Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the message I preached last Sunday, 11/8 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text was 1 Kings 17:8-16. Fear is a powerful motivation in our world. Fear is used by politicians to obtain our votes, by the media to get our attention, by advertisers to sell us what we don't need. It's even used by TV evangelists to get our donations. What are some of the fears we face? One is scarcity, others could be hunger, thirst, loneliness, infirmity, homelessness and war. Scarcity can be described as the fear that we won't have enough or won't get our share. This false belief that having more money and stuff will save us, actually makes us slaves. Often, having less can free us to live by faith. The book of 1 Kings narrates history with the theology that God will bless the righteous and punish those who are unfaithful to the covenant. This is the promise that God will be the God of the Israelites and they will serve him and him alone. The prophe...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches on Sunday, 11/1, All Saints' Day. The text was Rev. 21:1-6a. Our reading from Revelation is one of the last chapters in Revelation. It is like the unexpected twist at the end of a good mystery story. After all our talk and concern about "getting to heaven," in the end, heaven comes to us. Should that really surprise us? After all, in Christ "the Word became flesh and lived among us" (John 1:14). God is the God who always comes down. The book of Revelation uses apocalyptic or end time imagery to express the terrifying situation of the early churches at the time when the Roman Empire required the worship of the emperors as gods. It also conveys the faith that God is their ultimate salvation. God's action of renewal includes 3 aspects: Location--the new Jerusalem, the presence of God with God's people and the demise of death itself. The first aspect of God...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sun., 10/25. The gospel was John 8:31-36 .    All of humanity longs to be free. The Jewish people longed for freedom from Egypt and in Jesus' day, freedom from the Romans. Today we have refugees leaving Syria and Iraq--in order to be free. All those under occupation want freedom.Those who are imprisoned by fear want freedom. Over the years many songs have been sung about the longing for freedom--from "We Shall Overcome" to the song, "People Got to Be Free," by the Young Rascals. What does this have to do with the Reformation and today's gospel? Everything. As a monk, Martin Luther struggled mightily to be free from the sin he was certain permeated his very being. He took harsh measures to subdue his body and its desires. It wasn't until he read God's word in Romans that his eyes were opened to the way of freedom from sin and the power...