Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's second lesson. These are uncertain times in which we live and I think this scripture speaks to us today. What are your thoughts? This was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-16 from The Message 8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. 11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Ch...

This is the sermon that was sent out this week to the people of S t. Timothy Lutheran Church. We are honoring our bishop's request to not physically worship together. However, we are endeavoring to stay connected in other ways. The text was John 4:5-42. We all have different paths that have brought us to faith in Jesus. Some have dramatic conversion experiences from a life of sin and unbelief to a life of faith. Others have a relationship with God from childhood and cannot remember a time when God was not real to them. God meets us wherever we are. Jesus engaged Nicodemus differently than he engaged the Samaritan woman in today’s gospel. He tailored the encounter to the needs of the hearer. Nicodemus was Jewish. We are told his name. He came to Jesus in Jerusalem. The Samaritan woman is a Gentile. We never find out her name. Jesus came to her. Nicodemus could not wrap his mind around a new, spiritual birth, while the woman struggled to understand what it meant to have living ...