Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I shared at the Midweek Lenten Service at First Lutheran in Jamestown. The text is Isaiah 50:4-5.  I am going to start out today by referencing two songs—one Christian   and one secular. We probably all know the Christian song, written by Rich Mullins, "Our God Is an Awesome God", don't we? Not only is God awesome, but God is wise and has a sense of humor. Did you ever wonder why God created us to look and function, the way we are as human beings? In their recording of the song, "One", the rock group Three Dog Night, said that "One is the loneliest number.”  But God said in creating the human body, two is a popular number. We have two of a lot of things... two eyes, two ears, two arms, two hands, two legs, two feet,(and sometimes some of us have two left feet....). I could go on, but you get the idea. And then, God in His infinite wisdom gave us only one of certain things... one head, one nose, one mouth. Did you ...

This is the message I preached last Sunday, 11/8 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text was 1 Kings 17:8-16. Fear is a powerful motivation in our world. Fear is used by politicians to obtain our votes, by the media to get our attention, by advertisers to sell us what we don't need. It's even used by TV evangelists to get our donations. What are some of the fears we face? One is scarcity, others could be hunger, thirst, loneliness, infirmity, homelessness and war. Scarcity can be described as the fear that we won't have enough or won't get our share. This false belief that having more money and stuff will save us, actually makes us slaves. Often, having less can free us to live by faith. The book of 1 Kings narrates history with the theology that God will bless the righteous and punish those who are unfaithful to the covenant. This is the promise that God will be the God of the Israelites and they will serve him and him alone. The prophe...