Claimed, gathered and sent

  Pentecost, 5/24, was wonderful. After the service at St. Mark's , we had a delightful time at a very special birthday party for a 90 year old member from St. Timothy's that included Swedish dancers and barber shoppers. In the morning, I preached from Acts 2:1-21. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles in the upper room experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit. This filling equipped the apostles with inspired speech for ministry. It is the first fruits because the Holy Spirit's filling of believers did not end with the original followers of Jesus. The focus is a celebration of the Spirit of the risen Christ in the church. Do you remember how last week's gospel described what the disciples did after Jesus' ascension? Luke recorded that they were praying and worshipping and waiting for Jesus' promise  "and [the disciples] were continually in the temple blessing God" (Luke 24:53).. But then, God shows up and the Holy Spirit breaks in and sha

This is what I preached Sunday at St Timothy , Bemus Point and St. Mark , Mayville. The gospel text is Mark 8:31-38 . What is your first impression of the exchange between Peter and Jesus? Peter rebukes Jesus and then Jesus rebukes Peter. This is a very puzzling text, a real head scratcher. One might say that Jesus was having a bad day and was really mean and cranky with Peter. After all, Jesus did have a lot on his plate, especially with everyone's expectations of him as their messiah. What was so wrong about Peter's response to Jesus' news about suffering, being killed and rising?After all, Peter loved Jesus and cared about what would happen to him. Put yourself in Peter's shoes. Peter could not imagine his messiah and friend being subjected to such horror.  Wasn't  Peter responding in a way any loving friend would? Let's be honest with each other. Do any of you wonder why Jesus is talking like this?  Let's see what we can discover tog