There Are Three Sides to Every Question: 6/11/06 Epworth

Trinity Sunday (Year B)

Welcome. The Season after Pentecost begins with Trinity Sunday. Rev. Tom Starnes, formerly interim senior pastor of Epworth, is our guest preacher. Rev. Jack and others from our congregation are representing the congregation at the closing session of Annual Conference. We are pleased to have you as part of our worshiping community on this day. Consider what do the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit contribute toward your understanding of God? How does the love of God expressed through Christ and the Holy Spirit influence your practice of love for others in God's world?

Welcome
Psalm 29: 1-4, 10-11 (alt.)

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
§        Ascribe to the LORD the glory of God's name; worship the LORD in holy splendor.
The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders over mighty waters.
§        The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
§        May the LORD give strength to us! May the LORD bless uswith peace!

Hebrew Bible Lesson
Isaiah 6: 1-8

¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:
        "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
        the whole earth is full of his glory."

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
        And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" (via)

Gospel Lesson
John 3: 1-17

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

³ In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

⁴ "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

⁵ Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

⁹ "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (via)

Sermon - There Are Three Sides to Every Question Rev. Tom Starnes
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