Claimed, gathered and sent

That's right! This is the message I shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church I preached the same message at St. Mark Lutheran Church with minor changes. The text is Ephesians 2:1-10. Humanity has a problem. That problem is death. Our situation was desperate. We too were dead. However, in today's reading from Ephesians, Paul is not speaking about physical death, but spiritual death. Paul's imagery is vivid concerning our former condition without Christ. We have the images of the corpse, the slave and the condemned prisoner demonstrating how bad things were. Each image portrays a devastating predicament which they are powerless to change. Helplessness pervades these first few verses. We followed the course of this world and the ruler of the power of the air, in other words, Satan. Paul has a solution to our spiritual death. It's summed up in two words: But God. It is upon these two words that everything hinges. But God is the game changer for u

This is the message I preached Sunday for God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY. Yesterday my daughter Sarah, granddaughter Grace, Ray and I watched one of my favorite Christmas movies, “A Christmas Story.” The movie is about a boy named Ralphie and his obsession with the Red Rider BB gun, which he desperately wants for Christmas. Unfortunately, Ralphie gets the same response from every person he mentions the BB gun to. His parents, teacher, even Santa told him, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” So, Ralphie softened his approach, trying to hint as opposed to outright telling his parents what he really wanted for Christmas. However, one day, his mother asked Ralphie what he wanted for Christmas. Ralphie excitedly blurted out that he wanted the Red Rider BB Gun listing all of its wonderful attributes in one breath. So much for the subtle approach.  Paul is a bit like Ralphie as he waxes eloquent about all the wonderful things God has done for us in Christ.

How does a pastor preach on something she/he has struggled with, remain genuine and not dump their pain all over the pulpit? Yesterday's gospel text was Mark 10:2-16 and this is the message I shared with God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY.             Jesus’ words in this morning’s gospel are anything but easy. His words are shocking. This is not an easy text to preach on and some ministers will shy away from this topic. Divorce is a very touchy subject in our country. Divorce has caused a lot of pain for the parties involved and especially for the children whose worlds are turned upside down by divorce. Some of us may not have personally experienced divorce, but chances are we have friends or family members who have suffered such pain. Divorce in one way or another has touched us all. For many years, I believed with all my heart that if two people were really committed to each other and God, there was no way their marriage would fail. I co

Yesterday I had the opportunity to preach at Bender's Lutheran Church . The scripture passage was Matthew 20:1-16 . It has been over a year since I've had the opportunity to be with these folks. Here is the sermon:             In this week’s gospel, Jesus is doing what he does best—turning everything upside down. Was there anything in the gospel that made you wonder—that puzzled you? I sure hope so. That is just what parables are supposed to do—catch us off guard—shock us—grab our attention.             In this reading, the surprises start right out of the gate. I find it curious that the landowner is the one who goes out to look for workers for the field. He has a manager who works for him because he is the one who pays the workers at the end of the day. Why didn’t he have his manager do the hiring?             The landowner hired day laborers to work for him. Those seeking work would gather in a central part of town to wait for someone to hire them. Unlike today,