Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the e-message shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church yesterday. These thoughts are based on John 20:19-23, 26-31 . Jesus' Parlor Tricks   The disciples had locked themselves into a room because they were afraid. They couldn't go anywhere because of their fear. Fear, of their own making, was the guard that had locked them up in this prison. You have to sympathize with the disciples. Their Master had just been killed and who’s to say they aren't next?            Look who is here! It's Jesus. Was this some kind of parlor trick? Now you see him; now you don't.  We do not know if Jesus walked through the closed doors or if they opened of their own accord for him or if he just suddenly appeared.              What are the locked doors that prevent us from being all God has called us to be? Is it fear or anger or loneliness or fatigue? None of these doors can kee...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The gospel text is Mark 16:1-8. The account of Jesus ’ resurrection in Mark is unlike any of the other gospels. In other resurrection accounts, we have appearances of Jesus all over the place — eating with his disciples or revealing himself on the road to Emmaus. Isn ’ t that how Easter is supposed to be with the risen Jesus and his disciples having joyful seaside meals, scenes of reconciliation and forgiveness, garden embraces of the risen Lord and the disciples shouting, “ He is risen! ” ? Mark does not offer us any such thing. It is the only resurrection story in the Bible where Jesus never actually makes an appearance. Mark ’ s story ends with frightened women fleeing from Jesus ’ empty tomb in silence. It would appear that the three women were complete failures, but they are not alone in that. In Mark ’ s strange conclusion, insiders become outsiders and outsiders do the work of insiders...

This is the message I shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church this past Sunday. The sermon was slightly modified for St. Mark's . The scripture was John 12:20-33. In today's gospel, once again we see Jesus acting in an unexpected way. Unlike the previous weeks of grumpy, angry Jesus, today Jesus just seems to be rude. John tells us about some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. They were in Jerusalem for the feast, so they were not pagans. They were likely Jewish proselytes, converts to Judaism. First they talked to Philip and then Philip talked to Andrew and then Philip and Andrew talk to Jesus. Jesus responded to the Greeks by saying, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified..." What  in the world does that mean and how does it have anything to do with the Greeks' desire to meet with Jesus? Prior to this, in John's gospel, Jesus kept saying that his hour had not yet come, even when his life was threatened. ...