Claimed, gathered and sent

How did you spend Feb. 14th, Valentine's Day? Our morning was spent in worship with God's people at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The scripture text was Romans 10:8b-13. In the reading from Romans, God is the ultimate enamored lover--who draws us to himself with grace before we were ever aware of Him. God not only lavishes his love and grace upon us, but God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves--that is making us right with God. Jesus restores our broken relationships with God the Father. The revelation of God’s great love was made clear to Martin Luther in the Book of Romans. It’s words opened Luther’s eyes to God’s wondrous grace. Concerning Romans, Luther wrote: This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or ...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, Feb. 7 at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text is Luke 9:28-36.  Some of you may be familiar with the Sound and Light Theater in Lancaster, PA. Through sound and light, biblical stories are dramatized bringing them to life. More of you are likely familiar with the Grain Elevator Light Display which can be seen from the inner and outer harbors in Buffalo. The grain elevators are ugly structures, that are transformed into something  beautiful by the dazzling, colorful light shows. As amazing and inspiring as these two examples are, God puts on the greatest sound and light show imaginable in today's gospel reading. The transfiguration occurs immediately after Peter confesses that Jesus is the Messiah and the the passion is introduced into Jesus’ teaching (vv. 18-27). Luke is the only gospel that names prayer as the reason for going to the mountain. Once on the mountaintop, Jesus seems to be the one doing all th...

This is the sermon I preached last week at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 4:21-30 . Can't you imagine what the talk of the town would be when the residents of Nazareth   find out that Jesus has come home? He's here. He's here. Did you hear what he did in Capernaum? Surely he will perform miracles and heal people here. After all, we're his neighbors. He grew up here. The report of all the works and miracles Jesus had made its way to Nazareth. The hometown boy has made good. These people were expectant! Wouldn't you be? Today's gospel begins with the declaration of fulfillment   Vv. 21-22. In last week's gospel, in the synagogue, Jesus read from Isaiah about all the promises of what God would do for his people. The fulfillment Jesus speaks of must be rooted in his person. He is the One anointed by the Holy Spirit. The crowd heard Jesus' declaration of fulfillment as a promise of special favor for those of his ho...

 This is the message I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church  this past Sunday, 1/24. The text is 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a .   Paul writes that we are all "baptized into one body" v. 13.There is tremendous diversity within the groups Paul mentions--some of which are expected, such as Jews and those who are free. But God and Paul also include Greeks, who are Gentiles and slaves who are complete nobodies. And yet, in the waters of baptism, they are made new and become part of the body of Christ. Even from the beginning of the church, God included outsiders in his body. Baptism is the great equalizer that destroys the walls that divide people. Everything in today's epistle is based upon and grounded in baptism. As Lutheran Christians, we emphasize that all we do in life flows out from our baptism. Martin Luther wrote:1 C "Therefore every Christian has enough in Baptism to learn and to practise all [their] life; for ...