Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached on the Third Sunday of Easter at Bethel Lutheran Church. I got behind in posting because of all the catching up I had to do from being sick. The sermon is based on the gospel of Luke 24:13-35. We all have times in life in which we experience disappointment.   We weren’t accepted at the school of our dreams. The job we had hoped for was given to someone else. Relationships within our family are strained. Loved ones are sick. Each of us could easily come up with a laundry list of disappointments we’ve experienced. In today’s gospel, we meet two discouraged, disheartened and disappointed disciples on the way to Emmaus. We are not sure why they are heading to Emmaus. One possibility is that after all the activities surrounding the death of Jesus on Good Friday, that these two disciples were probably just going home.  Cleopas and his companion were in deep discussion. The Greek implies that they were not only talking; they were “examining eviden

I've gotten way behind in my postings. I have been sick with bronchitis, asthma and junk since just before Holy Week. Finally, I am well and have my mojo back. I experienced the way illness can affect all parts of our lives. including enthusiasm for ministry. Anyway, this is the sermon I preached this past Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY.   I will be posting the previous weeks' sermons as well a little later.This sermon is based on John 10:1-10.  In the 1980s, my family and I lived in the Holy Land, in Bethlehem. We had the opportunity to observe many shepherds herding their sheep. Some gently and carefully led their sheep. Others drove the sheep, angrily hitting them with a rod. The good shepherds stood out.  Throughout scripture, the image of a shepherd is a positive one. God, kings, Moses and other leaders are described as shepherds in their care of the people. A few minutes ago, we heard this imagery in the 23 rd Psalm.

We are at the end of our Lenten and Holy Week journey of faith. Easter has arrived and the alleluias have returned. This is the Easter Sunday sermon that I shared with the people of Bethel Lutheran Church in Portville, NY. The scripture text is Acts 10:34-43 . Christ is risen, alleluia! Many of us have probably experienced significant losses in our lives—whether we have lost a job, a home or someone we love. We wonder how we will be able to go on and to function. After the 3 years the disciples had spent traveling with Jesus their teacher, friend and Lord, how do we think they felt after the crucifixion. It must have been the end of all their dreams. How were they to live their lives without Jesus? The Book of Acts tells us that the crucifixion was not the end or that all there was for followers of Jesus. Jesus did not stay in the grave because God raised him from the dead. In the book of Acts, we read the continuing adventures of those early Christians in the post-crucifixi

Thursday evening we gathered for Maundy Thursday worship, the first of the Three Days of Holy Week. This is the message I shared with those who gathered at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY. The scripture text is John 13:1-17, 31b-35. Today is Holy Thursday or as it is also called, Maundy Thursday. Maundy means commandment or mandate. Tonight, we celebrate Jesus commandment to his disciples to love each other as He loved them. Just how did Jesus love? First of all, Jesus loved scandalously. He turned the roles of master and slave upside down as he washed his disciples’ feet. Jesus acts out for us a drama of what his followers are to be and do.            The washing of the feet of a guest is an issue of hospitality. It was a way of welcoming one’s guests. Normally, the guests were given a basin and towel to wash their own feet. Sometimes it was work that a household slave would do. But it certainly would not be something that would be done in the middle of a