Installation Sermon on Malachi 2:5-7; II Timothy 4:1-5; St. John 21:15-17

Installation Sermon on
Malachi 2:5-7; II Timothy 4:1-5; St. John 21:15-17

Installation of Rev. Jimmy Coffey

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
New Hyde Park, NY

Epiphany IV + 30 January 2011 + 3:00 p.m.

+ Jesu Juva +

Feed My Sheep. 
                                                      – St. John 21:17

“[W]e now live in a time in which a heated controversy has broken out in our Lutheran Church about what the holy preaching office actually is” (At Home in the House of My Fathers, 148). These words from C. F. W. Walther, whose 200th birthday we celebrate this year (1811- 1887), have lost none of their weight. Indeed, the controversy over church and ministry has only increased since he spoke these words in an Epiphany sermon in 1862. It is also fitting that Walther quoted today’s Old Testament lesson (Mal 2:5-7) in his introduction to this sermon: “The lips of the [Levitical] priest should guard the teaching, so that one may seek the law from his mouth; for he is a messenger of the Lord of hosts” (At Home, p. 147). Today, we consider our identity as shepherd and sheep as we welcome a messenger from the Lord of hosts, Pastor Jimmy B. Coffey. Our Epistle and Gospel lessons will teach us, especially the sheep of this fold, what to expect from the church and ministry as the Lord’s words are fulfilled in our midst: “Feed my sheep.”

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