Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the short homily I shared Christmas Day with the people of St Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The scripture text was Luke 2:8-20 . In this passage from Luke, we see the angels appearing not to the elite and rich. They appeared to shepherds, who were one of the lowest on the societal totem pole. Shepherds were looked down upon even to the point where their testimony was not allowed in a court of law. Once again, God turned the world upside down by appearing to nobodies and giving them news of earth shaking possibilities. Don't we see that happen in today's world--where God moves outside of our perfect little boxes and does something totally unexpected or appears to the most unacceptable? We can be sure that if we are open to possibilities, God will appear to us in any number of ways. After all, Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us He brings “good news of great joy [to] all the people.” I'm sure some of our gifts have already been...

This is what I preached Sunday at my home church, Emanuel Lutheran Church, West Warwick, RI. It was wonderful to see everyone and it still felt like home. The text was John 1:10-18. We arrived here in RI this past Thursday after spending a week and a half in Rochester, NY with our daughter and granddaughter. Our granddaughter, Grace, was so excited about Christmas and the various celebrations she would be participating in. Her excitement was contagious. We had a wonderful, worshipful, and relaxing Christmas together Now much of the excitement of Christmas is over. For some people it was over as they picked up the wrapping paper from opened gifts and threw it out. For others, vacations are finished. Today is the second Sunday after Christmas, but the kids will be back to school tomorrow and others will be back to work. The bell ringers for the Salvation Army are gone and the special efforts to help the poor may not be lifted up as much as they were throughout Christmas. ...

Please take a look at this link. I could not help but think about today's Bethlehem as we sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

My semester is done! I finished this morning at 3 AM. Once my Confessions paper was done, all my work was complete. I had 2 classes today and that was it. All exams and papers are done! Yeah! That being said, I can now do some blogging and catch up with other bloggers. Fri. morning we'll leave PA to spend Christmas with my daughter and granddaughter. We'll see friends as well. I've really been looking forward to this trip. That part of the country is home for me and I've been a bit homesick this semester, especially missing my kids. After our time in NY, we'll go to New England to spend time with friends and family there. I'm looking forward to that as well. I'll have a chance to preach at my home church Jan. 3. After the break, there'll be a couple of days before I go for my J-term cultural immersion experience in Appalachia. Four of us will be going to different places, shadowing pastors. We'll be there for 2 weeks/3 Sundays. After that time it wil...