Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached Sunday, 10/22 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Matthew 22:15-22.   The question the Pharisees and Herodians present to Jesus is a yes or no question. It sounds simple enough: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” (v. 17). That’s like someone asking if such and such is in the Bible or not. But from the beginning, we’re told it’s a trap. Before they even open their mouths, suspicion has been aroused. Here, together, were Pharisees and Herodians—most unusual bedfellows.    The Pharisees were popular with the people. They disdained the actions of religious leaders who kowtowed to the Roman occupation and they were a kind of renewal movement in Judaism. In principle, they resented and resisted the tax, but did not go as far as the radical nationalists who publicly resisted its payment. Then there were the Herodians who wanted to maintain their standing and wealth, resulting from their support of the Roman occupatio...

Here is a link to an interesting post I just read. The author is the pastor of a rural Lutheran congregation.  http://trustngrace.wordpress.com

Tonight I participated in the most moving Maundy Thursday service ever. This is something the Lutheran and Presbyterian churches in Petersburg do together. We sang and prayed and read scripture and heard God's Word proclaimed...then the foot washing. Every Maundy Thursday service I have been to until tonight, needed "plants" in the congregation--those few people who agree ahead of time to go forward for foot washing in hopes of convincing others to do so as well. It always feels awkward and a bit contrived. Tonight, you could barely keep people away. No one was asked ahead of time to come forward first. The spirit in which Pastors Cantu and Cardot washed each one's feet was noteworthy as well. Neither was using a particular formulaic blessing or prayer, but each was blessing the congregants by name and in relationship to who they were. All were known and were accordingly blessed. It was impossible to hold back the tears. There was a mix of humble service and such h...

This is the message I shared with the people of Zion Lutheran Church, Baker, WV this morning. The text is Romans 15:4-13.              Hope…it’s a word we hear a lot. What does it mean? I hope it doesn’t snow. I hope I win the lottery. I hope I pass this exam. The Jewish people’s hope was in a messiah that was to come. When friends struggle with impossibly painful, awful situations, when asked if things will ever be any better, they may respond, “I hope so.” But biblical hope is more than crossing our fingers and wishing. The hope Paul speaks of in today’s reading from Romans is that “of Christian expectation…hope that faith affords” (BDAG). Hope is “to put one’s confidence in someone or something” (BDAG). And that someone or something is God.             What Paul says here begins with hope. It ends with hope. It’s like a shelf full of books with bookends. They are nam...

Some of you may or may not be familiar with Taize and its music. In the ELW there are a number of Taize hymns. They are simple, repetitive, and powerful. The other night we were watching a show on ABC called "Flash Forward." The story line is that there was a worldwide blackout for around 2 minutes. In that time, people saw glimpses of their future. Now everyone is trying to put together the pieces and figure things out. As we were watching, in the background the hymn, "Stay with Me, Abide with Me" from Taize was being played and sung. That just blew us away. A character has emerged in the show whose life has been changed in such a way that he is telling people about God and Jesus. It was quite a powerful episode. The part with the hymn is toward the very beginning after they recap what happened previously. Here's the link: http://abc.go.com/watch/flashforward/235637/254571/revelation-zero-part-1 I'd be interested in seeing what you think.

Every two weeks, a small group of us who are older seminarians (second career or third, fourth whatever) get together for lunch on Friday at one of the local restaurants (that has good food cheap). We did this yesterday, much to my husband's delight since the refectory was serving fish and chips for lunch and Ray is not a fish aficionado. We had been there a while eating and talking. Each of us was quite relaxed because although there was lots to be done this weekend for teaching parish and classes, we were finished with classes for the week and could let our hair down. Friday after classes is sacrosanct for this group. We do not do schoolwork on Fridays after class. That's what Saturday is for! After a while, a gentleman approached us and asked if he had heard correctly that we are involved with church and faith. We responded in the affirmative. He proceeded to ask prayer for someone he knew of that just had a baby and was in critical condition. We assured him she would be ad...