Bethlehem Lutheran Church River Grove, IL

In grateful response to God's grace and empowered by the Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments, the mission of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is vigorously to make known the love of Christ by word and deed within our churches, communities and the world. 

Trinity Sunday - Trinity Sunday is a festival of the Christian Church in which Lutherans confess and rejoice in the mystery of the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Celebrated on the Sunday after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday does not focus on a single event in the life of Christ, but on the fullness of God’s revelation throughout salvation history. It is a day for the Church to proclaim what Scripture teaches clearly—that there is one God in three distinct Persons, coequal and coeternal.

For Lutherans, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not a philosophical puzzle to be solved, but a saving truth revealed by God for our comfort and salvation. The Father creates and preserves us. The Son redeems us through His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit calls us to faith through the Gospel and sanctifies us in Christ. Though these works may be especially associated with one Person of the Trinity, all three Persons work together in perfect unity.

Trinity Sunday also highlights the importance of faithful doctrine. Lutherans often use the Athanasian Creed on this day, which strongly confesses both the Trinity and the two natures of Christ. The festival reminds believers that the God who has revealed Himself in Scripture is not distant or unknowable, but has made Himself known through Jesus Christ and continues to dwell with His people through the Holy Spirit. In worship, baptism, and daily Christian life, Lutherans live in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday - THE HOLY TRINITY

Genesis 1:1—2:4a

Acts 2:14a, 22–36

Matthew 28:16–20

The Holy Triune God Recreates Us in the Image and Likeness of Christ Jesus

The holy Triune God “created the heavens and the earth,” and “behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:1, 31). However, after Adam and Eve fell into sin and plunged God’s good creation into decay and death, the Son of God would be “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” to be “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). As Jesus “received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:33), He also raises up all the baptized and pours out the Spirit upon them through the preaching of His Gospel. He sends out His apostles to “make disciples of all nations” by “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” and “teaching them to observe all that [He has] commanded” (Matt. 28:19–20). Through such baptizing and teaching — Gospel and Sacraments — the holy Triune God recreates us in the image and likeness of His incarnate Son, Jesus, the Christ, and behold, it is “very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and opened the gates of heaven to all who trust in him.

God accepts all who believe in Jesus even though there is no merit or worthiness in us.

So that we might believe in Jesus, God has given us the ministry, which is the preaching of Christ and the

Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these, God also gives us the forgiveness of sins.

When God brings people to faith, He also produces many good works in our lives. These are done, not to earn

grace, but to do God’s will and please him. We love him because he first loved us.

God has given every man, woman and child a calling in life. Within that calling He directs us, and through

His Word, strengthens us to live for Him.

The Bible is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is free from all error and contradiction in all that it says.

The Word of God brings us to Jesus our Lord.