Trinity Sunday (Year B, RCL)

John 3:16 is about crisis, but not the crisis of God brooding in heaven waiting on us to make a choice.

I memorized John 3:16 as a child—along with a specific interpretation of it.

Don't forget to read John 3:17.

Can our baptism compel us to help mitigate the world’s disasters?

A wisdom ecclesiology embraces the church’s earthly context—but without romanticizing it.

Why does Jesus tie these two things together?

Genesis 12:1–4a; John 3:1–17

Lutherans are trained to hear the scriptures as proclaiming either law or gospel. By "law" they mean not passages from the Old Testament but all of the Bible's bad news: the sins we commit, the misery we experience, the sorrows we inflict on one another, the death we anticipate, the distance from God that diminishes our lives. By "gospel" they mean not the final reading on Sunday morning but the good news of the mercy given by a loving God, wherever in the Bible it is proclaimed.

And what would happen if we didn't?

It's no surprise that Nicodemus goes home befuddled. If discipleship doesn't come with some confusion, it probably isn't Jesus you're following.

I was not raised in the Mennonite church; I came to it later in life. It was primarily the commitment to nonviolence that drew me in, though I soon learned that there is more to like about being a Mennonite than that.

One of the things I admire about Mennonites is their respect for history.

I wonder if Nicodemus knows what he’s getting into. What draws him to Jesus? What motivates any of us to come to Jesus?

In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of dark and light—one of our most primary realities and symbols. How can this be vivid language today, when we can turn the switch and flood almost any place with light any time?

Gangs excel at finding the lost, adopting them and sending them out. Therefore, gang youth can be recruited for apostolic ministry.

Dhini didn’t ask to be adopted. That's the way grace works.

These Trinity Sunday texts show God moving graciously—and persistently—toward people while they struggle to stay on their feet.

There must have been some Lutherans sitting in that conference room when the Revised Common Lectionary was birthed. That is the only explanation that I can come up with for Ephesians 2:1-10 having a role on the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B.