Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached for the last Sunday of the Season of Creation: Mountain Sunday on 8/26/18 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was from Isaiah 65:17-25. Ray and I are fans of science fiction. Many are familiar with is the apocalyptic style of science fiction. You know the type, death and destruction everywhere from a deadly disease or another kind of catastrophe. Humanity and the entire earth are on the verge of extinction. Only a few people remain and they must try to survive and eventually rebuild their broken world. That’s a negative type of apocalyptic story. However, in Isaiah, we have apocalyptic literature full of joy and life. It is not about destruction, but rather about something altogether new that God is doing. God had allowed destruction when God’s people were disobedient, exemplified in the people of Judah being exiled to Babylon for several generations. However, God brought them back from exile and promised not just a new Jerusalem, but

Here are some thoughts on this Sunday's text. This is our last Sunday of the Season of Creation, Mountain Sunday. This was sent electronically to the people of St.Timothy Lutheran Church. Isaiah 65:17-25 1 7 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies  at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall no

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, Aug. 19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Philippians 2:14-18 . “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?” (Five Man Electrical Band) Doesn’t this seem to sum up the beginning of this reading? If we go back a couple of verses, we get a better idea of Paul’s point. “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;  13  for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (vv. 1-13). Paul can give those instructions because it is God who does the work!  In the first verse, Paul tells the Philippians what to do, that they are to do everything without murmuring or arguing. The emphasis falls on the words “all things,” which is  panta  in Greek. It is the first word of this verse, emphasizing its importance.  A great illustration of what murmuring looks like is Amity’s pred

These are some thoughts on this Sunday's reading from Philippians for the Second Sunday of Creation-Sky Sunday. This went out to the people of St. Timothy via email.  Philippians 2:14-18 14  Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15  so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16  It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17  But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you— 18  and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me. Paul was in prison for his faith. He was concerned for his beloved Philippian church and so gives them these instructions.  But I have to tell you that when I read this passage, I couldn’t help but wonder what in the world it had

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 8/12. The text was Philippians 2:1-13 . As we look at the example of Christ in Philippians 2, we need to know that Paul loved these people. He was instrumental in starting the church in Philippi. Their relationship brought Paul great joy, but if we read closely, something was up. There was something that created division, but we don’t know exactly what it was. Whatever the matter, the people of Philippi needed instruction. So, Paul is very emphatic right from the beginning of this passage. I’ll share with you how the Greek is much more dynamic in this first verse. Rather than the one “if,” which would be better understood as “since,” there are four. Translated literally it would read, “Since there is encouragement in Christ, since there is consolation from love”…etc. Paul does not mince his words. It is because of all these things in Christ, that Paul can continue with his instruction. The four “since”