Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy on Sunday, 3/4/18. The text was 1 Cor. 1:18-25. I’m wearing new earrings today, each with a cross hanging from it. We see lots of people wearing crosses around their necks, from their ears, as bracelets. 2,000 years of usage as a positive religious symbol, as decoration and as jewelry have dulled the impact of the words “cross” and “crucify.” For the Romans, crucifixion made an example of those who disturbed the peace of Rome. This punishment was for revolutionaries, terrorists, the worst criminals and slaves. It was something people turned their eyes away from. The believers at Corinth were a mess. There was in-fighting, immorality and other problems. Some valued intellect to the point that their understanding of the gospel was narrowed. Their stress on wisdom and knowledge had created elitism in the church. The Corinthians had questions about how to live their lives and how to function as a church. Their situati...

This is the sermon I preached this morning at Bender's Lutheran Church in Biglerville, PA. The gospel text is John 13:31-35. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This little song is probably familiar to us all. Is there anyone that hasn’t heard this before? Or how about “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” That sounds right. In today’s gospel, Jesus even refers to his disciples as “little children.” Sometimes it’s so wonderful to relax in the warmth of Jesus’ love, isn’t it? Today’s text takes place during the last Passover Jesus had with his disciples. The “he” of “When he had gone out” is Judas. He had just left dinner to betray Jesus. Jesus has previous told his disciples that he would be betrayed and go to the cross, but they never quite got it. Just like we don’t always get it. So, here we are with th...

Here is the sermon I'm preaching this morning at Rural Lutheran on the gospel text Mark 8:31-38. +++ In the book The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning describes a common myth that flourishes today. It goes something like this: “Once I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, an irreversible, sinless future beckons. Discipleship will be an untarnished success story; life will be an unbroken upward spiral toward holiness.” This myth has done great harm because it misrepresents the way Christian life is really live The problem is, our daily experiences fly in the face of this idea. Some say it’s simply because we don’t have enough faith. If we only said and did the right things, we could have, as one televangelist suggests, our “Best Life Now.” In today’s gospel, we find ourselves arriving seemingly in the midst of an already unfolding drama. Today we are at the turning point of Mark ’s gospel between Jesus ’ Galilean ministry a...

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...

I am among those who too easily judge others, especially if they break the rules. Matthew 12:1-14 is a classic passage pitting humans against God, rules and laws against mercy and needs . Jesus responds to the Pharisees' protest of the disciples plucking grains to eat on the sabbath by countering with examples of David eating the bread of Presence and the temple priests guiltlessly breaking the sabbath. "...something greater than the temple is here." God was among them in Christ and they didn't recognize him. He who is "Lord of the sabbath" was greater than the sabbath, greater than the temple, greater than the rules of men. Verse 7, lying right in the middle of the passage, holds the key to that which should motivate our relationships, that which motivated Christ--mercy! This is further illustrated by Jesus healing on the sabbath. He just never learned did he? He kept ob eying his heavenly father despite the religious hierarchy's opposition. Just ...