Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the message I shared with God's people at St. Timothy Lutheran Church and St. Mark Lutheran Church on Sunday, 11/5/17. The scripture text is Matthew 5:1-12 . Today we celebrate the Feast of All Saints. We remember those who have gone before us in the faith as well as the living church of Christ, God’s saints today. Then we get to today’s gospel reading, the Beatitudes, the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It all sounds so beautiful and churchy, but what does it mean? What does it take to be a saint and to be among the blessed of the Beatitudes? In my pre-Lutheran days, we used to talk about the Beatitudes being be-atttidues. It was how we were supposed to be! Others put the values of the Beatitudes off into eternity because of their difficulty, while others strive and strive to obey them because they are Jesus’ commands. Luther’s view concerning the Sermon on the Mount is that it represents an impossible demand, much like th...

Here's an article that's a great reminder for all of us:

This is the message I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, Oct. 29. The gospel text is John 8:31-36.   Today we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, a movement that not only impacted the church of that age, but all ages. What one word would you use to describe the distinctiveness of the Lutheran movement? Is it grace, justification, the good works we do through Lutheran Disaster Relief, ELCA World Hunger, or something else? These are all good answers, but they are not unique to us as Lutherans. The word freedom is the one most celebrated by Martin Luther. He was in bondage to a view of God as judge and went to great lengths to try to appease God by bringing his body into submission by extreme deprivation such as intensive fasting and beating himself with a whip. It was not until reading in the book of Romans of salvation by grace through faith that the burden of working to be saved was lifted from Luther’s shoulder...

This is the message I preached on Sunday, Oct. 22 at St.Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text is Matthew 22:15-22. I had to laugh when I first read today’s gospel reading. You see, this year we got sticker shock when we received our tax return back from the accountant. Previously we owed a little, but this year it was a LOT. On top of that, because we had to file for an extension while I was in the hospital and rehab, we found this out just about a week ago. Now the taxes spoken of in this lesson are nothing like any of our taxes. Instead it was a flat-rate personal tax on all men from age 14 and up and women from ages 12-65. It was levied at around at least a day’s annual wage. Later it was combined with a percentage tax on property as well ( The Oxford Companion ). The tax was a painful reminder that the land of the Jewish people was occupied by foreign powers who worshipped false gods. There was only one way to pay the tax; with Roman coins which served...