Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached last Sunday, Baptism of Our Lord, Jan. 13 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel was Luke 3:15-17, 21-22.   You are probably familiar with the TV show, “The Voice.,” Unknown amateur artists have the chance to wow the judges and viewers. The winner receives $100,000 and a recording contract. Even those that haven’t won have often gone on to have successful careers because of their exposure on the show. Listeners have heard some amazing voices and some not so amazing. In today’s gospel for the Baptism of Our Lord, author Luke spends little time writing about the actual baptism, but rather concentrates on the aftermath, speaking of yet another Voice, that of the Father.  It is after Jesus’ baptism, while he was praying that the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended that things started to happen. The closing of heaven brought drought (Luke 4:25), while the opening of heaven would bring God’s blessings. God’s power and mercy w...

Here are some thoughts about this Sunday's gospel text for Baptism of Our Lord. This was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.   Gospel: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,  16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”    21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,  22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am we...

This is the sermon I preached two Sundays ago, 1/10/16 at St.Timothy http://www.sttimothybemus.com/Church/Home.html and St. Mark Lutheran Churches . The scripture text is Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 . We celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord.  Today we celebrate the baptism of Our Lord Jesus. In Luke's gospel, the actual baptism itself is rather downplayed. Greater emphasis is placed on the events that took place surrounding Jesus' baptism. The purpose of this passage is to introduce and begin to answer the question of Jesus' identity and mission as well as to highlight the work of the Holy Spirit in anointing people for ministry. The passage itself is presented to us as a revelatory drama of Jesus' post baptismal experience. This drama consists of three parts: the heavens are opened, the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus and there is a voice from heaven. In part 1 of our drama-the heavens are opened. Here Luke repeats end time imagery about the coming of the Messia...