Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church this Sunday. The text is Matthew 10:40-42 .  A tale of two churches. I got acquainted with Church One during my first year of seminary. It was my teaching parish. That’s where I spent most Sundays, engaging in a variety of roles--student, assisting minister, and sometimes preacher and teacher. I will never forget my very first Sunday there. The pastor asked me to visit “incognito.” He told me not to wear a clerical collar to identify me as a seminarian, so I could experience this church as a visitor would. It was a tiny congregation, so anyone different would stand out. No one seemed to notice my presence, however. No one greeted me other than the pastor’s wife. Many of you know that I was not raised Lutheran. My stock answer for why I became a Lutheran is that the Lutherans were friendly, so this experience was puzzling. I was disturbed by the coldness of the congregation. This was unlike any experience I had ever...

This is the sermon I'll be preaching tomorrow at St. Timothy Lutheran Church's Drive-In service. The gospel text is Matthew 10:40-42 . We have a reputation as a welcoming church and so we are. However, in these days of Coronavirus, we have to welcome differently. We cannot hug or shake hands with those with whom we do not live. We need to maintain a physical distance of 6 feet from others. As we wear masks, people cannot see if we are smiling or frowning. So, this leaves us in a quandary. How are we to be welcoming in these days, when physically distancing ourselves from others may be the most welcoming, loving thing we can do? Right out of the box, the basic theme of today’s gospel is obvious—welcome. Before these verses, Jesus was preparing his followers for what they may experience as they were sent out into the world; persecution. Here things have been flipped a bit with the emphasis more on the benefit to those welcoming the evangelists instead of what the sent ma...

Here are some thoughts on Sunday's gospel. This was sent out to the people of S t. Timothy Lutheran Church, Bemus Point, NY. Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42 [Jesus said to the twelve:] 40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Yesterday, when Ray and I were reading from 30-Day Journey with Dietrich Bonhoeffer , the book we’re reading for our Adult Study session, I came across these words that hit me like a ton of bricks. See what they say to you regarding this gospel passage. “The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the seemingly useless people, from everyday Christian life...