Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, July 21 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text is Genesis 50:15-21. J is for Joseph. Families are complicated. Jacob, Joseph’s father, doted on Joseph. Jacob had a coat of many colors made for Joseph. He was clearly his father’s favorite son. His brothers had reason to be jealous! And Joseph wasn’t perfect, either. He also told them about the dreams he had, showing him in a superior position over them. It is not a smart thing to do. How could Joseph be so forgiving? These are the brothers who threw him into a pit, and sold him to the Egyptians because they were jealous of him.  None of us is perfect. Joseph was forgiving, but first, he put his brothers to the test when they were reunited. He accused them of being spies. He put some of them in prison, as well as testing them in other ways. “It is not until the brothers ‘pass’ all of the tests that Joseph finally breaks down, weeping ‘so loud that the Egyptians heard it,’ and finally...

This is the sermon I shared with God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY. It is based on Matthew 1:18-25. Is it Christmas yet? If you are around small children this time of year, you know what a burning question this is for them. We have two more days to go until Christmas Eve, when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Perhaps today’s gospel seems a bit misplaced. It is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, not Christmas Eve. Yet we’re talking about the birth of Jesus---or are we? Only the first and last verses of today’s gospel reading are about the actual birth of Jesus. There is a larger story being played out driven by Mary’s unexpected pregnancy. These birth verses act as bookends to that drama. Divine works and signs permeate Matthew’s account of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth. But for God’s Son to become incarnate with us, a lot depended upon people cooperating with God. Human beings are not automatons without wills where everything happens...

This is the message I preached yesterday at Grace Lutheran Church , my internship site. The text is Matthew 2:13-23. Didn’t yesterday’s dusting of snow make everything look so clean and white outside? It seemed picture perfect. We can hear, “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” in our heads. The time we’ve been waiting for has arrived. It’s finally Christmas! It’s so wonderful to be with family and friends. And if children are part of the mix, don’t you just love the joy and wonder they bring to this time of year? It’s so special. It seems like all is well with the world…at least for some of us.             Others dread this season—the memories stirred up of loved ones now gone, of broken relationships, of missed opportunities, the sheer loneliness of outliving your friends and family.   This can be a time of depression and sadness as well.             That which is a ti...