Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached this morning at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was John 8:31-26 .  Today's gospel reading is all about freedom. The whole Reformation is all about freedom as well. From Paul's declaration that we have been justified by grace to Luther's hammering his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Church door, we are reminded of the supremacy of God's grace. What the Reformation tells us is that there is nothing we can do, say or accomplish to earn God's love. God's love is a gift. We have problems when we forget that we already have love as a gift from God and try to earn it on our own.  As a monk, Martin Luther tried hard to get rid of the sin he thought was in him. He took harsh measures to subdue his body and its desires. His eyes were opened to the way of freedom from sin and the power of the devil through Jesus after reading God's word in Romans. The word “free” appears throughout today's reading. Jesus is the word, the truth th...

  This is the message I'm preaching later today, Reformation Sunday, at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. If you're in the area, join us. You can worship outdoors, in the comfort of your care for our drive-in service or you can come inside for worship. The service is from 10-10:30 AM. The gospel text is John 8:31-36 .  Hello, my name is Ivy and I’m a sinner. As our confession earlier stated, “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Now it’s your turn, “Hello, my name is _______ and I’m a sinner.” We humans find ourselves in a real dilemma. But then God sent his Son to save us, as Luther wrote, from sin, death, and the power of the devil.   Jesus declares this truth to the “Jews who had believed in him” (v. 31). Now for some reason they just didn’t get it. They ignored the part about truth and latched onto the part about freedom and took it as a political statement.   Their response that they had never been slaves to anyone was ludicrous! Throughout thei...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel for Reformation Sunday that were shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  What are your thoughts? Gospel: John 8:31-36 31 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”   34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”   Jesus is speaking of spiritual realities and the Jewish audience understands his statement in physical terms. Jesus speaks of truth and freedom. The listeners latch on to the part about freedom declaring they have never been sla...

This is the sermon I preached on Reformation Sunday, 10/27/19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text is John 8:31-36 .  As I was preparing for worship today, there was a song was going through my mind, one I don’t even like. It’s “Freedom” by Richie Havens. I guess it has stayed with me because of the repetition of the word “freedom.” Some of the other lyrics are haunting as well: “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child” and “ Sometimes I feel like I'm almost gone.” But of course, what is remembered the most is the word “freedom” that echoes throughout. As Americans, freedom is a concept we’re very familiar with. We fought for freedom from the British to form our own nation. Throughout our history, we have fought on behalf of others for their freedom from oppression. We have parades on various patriotic holidays to help us celebrate our liberty from oppression.  We know a lot about freedom… or do we? Just what is the kind of free...

This is the reflection that was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . I would appreciate your thoughts and comments. Gospel: John 8:31-36 31Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”   34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Bondage is a problem all over our world: financial bondage, the bondage of refugees, bondage to sickness, bondage to grief and sadness and bondage to sin, death and the power of the devil as Martin Luther tells us in The Small Catechism. Sometimes we may feel like we ar...

This is the message I shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Reformation Sunday, Oct. 28. The text was John 8:31-36 . I’m sure we’ve all seen pictures of the migrant caravan and our hearts are moved, whether or not we believe they should be allowed into our country. I cannot help but hear Honduras over and over as the place from which most of the migrants have come. They want to be free from the harsh life of their land of origin. They want a better life for their children. They want to be free from the poverty and violence in their neighborhoods. It brings to mind the refrain from an old song from the ‘60s by the Rascals: “All the world over, so easy to see People everywhere just wanna be free Listen, please listen, that's the way it should be There's peace in the valley, people got to be free.” (Edward Brigati / Felix Cavaliere, People Got to Be Free lyrics © Sony/ATV Music  P ublishing LLC, 1968) Today, as Lutheran Christians, we celebra...

These are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel that werensent out electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Gospel: John 8:31-36 31 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;  32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”    34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.  35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.  36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” We are used to propositional phrases like  if this, then that.  As Lutheran Christians, accustomed to God’s unbounded grace that comes to us without our own efforts, we may find ourselves startled by the first two verses of this S...

This is the message I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, Oct. 29. The gospel text is John 8:31-36.   Today we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, a movement that not only impacted the church of that age, but all ages. What one word would you use to describe the distinctiveness of the Lutheran movement? Is it grace, justification, the good works we do through Lutheran Disaster Relief, ELCA World Hunger, or something else? These are all good answers, but they are not unique to us as Lutherans. The word freedom is the one most celebrated by Martin Luther. He was in bondage to a view of God as judge and went to great lengths to try to appease God by bringing his body into submission by extreme deprivation such as intensive fasting and beating himself with a whip. It was not until reading in the book of Romans of salvation by grace through faith that the burden of working to be saved was lifted from Luther’s shoulder...