Trinity Lutheran Church

Rob Speece sings "But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell" from G.F. Hande's "Messiah". Rob, a member of Trinity, recently completed his bachelor's degree in music from Susquehanna University and is continuing his education in Boston at the New England Conservatory in the fall.

Violist Jessica Manning plays Paul Klengel's "Erhebung und Trost" for the offertory. This short piece takes us on an intricate harmonic journey in a short amount of time. At the same time, its incredibly lyrical, with various lines crossing through both viola and piano.

What do you treasure most? During Sunday's sermon, Deaconess Deborah paused mid-message to ask the congregation that very question — and the answers came fast: family, health, work, life. Nobody, she noted with a laugh, mentioned a new car. It's a simple moment that gets at something true: what we value most is rarely a thing, it's the people we love. Watch the moment beneath the steeple.

In this week's sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Deaconess Deborah opens with a live, congregation-wide question: what do you treasure most? The answers — family, health, work, life — set up a reflection on Solomon's request for an understanding mind (1 Kings 3) and Jesus' parables of the mustard seed and the yeast (Matthew 13). Deaconess Deborah traces how the kingdom of heaven grows quietly, person by person, even amid grief, injustice, and doubt, and reminds us that God's reign is a gift already at work in the world — not something we build ourselves.

Another step forward in our sanctuary renovation. This week's focus was repairing one of the roof trusses supporting the ceiling. The crew jacked the damaged truss back into alignment, then applied a structural epoxy consolidant to rebond the wood fibers and restore its strength. Every beam has a story, and this one just got its next chapter.

Charlie Randazzo opens worship with "O Salutaris" by Emile Pessard. The tranquil yet lyrical piece invites into a time of contemplation as we prepare for the journey of worship. Opening with a melody that will return at the end with broader dynamics and subtle harmonic changes, the piece reflects our own potential transformation through worship.

Ever knelt over a garden bed certain the seed was good, the soil was right — only to find, weeks later, growth you never asked for? That's the picture Jesus reaches for in this week's Gospel, and it opens up a question most of us carry quietly into church every Sunday: did God plant this mess? Pastor Hans doesn't dodge it. Watch the clip.

Every gardener knows the frustration: good seed, careful soil, straight rows — and still, by midsummer, something growing that nobody planted. It's a small, earthy image, but it opens onto one of the oldest questions we carry: if the world is this tangled, did God plant this mess? In this sermon on Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13), Pastor Hans wrestles with that question honestly and finds in Jesus' own answer a word of patience, justice, and grace — the promise that the one who planted the good seed is also the one who will bring in the harvest.