Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached last Sunday, 11/17/19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 21:5-19 . It has happened once again—another school shooting that has resulted in the death or injury of children. This time the act was committed in Santa Clarita, CA, by the children’s classmate on his 16 th birthday. We cry out like the Psalmist, “ Turn, O  Lord !  How   long ? Have compassion on your servants!” (Psalm 90:13). No matter what our feelings are on gun control, we struggle to understand how this can continue to happen in our country week after week. As of November 15, which was the 319 th day of the year, there have been 366 mass shootings in our country. This means an average of more than one mass shooting a day. More would have been hurt and/or killed had the kids not followed their active shooter training. I find it difficult to comprehend our children and grandchildren needing to practice in anticipation of the day when someone ...

  It was so difficult to know how to preach this passage from Luke. So many horrible things have happened in the last few weeks. God did give me the words for God's people at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches . Much thanks is owed to David Lose and his insights. The text was Luke 10:38-42. I preached this on Sun., 7/17.  Does Jesus seem a little mean to Martha? After all, Martha was taking on the role that was expected of her in first century Palestine. She was being a good hostess. When we are hosting an important guest, don’t we want everything to be just so? After all, we want to make a good impression, don’t we? We want people to have such a wonderful meal and visit that they will want to come back. Martha had become less concerned with Jesus, her guest, and more concerned with her tasks. It was not a matter of what she was doing, but how she was doing it. She became task focused rather than Christ focused. Listen to Martha’s complain...

It was hard to know how what to say the Sunday following the terrible loss of life in Newtown, CT. There were no words that came, but we prayed. Many theories are floated about as to how this could happen. What do you think of this author's response? Alban - Building Up Congregations and Their Leaders