Claimed, gathered and sent

This is my sermon for the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The scripture text was 1 Peter 1:17-23.   Our second lesson uses the imagery of being in exile. The readers understand that they are strangers in a strange land (sundaysandseasons.com). Doesn’t that describe our current situation? We have not been this way before. There is no Siri, Google, or any other kind of physical GPS that can navigate us safely through this morass of Coronavirus. We feel disconnected from friends and family, from our church family. We may even wonder where God is in all of this. This lesson speaks to our needs today. Peter was addressing Gentile believers who were living in a hostile environment, feeling like strangers in the world. Their time on earth may have been as a time of exile (v. 17). For Gentile believers this was true in several ways: they may have been living away from their homeland, Christians saw themselves as exiles on earth whole real home was heaven and Peter’s readers...

Here are some thoughts on Sunday's second reading that I shared with the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church . What are your thoughts? Second Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-23 17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.   22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, ...