Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached Sunday, Oct. 15 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Matthew 22:1-14.  Many of Jesus’ parables in Matthew are hard to understand. It seems like God is very harsh and judgmental, what Lutherans would call emphasizing law instead of gospel.  In this parable, sometimes it seems we can equate the king with God, who graciously invites everyone to the banquet. But, what about when the king had those who did not accept his invitation killed and their cities destroyed? Does that sound like God? After the servants invited everyone, good and bad, to the banquet, the king picks on one man who was not appropriately dressed. Did he have time to change? In those days, the king provided the proper clothing for those attending the banquet. Was it the fault of one of the servants? Did the man just make light of this banquet and dishonor the king by not changing? We don’t know, but there are certainly plenty of possibilities. The king/God seems to h...

 On Sunday, 11/29, we had something very different as part of our service at St. Timothy , there was a wedding. It fit in beautifully with worship. This is the sermon I preached on 11/29, the first Sunday of Advent. The text is 1Thessalonians 3:9-13 . The turkey was carved and eaten on Thanksgiving and we are still eating leftovers. Before we even ended that day of thanks, the world started nudging or should I say shoving us into Christmas shopping. But today is the first Sunday of Advent, a time that we pray along with Paul that all our waiting for God be characterized by lives of gratitude, love and blamelessness. What a sharp contrast to what our culture expects of us at this time of year: we came, we saw, we bought. The Thessalonian church, was living a life that sharply contrasted to the society around them. They were a young church and they found themselves in the midst of persecution for their faith. The believers had begun to follow a new King and were se...