Telling Stories and Learning Faith: life under construction: Thoughts for Good Friday

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Telling Stories and Learning Faith: life under construction: Thoughts for Good Friday

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Holy Spirit Jesus

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This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, January 26, 2025 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel was Luke 4:14-21 .  Jesus is in his hometown. They’ve heard about his teaching and were anxious to hear him on that day as they gathered in the synagogue. The people were thrilled with the message, until Jesus uttered these words, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  What was Jesus claiming to be? These are the things looked for when the Messiah came. Was he saying he was the Messiah? The reading from Isaiah was fine, but to claim that it was fulfilled in their hearing! Preposterous! It’s not in today’s, but in next week’s gospel, where we see the people’s reaction to those words. For now, we’ll leave it at that. If you don’t know and want to find out what happens, it’s ok to read ahead.  Everything Jesus did was through the power of the Holy Spirit. This power referenced in our first verse is from the Greek word dunamis, from which we get “dynamic...
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