Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached Sunday, 10/9 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was 2 Timothy 2:8-15.   Timothy is to “Remember Jesus Christ” (v. 8), which includes Paul’s gospel; his understanding and teaching about Jesus. Jesus is resurrected and a descendant of King David. He was part of the royal line, the truly human king that God promised Israel.  Paul contrasts his situation being literally chained—experiencing the condition of suffering and death with the power of the living word of God, which is not chained. Paul does not downplay the fact that the gospel entails suffering. The German Confessing Church in 1934 had single-minded leaders. They faced those who wanted to co-opt the church to serve the state of Germany instead of Christ. They wrote, “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death” (Cochrane). Martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, professor in the Con...

This is the sermon I preached last Sunday, 10/13/19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was 2 Timothy 2:8-15. Paul tells Timothy to “Remember Jesus Christ” (v. 8). Paul’s gospel, his understanding and teaching about Jesus is what Timothy is to remember. Paul sums up the gist of that gospel: that Jesus is resurrected and that he’s a descendant of King David. In other words, he was part of the royal line, the king that was promised to Israel and he was truly human. Paul contrasts his own situation of being literally chained—experiencing the condition of suffering and death with the power of the living word of God, which is not chained. Paul does not downplay the fact that the gospel entails suffering. Did Paul sit back in prison, thinking about how he could possibly proclaim the gospel now? He was in jail. However, Paul does not allow his own circumstances to become an obstacle to the progress of the gospel. He suffers vicariously—for the sake of the elect, who have be...

This is the reflection sent electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Thursday, April 18, 2019. SCRIPTURE FOCUS Gospel: Luke 24:1-12 1 On the first day of the week, at early dawn, [the women] came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.  2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  3 but when they went in, they did not find the body.  4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.  5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.  6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,  7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  8 Then they remembered his words,  9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest....

Week after week the workload in seminary seems undo able. I haven't posted anything lately because I, like others, have hardly come up for air from the piles on our desks of books and papers. Week after week I am stressed about whether or not I will get everything done that must be done. I'm not always sure (well, yeah I am) how everything gets done, but it does. This time I even tried to work ahead to no avail in preparation for guests. My daughter and granddaughter visited this weekend from Rochester, NY. There was tons to be done, but I was determined to be as present and in the moment with them as possible. I did have to do some work for teaching parish, but most of my time was spent with them. And it's a good thing because they arrived sick and needing lots of TLC. Sunday they were totally out of it, so Ray stayed home and gave them lots of love while I went to Rural Lutheran. They had perked up a bit while I was gone, but were still pretty out of it. I am so gra...