Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts regarding the reading from James for this coming Sunday. This was sent out via email to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church .  Second Reading: James 5:13-20 13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest. 19 My brothers and sisters,...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 9/23/18 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The gospel test was Mark 9:30-37.   This is the second of Jesus’ three predictions in Mark of his death and resurrection. Between the first instructions and the second passion prediction, there are: The transfiguration where Peter doesn’t know what to say and the three disciples are terrified. There is a discussion coming down the mountain and the disciples don’t understand Jesus’ comment about “rising from the dead.” And they had just come down the mountain where the dead were alive! Finally, the other disciples fail to cast out a demon and Jesus is appalled at their faithlessness.  On the way to Capernaum, Jesus taught his disciples for the second time that he would be crucified and would rise from the dead. The dense disciples didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching and they were afraid to ask Jesus what he meant. Why would they be afraid? Were they maybe thinking back to...