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Showing posts with the label God's kingdom

Of Ravens and Lilies

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This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 8/11, Animal Sunday in the Season of Creation at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The gospel was Luke 12:22-31.   Today we worship with the entire living family on Earth. We celebrate birds, animals, reptiles, and all living creatures. Wisdom functions in the readings to help us perceive God’s creation in a way that is not self-serving. We see Jesus’ teaching and creation interacting together to teach the disciples to trust their heavenly Father for everything. I had a professor who always said that when we see a “therefore,” we need to find out what it’s “there for.” Prior to today’s gospel was a dialogue with a man from the crowd, which led to Jesus’ parable of the rich fool. Our first verse summarizes the gist of Jesus’ teaching. First of all, he tells the disciples to not worry about food and clothing. It’s not like the old saying, “Don’t worry. Be happy” because there is good reason to be happy—the loving care of God. If one is wor

What is Permanent?

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This is the message I preached on Sunday, 11/18 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Mark 13:1-8 . There is a genre of films and books that are called apocalyptic. Inevitably, there is a disaster, whether it’s a virus unleashed upon the world or an alien invasion or some other horrific thing that wipes out half the population. But in the middle of the horror, there are the good and strong people that work together until an answer is found. The war is won.  Today’s reading from Mark falls somewhat into the range of apocalyptic literature. The present time is one of suffering because the people are faithful in the midst of an evil world. In the future, there are rewards for the patient and faithful righteous and eventual suffering for the unrighteous. Its purpose is to encourage faithfulness and patience in the present time.  Jesus leaves the temple for the final time. When the disciples see the temple in Jerusalem, they see permanence. Roman historian Tacitus descr