Claimed, gathered and sent

  This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 11/10. The text was Mark 12:38-44, At United Lutheran Seminary, each year there is the Luther Bowl, the annual flag football tournament that the Gettysburg seminary hosts each year. One year, after the game, was Eucharist and dinner. I had volunteered to make chili. One of the necessary ingredients for chili is onions. I picked up a nice, fresh looking onion and cut it open. It was all black and moldy on the inside. I could not tell that from the beautiful exterior, but only from going to the heart of the onion. That onion was not suitable for chili because it was rotten. I obviously needed an onion that was good on the inside to accomplish the task of flavoring the chili. And by the way, that year, Gettysburg lost. In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus shows us that the heart of true discipleship is not about what’s on the outside, but what’s on the inside of us, our hearts.  In this passage, we first hear...

  Below is my sermon from Sunday, 11/3, All Saints Sunday, that I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was J ohn 11:32-44.   Today we remember the faithful who have died in the last year. We also think back to the saints of old in scripture and others whom the church has honored throughout history. In today’s gospel, we have Mary and Martha and Lazarus—all recognized as saints by various churches. And of course, there are the disciples, but there is also the crowd and best of all, our Lord Jesus, who shortly after this miracle would himself experience death.  Jesus and his disciples are in Bethany and Jesus is met by Lazarus’ sister, Mary, but earlier in chapter 11, Jesus learns of Lazarus’ illness.  He purposely waits to go see Mary and Martha. Jesus, who could have gone there as soon as he heard, waited so that the people would believe that the Father had sent him.  The first chapter of John’s gospel tells us, “…in him was life, and the life was...