Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter
April 23, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:3-9
Sermon Theme: “Facing Trials and Pain with Faith and Hope”
(Sources: Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations: original ideas and examples; Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Life Application Study Bible)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was a teacher for 30 years, both in high school and college, before I became a pastor, and now, I have been a pastor for almost 30 years; as a consequence, I have been compared to the Energizer Bunny. About ten years ago, one of my former high school students, now a retired Lutheran Pastor, told another former student that he had visited with me, — to which the other replied, “You mean that old codger is still living?!”
Not too long ago, our LCMS District President asked my Circuit Counselor if I were still preaching, and he seemed awe-stricken that I still was.
However, I must say emphatically that I am no Energizer Bunny compared to Rev. Wayne Brouwer’s old friend, who was older than I and still going strong in the pulpit. The old pastor had reached a good age and was mostly ready to go. In fact, he jokingly said he had more lives than the proverbial cat with nine lives. On too many occasions, because of cancer and accidents and blood diseases, doctors had written him off. Yet, like the Energizer bunny, he kept going and going and going.
At a Circuit Pastors’ meeting, all the pastors present got to talking about how they hoped their congregation would remember them when they passed away. One pastor said he hoped people would say nice things about him at his funeral, especially that he was a Godly man. Another said he hoped folks would remember him for loving his family and being a pastor they could count on.
Having a great sense of humor, Wayne Brouwer’s old friend said, “When people come by my casket, I hope they look at me and say, “Oh, my! He just moved!”
None of us wants to die, yet all of us face that prospect with a one-hundred percent certainty. Except that after Easter, you can’t count on death any more. Jesus reversed the natural course of events and shattered our pre-conceived notions about terminations. Jesus came back to life. Now everything changes. Continue reading