Claimed, gathered and sent

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel. What do you think? Let's talk about it. I shared this with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.   Gospel: John 11:1-15, 38-45 1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.  3 So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”  4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”  5 Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,  6 after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.   7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”  8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying...

This is the sermon I prepared and shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . We met together in spirit. The text was Ephesians 5:8-16 in The Message.   Bemus Point is always quiet this time of year, but not this eerily quiet. Stores and restaurants that are normally open are closed, seemingly abandoned. Lights are off, businesses are shuttered and life has seemingly screeched to a halt. The darkness seems to be winning.  In these days of COVID 19 does it ever seem like you are feeling your way through the darkness? What you knew yesterday isn’t true today. The situation keeps changing at a dizzying rate. There is a powerlessness to life in the darkness. What makes the darkness seem hopeless and helpless is the sense that the Lord is not there. Life within the darkness feels utterly alone. It reminds me a bit of life in Palestine when I lived there with my family in the 1980s. Day by day life changed. One day it was safe to go to this part of Bethlehem...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's second lesson. These are uncertain times in which we live and I think this scripture speaks to us today. What are your thoughts? This was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.  Second Reading: Ephesians 5:8-16 from The Message 8-10 You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it. 11-16 Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ. Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Ch...

This is the sermon that was sent out this week to the people of S t. Timothy Lutheran Church. We are honoring our bishop's request to not physically worship together. However, we are endeavoring to stay connected in other ways. The text was John 4:5-42. We all have different paths that have brought us to faith in Jesus. Some have dramatic conversion experiences from a life of sin and unbelief to a life of faith. Others have a relationship with God from childhood and cannot remember a time when God was not real to them. God meets us wherever we are. Jesus engaged Nicodemus differently than he engaged the Samaritan woman in today’s gospel. He tailored the encounter to the needs of the hearer. Nicodemus was Jewish. We are told his name. He came to Jesus in Jerusalem. The Samaritan woman is a Gentile. We never find out her name. Jesus came to her. Nicodemus could not wrap his mind around a new, spiritual birth, while the woman struggled to understand what it meant to have living ...

Here are a couple of thoughts on Sunday's gospel. How does this text strike you? If you are preaching this Sunday, what will your approach be? This went out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Gospel: John 4:5-42 "Jesus defies convention to engage a Samaritan woman in conversation. Her testimony, in turn, leads many others to faith" (sundaysandseasons.com). 5[Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.   7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a dr...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 3/9/20. The gospel text was John 3:1-17.  What is there about the night that invites questions and concerns? We lie in bed and thoughts swirl around in our heads—all the things we worry about. Did I turn the light off in the kitchen? Then the ponderings morph into more serious issues. My friend with the recurring cancer—will she be alright? What about the flu that’s going around and that awful Coronavirus? Are we worrying too much or too little? It was the night that called Nicodemus with his questions to go to Jesus. In the dialogue between Nicodemus and Jesus, the two are just not on the same page, but appear to be talking past each other. Nicodemus is thinking and speaking concretely, while Jesus is responding spiritually, talking about what the kingdom of God looks like. It’s a birth from the top down, being “born from above” (v. 7). This is the formation of an alternative society, re-defining one’s...

Here are some thoughts I have on this Sunday's gospel. What do you think? This was sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.    Gospel: John 3:1-17 1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 8 The wind blows where it chooses,...