Sunday, June 26 was the second Sunday after Pentecost, and my (Vicar Brett) last Sunday as vicar of Christ Lutheran. This blog will be maintained by Vicar Evan when he begins August 1. The sermon is based on the gospel text, Matthew 10:40-42. Click below to read the sermon.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Pentecost Sermon
For Pentecost, the sermon was perhaps a little different. It's based on this video from some professors at Luther Seminary - which you can view at the bottom of the sermon. Click below to read the sermon.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Pentecost is Coming . . .
This Sunday, June 12, is the festival of Pentecost, one of the highest days of the church year. You can read the story of Pentecost in Acts 2. A prayer as we approach Pentecost:
(The prayer is taken from here.)Perplexing, Pentecostal God,
you infuse us with your Spirit,urging us to vision and dream.
May the gift of your presence
find voice in our lives,
that our babbling may be transformed into discernment
and the flickering of many tongueslight an unquenchable fire of compassion and justice. Amen.
Ascension of Our Lord
When I was a little girl I had a big backyard. I loved to lay down in the grass, or lean way back in a swing, and look at the clouds move against the blue sky. I was brought up going to Sunday School each week, and taught that Jesus is always with me and looks down on me, and loves me. And having a vague idea from cartoons or somewhere that God is in the sky, I decided Jesus was up there too. So I can remember as a kid spending fair amounts of time in the backyard trying to see Jesus in the clouds. I mean, if he stands on the cloud, maybe sometimes he gets close enough to an edge, and if I just were to look at the right angle, I'd have to glimpse the top of his head! I must've been a weird kid, hours spent in this search. . .
In retrospect, maybe I got this idea from hearing the readings on one Ascension Sunday. Acts reads, “When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The resurrected life
In January 2010, I was traveling in India when one morning's newspaper told us the news of the earthquake in Haiti. I was with a small group of seminarians, one of whom was from Wartburg Seminary. Many of her classmates were on a similar trip, doing service in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. Ben Larson, senior seminarian, died that day in the ruin of the earthquake in Haiti.
His wife, now pastor, Renee Splichal Larson, talks in this video about the resurrected life.
All of us have experienced loss. In this Easter season, we talk a lot about resurrection. But what does that actually look like in our daily lives, in our lives?
The last months and year have brought far too many stories of natural disasters and the wake of destruction they have brought. Prayers are added today for the people of Joplin Missouri, the newest devastated headline-makers, but all people recovering from loss and destruction old and new.
Easter holds real promises for new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17: So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
Sermon from 5/22 - The Father's Home
This past Sunday, we hosted Mr. Otinel Mlimba, general secretary of Konde Diocese the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, our companion in mission and ministry. It was a joy to hear from him, especially during the Sunday school hour, and learn and share our faith together. The sermon below is based on the gospel text for the day, John 14:1-14, and probing the concepts of feeling lost contrasted with this image of the Father's house/home.
I'm not lost.
It's just that I don't know exactly where I'm going. . .
No matter how much you pride yourself on being good at directions or aware of your surroundings, everyone has been lost at some point in their lives. It's a troubling feeling. The disciples were troubled too. Even as they travel with Jesus, they are worried, focused on where exactly they are headed and what it will look like. Thomas echoes the concerns of all of the disciples, and us - “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
This is a nagging fear, even if we know, as Thomas did – that Jesus is leading. Where are we going? There has been a lot of discussion and anxiety in the news this week about the so-called rapture and where we are going when Jesus returns, or after you die, but I don't even mean that. I mean where are you going – after church? Where are you going in your career? With your family? Where is your heart going? All of these at times can make us anxious, when we feel we don't know the way, or find ourselves in unfamiliar or surprising surroundings. I wonder if on any time on Otinel's journey to us, on his many flights, he thought – where am I going?!
I'm not lost.
It's just that I don't know exactly where I'm going. . .
No matter how much you pride yourself on being good at directions or aware of your surroundings, everyone has been lost at some point in their lives. It's a troubling feeling. The disciples were troubled too. Even as they travel with Jesus, they are worried, focused on where exactly they are headed and what it will look like. Thomas echoes the concerns of all of the disciples, and us - “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
This is a nagging fear, even if we know, as Thomas did – that Jesus is leading. Where are we going? There has been a lot of discussion and anxiety in the news this week about the so-called rapture and where we are going when Jesus returns, or after you die, but I don't even mean that. I mean where are you going – after church? Where are you going in your career? With your family? Where is your heart going? All of these at times can make us anxious, when we feel we don't know the way, or find ourselves in unfamiliar or surprising surroundings. I wonder if on any time on Otinel's journey to us, on his many flights, he thought – where am I going?!
Monday, May 16, 2011
"Best" Life versus Abundant Life
Below is the sermon from May 15, 2011. The bible text is John 10:1-10, with a little flavor of Psalm 23 thrown in.
Vicar Brett Wilson – Easter 4a – John 10:1-10 – 5/15/11 – CELC Lancaster
The other day I was at the grocery store, and needed butter, or margarine spread. I bought what was on sale, and didn't think too much of it. But at home as I spread my bagel, I realized the label said in large print – “best life” and in smaller print – buttery spread. I thought – what did I buy? What kind of name is “bestlife?” I did a little research. These “bestlife” products are a part a program headed by Bob Greene, Oprah's physical trainer. The buttery spread products are the only ones with the bestlife name. But there is a whole line of bestlife approved foods, which get the bestlife logo as a seal on the package. For a fee, you can get on the Best Life diet plan. Bob Greene has also written a book called “The Life You Want!” subtitle, “Get Motivated, Lose Weight, & Be Happy.”
I looked this all up though, because I wanted to know what was actually IN this spread I bought, and stumbled upon something quite different. I may be buying a butter-flavored, vegetable oil based spread, but is that what they're selling? Or is Greene and really, the whole industry, trying to sell you your bestlife?
Vicar Brett Wilson – Easter 4a – John 10:1-10 – 5/15/11 – CELC Lancaster
The other day I was at the grocery store, and needed butter, or margarine spread. I bought what was on sale, and didn't think too much of it. But at home as I spread my bagel, I realized the label said in large print – “best life” and in smaller print – buttery spread. I thought – what did I buy? What kind of name is “bestlife?” I did a little research. These “bestlife” products are a part a program headed by Bob Greene, Oprah's physical trainer. The buttery spread products are the only ones with the bestlife name. But there is a whole line of bestlife approved foods, which get the bestlife logo as a seal on the package. For a fee, you can get on the Best Life diet plan. Bob Greene has also written a book called “The Life You Want!” subtitle, “Get Motivated, Lose Weight, & Be Happy.”I looked this all up though, because I wanted to know what was actually IN this spread I bought, and stumbled upon something quite different. I may be buying a butter-flavored, vegetable oil based spread, but is that what they're selling? Or is Greene and really, the whole industry, trying to sell you your bestlife?
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