Intersections

  "Remember Jesus Christ!" are the first words of our passage today, as Paul continues to talk to his protege, Timothy, about what he wants to pass on to him. If nothing else, remember Jesus Christ. Last week, I spoke about how Paul was in his last days, in a Roman jail. Things are bleak for him, and through the passage this week, we find out a little more about that. Paul has suffered, and is sharing with Timothy his experience. Know that I suffered for my faith, Timothy, and yet I was faithful! Know that God sees our suffering for him and is faithful! Know that you will also suffer, and you need to learn to be faithful!  Passing down wisdom is a hard thing. It's more than, as the days are getting colder, reminding my children to grab a coat because the summer days are behind and far in front of us. It's more than just telling stories, because it's not guaranteed that the wisdom will be passed alongside the story.  I was listening to a speaker this week who w...

  Let’s start this text with maybe something a little lighter: There once was a rich man near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money, and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel hears his plea and appears to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continues to pray that his wealth can follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his biggest bag, fills it with pure gold bars, and places it beside his bed. Soon afterward, the man dies and appears at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase, says, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!” But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his st...

  I was a little lost while I was writing this sermon this week... couldn't seem to put together the right words. Maybe that's why it seemed so easy to put off... out of sight, out of mind. Anyway - so here we are in the second week in our series of "Having Words with Jesus", taking difficult parables and maybe looking at them with fresh eyes to see how they can help us understand what Jesus is talking about. The second we have here in Luke 15 is actually a series of three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. The lectionary breaks it up to put the last story at a different time in the rotation, and I suppose it deserves its own commentary. We are left with finding the lost.  It's interesting how Luke begins the chapter, pitting two groups kind of against each other. He starts with the tax collectors and sinners were gathering to hear Jesus speak. The pharisees and the other teachers of the law were somewhere close as well, but they are...

  A little background on this week’s reading: The apostles, starting in verse 12 of this chapter, are teaching and doing “signs and wonders” in the temple. Peter is getting to be known, almost as a celebrity for teaching and preaching on the Gospel, so the religious authorities have them put in jail. The priests want to question the apostles about what they are doing, and find that they have escaped (via an angel of the Lord) to continue preaching and teaching about the Good News. They are “non-violently” re-arrested, and they are currently standing trial as our scripture begins.  Our story this morning is part of a bigger story, which goes clear through verse 42, which I’ll let you read at your own time, because this is the part I’d like to focus on today. We have a quick back-and-forth with the priests and the apostles because they each kind of have their own agendas. Imagine being one of these apostles. They were given the task of preaching the Gospel, but now they end up i...

  I know we just went through a bunch of scripture for you this morning. I know it could have been saved for later this week, as the events were unfolding, but I know that sometimes we just need to hear the whole story. It's important, because this is central to our faith. We need to know what happens before next Sunday and the resurrection.   Today, we started with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. We hear this story every year, and I'm hoping I can put some fresh eyes into it.  This year, we listened to the Gospel of Luke - and there are some important differences in this one than the others. First, he doesn't actually talk about palm branches, not on the road, not in people's hands waving... a little strange for what we are used to. There are no Hosannas shouted from the crowd. The King, much like the one who was celebrated a few months ago at Christmas, is still that same Emmanuel - "God with us" - and a symbol of peace on Earth.  God needs ...

My neighbor Larry was not a good gift giver. Every time he gave his wife a gift for Christmas, her birthday, or their anniversary, she complained about what a sucky gift it was. She was starting to get angry. "Larry, the next time you give me a bad gift, I will light it on fire!" A week later was Larry's wife's birthday. She came down to see only one small box. She sighed and went to go get a lighter. She opened up the present. It was a candle. What is the best gift you've ever given or received?  Hard to believe Lent is coming to an end, right? We are in the fifth week of Lent, and next week is Palm Sunday! I mean - I know many of us are focused on Easter in two weeks, but the journey really is getting tough right now for Jesus.  In the scripture this morning, we are six days before Passover, where everyone would be gathering for the celebration. But in our context, this is just letting us know that it's getting closer to Jesus' crucifixion....

  Throughout our Lenten season, we are reflecting, and hopefully, some of that time is sorting out what God wants from us. Maybe how to incorporate spiritual activities back into our lives if we fell out of practice. Perhaps it’s how to better use the spiritual gifts that God has given us. We want our lives to matter. This is an entirely human trait and can be traced back through time.  Not only does Jesus call us to live out our faith, but he wants to see spiritual fruit from those actions. Just like natural fruit, it's something that happens when we blossom through the faith process. You need to be mature to create fruit. A newly planted tree isn't strong enough to go through the process. It needs to develop root structures, and branch out. There many not be fruit on every single branch either. There's all sorts of fruit, but people have named whole trees after the one fruit that it produces, like apple trees, lemon trees, etc. Thankfully enough, God did not create us to ...