Claimed, gathered and sent

This was my sermon for Transfiguration, preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church You’re likely familiar with the expression, “Seeing is believing.” As Jesus is transfigured, Peter, James and John get a double dose of seeing.  Are you ready? Lights, camera, action! First there is the fantastic light show, with special guests Moses and Elijah. Concerning audio, Peter, James and John heard the voice of God from the cloud that enveloped them. The voice told them Jesus was God’s Son, the beloved and they were to listen to him. This was enough to knock them off their feet!  What a lot to see and hear! But it wasn’t the seeing of all these things that produced faith and believing in the disciples. Seeing was not believing until…well, we’ll get to that.  Peter was babbling on and on, wanting to engage in a building project; three hut-like “memorials.” The only one impressed with the idea was Peter. Neither Moses, Elijah nor Jesus encouraged Peter in this endeavor. In fact, the not...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel, sent to the people of St. Timothy today. Gospel: Luke 9:28-36  28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.  29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.  30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.  31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.  34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified ...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 2/11/18 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is Mark 9:2-9 . The other night, Ray and I were watching the old tv show, “The Twilight Zone” on Netflix. The story was about a man from the 1800s, Wild West, who was suddenly transported to 20th century, downtown Manhattan. At night, he was surrounded by cars with horns blaring, buses, bright neon lights flashing and so on. It was more than he could stand and he nearly went out of his mind. What if the scene were reversed? What if someone from our time found him or herself as a witness of Jesus’ transfiguration? We can explain so much in our world—from volcanoes to northern lights to germs and disease transmission. What do we do when we are confronted with something so amazing, otherworldly and unexplainable? Three of the disciples went with Jesus to a high mountain. This tips us off that something big is going to happen. Throughout scripture important revelations happen on mountains...

This is the message I shared with St. Timothy and St. Mark's Lutheran churches. The scripture was 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.      Do any of you ever have bad dreams? Sometimes they seem so real, especially when you wake up in a pitch-dark bedroom. The darkness just exacerbates your fear. You begin to imagine all kinds of things. Maybe someone has broken into the house. Maybe there’s a monster hiding under the bed or there’s a ghost hiding in the bedroom closet. Neutral images take on malevolent qualities in the dark. It is difficult to relax until we have turned on a light. Then we can see clearly—no one with evil intent is standing next to our bed. That large scary image you saw—that was just your dresser and there are no monsters under the bed. And that scary monster under the bed was only the cat.   The presence of light informs our perception of the reality of the nightmare threat. Light makes all the difference. That is what our readings are all abo...

   One of the joys I have discovered at my new call is how much they appreciate technology. One church has a webpage and a Facebook page while the other has a Facebook page. Weeekly, at St. Tim's , they have the pastor prepare an e-message based on the coming Sunday's scripture texts. This motivates me to keep up my blog. So, this was part of my e-message for St. Timothy's today:  If our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get. Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ...