Claimed, gathered and sent

We are at the end of our Lenten and Holy Week journey of faith. Easter has arrived and the alleluias have returned. This is the Easter Sunday sermon that I shared with the people of Bethel Lutheran Church in Portville, NY. The scripture text is Acts 10:34-43 . Christ is risen, alleluia! Many of us have probably experienced significant losses in our lives—whether we have lost a job, a home or someone we love. We wonder how we will be able to go on and to function. After the 3 years the disciples had spent traveling with Jesus their teacher, friend and Lord, how do we think they felt after the crucifixion. It must have been the end of all their dreams. How were they to live their lives without Jesus? The Book of Acts tells us that the crucifixion was not the end or that all there was for followers of Jesus. Jesus did not stay in the grave because God raised him from the dead. In the book of Acts, we read the continuing adventures of those early Christians in the post-crucifixi...

Thursday evening we gathered for Maundy Thursday worship, the first of the Three Days of Holy Week. This is the message I shared with those who gathered at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY. The scripture text is John 13:1-17, 31b-35. Today is Holy Thursday or as it is also called, Maundy Thursday. Maundy means commandment or mandate. Tonight, we celebrate Jesus commandment to his disciples to love each other as He loved them. Just how did Jesus love? First of all, Jesus loved scandalously. He turned the roles of master and slave upside down as he washed his disciples’ feet. Jesus acts out for us a drama of what his followers are to be and do.            The washing of the feet of a guest is an issue of hospitality. It was a way of welcoming one’s guests. Normally, the guests were given a basin and towel to wash their own feet. Sometimes it was work that a household slave would do. But it certainly would not be...