Fourth Sunday of Easter

Christ Lutheran Church & School

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 30, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 2:42–47, 1 Peter 2:19–25, John 10:1–10

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HE LIVES TO BE MY GOOD SHEPHERD

Every culture has the concept of an ideal citizen, someone who typifies its values. For much of the United States history, the ideal citizen was the American farmer: hardworking, innovative, and vital to our collective well-being. Even some of our first presidents were farmers.

For the people of Israel, the farmer wasn’t their ideal citizen. It was the shepherd. Sheep were an invaluable source of clothing and food. But they were hard to keep in the Judean countryside. Its sparse grasslands are intermixed with desert. For sheep, food is sparse, but predators are plenteous. The survival of sheep was dependent on their shepherd. There he is. Weather-beaten. Sleepless. Armed. In the dusk, he scans the land, counting his sheep, making sure they are all accounted for, every one of them on his heart. You see why Jesus chose the shepherd to illustrate how he cares for us. He feeds us with His Word. He protects us from that roaring lion, Satan. Jesus is leading us into the green pasture of eternal life. For centuries, the Church has observed this Fourth Sunday of Easter to celebrate that he lives to be our Good Shepherd.

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 21, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 1:12–26, 1 Peter 4:12–17, 1 Peter 5:6–11, John 17:1–11

HE LIVES TO GIVE ME EAGER EXPECTATION OF GLORY The Church waits. The Church in Jerusalem waited for ten days between Christ’s ascension and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. The Church today waits through the millennia between Pentecost and Christ’s second coming. We are waiting for the gifts that Jesus promised. We live in eager expectation of glory! That glory is not dimmed by early suffering. Rather, our current sufferings only remind us of the glory that awaits us. We are simply following in Christ’s footsteps. First comes the cross, and then comes the crown. Knowing what is coming lets us view our current light and momentary troubles. They cannot mute the joy of living in eager expectation of glory. While we wait during this time between Christ’s ascension and return, we live knowing that we will suffer persecution for our faith in Christ, but God will work it for glory.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 17, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • 1 Peter 3:15–22

God accomplishes His purposes through the witness we give in word and deed.

Pentecost Sunday

May 28, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 2:1–21, 1 Corinthians 12:3–11, John 7:37–39

HE LIVES TO POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT Fifty days after the Passover, God’s Old Testament people celebrated Pentecost (Greek for “fifty”). Pentecost commemorated the harvest gathering and was also used to remember the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, the start of the Church of Israel. Christ chose Pentecost to be the birthday of his New Testament Church too. By pouring out his Holy Spirit, Christ empowered the Church to gather in the great harvest of souls won by the Son. Pentecost is the third great festival of the Church, along with the Nativity and the Resurrection. The early church fathers mention the Festival of Pentecost often enough to lead many to believe it was celebrated annually at the time of the apostles. Pentecost closes the fifty-day period after Easter and ends the festival half of the church year. The Church dresses in red this day to remind us of the tongues of fire that marked the Spirit’s gift, as well as the blood of the martyrs, which was the seed of the Church.