Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached on 3/25 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Philippians 2:5-11 . Paul quotes a hymn or song in Philippians 2. This reminds me of another song, “Love Has Come,” which is the gist of what the Philippians' song is about. We can think of it as before Love came, Love has come, Love has lived, Love has been rewarded and Love has shown us how to live. Before Love came, Jesus was living with the Father and Spirit in the love of the Trinity. The theological term for this is Jesus’ preexistence. Paul writes, “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself” (v. 5). The New English Bible renders these words as, “Let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life in Christ.” Everything flows from our relationship and connectedness to Christ. God is the God who always comes down—and look what Jesus gave up! Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit were in perpetual love and fellowship. Leaving all that behind, was lik...

This is the message I shared with St.Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Christmas Eve, 12/24/15. The scripture text is Luke 2:1-14. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go..." Do we really miss the snow? Ray's hoping for orange trees to start sprouting in the front yard of the parsonage any day now. This is such a wonderful time of the year as we gather with family and friends. We love the music and the food and all those nostalgic things that make this time of year Christmas. Bethlehem and all its excitement with Jesus' birth seems far removed from our reality. We live in a world of materialism in which Christmas advertising begins around Halloween. By the time Christmas has arrived, we are already Christmased out. But don't let that stop you. There is good news here for us in tonight's gospel reading. Mary and Joseph too went home--they went to Bethlehem because of a decree issued by the...