Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the reflection on this Sunday's gospel reading that was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.    Gospel: Mark 4:35-41 35 When evening had come,  [ Jesus said to the disciples, ] “ Let us go across to the other side. ”  36 And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.  37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him,  “ Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? ”  39 He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea,  “ Peace! Be still! ”  Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  40 He said to them,  “ Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? ”  41 And they were filled with great awe and said to one another,  “ Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea o...

This is the message I shared with the people of God at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . It was not based on any particular scripture reading, but these were some thought -provoking words from our bishop, John Macholz. He shared these on June 5, the last day of our Upstate NY Synod Assembly. I wonder, if we took seriously the growing trend of fewer candidates for the Office of Word and Sacrament and gave pause to consider a greater use of well-trained, lay persons to create now models for ministry how that would work for us?  I wonder, would that model be made more workable by building accountability into our present system and requiring annual attendance at gatherings where the focus would be on preaching and leading worship for those we presently call Deacons in this synod?  I wonder what would take place if we were able to let go of buildings that are weighing us down with maintenance costs that seem to grow year by year, I wonder what would happen if we creat...