Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran churches. The text was 1Thessalonians 5:16-24. Today is the third Sunday of Advent, also known as gaudete or rejoice Sunday. We are near the end of our advent pilgrimage and that much closer to the celebration of our Lord’s birth and so there is much to rejoice about. Today’s epistle   reading begins with the words, “Rejoice always” (v. 16). The more I looked at this reading, the more I noticed a whole lot of “dos” and “don’ts.” In fact, the chorus of the 1970 song, “Signs,” by the Five Man Electric Band came to mind:   “Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” The first four verses are filled with the “Do this, don’t do that[s].” It seems like Paul is laying down rules for the Thessalonians and for us, what we Lutherans would refer to as law. The verbs in this passage are all plural. Paul is not addressing

This is the sermon I preached at St. Mark and St..Timothy  Lutheran churches on Sunday, 12/10/17. The text is Mark 1:1-8. In Matthew and Luke, we have detailed stories of angels and shepherds and magi and angry kings. John’s gospel is an entirely different matter. But you have to love Mark’s version of things. He cuts right to the chase. There is no birth story. His gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The rest of the gospel explains how he can make that claim. But the beginning of the good news is not the gospel or anything else in the New Testament because the story of salvation and God’s loving interaction with humanity began in Genesis “In the beginning;” in creation. Immediately after Mark’s introductory verse, he goes back to the prophets of Israel and the promises God made through them. Mark cites Isaiah, but what we have here a mash-up of Isaiah, Malachi and the author of Exodus (Exodus 23:20; Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3). We hear “the voice of o