Barely three weeks have slipped by since the stone rolled away, and the disciples are already easing back into the muscle-memory of their former lives. The tomb is empty, the alleluias still echo across the hills of Jerusalem, and yet the friends of Jesus drift back to the water that raised them, to the life […]
Sermon Topic: Saint Peter's Restoration
Do You Love Me?
Tonight is the eve of our feast in the Episcopal Church of the Confession of Saint Peter, a feast which inaugurates the week of prayer for Christian unity, which we will particularly celebrate here next Sunday at Evensong when our preacher will be an eminent Orthodox priest and theologian, the Very Rev’d Professor John McGuckin. […]
By his wounds you have been healed.
Last week we heard the wonderful story of our own patron saint who saw the wounds of love and made his own declaration of love to Jesus; “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) Note that the disciples recognized Jesus because of the wounds and not in spite of them – the wounds were, indeed, […]
Ambivalent Disciples
At St. Thomas today we are observing the commemoration of the “Confession of Saint Peter.” This is not about St. Peter’s confession of sin, but rather his confession of faith. As narrated in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it was Peter who was first among the apostles to confess Jesus as “Messiah and […]
We are the family that love built.
Note: On June 17, 2015, a mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Nine people were shot and killed, including the senior pastor; the horror of this reverberated throughout the United States. “We are the family that love built.” Words of Bethane Middleton-Brown, the sister […]
No Easy Rehab
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. The angels at Jesus’s empty tomb on Easter morning told the disciples that Jesus was raised from the dead and would meet them in Galilee. Nevertheless, he first appeared to them in and near Jerusalem, after Mary Magdalen in […]
The Apostolic Faith
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen. Saints Peter and Paul each have a feast day in January. The Confession of Saint Peter is January 18, which also begins the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. That Week of Prayer ends on January 25, the […]
Saint Peter Part II - The Stumbling Block
Peter took [Jesus] and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” In the Name of God the Father, God […]
