Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached two Sundays ago, 1/10/16 at St.Timothy http://www.sttimothybemus.com/Church/Home.html and St. Mark Lutheran Churches . The scripture text is Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 . We celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord.  Today we celebrate the baptism of Our Lord Jesus. In Luke's gospel, the actual baptism itself is rather downplayed. Greater emphasis is placed on the events that took place surrounding Jesus' baptism. The purpose of this passage is to introduce and begin to answer the question of Jesus' identity and mission as well as to highlight the work of the Holy Spirit in anointing people for ministry. The passage itself is presented to us as a revelatory drama of Jesus' post baptismal experience. This drama consists of three parts: the heavens are opened, the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus and there is a voice from heaven. In part 1 of our drama-the heavens are opened. Here Luke repeats end time imagery about the coming of the Messia

Ephesians 6:10-20 10   Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11   Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12   For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13   Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14   Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15   As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16   With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17   Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.   18  

Well, we are no longer residents of the Portville-Olean, NY area. I have received a new call to a two point parish, St. Timothy's in Bemus Point and St. Mark's in Mayville, NY. The move went very well, although we are still unpacking a few things here and there. Then there's always the problem of remembering that I've seen something somewhere, but... This past Sunday was officially my first at St. Tim's and St. Marks. The gospel reading was Mark 1:29-39. This is what I shared with the people in Bemus Point and Mayville: Mark's gospel is full of contrasts. Jesus meets with his disciples, and he escapes alone to pray. He heals, and he hides. He displays power, and he orders demons to keep silent. The final paragraph of today's gospel demonstrates to us the essence and motivation of Jesus' ministry. Jesus has experienced a full day and evening of healing and restoring (resurrecting) people. Anyone would be exhausted after all of that. We

I was really excited when I saw this prayer by St. Ignatius on a Facebook post by Renovare. It beautifully fits in with the gospel lesson for tomorrow from Luke 14:25-33. Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,  my memory, my understanding and my entire will, All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me. Amen.

Our congregation is beginning God Sightings, which is more than a Bible study, more than a devotional. It's a means to look for ways in which God is at work in our everyday lives. The program consists of scripture reading from a one year Bible and a companion guide for journalling.  We will officially begin this study in Lent and it will continue beyond that time. Our hope is that God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY, where I serve as pastor, will embrace this opportunity to engage scripture, our faith and God in a way that we have never done before. It is my conviction that if each of us does this, God will turn our lives and our church upside down. Speaking of God sightings, this Sunday's gospel on the transfiguration is a case of God sightings and hearings. Some questions came out as we talked about the text at Bible study Tuesday night. We attempted to discern what God was doing in that text, what God is saying to us personally and what God is say

It has been an amazing day of ministry. Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. This morning we had a great service, then I spent time with the confirmation class training them to be acolytes, communion assistants and lectors. But I think the highlight of my day came this afternoon when a group of us went to a nearby nursing home for a service of holy communion. Most of the residents were very engaged in the singing, prayer and communion. One of them didn't want to let go of my hand when we were singing. What really topped it all off for me though was when I communed another woman. When I said, "The body and blood of Christ given and shed for you" (I intincted the commununion host for the residents), she said "...and you!" We both said "Amen!" It was just an amazing connection that we had. The homily I shared with them was a shortened version of the sermon I preached at Bethel . The gospel text was Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. Here is my