Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, June 23 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Luke 8:26-39. In the 1980s, going to live overseas as missionaries with small children, people worried about us, especially those that didn’t understand what it meant to follow God’s call. We were crossing several boundaries, including that of religion. Those Muslim terrorists—aren’t you afraid for your own lives and those of your children? The call to prayer five times a day was something we really had to adjust to since the mosque was close to our apartment. I came to love it. And the boundaries of culture took a while to learn! You do not cross your legs, showing the bottom of a shoe because that means you consider the other person no better than the dust on your shoes. Women’s shoulders are considered sexy, so you can’t wear sleeveless outfits. And if you wore shorts—you were surely a prostitute because only someone of that ilk would dress in such a way.

Here are some thoughts regarding this Sunday's gospel that were sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church.   Gospel: Luke 8:26-39 26 Then [Jesus and his disciples] arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.   32 N

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Trinity Sunday, 6/16/19. The text was John 16:12-15. This is Holy Trinity Sunday. What comes to mind when you think of the Trinity—questions, confusion, a puzzle, a mystery? It seems to me that just when you think you have a bit of understanding, it all starts to unravel as you think of something else. This is a difficult concept to wrap our minds around. For centuries, the early church struggled with a right and proper interpretation and understanding as they formulated the doctrine of the Trinity. The more I read, the more I see the wisdom of Dr. Jerry Christianson who taught The Early Church and its Creeds my first year of seminary. He explained the Trinity as a love relationship between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just as God is all about relationship, so too the Christian life is all about relationship: our relationship with God, our relationship with each other and our relationship with our community.

This is the reflection that was sent electronically to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. Any thoughts? Gospel: John 16:12-15   [ Jesus said,] 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” Sunday, we celebrate the Holy Trinity. Scripture only hints at the nature of God being one in three and three in one. Each of the readings for Sunday portrays these various aspects of God. In our gospel reading, we have Jesus, the second person of the trinity speaking of the Spirit, the third person of the trinity and of God, the Father, the first person of the

This is the sermon I preached on Pentecost, 6/9/19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Acts 2:1-21. In high school, I had a dear Jewish friend. Desiring her salvation, I happily told her that we Christians also celebrate the Jewish feast of Pentecost. She had never heard of it! It wasn’t until many years later that I learned that what we call Pentecost, which is from the Greek, is the Jewish feast called Shavuot. Had I referred to it in that way, by its Hebrew name, then I suspect she would have had a better understanding. Shavuot began as an agricultural feast, originally celebrated seven weeks after the beginning of the grain harvest (Deut.16:9). Later on, it celebrated the giving of the Law, being celebrated fifty days after Passover. Still, my friend and I would have had very different understandings of what we call Pentecost. For us, it’s about the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit and how that power launched God’s work through the church. In Acts we see the beginn

These are some of my thoughts on Sunday's epistle sent to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church. First Reading: Acts 2:1-21 1 When the day of Pentecost had come, [the apostles] were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.   5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church on Sunday, 6/2. The text was Luke 24:44-53.  Marty and Sandy were with me at Synod Assembly and together we heard Bishop Jim Hazelwood preach on Friday evening. I will need their help for parts of today's message. Tag--you're it!  Luke's closing section of the gospel is like a holy game of tag in which Jesus tags followers, saying, "You're it. Now you're me in the world."  These are words we gather in worship to wait for, and we don't have long to wait. We're a part of Christ's family. When we meet at the table, we taste promises. We become Christ's body.   Today we are celebrating Jesus' Ascension. Jesus leaves his disciples with instruction, a commission, and a promise of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus' time of instruction with his disciples serves to bring closure by recapping major themes of the gospel and to set the stage for the coming of the Sprit and the