Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I am preaching at St. Timothy Lutheran Church's Drive-In Service. The text is Isaiah 55:10-13 The 6 th century BC prophet Isaiah, speaks to his people as a fellow exile. They are far from their home country of Judea, including Jerusalem and its environs. Some remember life there, while others only know life in Babylon. Jerusalem had been destroyed and few remained there. Babylon’s religion, language, and culture were different. They were aliens; there due to rebellion and disobedience to God. However, now this exile has done its work and it is time for the fulfillment of God’s promises. They will return to the land of their origin. God’s word has gone forth. We cannot depend upon much in life, least of all the weather. As we hear so often, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes and it will change.” Weather, however, is more dependable in the Holy Land. There’s the rainy season when it can also snow and the dry season. Even if dark clouds gath...

This is the reflection on Sunday's first lesson that was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. What are your thoughts? Isaiah 55:10-13 The Message 10-11 Just as rain and snow descend from the skies     and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,   producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, So will the words that come out of my mouth     not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do,     they’ll complete the assignment I gave them. 12-13  “So you’ll go out in joy,     you’ll be led into a whole and complete life. The mountains and hills will lead the parade,     bursting with song. All the trees of the forest will join the procession,     exuberant with applause. No more thistles, but giant sequoias,    ...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church l ast Sunday, 11/20/19. The text was 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5.  Everything about our lives in Christ revolves around relationship: relationship with God, relationship with each other and relationship with our community. At the center of all of this we find scripture, holding it all together. We find two critical themes in 2 Timothy concerning scripture as 1. gift of God and 2. for the practical life of God’s people. As the gift of God, scripture was intended to be part of a lively dialogue, a life-giving and dynamic interpretation, with commentaries emerging to respond to changing times, rather than as an unchanging and infallible document. God-breathed scriptures are inspiring, not imprisoning. They guide our paths, but don’t determine exactly each and every step we take. Scripture energizes and motivates instead of imprisoning and suffocating us. The sacred writings of Timothy’s childhood were the Hebrew Scr...

Since September of last year, I have been informally involved with Grant Memorial Hospice. I did the orientation, took the necessary tests, and we just had to wait for the background check to come back. That should have taken just a very short time...and we waited...and they called...and they faxed and refaxed...and called...every few days. The hold up was with the PA Dept. of Motor Vehicles. Hospice kept requesting my driving history and the DMV would say they never received the request. So the running joke was about what a shady character I must be. Finally, last week, I was officially able to be a volunteer!!!!! Many of Pr. Cantu's interns have worked with hospice, but they never had this much trouble getting all the background information on one. Hmmm.... Friday, I was able to join Joyce, the hospice social worker as a volunteer for the very first time. The people we visited were Lutheran, so I was able to bring communion to them from our service at Grace. They were a deligh...

I have followed most of today's and some of previous days' online coverage of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. My opinions have changed radically not just in recent years, but in recent days. I was impressed with the passion and hearts of all who spoke for and against the proposed ministry policies. A while back an online petition was circulated that was a letter from seminarians to the ELCA in support of LGBT persons in monogamous relationships to be included in rostered ministry in the ELCA. At that time, I could not in good conscience sign said petition. I could not come down on one side of the other. God kept challenging my long held positions. Particularly today, however, as I prayed and listened to the CWA plenary session, I had to add my opinion to that of the majority. Listening and hearing people's hearts is something I have learned during CPE this summer. As I practiced that skill today, the issue was not one of sexuality, but of love, the fruit of the Spirit, and th...