Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts about this Sunday's gospel text for Baptism of Our Lord. This was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.   Gospel: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,  16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”    21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,  22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am we...

 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...