Feeling swept up in the season?

Thanksgiving - Advent - Christmas - New Year's, seems to rush upon us.  When you think about it being late November/early December, what comes to mind for you?

In Advent we as Christians are called to stand apart, to have a posture that's a little different, as we live in the faith of the coming light of Christ and the kingdom of God.

Click to read the sermon:

Child Nutrition Act - Lutheran Advocacy Ministries

Did you know that the Lutheran Advocacy Ministries offices are an arm of the ELCA which acts as the body of Christ by advocating for legislative action to support human rights as expressed through our social statements?
 See more on the Lutheran Advocacy Ministries of Pennsylvania website here - http://lamp.org/.

An urgent request is one regarding the Child Nutrition Act - watch this short, informational video - I did!


You can participate and advocate for children's nutrition by simply calling your Congressional representative at 1-877-698-8228. This toll free # will direct you to a script for your call and then you enter your zip code. It's very easy and important that the improvements to the Child Nutrition Act get passed this year!
I called - it is empowering to participate and only takes a couple minutes.

Advocacy is political, but it is not partisan. Did you know our church was involved in this way? Christ calls us as the body of Christ to work for change in this world, not to be separatist or unaware of the public policies around us which impact our neighbors, families, and friends.

Come closer

One of my favorite poets is Anis Mojgani.  This is a part of his poem, "Closer."  While this poem is not Christian (Mojgani himself is a Baha'i), it speaks to me in a prayerful way that describes how I think God relates to us through creating us and then redeeming us in Christ.  God is always beckoning us to "come closer."  So I offer these words to you today:

come closer.



come into this. come closer.


you are quite the beauty. if no one has ever told you that before know that now. you are quite the beauty. there is joy in how your mouth dances with your teeth. your mouth is a sign of how sacred your life truly is. come into this. true of heart come into this. you are true of heart. come closer. come closer. know that whatever God prays to He asked it to help Him make something of worth. He woke from His dreams scraped the soil form the spaces inside Himself made you and was happy. you make the Lord happy.


come into this.


come closer.

On baptism, and sermon from 11/14

Can you remember your baptism?  For those of us baptized as infants (as I was, at 6 months old), the idea of remembering our baptisms has to be a figurative one.  But it is a very important one.  In baptism we affirm our faith, renounce sin, and those around us in the Body of Christ, especially our families/sponsors/godparents promise to support and nurture us in our baptized lives.

Yesterday in worship we affirmed the baptism of Arianna Grace Morales, born October 12, 2010.  She is truly God's child and God's miracle baby.  Doctors doubted and never thought she would even make it to be born.  But the faith and love of her parents and God's strengthening presence with her have brought her into our congregation - quite the gift.  It was a wonderful moment to affirm and welcome her into the congregation.  She, and her story is a blessing, in which we testify to the love and faithfulness God has for each of us.

The appointed readings for this date, including the gospel reading, Luke 21:5-19, are quite jarring.  At first I thought about changing them, but in the end, they affirm the same thing that we believe about baptism.  That in the end, all the things in this life - buildings, stuff, even relationships, are temporary compared to Jesus Christ and the eternal life we are given in baptism.

Click below to read the sermon:

But for you who fear my name . . .

This coming Sunday's readings are . . . a little different.  They each speak about the end times, when Christ will return as victor and it will be the end of days.  The images can be a little scary - the gospel reading talks about wars, about signs of the end times coming.  During this time of year, at the end of our church year (as Advent is the beginning), and during Advent itself, we hear these readings about waiting for Jesus' return, about the need to be ready, and sometimes, harsh warnings for those who are not.

I honestly cannot say these are some of my favorite biblical texts, but they are important nonetheless.

The Old Testament reading for this Sunday is from Malachi, the last of the prophets in the Old Testament, and this chapter is actually the last one of the whole Hebrew Scriptures/Old Testament.

Here's the reading:

Malachi 4:1 See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

That last sentence is not included in the selection chosen for this Sunday, but I cannot hear these verses without it, because of this song, which also helps me to hear the joy in these images of the end times.  "But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise, with healing in his wings, and you shall go forth again, and skip about like calves, coming from their stalls at last!"  What a cool image - enjoy the song!

Blessed are you . . .

The gospel text for this past Sunday, appointed for All Saints' Sunday, was Luke's version of the Beatitudes.
All last week this had me thinking - what does it mean to be blessed?  What do we view as the difference between blessed and happy?  (Since the Greek word translated "blessed" here can mean both.) 

Click below to read the sermon (note, this is a  slightly different version, lacking the ending, than was preached in church)

Reformation Day Sermon

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, an act now marked as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.  (Those doors are pictured here, which now are replaced by metal ones with the 95 theses cast in them.)  This would eventually form the Lutheran church, but also bring about the Reformed tradition and really all the other Protestant denominations.

Luther, a priest, professor, and teacher, did not intend to break away from the Roman Catholic Church. He simply wanted to open a discussion and see if God was leading the church to be more Spirit-led in certain practices and beliefs.  Though the 95 theses nailed on the door is now dramatized as such a dramatic event, it was not in Luther's day.  That was the place where other academic church thinkers and leaders posted thoughts and theses for debate and academic discussion.  But no one took Luther's 95 theses that way and responded in the normal, under the radar way, but it was soon printed and discussed widely.

As Lutherans, or even just as modern people, we are inheritors of this history.  On this 2010 Reformation Day, I was invited to preach on why I am a Lutheran - click below to read the sermon!