Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I shared with the people of God at St. Timothy and St. Mark's.  It is based on the gospel reading from Mark 1:9-15 . In the Gospel of Mark, the desert is a lonely and frightening place. It is the place where evil spirits were thought to dwell. The desert can be described by what it is not. It is not a place of flourishing plant life. It is not a place where we find an abundance of water. The wilderness is desolate and uninviting. There is little in the desert that draws us to itself and yet it is just where we need to be from time to time. As the day passes and the sun is low on the horizon, the bland beiges of the dessert become rich hues of pink. At the right time, it has its own beauty. During the rainy season, the desert blooms with color and foliage. At times Jesus sought the desert because of its simplicity and isolation. The throngs would not find him there. Jesus could commune in peace with his Father. In today's gospel, the desert was a pl...

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...

Well, we are no longer residents of the Portville-Olean, NY area. I have received a new call to a two point parish, St. Timothy's in Bemus Point and St. Mark's in Mayville, NY. The move went very well, although we are still unpacking a few things here and there. Then there's always the problem of remembering that I've seen something somewhere, but... This past Sunday was officially my first at St. Tim's and St. Marks. The gospel reading was Mark 1:29-39. This is what I shared with the people in Bemus Point and Mayville: Mark's gospel is full of contrasts. Jesus meets with his disciples, and he escapes alone to pray. He heals, and he hides. He displays power, and he orders demons to keep silent. The final paragraph of today's gospel demonstrates to us the essence and motivation of Jesus' ministry. Jesus has experienced a full day and evening of healing and restoring (resurrecting) people. Anyone would be exhausted after all of that. We...

It has been a long time since I posted anything. It has been a very rough few months personally and in my ministry at Bethel. Due to financial issues, the church has had to make a change in the call. It will be going from full time to half time. After much prayer and discerning, I determined that I am not supposed to be that part time pastor for these wonderful people of God. I will remain here until Jan. 31, 2015 unless I receive a new call before that date. God has certainly challenged us all and we'll see what God has in mind for all of us. Whatever it is, it will be good. For the first Sunday of Advent, I preached on Isaiah 64:1-9. Here is the sermon:   Happy New Year! That’s right. Happy New Year! Normally, we associate the first day of the year with Jan. 1, but that is for the secular calendar. The church liturgical year starts on a different date and is traditionally 4 Sundays before Christmas. This period of four weeks before Christmas is Advent, which m...

This is the sermon from July 20 that I preached at Bethel Lutheran Church .  I got behind in posting as I prepare for surgery on my rotator cuff tomorrow. Last week besides trying to get office things in order and worship preperation for several weeks' out, there were numerous pre-op things that needed doing. The text is Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 . Last week I admitted my lack of skill when it comes to growing plants. I have a black thumb rather than a green thumb. I have another confession to make. I have a hard time telling weeds from plants and flowers. After all, some of the weeds are beautiful and look like something you might want to keep in a garden. And some plants don’t look as beautiful as the weeds. After all, are the wildflowers we see growing in fields along the side of the road weeds or flowers?  In last week’s gospel, we heard about different types of dirt and how the planted seeds were affected by the ground in which they were planted. That was Farmin...