank and bless God for what God has given us, we criticize God for we do not have.

I do not have much love, if any, for the old gospel songs, but the message of one of them is so dreadfully important.  The song is “Count Your Blessings,” and if we can get around the style of the music for just a moment, the message strikes home with us.  For all the things that we can see and experience of pain, struggle, and sorrow, we can also see and count the blessings given to us by God.  Instead of naming and counting our troubles we can instead name and count our blessings.  If we can criticize God about what God has not done, we can certainly thank and bless God for what he has done.

Let me suggest three blessings that we all enjoy to this day, regardless of our circumstances, or the circumstances of our world around us:

1. The Breath of Life – We are all dust and to dust we shall return, but we also are animated by the very breath of God.  God in His loving, freedom chose to form us from the ground and to animate us with his own Breath from his own mouth, giving us life in creation.
2. The Son of God – We have been given the life and death and resurrection of God’s only beloved Son.  In order that our sins may be forgiven, and we might inherit new and everlasting life.  God in His loving, freedom chose to redeem us from sin and death at the great personal cost of giving over his Son.
3. The Kingdom to Come – We have been given the new creation, under the Lordship of Christ.  Justice instead of oppression.  Life swallowing death.  Health overcoming infirmity.  Communion defeating isolation.  Joy destroying sadness.  Peace obliterating conflict.  God in His loving freedom chose to give us a blessed eternity in his new creation.

In whatever our circumstances are, whether fair or foul, we have at least these three things and perhaps even a hundred more that we could name and count.  But the point is that no matter what we are dealing with, or struggling with, or trying to carry, or being consumed by, on this Thanksgiving day we have reasons to give back to God words and deeds of gratitude and blessing.  We will give back to God something this Thanksgiving, it will either be gratitude and blessing, or it will be criticism and ingratitude.  What will you give back?  Complaining about the pandemic or appreciation for the breath of life?  Whining about politics or admiration for the Crucified and Resurrected Jesus?  Moaning about what we do not have or the expectant hope for the Kingdom to come?  You absolutely will give something back to God this Thanksgiving season, but you have a choice of what that will be, nastiness and vitriol or gratefulness and glory.  May God be given the Glory, the Honor, and the Praises of his people for all that God has given to us.  Amen and Hallelujah! 

Psalm 146

Praise for God’s Help

¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
² I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
    in mortals, in whom there is no help.
⁴ When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
    on that very day their plans perish.

⁵ Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the Lord their God,
⁶ who made heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
⁷     who executes justice for the oppressed;
    who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
⁸     the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
    the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the strangers;
    he upholds the orphan and the widow,
    but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever,
    your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!

One of the prizes collected during beggar’s night is the occasional temporary tattoo.  A piece of plastic that one can apply to any spot of skin with a wet rag and thirty seconds.  The tattoo always made us feel like adults sporting our image of a cat or Spiderman and our hearts burst with pride showing our friends our tattoo and our hearts burst with grief as they rubbed off in a few days.  But while we enjoyed the albeit too brief presence of our tattoos, we were always reminded of their temporariness.

While many things are temporary in our worlds, like carnival tattoos, Yahweh, our LORD and God, is neither temporary nor brief but eternal and permanent.  The Psalmist sings:
      Praise the LORD, O my soul!
               I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
            I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
“As long as I live,” “all my life long,” these descriptions are to remind us that Yahweh is not temporary or brief in time, a temporary tattoo that wears off in two weeks, but eternal and permanent.  If Yahweh is perpetual, then Yahweh needs to be praised every day “as long as I live,” and “all my life long.”  Not just for a brief span of time: days, weeks, months: but the entire span of our lives.  Just as Yahweh is eternal, so too does our worship of Yahweh need to be.

But if Yahweh is eternal, then why do we look to others to be our Yahweh?  Certainly, many in our country look to politicians, scientists, and others in power to do and provide what only Yahweh can truly do?  To the point, many are looking to President-elect Biden to “save” our country, provide “security”, re-establish “dignity.”  I wish neither to denigrate or insult Mr. Biden.  He is worthy of the respect and honor due his position, as President Trump is due the respect and honor of the office of President.  But that position is not Yahweh’s place.  The Psalmist sings:
      Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
      When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.
The Psalmist reminds us that ultimately the only source of our trust is Yahweh, because princes are mortal and Yahweh is eternal.  Men and women are temporary, and Yahweh is forever; and that means that human plans fail and die because we fail and die, but Yahweh lives forever because Yahweh is forever in Power and Glory.

For those who place their trust in Yahweh instead of humanity, they are then blessed and happy because Yahweh’s work as LORD and God far surpasses all others.  The Psalmist sings:
      Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
            whose hope is in the LORD their God,
      who made heaven and earth,
            the sea, and all that is in them;
            who keeps faith forever;
       who executes justice for the oppressed;
            who gives food to the hungry.
What human creation can compare to the one who created heaven and earth out of nothing?  What human creation can be equal to the one who created the sea and the entirety of the oceans and lakes?  What human and therefore temporary faithfulness can compare to the faithfulness of Yahweh, which is eternal?  What human justice for the oppressed can equate with the justice of Yahweh?  What human providence of daily sustenance can liken to the Providence of Yahweh?  All these things are temporary constructs of a finite and provisional creature, how are they even remotely like the creations of the eternal and almighty Creator, Yahweh?  Blessed are they who trust in Yahweh and not people!

Why do we then try to “set the prisoners free” without Yahweh?  Why do we try to “give sight to the blind” without Yahweh?  Why do we “lift up those that are bent over” without Yahweh?  Why do we try to “love the righteous” without Yahweh?  Why do we watch “over the alien” without Yahweh?  Why do we “sustain the fatherless and the widow” without Yahweh?  Why do we most certainly “frustrate the ways of the wicked” without Yahweh?  Because we don’t want to Trust and Obey Yahweh, we want to be Yahweh!  So, we trust and obey people, who are temporary, instead of trusting and obeying in Yahweh, who is eternal.  The results are always less than what Yahweh can do: freedom, sight, strength, love, inclusion, sustenance, justice, ruin, according to us instead of according to Yahweh.  Because we are temporary and they thus fail and perish, and Yahweh is eternal and therefore succeeds and lives forever.

But for those in the Covenant with Yahweh, they are content with just being creatures who place their trust and praise in Yahweh alone and not in people.  Please make no mistake, I am not a rebel or a slanderer, interested in bashing any politician or political party in power.  They are due the honor and respect of being in their position regardless of whether I voted for them or not.  My point is entirely different.  They are not due what we give to Yahweh and Yahweh alone. 
      The LORD will reign forever,
            your God, O Zion, for all generations.
      Praise the LORD!
Let our praise and trust be in Yahweh alone, for Yahweh is LORD and God forever and for all generations.  Yahweh for ever; even while its Biden or Trump for now!

Due to the current situation with COVID cases in Ashtabula County, Session has decided to close the church building until further notice. That does not mean that we closed Church. Pastor Mark will be providing video services and connecting with our congregation through this web site and our Facebook page. The Decons and Elders will be keeping in contact with our congregation during this period. Please stay safe and support our church.