Claimed, gathered and sent

 This is the sermon I preached on 1/5/15 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is John 1:10-18.  Now, much of the excitement of Christmas is over. For some people, it was over as they picked up the wrapping paper from opened gifts and threw it out. For others, vacations are finished and grandkids are back to school. Today is the second Sunday after Christmas. The bell ringers for the Salvation Army are gone, and the special efforts to help the poor may not be mentioned as much as they were throughout Christmas.  So, now everything is over for another year or is it? Is Christmas over? The church calendar says it is still Christmas until tomorrow, January 6, Epiphany, when we celebrate the coming of the wise men to Jesus.  What happened at that first Christmas? What is still happening? “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood” as our gospel declares. How does Jesus make God known? He came as one of us, among us. “It is God the only Son, Thi...

  This is the sermon I preached on Dec. 22, 2024 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is Luke 1:39-45. Think about how you would respond if a relative showed up at your door unannounced? Besides that, she was going to be staying with you for a while. Not only would she be staying with you, but she is young, maybe 14 years old, unmarried and she is pregnant! Would you welcome her in with open arms or would you grit your teeth, while you welcome her, thinking to yourself, "Don't go away mad. Just go away." Imagine how Elizabeth felt when Mary stood at her door. There Mary was--alone, young and pregnant.  In addition to that, Elizabeth's husband is a priest. How would Mary's situation affect his reputation?  Today's gospel is imbued with divine revelation. Elizabeth and Mary demonstrate to us how to respond faithfully to God's guiding our way and revelation, even when it is way beyond our realm of understanding. This passage consists primarily of Elizabe...

  This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Dec. 8. The text is Luke 3:1-6 .   Do you ever wonder who is who as you hear a list of strange names like the one in today’s gospel? What a cast of characters! All the important people are represented, the largest group being the political leaders, followed by religious leaders.  Last of all is John the Baptist. He was the son of a priest named Zechariah. Reading about John, we discover that he too was miraculously conceived and God made great promises about his life through prophets in the temple.  Luke did not set the births of John the Baptist and Jesus in some mythological never-never land, but took care to place them in a specific historical period (during the reigns of Augustus Caesar and Herod the Great). Here, thirty years later, as their ministries begin, he describes the historical situation at length. Perhaps he is not only making sure that the Word of God comes into particular places and t...

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 11/24. The text is John 18:33-37 When confronted with a question, Jesus seems incapable of providing a definitive response. Here in today’s gospel, we have three sets of questions and answers. I want you to listen to them and then tell me if Jesus answered Pilate’s questions. First question: “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus responded, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”  Next: “ What have you done?” Jesus answered this one, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Jesus is a different sort of king. He is the King o f truth, love, mercy and forgiveness. His kingdom is a different kind of kingdom. It is the now, but not yet, kingdom, earthly and spiritual. His kingdom is where he, the king, is. Pilate’s last question in this pas...