The Keys of St. Peters
The Pastors Blog of St. Peters Evangelical Lutheran Church
Sermon: The Scandalous Lineage of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-6).
Text: Matthew 1:1-6
Wednesday after the Third Sunday in Advent
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
North Americans love a good scandal. Scandals involve disgraceful or offensive activities. We’re captivated by the salacious details of celebrities’ lives, by politicians trapped in webs of corruption, greed, and infidelity and by clergy gone astray. Maybe we’re drawn to the lapses and misdeeds of the powerful because we delight in seeing the mighty fall or the hypocrisies of the arrogant exposed. Or maybe we enjoy the self-righteous comfort that comes from comparing our own messed-up lives to theirs: at least we’re not that bad! But tonight’s reading draws our attention to some striking scandals in Jesus own genealogy. Let’s spend a few minutes reviewing the family scandals.
Read MoreSermon: A Crisis of Identity (John 1:6-8, 19-28)
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Third Sunday in Advent, Series B
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who are you? In a culture obsessed with self-actualisation, we feel the constant pressure to ask ourselves who we are and how we define ourselves. We’re pressured to identify ourselves by our jobs, financial status, successes, family, sexual orientation, gender, appearance, what other people say about us. There are numerous ways that we may identify ourselves. But what happens to our identity when things change? We may experience failure or rejection, lose our family. We might find ourselves completely burned out. When our circumstances change, our identity, our sense of who we are, can change too. Someone whose identity is wrapped up in their spouse is going to have a difficult time if that spouse dies. So, “Who are you? What do you say about yourself?” That’s the question posed to John the Baptist by the delegation from Jerusalem, the religious priests and Levites who were sent to investigate this strange wilderness man. How John identified himself can help us find a reliable answer to this question: Who are you?
Read MoreSermon: Jesus, Abraham’s Promised Son (Genesis 15:1-7,18)
Genesis 15:1-7, 18
Wednesday in the Second Week of Advent
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In some cities the light pollution makes it very difficult to see the stars at night. Night is never very dark in the city. One of my most vivid memories is of a camping trip in the Georgian Bay near Tobermory. When we arrived in the middle of the night, and I got out of the car, I stared into the sky in disbelief. There was no electric light to obscure our view. The dark velvet sky was simply blanketed with brilliant stars, sprinkled across the horizon. I like to imagine that it is this kind of night sky that Abraham saw in our reading for this evening. Abraham is doubting God’s promise. He sees no reason to believe that the promise will come true.
Read MoreSermon: Comfort From God (Isaiah 40:1-11)
Text: Isaiah 40:1-11
Second Sunday in Advent, Series B
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does comfort look like? When might we need to comfort someone else? You might think about the victims of calamity, or parents whose children have died. Your mind might dwell on people without the means to sustain themselves. Certainly those who are vulnerable to physical threat and bodily harm need comfort. There are those who have been the victims of trauma and abuse, and a comforting word might be needed a ray of hope for a dark and dreary mood. God’s message in today’s text from the prophet Isaiah is, “Comfort.” What’s surprising in our text is not that there are people who need comfort; it is that God commands that they be comforted. God wants his preachers to bring comfort to his people, to speak tenderly to his church. What is this comfort? And how does this comfort come to us? Read More
Sermon: Jesus, Son of David (Mark 10:46-52)
Mark 10:46-52
Advent 1, Midweek
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was a hot, dry and dusty spring day, but the road leading out of Jericho was a good place for a beggar to beg. Scores of people travelled to and from Jerusalem. It was particularly good place for Bartimaeus. While he was sitting at the side of the road, he heard a big commotion. A large crowd was coming down the road. His sharp ears could pick out the voices. He heard the name Jesus. Jesus – that healer and teacher from Nazareth. Bartimaeus heard about Jesus. How Jesus healed the sick, and cast out demons, and raised the dead. He’d heard about Jesus’ compassion, His love for the lost, His call to discipleship. Bartimaeus believed that Jesus could help him. As the crowd drew closer, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Read MoreSermon: Christ’s Advent Call: “Watch & Wait!” (Mark 13:33-37)
Mark 13:33-37
First Sunday in Advent, Series B
Listen to the sermon here!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most modern houses don’t have a doorkeeper. It’s up to the owners to lock up, and perhaps set-up security alarms. But in some big cities, things may be a bit different. Many people now live in apartment buildings which employ a full-time guard by the main entrance. There may even be several guards on duty 24 hours a day. They see everyone who enters or leaves. This is how it would have been with a great house in Jesus’ day. Jesus says he’s like a man who goes on a journey and leaves his servants in charge, each with the authority to do their work. Watch! Be alert! Stay awake! Four times Jesus says it in four verses of this morning’s Gospel. That’s the spirit of Advent – watchfulness, alertness, waiting with sober vigilance. Be on the lookout, as they say. The Lord is near. This is the warning that Jesus issues to his followers as we face the troubles of this world.
Read MoreSermon: God’s Gifts: Either use them or Lose them (Matthew 25:14-30).
Text: Matthew 25:14-30
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost | Proper 28, Series A
Listen to the sermon here!
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
How many people here were audited by the CRA recently? Were you excited? Did you pop open a bottle of champagne and celebrate with your spouse? “Dear! We’re being audited! Come celebrate!!” No, far from it, we usually approach such an event with annoyance, and perhaps a bit of dread. It’s one thing to submit your tax information to the Government. It’s quite another to get the notice that the Government didn’t quite believe you and is now going to go over everything you submitted with a fine-tooth comb. Perhaps they’ll even ask you to submit receipts, proof of this or that, and most certainly, more wonderful forms to fill out. The amount of fear and dread that might come upon you is related to how accurate you were with your information. If you lied, or tried to hide something, it’ll be discovered. If you kept bad records and threw away those receipts, you won’t be able to claim it. And so on. It’s a real hassle isn’t it? So, we really don’t like being audited. In our Gospel lesson Christ our Lord tells a story about three slaves being audited.
Sermon: Encouraging Words (1 Thess. 4:13-18)
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost | Proper 27, Series A
Listen to the sermon here.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There once was a young man who rode the elevated railway to work regularly. One day, he noticed that in one place where the train moved slowly, he could see into a room where an elderly woman was apparently convalescing. For several weeks he saw her recovering there, so one day he put in the effort to learn the woman’s name and sent her a get-well card, signing it, “Just a young man who rides the train.” A week later as he rode the train home through the dusk he noted that the bed was empty and a sign, illuminated by a table lamp, was hanging on the window. It read, “Bless you.”
There are all times when we need to be encouraged. Maybe some here this morning could use a bit of encouragement. Well, the Apostle Paul has some words meant to encourage us, and this is the kind of encouragement that will give us a lasting confidence, and an enduring hope. In our epistle lesson Paul puts to rest all of the fears and concerns that Christians have about death. Christians of all ages and Christians of all times have turned to these verses again and again.
Read MoreSermon: What About Heaven? (Revelation 7:2-17)
Text: Revelation 7:2-17
All Saints’ Day, 2020
Listen to the Sermon here!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you want to know something about heaven? There’s deep longing to learn something about where you go when you die. And here in our reading from Revelation we catch a glimpse. We are especially interested in knowing about heaven when our own loved ones are there. I’m certain that includes many here today. So, we can look to the Scriptures to find the hints that they give. We find hints in the Transfiguration of our Lord on the holy mountain. We can meditate on the many sayings of his apostles. But, today, we’ll look at this section of the Book of the Revelation. We don’t know where heaven is, but here we have a vivid picture of heaven and those who dwell there. This passage was written to comfort the hearts of the suffering and give them needed hope, as it has given hope to countless throughout the centuries.
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