Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was John 14:23-29 . Today's gospel lesson is rich in words of encouragement for the frightened disciples of Jesus. At this point, in spite of all of Jesus' teaching, the disciples still were unable to put together two and two. It was only later, after Pentecost that they experienced their "Aha" moment. Even then, they still had a lot of growing to do. They made their mistakes even though they were the God-appointed leaders of the church. These words of Jesus are words of encouragement for all of us as well. We too have trouble living the Christian life. Today's gospel is part of the farewell discourse of Jesus. I can imagine that the disciples were still unconvinced that Jesus' leaving them could be a good thing. There are three parts to today's gospel: the love relationship that results in keeping God's word, the promise of the Holy Spirit and God's gift of pe...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 4/10/16 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church --two very flexible congregations which I have the privilege of serving. The text is John 21:1-19. Something that continues to puzzle scholars-- and the rest of us --is just how dense Jesus' disciples could really be. How is it that they never recognize Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances?   In today’s gospel, this is the THIRD encounter the disciples have had with Jesus since his resurrection—and they still did not realize it was Jesus talking to them. Peter and the others who had left their nets to follow Jesus, have now returned to fishing, but without success. We don’t know if they were trying to go back to business as usual. Some scholars suggest that. The men had been fishing all night with no results. Now Jesus comes along and tells them to fish on the right side of the boat. They were probably wondering, what difference does it make wh...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 4/3 at St.Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The gospel is John 20:19-31. What comes to mind when you hear today’s gospel? Doubting Thomas, right? After all, it is a story about Thomas and he has a hard time believing, doesn’ t he? One of the greatest lessons I learned in seminary is that in scripture God is always the One who is acting. Look at Jesus’ interaction with Thomas: Is Thomas and his lack of faith the center of the story?   Or is Jesus and his gracious offer of himself to Thomas the center of the story? Let’s look at what God is up to in today’s gospel. The gist of today’s text can be boiled down to these three words: breathe, receive and reveal. Jesus BREATHED on his disciples for them to RECEIVE the Holy Spirit so that he could continue to REVEAL himself. However, before Jesus can breathe on his disciples, he needs to calm them down. They are scared and locked themselves behind closed doors. The di...

This is the sermon I preached on Easter Sunday, March 27 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church. The gospel text is Luke 24:1-12.  I read recently that a seminary professor wrote, “If it's not hard to believe, you're probably not paying attention!” (David Lose). He was talking about the resurrection. Does that shock us? After all, let’s think about this. For someone to rise from the dead is not an everyday occurrence. We’re not talking about having a near death experience. Nor are we talking about a mere resuscitation of Jesus’ body. The account of Jesus’ crucifixion makes it clear that those wanting the crucifixion made sure Jesus was good and dead. Jesus was so dead that no one really believed that he would rise--in spite of the numerous times Jesus told this to his followers. How did the women who were the first to go the empty tomb respond? Did you hear them say, “Praise God! He is risen! I knew this would happen just the way he told us!”...

This is the sermon I shared with God's people at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sunday, 3/6. The text was Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 . The setting of today’s gospel consists of three statements: Jesus attracts tax collectors and sinners (v. 1). The Pharisees and scribes criticize his receiving and eating with such people (v. 2) and so Jesus responds with a parable. The issue at hand is table fellowship, breaking bread together and that being the sign and seal of full acceptance. How scandalous! Let’s think about this in our context. It’s one thing to go someplace, like a soup kitchen, to help needy people, spend some time with them, but would we bring them home with us? Many of those living on the edge struggle with mental illness, addiction issues, hygiene issues and who knows what all else. Could we ever see ourselves opening up to the troubled, when the image of God is so marred in their lives that it is barely recognizable? The story of ...