Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches on Sunday, Oct. 23. The text was Luke 18:9-14. At first glance, this is one of the shortest, most straightforward and easy to understand parables of Jesus. It's about two men and prayer. One man is the good guy and the other anything but. The gist of this parable is about how to pray, isn't it?-----or is it?   We don't understand this parable as those of the first century did. Because we know how the parable ends, we assume that the Pharisee must represent the one who put his trust in himself, that he was righteous and the one who despised others. The first century listeners would have had opposite impressions of these two men. Pharisees often prayed, went to the temple and did all the right religious things--so it would seem they must be trusting God, not themselves.    Tax collectors were traitors to their fellow Jews--so it stands to reason that they must be th

Sunday, we had healing services at both St. Timothy Lutheran Church and at  St. Mark Lutheran Church i n Mayville. It is a part of our liturgy which I always enjoy. We do this whenever there's a fifth Sunday. A few came forward at St. Timothy and it was a significant time for folks whether they came forward or remained in their seats. When we began this part of the service at St. Mark, nearly everyone that I laid hands on threw there arms around me and many said that they needed to pray for me. They had tears in their eyes. The Holy Spirit fell and visited us in such a special way. Nearly everyone came forward for prayer and God's presence was with us in such a sweet way. Reflecting back on that time, the words of Michael W. Smith's song, Healing Rain came to mind. Along with that there was the thought that the tears that were shed on Sunday were God's healing rain of tears. Here is the You Tube of Healing Rain. I am asking for your prayers as well. I have fou