Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 2/21/18. The text was Mark 1:14-20 .                                                      Ok, I know I’m not the only one who thinks there’s something fishy about today’s gospel. Are we to really believe that these four prospective disciples would instantly drop everything and follow Jesus—and do this at night, since that’s when fishing took place to get the fish to market while they were fresh.   Jesus came to Galilee with the message, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” (v. 15). This does not refer to the regular tick-rock, minutes and seconds kind of time, but God’s time—the opportune, royal time of God’s action and activity. God is getting involved. The kingdom of God language evoked Israelite memory of a time of political independence. G...

It's been a while. I was off on the 12th. Now I will be posting the sermon from the 19th today and from the 26th tomorrow. This is the sermon I preached on Sun., June 19 at S t. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church . The scripture text was Luke 8:26-39. Look at this gospel passage. It's full of all kinds of images that are hard to understand, let alone believe: a man with demons, living naked in a cemetery, demons going into pigs and pigs jumping off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee, which is a little bigger than our Lake Chautauqua. As we should all know by now, our Lord Jesus is always going into odd, forbidden places so that outsiders of the faith become his followers. In this lesson, Jesus, is breaking down boundaries that keep people from faith and healing. Jesus' very presence in the area of the Gerasenes was just one of the boundaries broken. The residents were people that the Jewish people had little, if anything to...

Greetings. This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and at St. Mark Lutheran Church , last Sunday, June 14. The scripture was Mark 4:26-34. Who doesn't like a good mystery--the kind with multiple layers of intrigue in the plot? My favorites are those stories that let me think I know the answer to the who dun it. I really like the mysteries of Mary Higgins Clark. As the story continues, you become more or less sure of the conclusion you have reached. The plot twists and turns until you reach the end of the story and...THAT ’ S the culprit? Certainly didn't see that coming. In many ways, life in Christ has its share of mysteries. We think we know how God is leading us or what is happening next in someone's life and then-- BAM --God comes on the scene and we are blown away by the way God has worked in the situation. We didn't see that coming. Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. Just what is a parable? We may think of a parable as a s...