Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I prepared and shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . We met together in spirit. The text was Ephesians 5:8-16 in The Message.   Bemus Point is always quiet this time of year, but not this eerily quiet. Stores and restaurants that are normally open are closed, seemingly abandoned. Lights are off, businesses are shuttered and life has seemingly screeched to a halt. The darkness seems to be winning.  In these days of COVID 19 does it ever seem like you are feeling your way through the darkness? What you knew yesterday isn’t true today. The situation keeps changing at a dizzying rate. There is a powerlessness to life in the darkness. What makes the darkness seem hopeless and helpless is the sense that the Lord is not there. Life within the darkness feels utterly alone. It reminds me a bit of life in Palestine when I lived there with my family in the 1980s. Day by day life changed. One day it was safe to go to this part of Bethlehem...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's second lesson. These are uncertain times in which we live and I think this scripture speaks to us today. What are your thoughts? This was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-16 from The Message 8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. 11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Ch...

This is the message I shared with St. Timothy and St. Mark's Lutheran churches. The scripture was 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.      Do any of you ever have bad dreams? Sometimes they seem so real, especially when you wake up in a pitch-dark bedroom. The darkness just exacerbates your fear. You begin to imagine all kinds of things. Maybe someone has broken into the house. Maybe there’s a monster hiding under the bed or there’s a ghost hiding in the bedroom closet. Neutral images take on malevolent qualities in the dark. It is difficult to relax until we have turned on a light. Then we can see clearly—no one with evil intent is standing next to our bed. That large scary image you saw—that was just your dresser and there are no monsters under the bed. And that scary monster under the bed was only the cat.   The presence of light informs our perception of the reality of the nightmare threat. Light makes all the difference. That is what our readings are all abo...

We had a service of Holy Communion yesterday at the Grant County Nursing Home. Pr. Cantu asked me to do the homily and this is what I shared with the residents. Have any of you ever experienced a power failure? You scramble around the house to get the candles, lanterns, and flashlights. It can be pretty scary. In the 1980s, I lived in Bethlehem in the Holy Land. Sometimes the electricity would go out. We didn’t always know how long it would be out for—20 minutes, a couple of hours or even days.  When it is pitch dark, even the smallest bit of flickering light from a candle can have an impact. I can think of numerous times when I cooked by candlelight, ate by candlelight, and did dishes by candlelight. We even read or played board games by candlelight. If enough candles are gathered together, you’d be surprised how much light they can give. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under...