Claimed, gathered and sent

These are some thoughs for the second Sunday of Creation, when I'm focusing on the second lesson. This was sent electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . Philippians 2:1-8 2  If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2  make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4  Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6  who, though he was in the form of God,     did not regard equality with God     as something to be exploited, 7  but emptied himself,     taking the form of a slave,     being born in...

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, August 5 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was John 1:1-14 . This is the first Sunday of our celebration of God the Creator and our focus is on earth. If we look at the first reading from Genesis, it begins, “In the beginning…God…” When we look at the first verse of John’s gospel, it begins, “In the beginning was the Word…” It’s kind of like Yogi Berra’ s statement,  “It’s deja vu all over again.” Today we are engaging the Prologue of John’s gospel, which reads like the poetry of a song, and so it likely is. Many scholars believe it is one which was sung in the churches of John’s time. Music helps us remember and it was and is a great way to learn scripture and theology. Like an overture to an opera or oratorio, John’s writing strikes the major themes that will occupy the entire gospel of John. In this song we see The Word at Creation, The Word in History and The Word Incarnate. Let us hear God’s love song. First of all, ...

These are some thoughts on this coming Sunday's readings. This month we are celebrating the Season of Creation. John 1:1-14 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  He was in the beginning with God. 3  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10  He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11  He came to what was his own, and his own peop...

This is what I preached on Sunday, 7/29 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Ephesians 3:14-21   Imagine a sermon in the form of a prayer, that consisted of only two long sentences (which is the case with the Greek). If we think of the letter to the Ephesians as a sermon, since it is a message, and there in the midst of this letter to the infant church, Paul prays. He prays for the congregations. He knows that he is unable to give them what they need in the face of struggles that lie ahead. Paul knows too, that being the church is not a self-help project. The church has to learn to rely on God, not themselves. So what exactly does Paul pray for? In the opening, Paul emphasizes the unity of humankind under God…” from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name” (vv. 14-15). Every means every—no one is excluded. This sums up what has been the chief argument of the first half of Ephesians, that in Christ Jews and Gentiles have been brought together to ...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's second reading. This was shared electronically  with God's people at St. Timothy Lutheran Church .  Ephesians 3:14-21  14  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. 16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, 17  and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. 18  I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, 21  to him be glory in the ch...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, July 22. The text was Ephesians 2:11-22. Don’t we all at one time or another wonder about who we are, what is our purpose in life and what we can do to make a difference? This passage in Ephesians speaks to the issue of identity. We have the identity of the Jews and Gentiles and who we are all together in Christ. With the terminology of strangers, aliens and citizens, this passage seems to especially have bearing on our lives today in the United States with the various challenges we face. Paul wanted to make sure that the Ephesians remembered their former state. Twice he tells them to “remember,” first that they were Gentiles by birth and secondly, in metaphor-laden language, Paul describes them as being “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,…strangers…having no hope and without God in the world” (v. 12). They had been alienated from the Jewish people and their God. The Ephesians’ ci...