The Keys of St. Peters

Text: Romans 9:1-18
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 13A)
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have you ever known someone who used to be a Christian? Did you wonder what went wrong? How is it possible that a person – born and raised in the Church, baptised, confirmed, part of Sunday School, could just walk away? Have you known people like that? I’m sure you not only know people like that, but you also feel some sense of sorrow and anguish over them. They had all these blessings: they knew their Bible, they learned the Catechism, they had a Christian family, they were members who served in the Church. Where did it all go wrong? Why don’t they believe?

This is the kind of question which the Apostle Paul is asking in our Epistle reading. Last week we read that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:39). No sooner has Paul said this, then he immediately thinks of his fellow Israelites. Paul is talking about God’s chosen people, his treasured possession. And Paul is agonising over it. He has deep sorrow and even wishes that he could be cut off from Christ, if by doing so he could save his fellow Israelites. That’s how deeply Paul feels this sorrow. The question on the table is this: What went wrong? Why did Israel, through whom the Messiah came, reject the Messiah? Why didn’t Israel believe? Why, given their special status as God’s priestly people with all the covenants, promises, worship, legislation, prophets, why did Israel not believe and get behind Jesus, the true son of Israel? It’s a tough question. And an important one, for us here today because we face a similar question. Read More

Text: Romans 8:28-39
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 12A
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Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There were two towering figures during the Reformation. One was, of course, Martin Luther. The other was Philip Melanchthon. These two were best friends. Luther was always singing Melanchthon’s praises. While Luther was often like bull in the china shop, Melanchthon was timid, and approached things with the calm and precision of a scholar. When Luther died, Melanchthon was the one who preached at the funeral. What gave Melanchthon his strength? What made this gentle, timid, scholarly fellow boldly stand with Luther against the world? The answer is verse 31 of our Epistle reading: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In his lectures, Melanchthon quotes that verse more than any other. In his personal crest, it is the motto. When Melanchthon knew he was on his death bed, the pastor with him read Romans 8:31. Melanchthon exclaimed, “Read those words again!” The pastor read them, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Melanchthon clung to those words as he lay there dying. He murmured, “That’s it! That’s it!” That text was the greatest comfort to him. Even in the darkest hours of his life, as he lay in death’s cold grip, he boldly clung to those words, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

This section of Romans 8 has brought similar comfort to many Christians throughout the centuries. And that was exactly its purpose. St. Paul the Apostle wrote these words so that we may come away from this text with assurance and confidence in God’s love for us in Christ. As we examine what Paul wrote in these verses, we’ll see why this passage continues to bring comfort and hope to millions of Christians. Read More

Text: Romans 8:12-17
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, Series A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sometimes it seems as though the Holy Spirit gets the short end of the stick. God the Father does the work of creating and God the Son does the work of saving. The Holy Spirit makes a few prominent appearances, like at the Baptism of Jesus, but otherwise, it may seem like the Holy Spirit doesn’t get mentioned a lot. This downplaying of the Spirit can spill over and become a habit in Churches as well. Someone once complained that they could not remember a single Sunday when the Holy Spirit was mentioned more than simply the occasional reference during a reading, creed, benediction, or prayer. Beloved, the Spirit does far more than simply make the occasional cameo appearance. The work of the Spirit is vital to your life as a Christian. What is that work? What does the Holy Spirit do for us? St. Paul the Apostle in our epistle reading says, first, the Spirit leads us, and second, the Spirit bears witness to us. Read More

Text: Romans 7:14-25
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Series A
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Go back for a moment to those classic Saturday morning cartoons. Sometimes these cartoons picture a character wrestling with a temptation. The internal struggle is visualised by two miniature versions of the character’s self, an Angel and a Devil. They sit on each shoulder, with the Devil on the left. The angel and devil are shown both whispering into one ear, hoping to motivate the character to choose evil or good. It’s a trope we are all familiar with and seems to go all the way back to the second century AD.

The struggle which can be depicted in cartoons, is even more elaborately explained by St. Paul in our Epistle lesson. “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do,” says Paul (Rom. 7:19). How many here can relate to that? Have you felt that struggle between what you know is right, and the evil you’re tempted to do? Have you ever asked yourself, “Why do I keep on sinning when I don’t want to sin? Why the struggle? Why the battle?” St. Paul helps us to see why every Christian must face this struggle, and what hope we have. Read More

Text: 
Romans 7:1-13

Proper 8A, Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you ever visited a shopping mall and seen those rent-able carts for children? Sometimes they are designed to look like race cars with a fake steering wheel so that the child can have some fun as the parents shop. These carts usually have a bag on the back where you can put your personal or shopping items. Quite often they also have a sign on the bag: “DO NOT PUT CHILD IN BAG.” Why is that sign there? Because some parents were putting their kids in the bag! Maybe someone got hurt. Maybe the bags were damaged. Something happened, and a sign needed to be made. Up until the very moment when you saw the sign, you hadn’t even thought about doing that. But now, since you were told not to do it, what happens? You have a sudden urge to put the child in the bag! I should never have known what it was to want to put the child in the bag, if the sign had not said, ‘Do not put child in bag.’  Through that sign sin found its opportunity, and produced in me all kinds of wrong desires.

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul the Apostle tell us that this situation reveals a serious defect in us. In order help us to understand what’s going on when we have that desire to put the child in the bag, Paul says first that the Law exposes sin. Second that sin exploits the Law. And third, that sinners need grace. Read More

Text: Romans 6:12-23
Third Sunday After Pentecost, Series A
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.


The story of the Prodigal Son is well known (Luke 15:11–32). The younger son tells his father to drop dead, and hand over the inheritance. Venturing off into the world, he spends the entire inheritance on his party life. Finally, he comes home, in what he thinks will be utter disgrace. Then, to his amazement, he finds his father running down the road to meet him, and throwing a huge party in his honour. He’s welcomed back as a son, even though he doesn’t deserve it (and despite his older brother’s complaints).

Now imagine it’s a year or two later. The young man has a unexpected thought. Life has resumed a normal routine again. His older brother tolerates having him around, more or less; his father is getting older. He remembers with a happy sigh all those parties. He also remembers how he felt that day he came up the road and his father came running to greet him … And he thinks, what if I did it again? Why not help myself to a little cash, run away for a few weeks, and then play the penitent and come back again? Maybe I’ll get another party!

Absurd? Unthinkable? Don’t think it’s that farfetched. It’s exactly what a lot of people think. “I like sinning. God likes forgiving. It’s the perfect arrangement!’” And many people today seem to believe that the church’s only message should be forgiveness and acceptance. The Apostle Paul ran into people who thought that he was teaching this very thing. They objected to Paul’s teaching that Christians are free from the Law. People were worried that this would cast off all moral restraint: ‘Paul, you can’t go around saying that Christians are free from the Law! People will get the idea that they can do whatever they want!’ Our epistle reading was written to answer that objection and to show us that the Gospel does not give us a license to sin. Read More

Text: Romans 5:6-15, 18-21
Second Sunday after Pentecost, Series A
You can listen to the sermon here.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The sculptor had finished creating a fine statue. It was placed with pride in the town square. The statue was of a local hero. At great risk to his own life, he had single-handedly rescued a boatload of people caught off the rocks in a winter storm. The town was grateful, and commissioned a statue of him from the sculptor.

But it wasn’t long before trouble arrived. The next summer, a gang moved into the town. They rampaged up the little main street; they broke a couple of windows, and they burned down a shop. When they got to the statue, they defaced it with spray-paint. Then they pushed the statue off its base and crashed into the pavement, smashing into bits. It was ruined! The town council didn’t know what to do! They could not afford a new statue. But the sculptor had an idea. At once, he set to work. He remade it, at his own expense. When the town council asked him why he did it, the sculptor said it was simply because he loved this town.

This little story highlights the main point the Apostle Paul is trying to get across in our epistle reading. Paul talks about how far Sin has gone in ruining the human race, and how God’s grace in Christ is stronger than sin and death, and promises us restoration. Read More

Text: Acts 2:14-36
Second Reading for Trinity Sunday, Series A
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a saying that goes something like this, “In the beginning God created man, and ever since man has been returning the favour.” There’s something to this. We are tempted to fashion God after ourselves, to have a god to suit our fancy. We are tempted invent a god who will solve all our problems or satisfy all our perceived needs. And this is exactly why many don’t like the Creeds, because they won’t be told what to believe. People want to have a pick-and-choose, do-it-yourself, smörgåsbord kind of god.

But, today is the Sunday of the Holy Trinity. Today we confessed the Athanasian creed. This creed stands in the way of our self-chosen gods and says, “Whoever desires to be saved must confess this catholic faith.” Trinity Sunday is a day to take a big, deep breath and confess the incomprehensible – God as one Divine Essence in three Divine Persons, a Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity. “Neither confusing the Persons nor dividing the Substance.” But it’s sure confusing, isn’t it? But this raises two important questions: what exactly is the Trinity and why does my eternal salvation depend upon confessing it? Read More

Text: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost, Series A
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

What’s the tallest building you’ve ever seen?  The CN tower? Perhaps a skyscraper in New York City? Postcards and photographs are taken of major cities skylines which are dotted with buildings which seem to defy gravity. But to see these buildings in person is truly breath taking. You stand at the bottom and look upward at what seems to be an unending conglomeration of concrete, glass and steel. And every so often, what was once the tallest building is soon dwarfed. Today’s Old Testament lesson contains the story of mankind’s first skyscraper. Read More