Claimed, gathered and sent

This weekend, Sat. & Sun., we have the opportunity to visit Petersburg, WV, where I begin internship in August. The picture at the left is from Google Earth. Because of the way God brought this about, I have not yet met my supervisor. We have only spoken over the phone and I have heard wonderful things about him. So, this weekend, we will meet. These are a few pictures I got from online sources. I will take plenty while we're there. Ray, being a train geek, buff, or whatever you want to call a train aficionado, is very happy about the nearness of a rail line. Perhaps he and a couple other train friends can connect and take advantage of the setting. In the meantime, because of being sick, I had to get extensions for some coursework. Prayers are appreciated as I begin to feel better, get the work done, and check out what will be our home for a year.

Text: John 17:20-26 I love roller coasters—the anticipation as we climb up to the top of big hills and the rush as we roll down them. We were climbing up during lent to Easter and now our 50-day Easter journey is nearly complete with Pentecost next Sunday. In today’s gospel, Jesus is in his last days with his followers before his crucifixion. I feel a bit in this text as if we’re in a figure 8 section of the roller coaster ride with all the pronouns and prepositions. And just when we think we’re coming out of the last curve and into the straightaway, it’s back to prepositions and pronouns So let’s get ready for this ride and see where it takes us… If we throw in some other phrases along with the pronouns and prepositions, things become a bit clearer: …that they may all be one so that the world may believe…so that the world may know… the world does not know you, but I know you. Now as much as I like roller coaster rides, eventually if we stay up there, we’ll get hungry, thirsty, may...

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...

For Epistles class, I had to come up with an interpretive element for the passage Philippians 4:2-9. It is the last piece of the project which consisted of exegeting the text and writing a sermon. I used Wordle, which shows the most frequent words in larger print. Here are some results: It has been an especially difficult month on many levels: physically,emotionally,academically. I will be glad when the semester is over,as much as I love my studies,and particularly glad once internship begins in August. One frustration has been where we'll live in July. Initially, we were going to be able to stay in our apartment on campus until the end of July and then we'd leave for internship. Now we have a month to be proverbial vagabonds, moving from place to place--either on campus or among family and friends. This has been a time of high anxiety for many of us. I found the above Wordles particularly helpful to bring out the themes of the passage. What it all comes down to is giving it...

"Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints" (Eph 6:18 NRS). As a second year student, I am among those who have been blessed by the prayers of the faithful people of Zion Lutheran Church.  Shortly after my classmates and I began our seminary journey we heard that these folks would like to pray for us. We each have a specific person who has been praying for each of us over the nearly two years we've been here. Last year they came to visit us here at the seminary and today we had the opportunity to visit and worship with them. It was such a blessing. My prayer partner was unable to join the group that visited us last year. Today I had the privilege of meeting her and thanking her for her prayers. It makes such a difference to know their support and faithfulness as they carry our needs to God. Today, as we gathered together we were refreshed and nourished in...

RI has experienced the worst flooding in over 100 years. We have friends and family there and would appreciate your prayers. Yesterday, the governor declared a state of emergency. The situation is very desperate. Thank you.

For quite a while, the site where I will be doing my internship has been in the works. Today, I heard officially that it's a definite GO. This is the beautiful area where I will be spending my internship year, beginning this summer. It is the town of Petersburg, WV. There are no major cities near there at all. Due west is the Grant County Airport and beyond that is the Monongahela National Forest. Wait till you see the picture with the article. It' absolutely breathtaking. I will be working with Pr. Larry Cantu, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Petersburg. I am very excited about the site and about Pr. Cantu being my supervisor. Every other site and pastor I saw and interviewed with had one or maybe two things about them that interested me. This site and pastor have multiple things that excite and energize me in ministry. When I read the profile to Ray he could hardly believe it and kept saying it had my name written all over it. It was like this was custom designed for me....