Saint Peter

Acts 12: 1-11. During the period of unleavened bread (seven days following Passover) it was forbidden to hold a trial or execution so this is why, in trying to curry favour with the Jews, Herod had to simply arrest and detain Peter instead of swiftly despatching him. That Peter was imprisoned and then escaped is a “miracle” in common parlance anyhow, however one interprets the text. Whatever the exact details, God was involved.  

1 Peter 2: 19 – 25. Peter uses the unjust suffering heroically borne by Jesus as an example to be followed by the persecuted Christian church. This is pertinent because those sufferings, Peter points out were borne for each one of us. “By his wounds we have been healed” and because we were going astray “we have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of our souls”. In an echo of Paul saying we are now slaves of God and not of sin, Peter says we are to live for righteousness because we have been freed from sins.

Matthew 16: 13-19. Recognising the true significance of who Jesus is, is of the highest foundational importance for the church, and this recognition of Jesus as the Christ will be what binds us together. Peter is the spokesman for the disciples and declares Jesus to be the Christ, defining that title (in Matthew’s version) as “Son of the living God”. Jesus congratulates him and says that this revelation was given to them by his Father in heaven and that the keys to the kingdom would be given to him. This in my view almost certainly refers to the church being able to unlock heaven for all people because Jesus accuses the scribes and pharisees in 13:1 of “shutting up the kingdom against men”. This controversial passage certainly at least means that Peter is the foundation stone of a church of living stones with Jesus as the corner stone and all Christian believers who followed become part of that structure.

 We explored just recently how Peter describes the church as “living stones” and here we have Peter described as a rock on whom this church will be built, perhaps you might say the first living stone of this worldwide building being all held in position by Jesus who is called the corner-stone of this building.

This bypasses all the controversies over whether the Pope’s are successors to Peter as being the first Bishop of Rome – I want to leave that particular can of worms undisturbed here.

Peter was certainly the spokesman – the first amongst equals – of the bunch, and he exhibits the two sides present in us all and consequently two sides of the church, because the church is after all made up of flawed people.

Peter has revealed to him the great insight that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus congratulates him but a little later puts his foot in it so much Jesus called him “Satan”.

This is why Peter is such a favourite figure in the gospels because he is just like us and we can relate to him.

Both he and us, are on occasion capable of showing great insight and spiritual wisdom and in the next moment exhibit clunking feet of clay.

Peter showed great devotion and ultimately went to his death as a disciple of Jesus, but when put under pressure showed cowardice and denied Him three times.

The keys to the kingdom are interesting as well. And sure language like binding and loosing are used but Jesus accuses the scribes and pharisees of shutting people out of heaven in chapter 23 verse 1, so Peter being given the keys to heaven would I say be primarily for unlocking the gates of heaven rather than for locking people out.

Whatever your views on the papacy, and the subsequent divisions amongst Christians, St. Peter does appear to occupy a more prominent position amongst the disciples. Jesus chose Peter to be a disciple and God revealed this fundamental insight that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself – the son of the living God.

This truth, this faith, is the rock that all Christians whether catholic, protestant or Orthodox can  gather around as a building of living stones, that Peter was the first to recognise but is built on the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ as the unique revelation of God to humanity.  

Finding the way and keeping to it

Jeremiah 20: 7-13. Does God entice people, overwhelm them and make them a laughing stock, subject to misunderstanding rejection and opposition? The sentiments expressed by Jeremiah have parallels in other parts of scripture. The cost of discipleship here is explored by a man caught up in the mystery of God. But in Jesus Christ we have the assurance that God asks no more than He was prepared to experience himself and that beyond the ultimate rejection of crucifixion there lies resurrection

Romans 6: 1-11. The understanding of radical Grace – of being made righteous before God – raises the question now as in Paul’s time “Does that mean that it doesn’t matter what I do?” Paul’s clear response is “By no means” and explains this by speaking of a Christian being incorporated into Christ by being baptised into his death. Our death is not a physical one of course but a death to the old ways of being and doing – a death to sin. Being incorporated into Jesus Christ also means that we will share in his resurrection. Paul talks of being enslaved to sin being replaced by being enslaved to God. We wouldn’t use such language nowadays but speaks of Paul’s insistence that we are all enslaved to something and it is far superior to be in the service of your creator.

Matthew 10: 24-39. Jesus speaks of being called “Beelzebul” by his opponents thus maligning his followers by implication. But Jesus calls his followers not to be cowed into silence and warns against being tested and coerced even by family into not proclaiming the gospel. Jesus knows that the gospel provokes division, including within families, but encourages people to stand firm with God, who is Lord of all and is the truth.

From Matthew 10:34 onwards we have what can be called one of the “hard sayings of Jesus”. Jesus first tell us he has not come to bring peace but a sword and then goes on to prophesy inter-family warfare and ends by saying that if love your parents more than me, you are not worthy of me.

I think that qualifies as a “hard saying”. They are hard because we know they are probably true but it is still very difficult and disruptive because your family is the bedrock of your life.

But the truth remains that accepting Jesus as Son of God is no small thing and doing so when others in your family don’t is bound to cause trouble – that is the sword that Jesus brings.  

In the midst of that familial conflict Jesus counsels us to stand firm. Don’t be cowed into silence because the stakes are high.

Much as you love your mum and dad, and owe them so much, standing behind them is an ever greater truth that all of us – your mum, dad and you and everyone else in the family owe everything to God.

It is the parable of paying taxes to Caesar. Whose image is on the coin – Caesar’s. Give Caesar what is Caesars but give to God what is God’s. What belongs to God? Everything, including especially a Christian believer because we know we bear God’s image on us.

And Jesus does experience himself being taken for granted and humoured. Remember He couldn’t do many works of power in Nazareth where he was brought up.

He said “A prophet is not without honour, except in his home town, and amongst their own kin and in their own house.”

Familiarity does breed if not contempt then a certain indifference and an inability to see past that familiarity to anything greater.

Despite all these social and potentially family problems, Jesus urges us to keep the faith, take up our cross and follow him.

That certainly takes courage. To willingly submit to misunderstanding, persecution and in Jesus’ case even death, as the logical outcome of maintaining your love for God and neighbour takes real courage. It implies becoming a willing sacrifice to uphold the truth as it has been revealed to us.

For most Christians in the world it never comes to that, but for some it does in places like Pakistan, Iraq and Syria under Isis.

More usually, sharing in the death of Christ is a spiritual thing in the way St. Paul describes it. He describes dying to sin as being baptised into Christ’s death and after that we should always seek the most loving path.

This was in answer to those who were arguing that as we have been saved by Grace already then it no longer mattered what we actually did any more.

By no means! Says Paul. And then he talks as he does often using the language of enslavement. Because in Paul’s thinking we are never completely free of any influence and in the starkest choice of all we are either enslaved to sin or slaves of Christ.

This is a willing enslavement to Christ. Today we would be more likely to say that Jesus is the Lord of our lives, He is Lord in our hearts, and we are his willing disciples. We follow the way of Jesus, the truth of God and the Life of the Spirit of God.

Finding the narrow way that leads to life takes courage and discipline and these are what we can be praying for; for ourselves, the church internationally and for all our local congregations.

The Divine dance.

Sunday 7^th June is Trinity Sunday

Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a. The poetic majesty of the story of creation in Genesis affirms that God is the author of all creation – nothing exists outside of God. It also affirms the notion of “original blessing” that everything in creation is very good. The third affirmation is that humankind, male and female, were created together in the image of God which at the very least affirms our slightly elevated position in the created order.

2 Corinthians 13: 11-13. This reading and the gospel reading from Matthew are two of the very few places in the New Testament that lend themselves to supporting the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity which hadn’t yet been formulated by the church when they were written. And here the order - Christ, God, Spirit – distinguishes it from later theologising. The conundrum was that Christians believe that God is ONE and yet experienced God in three distinct ways and the Trinity is the result of their experience. In the end, the Trinity is revealed to us by God, not the result of human reason

Matthew 28: 16-20. This experience of God forms the baptismal formula at the end of Matthew’s gospel. The 11 disciples to whom Jesus was speaking were a mixture of awe and doubts and questions and this is a blessing to all of us because despite the doubts they are all included. God is experienced as the Father, also incarnated and revealed through the Son, and experienced as a  guiding force on earth through the Spirit. Traditionally described as God above, God alongside and God within. All are experienced as a presence which forms the last words of Matthew. “I am with you always to the end of the age”. It is all about relationship. We are in relationship with God who is in his very being relationship.  The Greek term that expresses this divine relationship is perichoresis which means a divine Dance. So in the words of Tess and Claudia on Strictly - Keep dancing!

Traditionally, Trinity Sunday was the day you got the curate to preach, because talking about the Trinity would inevitably tie you up in knots and probably lead people precisely nowhere it is so complex and counter-intuitive.

Still, “fools rush in where angels fear to tread” and stealing myself against charges of heresy and knowing that every analogy and metaphor breaks down eventually, here goes.

Let us takes as our starting point the basic truth that the Trinity wasn’t the product of human wisdom or logic – it was slowly revealed to the church by the leading of the Spirit progressively revealing the true nature of God. As it says in John, the Spirit will lead you into all truth.

After all, the Jewish religion from which Christianity came is a fiercely monotheistic religion believing that God has no parts and of course the Islamic faith that appeared a few hundred years after Christianity made the unitary singularity of God their fundamental and central plank, and indeed accuse Christians of blasphemy – called Shirk – which is idolatry and polytheism.

But it is important to state that Christians too are monotheists. We believe in ONE God not three gods, but we have experienced God in three persons

Jesus told us that we should pray to the Father, as in “our Father who art in heaven”. But Jesus also said in John’s gospel that He and the Father were one. He also said that the Father would send another helper.

So far so confusing. One of the best ways of understanding the unity of God in three persons comes from the early church and so is a Greek word that like all Greek words is at first alien and exotic and it is perichoresis.

Perichoresis means a divine dance. What a beautiful description of the eternal being of God. God is not a lonely monad, but from all eternity God has been a community of three persons engaged in an inter-personal dance of Love.

If we say that God is relationship within his very being, this has a remarkable consequence for Christians. It means that community and love are not just nice things to have or aspire to – they are extensions of the very life of God himself.

God is love in community.

This world, this universe was an act of creative love.

This beautiful world in an awesome universe of which we are a part is an overflow of love emanating from the very being of God. God, who is in eternal relationship, created an infinite number of things to relate to in beautiful majestic complexity. Love is therefore the binding force of the universe.

The simplest and most potent description of God appears in John’s first letter and it says “God is Love”. Love is dynamic. Love is directed from one person to another person.  

In becoming a baptised member of the church, we are consciously joining in that cosmic dance of love. And as anyone who has learned to dance knows, you start awkwardly, you need discipline to learn various steps, you need to raise your level of fitness and concentration, but when it all starts to work together, when you move in unison with another to divine music it is a beautiful and joyful thing.

So that is perhaps a novel way of describing the church. We are learning to dance together in time with God, to move in unison in a choreographed way. Whether you are imagining a Waltz or a Barn dance, a Tango or interpretive free Dance at this moment, whatever moves you – my favourite was always the Waltz as it happens, we are dancing with God who is setting the Rhythm and showing us the steps.

Dancing is joyful and fulfilling. Keep Dancing!