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Showing posts with the label wilderness

Wild and Wooly John the Baptist

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This is the sermon I preached (yes, I'm finally over COVID and I'm back!) on Sunday, Dec. 10 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is Mark 1:1-8.     It is impossible not to love Mark’s version of things. He cuts right to the chase. There is no birth story. His gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The rest of the gospel explains how he can make that claim.  The good news doesn't start with the gospel or anything else in the New Testament, because the story of salvation and God's loving interaction with humanity began in Genesis "in the beginning;" Immediately after Mark’s introductory verse, he goes back to the prophets of Israel and the promises God made through them. Mark cites Isaiah, but what we have here a mash-up of Isaiah, Malachi and the author of Exodus (Exodus 23:20; Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3). We hear “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” (v. 3). “The wilderness is key to Israelite history. It was in the wilderness t

God's Word in the Wilderness

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This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 12/9/18. The text was Luke 3:1-6 We have in the very beginning of today’s gospel a list of 7 rulers of that time. Imagine these verses as a movie in which we see the known world, the center of which is Rome and we slowly zoom in – but not where we expect. Now , who of all of these does God choose? Emperor Tiberius-nope Pontius Pilate—nope Herod-nope Philip-nope Lysanius-nope Anna’s and Caiaphas-nope John…yep…wait…who? Once again, God chooses the most unlikely candidate in the most unlikely place. After all, Judea, in which were Jerusalem and Bethlehem, was a mere backwater of the world and John the Baptist was a nobody. But what God is doing through him will affect everything—even up to the emperor. In this list, we also have a foreshadowing of what was to come in Jesus’ confrontations with Annas and Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate. This, after all, is the world of a God who is completely involved i

In the Wilderness

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Here are some thoughts I shared regarding this Sunday's gospel for Advent 2.  This was sent to the people of St. Timothy .  SCRIPTURE FOCUS Gospel: Luke 3:1-6 1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,  2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.  3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,  4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.   5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth;   6 and all flesh shall see the s

In the Wilderness

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This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 2/18/18 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel text was Mark 1:9-15 .  This has been a hard week. Once again our hearts have broken as we heard the news of violence and death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We wonder how long will this insanity go on? Why doesn’t someone do something? What can be done? Some would say that gun control is the answer. Others suggest arming teachers and other authority figures in the schools. There are so many issues that surround the continuing horror with no simple explanation or solution. On some level, we have all been touched by this. And in the midst of it all, we may wonder where God is and why did God allow this to happen? God does not force people to do the right thing. We have our own wills, as do those who commit such horrendous acts. Don’t even suggest that “everything happens for a reason,” because that just isn’t so. However, one thing I can assure you of

God Meets Us in the Wilderness

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This is the sermon I preached at St. Mark and St..Timothy  Lutheran churches on Sunday, 12/10/17. The text is Mark 1:1-8. In Matthew and Luke, we have detailed stories of angels and shepherds and magi and angry kings. John’s gospel is an entirely different matter. But you have to love Mark’s version of things. He cuts right to the chase. There is no birth story. His gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The rest of the gospel explains how he can make that claim. But the beginning of the good news is not the gospel or anything else in the New Testament because the story of salvation and God’s loving interaction with humanity began in Genesis “In the beginning;” in creation. Immediately after Mark’s introductory verse, he goes back to the prophets of Israel and the promises God made through them. Mark cites Isaiah, but what we have here a mash-up of Isaiah, Malachi and the author of Exodus (Exodus 23:20; Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3). We hear “the voice of o