Claimed, gathered and sent

  Here are some thoughts on this coming   Sunday’s gospel .  Gospel: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The...

This is the sermon I preached Sunday at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel is Luke 9:51-62.   In today’s gospel, Jesus has reached a turning point. Jesus being “taken up” refers to Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. In Luke’s gospel, everything is now directed toward that end. Jesus’ path to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world is set Jesus had a single-minded orientation. He knew that the way to Jerusalem meant the way of the cross and his death. Luke uses the expression, Jesus “set his face” to describe his determination. This expression is so important, that it appears three times in the first three verses of today’s gospel: Jesus “set his face” (51), Jesus sent messengers to Samaria ahead of him, which literally means “before his face” (52) and Jesus face was set toward Jerusalem” (v. 53). This expression is an idiom that speaks of a firm, unshakable resolve to do something.    Have you ever seen that kind of determination in someone’s face? You ...

This is the sermon I preached Sunday, June 19th, Juneteenth at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 8:26-39. In the 1980s, going to live overseas as missionaries with small children, people worried about us, especially those that didn’t understand what it meant to follow God’s call. We were crossing several boundaries, including that of religion. Those Muslim terrorists—aren’t you afraid for your lives and those of your children? The call to prayer five times a day was something we really had to adjust to, since the mosque was close to our apartment. I came to love it. But these were some of the most meaningful, marvelous years of my life. Arab culture is one of total and complete welcome. No matter how busy one may be, if you came to their home expected or unexpected, they would drop whatever they were doing to spend time with you. That is what was supremely important, to make a guest feel welcome. Jesus, too, crossed boundaries: going places and doing things he shouldn’t ...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church  for Trinity Sunday, June 12. The text was  John 16:12-15. Our gospel sounds more like Pentecost than for Holy Trinity Sunday. The gist is Jesus tells his disciples who the Holy Spirit is and what the Spirit does in relationship to the Father, himself and the church. We have all three members of the trinity involved in this passage. Jesus speaks of the Father, he is the Son, and we see the Holy Spirit’s work. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (v. 13) is the key to this text. This is not general truth, like the puffy clouds are cumulus clouds. He assumes the role of revealer of God, the Truth, as Jesus has made him known. As the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit is the Great Guide. The word for “guide” is a compound word from “way or road” and “to lead.” Literally, it means “lead in the way.” He guides God’s people, the church, into all truth. The Father speaks to Jesus, who sp...

This is the sermon I preached on Pentecost Sunday, June 5 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is John 14:8-17 . Today’s gospel is a really different approach to Pentecost. We’re so used to the  excitement of tongues of fire and power and all the activity of thousands of people becoming believers in Jesus. Then we come to this quiet Pentecostal passage. And it all begins with a question, much like the one Thomas asked a few verses earlier. Thomas asked to be shown “the way,” while Philip takes it up a notch, asking to see the Father. The exchange between Philip and Jesus illustrates their relationship, the heart of this gospel. To answer Philip, Jesus talks about his interrelational relationship with the Father. Typical of Jesus, his answer seems like a non-answer. Jesus is in the Father and the Father in Jesus. This is a major part of what defines us as Christians—the relationship between Jesus and the Father. Disciples believe either through Jesus’ words, which come from the...

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's gospel.  Gospel: John 14:8-17 8 Philip said to [ Jesus, ] “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.   15 “If you love me, you will keep my c...

This is the message I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, May 29. The text was Acts 16:16-34.    We live in violent, scary times. Don’t we sometimes want to throw up our hands and give up when we hear about yet another mass casualty event? Last week it was the Buffalo shooting and now another school shooting, this time in Uvalde, TX. Doesn’t it seem like week after week we hear of another disaster affecting so many people—a shooting rampage, fires, floods and let’s not forget COVID, which is not finished wreaking its havoc. Our hearts break within us as we cry out with the psalmist, “How long, O Lord?” Life is hard today, but it was a difficult world that Paul and Silas found themselves in in the Book of Acts.   Today’s text consists of four scenes: Paul and Silas’ exchange with a girl controlled by a spirit, the disciples get thrown into prison, their miraculous release from prison and the conversion of the jailer and family.   We take up the...