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“Our Identity as Church: Living Stones and a Holy Priesthood” (1 Peter 2:2-10) There’s a lot of talk about “identity” these days. How do you “identify”? What do you identify as? A guy may be born as a male, but now he decides that he identifies as a woman. It doesn’t matter what the reality is, because that’s how he identifies. Whoops, I should watch my pronouns: If that’s how “she” identifies, then that’s who “she” is. And you have no right to say any different. Identity. How do you self-identify? How do you see yourself? “I’m an American!” “I’m...

“Quasimodogeniti: Like Newborn Infants” (1 Peter 1:3-9; 2:2-3) Today is the Second Sunday in the Easter season, which means it’s the first Sunday after Easter itself. Like many of the Sundays in the church year, this one has an old and traditional title. The name of this Sunday, in Latin, is Quasimodogeniti. Sounds like the character Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” doesn’t it? That’s because Quasimodo was named after the day he was adopted as a baby, Quasimodogeniti. The word, Quasimodogeniti, is actually several words strung together: Quasi, meaning, “like” or “as”; modo, meaning, “just now”; and geniti,...

“Casting All Your Anxieties on Him” (1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11) It came as a shock this past Monday morning. I got an email telling me that the son of a pastor friend of mine--that over the weekend this pastor’s son had taken his own life. Fifteen years old. A good kid. A bright kid. A faithful, church-going young man. I had gotten to know this boy a little bit at various conferences over the years, when his parents had brought him along. So that made it all the more shocking and sad. Just fifteen years old. And in a sudden...

“Our Anxieties and God’s Care” (1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11) What are your anxieties? What are you worried about? Anxiety is really another way to say worry. They pretty much mean the same thing. To be anxious, to be worried, means that something is weighing on your mind that you’re thinking about, almost obsessing about. You’re worried about what might happen in the future. It’s the negative prospect of what might happen that keep hanging around in your head. That’s anxiety, that’s worry. So what are your anxieties? We all have them. From time to time, some negative possibility...

“Hope for the Future and a Present Priesthood” (John 14:1-14; 1 Peter 2:2-10)You gotta have hope. Hope is faith facing the future. You and I, we need something to look forward to. Otherwise, we lose heart, we get depressed, and our hopelessness paralyzes us. So we need hope, hope for the future, in order to function well in the present. And really, we need hope for the big future, the eternal future. Because the reality is, at some point, we’re going to depart this life. At some point, something is going to do us in, and death is going to...

“The Good Shepherd for Straying and Suffering Sheep” (1 Peter 2:19-25) I’m guessing by now you’ve picked up on the theme of the day. You’ve heard it throughout the service so far. For example, in the Introit, the words of Jesus: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” In the Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd.” In the Holy Gospel, where Jesus calls himself “the shepherd of the sheep.” In the Hymn of the Day, “The King of Love My Shepherd Is.” Yes, no...

“Easter Joy Continues!” (John 20:19-31; Acts 5:29-42; 1 Peter 1:3-9) Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Yes, he is risen indeed! And guess what? He is still risen! Christ didn’t stop being risen once Easter Day was over. And so the Easter season continues--and with it, our Easter joy. It’s the Second Sunday “of” Easter! Thus our theme for this morning: “Easter Joy Continues!” The Easter joy was certainly evident last Sunday. Easter Day at St. Matthew’s was a day of great joy. As soon as the resurrection was announced at the start of the service, we...

“Glorious Suffering” (1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11)Have you ever heard of the term “oxymoron”? An oxymoron is when you have two words placed next to each other in a phrase, but they really don’t belong together. For example, “jumbo shrimp.” “Jumbo” and “shrimp” would seem to be self-contradictory terms. Another oxymoron: “Rap music.” The two ideas don’t go together. Or this one, speaking as someone coming from Chicago: “St. Louis pizza.” Sorry, I couldn’t help it. Well, a couple of our readings today seem to have an oxymoron going on, two self-contradictory ideas being placed right next to each...

“Redeemed: From What? With What? Now What?” (1 Peter 1:17-25)To introduce the sermon today I’d like us all now to open our hymnals to page 322, to the Small Catechism, the part on the Creed. And under the Second Article, on pages 322 and 323, you will see Luther’s Explanation of the Second Article, starting with “What does this mean?” Let’s read that now together: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased...

1 Peter 3:8-9 Suffering for Righteousness' Sake 8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.