Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I am preaching tomorrow at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text is Revelation 7:9-17 . I am a saint and so are you! Today is All Saints Day, ALL SAINTS : those who have gone before us into the church triumphant and those still living--all of you in our parking lot [toot your horns!] and in our sanctuary, and those unable to attend. Did you know you are saints? You may not feel like it and that’s ok. Martin Luther wrote that we are simultaneously saints and sinners, in other words, a mixed bag. That gives me hope when I mess up and helps me to not be so harsh in judging others. In John’s vision, we don’t find a mere handful of people standing before the throne of God and the Lamb. There is a “great multitude.” This multitude was innumerable, uncountable. Today, there are those whose faith is so exclusive, with such a judgmental God, that there are more outsiders than insiders, while our God of mercy and grace has this great throng before him.

  Here are some thoughts on Sunday's lesson from Revelation. It is All Saints Sunday. This will be sent to the people of St.Timothy Lutheran Church .    First Reading: Revelation 7:9-17 9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying,  “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing,  “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom  and thanksgiving and honor  and power and might  be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”   13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Si

  This is the message I'm preaching later today, Reformation Sunday, at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. If you're in the area, join us. You can worship outdoors, in the comfort of your care for our drive-in service or you can come inside for worship. The service is from 10-10:30 AM. The gospel text is John 8:31-36 .  Hello, my name is Ivy and I’m a sinner. As our confession earlier stated, “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Now it’s your turn, “Hello, my name is _______ and I’m a sinner.” We humans find ourselves in a real dilemma. But then God sent his Son to save us, as Luther wrote, from sin, death, and the power of the devil.   Jesus declares this truth to the “Jews who had believed in him” (v. 31). Now for some reason they just didn’t get it. They ignored the part about truth and latched onto the part about freedom and took it as a political statement.   Their response that they had never been slaves to anyone was ludicrous! Throughout their history,