
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
Consider the Lillies
O Lord, we implore You, let Your continual pity cleanse and defend Your Church; and because she cannot continue in safety without Your aid, preserve her evermore by Your help and goodness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

An Overview
Christ's words from the sermon on the mount ring ever true, but perhaps his command to "not be anxious" is the most relevant to 21st century Americans. Christ paints a picture for us in which the Universe is governed by a God who makes birds beautiful and who clothes flowers with the most beautiful garments -- and this is the same God who treasures you more than birds or flowers. All of this is given on the heals of Christ's teaching that someone cannot serve both God and Money.
We are so often anxious about what we will eat or what we will wear that we forget about the need to store things up in heaven rather on earth. When we learn to die to ourselves, die to our hunger, die to our need for fashion, and die to our carnal desires, then we learn how to live for Christ. When we "keep in step with the Spirit," we find that the cares and worries of the world disappear and that we can confess with Jesus that tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient is the day.
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Artwork: This Lily of the Valley appears in a book titled Herbarius by Veit Auslasser. Not much is known about Auslasser, other than a short inscription that appears in an early-modern codex: "This herb book was drawn by Brother Veit Auslasser von Vomp near Schwaz, a professed monk-priest at the monastery of Saint Sebastian in Ebersperg. Anno Domini 1479." According to the New German Biography, Auslasser was the first botanist in Bavaria.
The Old Testament
1 Kings 17:8-16
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v. 9: From the get-go, we know that the widow at Zarephath has already been commanded by the Word of the LORD to feed Elijah.
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v. 12: Knowing that she only has enough food for one more meal, the widow is gathering sticks to start a fire so that she and her son can eat this small piece of bread and then die.
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vv.13-15: Elijah issues a command from the LORD and the woman obeys. Had she simply focused on her own stomach and not on the preached Word of God, her and her son would have had their last meal and then eventually starved to death. But because of her faithfulness and her trust in the midst of a hopeless situation, she, her son, and Elijah ate for many days.
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v. 16: This miracle anticipates 1) our Lord miraculously feeding crowds with only a few loaves of bread, 2) our Lord's words from the Sermon on the Mount in which He commands us to not worry about what we will eat since the Lord always provides what we need.
Translation Notes
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v. 13: Greek manuscripts read "Take courage" instead of "Do not fear."
The Epistle
Galatians 5:25-6:10
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v. 25: Paul is calling the Galatians to faithfulness -- if they claim that they live by the Spirit they must also walk according to their new life.
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v. 26: A large part of "keeping in step with the Spirit" is 1) not being conceited, 2)not provoking fellow believers, 3) not envying fellow believers
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vv. 1-2: A large part of "Keeping in step with the Spirit" is calling to repentance those who have been caught in a public sin. Christians are to do this gently and not in a "conceited" way, lest the one calling out the sin lets himself fall into the same temptation.
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v 3: A third repetition that exhorts Christians to avoid becoming conceited.
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vv. 4-5: Paul makes a curious move here. In verse 2, the Galatians were commanded to bear one another's burden, but now in verse 5 he tells them that "each will have to bear his own load." What this means for us today is that while we should always be willing to carry the burden of others, we shouldn't expect that our burdens will be carried by others.
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vv. 6-7: Paul zooms in a bit here. Rather than speaking about how believers should treat believers, he focuses specifically on how hearers should treat their preachers. That Paul enjoins a warning to this exhortation to share all good things with the one who teaches shows us that it is no small thing when hearers do not respect their preachers: God will not be mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.
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vv. 7-8: Paul transitions again from the particular to the general: God will not be mocked in the way that hearers treat preachers, but also He will not be mocked in the way believers treat themselves and fellow believers. If we focus only on the flesh, we will only reap carnal things. We hear echoes of the widow at Zarephath: had she only focused on her stomach, she would have only reaped one good meal. But because she put her trust in the Word of the Prophet and because she cared more about providing for the man who preached to her than she did her own household, she was blessed with a never ending supply of bread.
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vv. 9-10: Paul continues to "zoom out" here. In short, Christians must do good, they must act in love for all people, but there is a special command to love "those who are of the household of faith."
Translation Notes
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v. 4: "Neighbor," Greek is simply "other," (ἕτερον). We shouldn't make too much of this, but "neighbor" is fresh on our minds, having heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan just two weeks ago. Paul is not using neighbor in the technical or biblical sense here, but is simply saying, "your reason to boast will be in yourself and not in someone else."
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v. 6: "one who is taught," Greek κατηχούμενος literally "the one who is being catechized." And "the one who teaches," Greek κατηχοῦντι literally "the catechizer."
The Holy Gospel
Matthew 6:24-34
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v. 24: Sometimes it's difficult to outline a section of the Sermon on the Mount since we must know the whole in order to interpret the part. But by beginning with this verse, we are forcing ourselves to zoom in and focus on the connection between devotion to money, money as a false idol, and the connection between money-love, idolatry, and needless worry.
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v. 25: It bears repeating every year that Jesus is not condemning what modern doctors call "Anxiety" or "General Anxiety Disorder." A sickness is not a sin, though it is the result of Sin. Jesus here is condemning the fruits of anxiety, which can and do occur apart from any medical diagnosis. Jesus is telling Christians that they are not to worry about the day-to-day things because God will provide.
Translation Notes
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Poetry Used in the Liturgy of Trinity 15
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"I Leave All Things to God's Direction," by Salomo Franck
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Psalm 86- in this Psalm, an anxious David confesses that the Lord God is the only source of peace in the angst-ridden world.
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"What God Ordains is Always Good," by Samuel Rodigast
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Psalm 146- This is one of the "Hallelujah Psalms," in which the Lord is praised again and again. This is also the source of the familiar verse "put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation." Just as we do not put our trust in earthly men, we also flee from worry by not putting our trust in earthly "things" like food and clothing.
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Psalm 118- This almost feels like a response after the prayers of Psalm 86 have been answered. Here the poet cannot help but give thanks to God since He has delivered him from all sorts of evil.
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Psalm 95- This is the church's morning song. Though we only sing a portion of it in the Sunday Liturgy, it is a regular part of the Matins Liturgy. Every Christian should commit to praying Psalm 95 at least once per week as his morning devotion.
Artwork: Also from Auslasser's Herbarium, this is an image of a Lilium Candidum. From the flower's Wikipedia page:
Lilium candidum, the Madonna lily or white lily, is a plant in the true lily family. It is native to the Balkans and Middle East, and naturalized in other parts of Europe, including France, Italy, and Ukraine, and in North Africa, the Canary Islands, Mexico, and other regions. It has been cultivated since antiquity, for at least 3,000 years, and has great symbolic value since then for many cultures.


Further Reading & Listening
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"Do not be Anxious: Faith Overcomes Fear" by the Rev. Charles Henrickson, Saint Matthew Bon Terre, MO (2017)
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"Consider the Lilies" by the Rev. Aaron Koch, Mt. Zion Greenfield, WI (2020)
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"Trinity 15," Thinking Out Loud, The Gottesdient Crowd Podcast.
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The Golden Chain on Matthew 6
Artwork: Lilium martagon, again from Auslasser's Herbarium.
A description of the flower from The Missouri Botanical Garden: Lilium martagon, known as martagon lily or Turk's cap lily, is a Eurasian species of lily native to much of Europe and central Asia. A mature martagon lily will typically reach 3-6' tall and bloom in mid to late summer. The lance-shaped leaves (to 6" long) form whorls along the length of the stem. The flowers emerge from the top half of the stem, up to 30 on each plant (occasionally 50 on large specimens), and range in color from pink to white, with dark maroon specks on the interiors of the recurved petals. Stems can be cut back in fall once the leaves turn yellow. Martagon lilies can be a challenge to establish in the garden. They may not bloom their first year, and should not be moved once established. However, in ideal conditions this lily can form small colonies, creating a stunning mid summer floral display. They are also long-lived, virtually free of pests and disease issues, and attractive to swallowtail butterflies and hummingbirds.