Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I preached on Mark 10:35-45  at Bethel Lutheran Church in Portville, NY, where I have the prprivilege of being the pastor.      A few years ago, Monster.com had an advertising campaign featuring children saying: When I grow up, I want to file all day. I want to claw my way up to middle management…be replaced on a whim. I wanna be a yes man…yes woman…anything for a raise sir. When I grow up I want to be underappreciated…paid less for doing the same job.   (Monster.com, You Tube, 1999) From the world’s perspective, who would want to strive to be or do any of these things? It is not the American dream. How often do we hear people tell children, “You can be anything you want to be! You may even be President one day!” Our human nature causes us to want to get ahead, be successful, and have the biggest, the brightest and the best. We desire upward mobility and we want recognition! -- So did Jesus’ disciples—at least the two of them that...

In the church, September is always a busy time. People return who have spent time away during the summer. School and the church program year begins again. And in my case, three weeks in a row involved some travel and time away. There were several "firsts' for me as a pastor last month and they were practically back to back. Early in the month I attended the ordination of a dear classmate from seminary. This is the first time I have done so since my own ordination in July. This means I was able to "vest and process" (wear my own clerical garb and process in with other clergy). It also means that when it was time for the laying on of hands of my dear friend, I was able to do so with other pastors. I was able during much of the service to watch my friend's face and see the peaceful glow of God's presence in her life. I had the joy of performing my first baptism--of a 14 year old boy who was taller than I am. Ok, those of you who know me...no laughing. I kn...

How does a pastor preach on something she/he has struggled with, remain genuine and not dump their pain all over the pulpit? Yesterday's gospel text was Mark 10:2-16 and this is the message I shared with God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY.             Jesus’ words in this morning’s gospel are anything but easy. His words are shocking. This is not an easy text to preach on and some ministers will shy away from this topic. Divorce is a very touchy subject in our country. Divorce has caused a lot of pain for the parties involved and especially for the children whose worlds are turned upside down by divorce. Some of us may not have personally experienced divorce, but chances are we have friends or family members who have suffered such pain. Divorce in one way or another has touched us all. For many years, I believed with all my heart that if two people were really committed to each other and God, th...

Today's gospel reading is a puzzling one to say the least. There are as many opinions about the exchange between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman as there are scholars. This is the message I preached today at Bethel in Portville, NY.             In today’s gospel, Jesus has travelled to Tyre, a distinctly non-Jewish city on the coast of the Mediterranean, knowing he would meet Gentiles, or non-Jews. Tyre had an extensive relationship with its Jewish neighbors. It was a rich city, which depended upon the agricultural production of outlying areas like northern Palestine. Galilee fed Tyre. So what is a rural Jew like Jesus doing in a place like Tyre? Jesus always seems to be hanging out with the wrong people—sinners, outcasts, Gentiles—all the people the religious elite did not approve of. The woman in the first story, being a Syrophoenician from the region of Tyre may well have been an urban member of the ruling class with i...

The gospel reading for this Sunday is Mark7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Here is the message I'll be sharing with the people of God at Bethel Lutheran Church,, Portville, NY where it is my privilege to serve as pastor.             Jesus has been busy in Mark’s gospel. He has already fed the 5,000, walked on water, and healed the sick. Jesus was like a rock star. The people would not leave him alone. The verse preceding today’s reading says, “ And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak …” (Mark 6:56).      Some of the scribes and Pharisees had come from Jerusalem to observe Jesus. He and his disciples were in Gennesaret, in the Galilee. That is over 97 miles away! It was no easy trip to get there in Jesus’ day. Why did the scribes and Pharisees go to Galilee? The crowds followed Jesus every...