Claimed, gathered and sent

It has been a long time since I posted anything. It has been a very rough few months personally and in my ministry at Bethel. Due to financial issues, the church has had to make a change in the call. It will be going from full time to half time. After much prayer and discerning, I determined that I am not supposed to be that part time pastor for these wonderful people of God. I will remain here until Jan. 31, 2015 unless I receive a new call before that date. God has certainly challenged us all and we'll see what God has in mind for all of us. Whatever it is, it will be good. For the first Sunday of Advent, I preached on Isaiah 64:1-9. Here is the sermon:   Happy New Year! That’s right. Happy New Year! Normally, we associate the first day of the year with Jan. 1, but that is for the secular calendar. The church liturgical year starts on a different date and is traditionally 4 Sundays before Christmas. This period of four weeks before Christmas is Advent, which m...

Tomorrow I'm supplying for a friend. I'll be preaching on the first lesson, Isaiah 55:1-9 , which has been deeply meaningful for me. The sermon is still just in my mind, but this morning, working on other assignments, I was listening to internet radio and the following song came on: Whether the hunger and thirst are physical or spiritual, it can be a scary place to be in. And yet God keeps on calling us to come to the feast, to not be afraid. Those are just some of the thoughts that are swirling through my head as I prepare to proclaim God's Word of plenteous food and drink for God's people. When it has come together and been preached, I'll post it.

We as Lutherans don’t talk much about the Holy Spirit. For some, even the words Holy Spirit conjure up images of Pentecostals, holy rollers and so on. My own journey has taken me from being a nominal Roman Catholic by way of the charismatic movement to the Lutheran church where I have seen the Holy Spirit’s work through Word and Sacrament, in our worship together, in the community of faith, and in our outreach. In Luke, we first hear of the Holy Spirit as Gabriel makes the promise to Mary that she will be the mother of Christ. The Holy Spirit is also on the scene at Jesus’ baptism descending upon him like a dove. Once full of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Today’s gospel reading occurs right after that temptation. Strengthened by his time of testing, Jesus is now ready for his public ministry and the Holy Spirit is at work once again. After his baptism, he had begun teaching in Galilee, the...