Claimed, gathered and sent

That's right! This is the message I shared with St. Timothy Lutheran Church I preached the same message at St. Mark Lutheran Church with minor changes. The text is Ephesians 2:1-10. Humanity has a problem. That problem is death. Our situation was desperate. We too were dead. However, in today's reading from Ephesians, Paul is not speaking about physical death, but spiritual death. Paul's imagery is vivid concerning our former condition without Christ. We have the images of the corpse, the slave and the condemned prisoner demonstrating how bad things were. Each image portrays a devastating predicament which they are powerless to change. Helplessness pervades these first few verses. We followed the course of this world and the ruler of the power of the air, in other words, Satan. Paul has a solution to our spiritual death. It's summed up in two words: But God. It is upon these two words that everything hinges. But God is the game changer for u

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

Text: John 17:20-26 I love roller coasters—the anticipation as we climb up to the top of big hills and the rush as we roll down them. We were climbing up during lent to Easter and now our 50-day Easter journey is nearly complete with Pentecost next Sunday. In today’s gospel, Jesus is in his last days with his followers before his crucifixion. I feel a bit in this text as if we’re in a figure 8 section of the roller coaster ride with all the pronouns and prepositions. And just when we think we’re coming out of the last curve and into the straightaway, it’s back to prepositions and pronouns So let’s get ready for this ride and see where it takes us… If we throw in some other phrases along with the pronouns and prepositions, things become a bit clearer: …that they may all be one so that the world may believe…so that the world may know… the world does not know you, but I know you. Now as much as I like roller coaster rides, eventually if we stay up there, we’ll get hungry, thirsty, may

This is the sermon I preached this morning at Bender's Lutheran Church in Biglerville, PA. The gospel text is John 13:31-35. “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This little song is probably familiar to us all. Is there anyone that hasn’t heard this before? Or how about “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” That sounds right. In today’s gospel, Jesus even refers to his disciples as “little children.” Sometimes it’s so wonderful to relax in the warmth of Jesus’ love, isn’t it? Today’s text takes place during the last Passover Jesus had with his disciples. The “he” of “When he had gone out” is Judas. He had just left dinner to betray Jesus. Jesus has previous told his disciples that he would be betrayed and go to the cross, but they never quite got it. Just like we don’t always get it. So, here we are with th