SPB Sermons || Contending for Hope (Part 1) | Strangers sent into a Stranger World || 1 Peter 1:1–2

As we begin a new year and mark 175 years of worship and witness at St Paul’s & St Barnabas, we open a new teaching series: Contending for Hope.In this first message, we turn to the opening words of Peter’s first letter. Written to a weary, scattered church under pressure, these verses speak with striking clarity to our own moment.Peter reminds God’s people who they are before he tells them what to do: strangers in the world, yet chosen by God; set apart by the Spirit; sprinkled by the blood of Jesus; sent to live faithfully where God has placed them.This is not a call to retreat from the world, nor to manage decline quietly. It is a call to live with confidence, clarity, and hope in a place that does not yet feel like home.As we stand at the threshold of a new year and a significant anniversary in the life of this parish, this sermon sets the foundation for what it means to contend for hope in our city today: grounded in salvation, rooted in grace, and sent with peace.Grace and peace be yours in abundance.