You Tube Extra: A Future Free from Famine

Okay, I admit it, I've fallen behind on You Tube Friday, folks.  To make up for it, you'll get TWO BONUS VIDEOS this week, plus the normal Friday edition.  Wow.  I know, it's amazing.  Here is an important message about famine in our world and what we can do to help bring it to an end.  Remember - droughts are natural disasters, but famine is man-made.  Think about it and enjoy this video from ONE.org.

Reformation Sunday: I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more

Although we cling to memories of sin, failure and injustice, God no longer remembers our sin.  God chooses not to allow the memories of our sin and brokenness define our future.  God frees us from sin in Jesus Christ and is creating a new future for us - beginning in our baptisms.  This freedom in Christ is what Martin Luther sought to proclaim almost 500 years ago.

God's Holy People - That's You!

Today we hear in Leviticus God's words, "you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."  Rather than using this as a way to divide God's people into holy and not holy, what if this is a declaration from God of who he is making us to be?  What if God is making us holy every day, and calling us to mission here in Lancaster?

What belongs to God?

Today's gospel reading from Matthew invites the question, "what belongs to God?"  The answer - well, just about everything.  We are invited to consider the world and our lives and how we are called as Christians to relate to governments.  We are called to witness even in Washington and on Wall Street to God's vision of justice.

You Tube Friday: Nobel Prize-Winning Lutheran

Did you know that a Liberian Lutheran woman named Leymah Gbowee has recently won the Nobel Peace Prize?  She has led a movement of women committed to ending violence and bringing about peace in Liberia, a West African nation which has been torn by civil war over the last few decades.  Her group was instrumental in the free and fair election of Africa's first female president, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (who also won the Nobel Peace Prize).  Hear part of Gbowee's story here.  See what God's ordinary people can do with faith and love?

The invitation has arrived

Today in worship we rejoiced as five of our sisters and brothers were welcomed by God in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  Today's gospel reading from Matthew featured Jesus telling a parable about a great wedding banquet.  In baptism, we have assurance that we are indeed invited to the Lord's table.

You Tube Friday: Welcoming Feet

For Week Two of You Tube Friday, check out Pr. Violet Little of The Welcome Church in downtown Philadelphia, a church without walls.  I was so blessed to be able to attend Pr. Little's installation in the fall of 2009, which was held in Rittenhouse Square.  We sang hymns, prayed and recited the 23rd psalm in the middle of the square on a Sunday afternoon, while the people of Philadelphia hurried by or had lunch at one of the several trendy restaurants nearby.  But some of them stopped, and what they saw was a powerful witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Enjoy!

Christ the Cornerstone

Today's sermon...the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.