Claimed, gathered and sent

   This Sunday I'll be preaching on Luke 3:7-18 . O nce again, we encounter John the Baptist in Sunday's gospel, Luke 3:7-18. I have a couple of questions of this text. First, how do we get from John calling his audience a brood of vipers to " So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people" (v. 18). Huh? Where do you see the good news in this passage? John is certainly an interesting character and example for us all to point to Christ and not ourselves. What do you all think? picture

 This past Sunday, 12/13, we had a cantata at St. Timothy, but I did preach at St. Mark.. The gospel text was Luke 3:7-18 . I had a good friend where I worked a number of years ago, named Ela. She would always tell me exactly what she thought about anything--no holds barred. At times, this could be painful. But I always knew where I stood and I came to value not only her friendship, but her advice. Have you ever had a friend like Ela, one who does not mince their words and always tells it like it is? It isn't always easy to have such a friend because there are times when the truth they tell you is painful. But you always know where you stand and you can trust that person to tell you exactly what they think whether you ask them or not. John the Baptist is a friend who is telling us exactly what he thinks and how he feels. He called a spade a spade, a viper a viper, and a hypocrite a hypocrite and did not care who was offended. John called his audience to a moment o...