I sometimes wonder if we often really pay attention to what we’re saying in liturgical churches like ours.  For the last two Sundays, we have had positively frightening Lessons from the Book of the Prophet Amos. Last week, the Reading ended with these words:

“Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.” (Amos 7:17) Then our lector said, “The Word of the Lord.” And we responded, “Thanks be to God.”

And today, we heard, “The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.  They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.” (Amos 8:11-12)

And at the end of that Reading too, the lector said, “The Word of the Lord.” And we responded, “Thanks be to God!”  Thanks be to God that Israel went into exile? Thanks be to God that they could no longer hear the Word of the Lord? What are we giving thanks for? Sometimes, maybe it’s just better to say, “Here endeth the Reading!”

Now, as a matter of fact, it’s perfectly possible to thank God for times of stress and stain, for times of judgment and failure. Because it may be in times like those that we actually draw closer to God. But I’m not sure we really ought to be giving thanks for other peoples’ stresses and strains, for other peoples’ failures and judgment! Because Amos is telling his people that their God is not pleased with them!  Why? Because they were: trampling on the needy…bringing poor people to ruin…

They were neglecting the worship of God so that they could make a profit – not by honest labor – but by cheating in selling less than they advertised and overcharging for that! By using false balances, which were scales rigged in the merchant’s favor. They were engaged in the slave trade in at least two ways – by actually selling people into slavery, and by keeping people so much in debt that they were virtual slaves to those they owed money to. Sort of like Third World debt today in which it is mathematically impossible for some countries ever to get out of debt

So it was for that reason, for those reasons, that Amos was thundering God’s judgment upon his people. That’s why they were going into Exile. That’s why they were unable to hear the Word of God. Because they were too busy feathering their own nests to listen for God’s Word! (Pause)

But you know you don’t have to be a notorious sinner to be deaf to God’s Word. Sometimes, you can just be too busy…or too timid…like Martha in today’s famous Gospel story of Mary and Martha. Scholars tell us that this is actually a companion story to the one about the Good Samaritan that we had as our Gospel last week. In that story, the young lawyer had correctly identified that the two most important Commandments were loving God and loving neighbor, but he needed the Parable of the Good Samaritan to get clear about just who his neighbor was!

This morning, Martha is clear about serving her neighbor as she bustles about to make sure all is in readiness for Jesus and his disciples…but she was unable to see that it was she herself (and her sister Mary) whom Jesus was calling to listen and to follow, and to be disciples

Most of us, I know, feel a good deal of sympathy for poor Martha, but let’s see what’s really going on here! Jesus and his disciples are living out what he had told them previously about “whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you.” And Martha is working hard to see that happen. Her sister Mary, on the other hand, is sitting at Jesus feet, which is the place of a disciple! An old rabbinical teaching stated, “Let your house be a meeting-house for Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst…but do not talk much with women!”

By sitting at Jesus feet, Mary is pushing the envelope, acting like a disciple, and probably bringing shame on her family by neglecting her socially-mandated duty to help her sister in the preparation of the meal! So, Martha’s protest is probably justified by the standards of her day. But Jesus gentle rebuke to her is a reminder that nothing must “distract” us from hearing the Word of God. After all, “One does not live by bread alone,” Jesus had once said.  Like the disciples, Mary had left everything – even her expected subservient role – to follow Jesus.

So neither the story of the Good Samaritan nor the story of Mary and Martha is complete without the other.  Each makes its point – the Samaritan loves his neighbor and Mary loves her Lord. But the model of a good disciple is that we must do both. To the lawyer, Jesus had said “Go and do,” but he praises Mary for sitting and listening.  The life of a disciple requires both.

In both stories, Jesus is protesting the rules and the boundaries set by the culture of his day. Both stories expose the social barriers that categorize and restrict and oppress various groups in any society – Samaritans, victims, women — you name it!  To love God with all our hearts and all our souls and with all our minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves means that, then as now, sometimes we have to reject society’s rules in favor of the code of the Kingdom – which is a society without distinctions and boundaries between its members. (The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX, page 232)

If the Prophet Amos’ original hearers had understood that, perhaps they would not have had to go into Exile.  Perhaps they would not have had to experience a “famine” of hearing the Word of God.

If WE understand it, perhaps we can invite the Marthas of our day to join us…with Mary…where we all belong…at Jesus feet!

As our nation celebrates her birthday as a free and independent country today, our Gospel reading is about a kind of birthday and celebration of the expansion of Jesus’ ministry by the calling and sending of “the seventy.” Jesus had called his original disciples one by one and two by two, eventually ending up with “the Twelve,” with twelve followers.

We believe he chose that number because of the original 12 tribes of Israel, indicating that his mission was to “renew” Israel and expand the message even beyond in a kind of “new Israel” including the Gentiles. But, of course, it didn’t stop there with “the Twelve.” In today’s Gospel we are told that he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” (Luke 10:1)

And just as the number “twelve” reminds us of the Twelve tribes of Israel, the number “seventy” hearkens back to the book of Numbers when Moses is counseled to “gather…seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. I will come down (God says) and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself,” (Numbers 11:16-17)

This was the beginning of a kind of “shared leadership” among the children of Israel, and I think Jesus must have had something of the same kind of thing in mind in the appointing of his “seventy.” If you’ll notice, he gives them a very similar kind of charge as he had given to the original twelve disciples, recorded just one chapter earlier in the Gospel of St. Luke (see Chapter 9:1ff). Namely, they were to:

Go “out like lambs in the midst of wolves, to carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and to greet no one on the road.” In other words to travel light and to be single minded in their purpose. And their task was just the same as the Twelve: to build real relationships with people, to heal the sick, and to announce that the kingdom of God has come near. They were to announce that the Reign and Sovereignty of God was already beginning to dawn in this world in and through the ministry of Jesus.

So, the calling and sending forth of “the seventy” was not just an example of the expanding AUDIENCE of Jesus like the crowds of hundreds and even thousands to whom he preached and who heard his message. No, “the seventy” – like “the Twelve” before them – were to have a share in that ministry. They too were to be empowered by the Holy Spirit (like those earlier ‘elders of Israel” under Moses) who were to be given “some of the spirit’ that was on Moses so that they could “bear the burden of the people along with” him!

I used to say that “calling of the Seventy” was the beginning of “lay ministry” in the Church but, in recent years, I have become less and less fond of using the word “lay” in connection with ministry. In our common usage, “lay” often is understood as meaning “un-professional” or “amateur-ish” rather than “professional” or “competent.” I think we should increasingly just speak of “the ministry” of the Church. The Catechism of The Episcopal Church asks, “Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?” and the answer is: “The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.” I think that’s right…and it’s about all that needs to be said really, about ministry!

Now, if we turn our attention to “the Church” and to “churches,” and to “this church,” a kind of old-fashioned way of “sizing up congregations” was to speak of “family sized churches” of about 50 active members, “pastoral sized churches” of about 150, “program sized churches of about 350 active members, and “corporation sized” churches numbering 500 and above. By that kind of reckoning Trinity Cathedral would be a “program church” and as such falls into a funny category.

We’re too large for everyone to relate equally to the Dean, or pastor, or for the Dean to know, or reach out to, every member of the congregation. But we’re too small to hire a large and multi-talented staff to meet everyone’s needs in that way. So, the old counsel was for the priest to function as an enabler and chief administrator and to be supported by a cadre of elected leaders and program leaders who are responsible for the various program areas in the life of the parish.

That’s actually pretty much the way we function. With a relatively small staff, the parish depends upon active and involved Vestry members, pastoral care visitation teams and Eucharistic ministers, “lay” as well as ordained teachers of adults as well as children, people involved in outreach and service to the community in the name of our church, that’s how we really need to be organized as we move ahead.

Now we need to do a better job in most of those things. We need more people visiting the sick and shut in, more teachers, certainly more people relating to PUNCH and Angel Food Ministries, and Salvation Army meals, and all the rest of it. You need to know that the clergy do not provide all the ministering in this congregation, and that, if you are visited by our parish nurse or one of our fine Eucharistic ministers or visitors, you HAVE been visited by the Church…by Trinity Cathedral.

But the point I want to make is that I don’t think that’s just the way so-called “”program sized” congregations ought to function. I think it’s the way the Body of Christ is intended to function! By virtue of your Baptism, and of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit you’ve all been given you ARE “the ministers of this Church!” Just like those “elders of Israel” who were given a portion of that spirit which was upon Moses; just like the 12 apostles who were called and sent out; just like the “Seventy” in today’s Gospel, you and I are to go outside these doors, knowing that though “the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few,” we ARE those laborers.

And it is our duty, and our joy, to do what we can to prepare the way for the kingdom, the reign, the sovereignty of God in this place – in the Quad Cities, and beyond. Which is why we say at the end of every service: “Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit!” And you respond, “Thanks be to God!”

“(Jesus) went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” (Luke 8:1). As I mentioned in my Cross Currents article this month, we are now in the long “Pentecost season” (which is not really a season at all, but simply a succession of Sundays stretching through the summer and fall from the Day of Pentecost to next Advent).

And, during this period, in church on Sundays, we learn more about the actual teaching and ministry of Jesus. So much of the core of the Church year – Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter – covers what happened TO Jesus. The preparation for his birth and the birth itself; his experiences of baptism and transfiguration; fasting and temptation in the desert; and finally his death and resurrection.

Even in the Creeds, the emphasis is on those events… what happened TO Jesus, rather than what he did and taught during the three years of his earthly ministry. But if we are going to be followers of this man, that is precisely what we need to know – what did he teach and how did he live; and what does he expect from us?

Those are the themes we will be tracing for these next several months. And they are no where better summarized than in the verse I just quoted from Luke’s Gospel: “Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.”

The message of Jesus, like the message of the prophets and John the Baptist before him, was just this: the kingdom of God! What do you think about when you hear that phrase?

Many of us think of “heaven.” The kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is where we go when we die. And there is no question but that eternal life with God is the culmination and destination of the Christian life. But there is so much more to “the kingdom of God” than that!

So many times in the Gospels we hear John the Baptist or Jesus say something like, “The kingdom of God is at hand” or “the kingdom of God is within you.” What did they mean by that? Well, first of all, it’s important to note that the word “kingdom” here really means “king-ship” or “reign” or “sovereignty.” So, when you hear the phrase “kingdom of God” or “kingdom of heaven” in the Bible, think “the king-ship of God” or, better, “the reign” of heaven or the “sovereignty” of God.

So we are not so much thinking of a “place” like a kingdom, but more a state of being, a relationship. Living in the kingdom of God really means consciously and faithfully living under the ‘kingship,” under the “reign,” under the “sovereignty” of God – and nobody else!    Bishop Tom Wright suggests that proclaiming and living in the kingdom of God means saying to the “powers that be”’ in the world – God is my king…and you are not!

That means that nothing else should ever try to claim our ultimate allegiance – not money, not sex, not power; not other good things like country or work or even family!  All these things have their place…but none of them must be put in the place of God! Why? Because God is sovereign…and these things are not

What happens when you begin to live under the sovereignty of God instead of cooperating with, and being coerced by, the principalities and powers of this world?

Well, for one thing, you may begin acting very strangely. At least strangely by this world’s standards!

For example, you might find yourself at a fancy dinner party when, out of the blue, a very unacceptable and perhaps even distasteful person latches on to you, desperately seeking your attention, and perhaps even your approval. Your embarrassment only grows when your host pulls you aside to whisper something like, “Don’t you know who that is? Why in the world are you putting up with this?”

And, at first you’re not so sure why you are!  But then you remember an old story about a relative who cancelled the debt of one of his co-workers and ended up with a dear friend for life.  You remember too what it felt like in high school always to be a little on the “outside,” never quite accepted by people (like your current dinner host) who were part of the “in crowd” and nearly worshipped by everyone. But how grateful you were one night at a party when his girlfriend sought you out for some conversation, and even danced with you a couple of times!

It also dawns on you that the first time your host has even spoken to you this evening was when he noticed your conversation with this poor, sad character who wanted nothing more than a little of your time.  So you turn away from your host…take your strange little companion by the arm…and find a quiet spot in the corner where you both can have a little privacy.

Can you imagine yourself doing something like that? Have you ever done something like that? If you have, then actually “you may not be far,” as Jesus once said, “from the kingdom of God.” You may not be far from understanding that you really only have to serve God and God’s people…not the selfish bigotry of people like the “host” in my story…or the “Pharisee” in Luke’s.

You may be discovering the incredible freedom of not really caring what people think about you because your ultimate identity and sense of self-worth does not come from them. It comes from God and the security you have that you owe your existence entirely to him…that you are secure in that love and the grace of that forgiveness…and that your sole purpose in life is to do what God would have you do.

If you can see yourself in that picture, then you really are beginning to live in the kingdom.  You really are beginning to be part of that “blessed company of all faithful people” the Prayer Book speaks of.

If you can’t see yourself doing something like that…

Well, this is a good day to ask yourself “why”…and then to begin again…

I’ve often wondered how the disciples must have felt on the Sunday we are commemorating today! They must have been pretty confused.  First, Jesus had called them to leave everything and follow him on his very difficult three-year journey and ministry. Their hopes had been so high in those days!

But then, it had all come crashing down! He’d been arrested, beaten up, convicted of crimes he never committed, and executed like a common criminal!  They were devastated, So, they huddled together for safety and for support, and then some women of their company brought the wonderful news that he was not dead after all…or rather, he was not dead anymore!

At first, of course, the disciples didn’t believe it, but then they too began to experience his risen Presence in a variety of ways and circumstances and they were overjoyed that it wasn’t over after all! Yet, after only forty days, Jesus’ presence was withdrawn from them again. Something about having to return to the Father…described by our Collect today as “being exalted with great triumph to God’s kingdom in heaven.”

But Jesus’ Ascension must not have seemed like “triumph” to them at first. It must have seemed like another defeat…another desertion!  Where was Jesus now? They remembered him saying something about “going where they could not go.” They remembered something about being told that it was to their “advantage” for him to go way; for if he did not, the “Counselor…(their Advocate) would not come to them. (John 17:7)

Well, they had no clue what that meant!  All they knew was that Jesus was gone again. So, they did what they had done before – they made their way back to Jerusalem, worshipped with their fellow Jews in the Temple, and met together once again for safety and for support…and to try and figure out what to do next!

Undoubtedly, they would have pored back over his teaching to try and figure out if there were hints about what to expect. Perhaps they would have focused particularly on things Jesus said to them on that last night…at the Supper. They would have especially remembered what he prayed for…what he prayed for them!

“I ask not only on behalf of these,” Jesus had prayed, “but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one.”  So clearly he wanted them to remain together – to be one Body, one community, not to fragment and splinter apart.

“As you, Father are in me and I am in you, “he continued, “may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” So Jesus obviously wanted them to remain connected to him and to his God so that people would believe that Jesus came from God and that he was speaking for God.

And finally, they remembered him praying for something they thought very odd, “Righteous Father, “ he said, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26)

Somehow Jesus was saying that he wanted them to be filled not only with God’s love, but that they would actually be filled with him!  With his very life!  Well, on the one hand, we don’t want to get too far ahead of the story here! Next week is when we will celebrate just how that “indwelling” happened – by the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on those same disciples on the Day of Pentecost.

On the other hand, we already know “the rest of the story,” don’t we? We live on this side of Pentecost, and we know that it was the pouring out of God’s mighty Spirit on Pentecost that changed those frightened “disciples” (learners) into confident “apostles” (those who were sent)!

Today (at the 10:30 service) we have the opportunity to continue that process. Two members of our parish, Andrew Petersen and Carly Savareid, will be changed from “disciples” (learners) into “apostles” (ones who are sent). Like the other 20 members of our Wednesday night Catechism class, they have spent the last six months learning something about the Christian faith (and about The Episcopal Church). Today, they are prepared to begin putting that faith into action in new ways.

I don’t know exactly what form that action will take, and maybe they don’t either yet. But Andrew will be baptized and confirmed in one action, making his adult decision to follow Christ. And Carly will renew the promises which were made on her behalf by her parents and godparents when she was just a little one – and she will take those vows on herself today, becoming an “adult Christian” in the eyes of this Church.

I hope both of them, and all of you, will continue to be “disciples” because learning is a lifelong experience, and we will never exhaust all there is to know about God and about God’s will for our lives. But I do hope that they, and all of you, will also take their responsibility as “apostles” seriously from this day forward. To know that they (and we) are “sent out” from this place, Sunday by Sunday, to be God’s people in the world!

In the family, in school, at the workplace, in our neighborhoods: we are to do exactly what Jesus prayed for those first apostles to do – to remain united to him through worship and prayer and study…to remain united to us here by faithful attendance at worship and by engaging in some ministry either here or in the community…and to know that (because of the prayers we will say for them today…and by the laying on of hands) Jesus no longer has to be “out there” somewhere, some distant Presence or Power to be obeyed and followed.

But that they (and we) can always rely on Jesus’ promise in today’s Gospel: that the love of God we see so clearly in Jesus may actually be “in here”, in our hearts. And, more than that, Jesus himself will be in us…by his spirit!  What a gift!

What a God we have!

I think in many ways Jesus gives us one of his scariest commandments in today’s Gospel!  He says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35).

Well, you say, why should that be so scary? Sounds like a simple command to me – love one another.  Of course we should do that!  Yet, it may not be as simple as it sounds when first we hear it.  For one thing, Jesus does not simply say: “Love one another,” does he? He says, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

And just how did Jesus love his disciples? Well, he left his home and family in order to prepare himself to give his entire energy and attention to teaching and forming those disciples into the kind of community which could carry on God’s mission when Jesus’ earthly work was done.

He spent three tough years traveling about Galilee and Judea, living on the generosity of strangers, putting himself in jeopardy time and time again by hanging around with people who were unacceptable to “polite society,” teaching a dangerous message about the kingdom of God and, in the process, alienating both the religious establishment and the political “powers that be” because they were so threatened by that message.

Jesus concluded that public ministry by marching into the teeth of the opposition in the holy city of Jerusalem, fully aware that there was a plot against his life and that such public preaching would likely lead to his arrest, “trial”, and execution. And that those twelve disciples he had so carefully and lovingly nurtured would probably cave in and desert him when the going got rough, leaving him a spectacle of failure in the eyes of most people.

That’s how much Jesus loved his disciples! Enough to give himself totally to them, make their education and formation his highest priority, model the kind of life he expected them to live no matter how dangerous that was, and ultimately forgive them for betraying him and running away after all he had done for them!  And that is the kind of love Jesus commands us to have for one another! That’s the kind of love we are to have for one another right here at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral

But it gets worse than that! For Jesus goes on to say, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another!” In other words, it was not because of their brilliant teaching or miraculous healings that people would know that they were Jesus’ disciples. It was not because of their piety or even their holiness that people would know that they were Jesus’ disciples. It was to be because of how they loved each other that people would know.

I think that must have been in Peter’s mind in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles as he wrestles with whether God could possibly accept these filthy, unclean Gentles also as disciples of Jesus Christ!  All Peter’s life he had been taught that these people were sinners, that they were an abomination in the eyes of God, and that they were so unclean that he would be putting himself in jeopardy just by eating with them…or even by eating the same kind of food that they ate! Now, he has become convinced that God is saying ‘not to make a distinction between them and us…and that “what God has made clean” he was not to call profane! (Acts 11: 12, 9)

In other words, he was being asked to love people he never thought he could love because it was only by doing so that they, and people around them, would know that he was a disciple of Jesus! He was beginning to learn that, while John the Baptist, had baptized with water, he and these Gentiles were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit – with God’s Spirit…with the Spirit of love!

Well, (at the next service…in a few minutes…) we are going to baptize Nolan Muenstermann with that same Holy Spirit…with God’s Spirit…with the Spirit of love.

And members of his family and members of this parish are going to promise that we will be responsible for seeing that Nolan is brought up in the Christian faith and life… we’re going to promise to pray and to be the kind of witnesses which will help him grow into the full stature of Christ…and that we are going to support him in his life in Christ.

Do you know that that’s going to require of us?  It’s going to require that we make the kind of sacrifices for him and for Trinity Cathedral that Jesus made for his disciples! We’re going to have to be willing to work and pray and give so that Trinity Episcopal Cathedral will be around to nurture Nolan in his Christian faith and life.

We’re going to have to build up this community by loving one another – through thick and thin, whether we agree with one another or not (frankly, whether we even like one another or not!) – with the kind of love Jesus had for his disciples. Because it is only when people see that kind of love that they will know that we are Jesus’ disciples, and will be drawn to join us here!

Because ultimately, it will not be because of our meticulous liturgy (as much as we love it) that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples. It will not be because of our fine music program (as superb as it is!) that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples. It will not be because of occasionally eloquent words from this pulpit (or any other) that people will know we are Jesus’ disciples.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, “ Jesus said, “if…you have love for one another!”

What kind of love? Sacrificial, risking, patient, forgiving love – for one another. “Just as I have loved you, “ Jesus said, “you also should love one another.”

Remember that, beloved, if you want this church to grow…and to be around…and to make a difference! Love one another. As he loves you!

Easter 3C Trinity Cathedral.

I don’t think it’s too much of an exaggeration to say that – in today’s readings from Scripture – we are witnessing the calling of two of the greatest figures in the New Testament Church.  Peter and Paul!

Now it’s true that Peter had actually been called to be a disciple of Jesus several years before when his brother Andrew had found him and brought him to meet Jesus.  It was on that occasion that Jesus had nicknamed him “Cephas” which is Aramaic for “Rock” (Petros, or Peter, in the Greek of the New Testament).

But Peter had been anything, but a Rock during much of his time as a follower of Jesus. He had loved him and wanted to serve him, but Peter almost always seemed to be getting it wrong in some way, missing Jesus’ point time and time again. And, of course, finally (and famously) he had denied even knowing Jesus three times on that terrible night and must have wondered if there was any hope for him even when he had become convinced that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Yet in today’s Gospel, the risen Christ appears to Peter in the midst of his daily work of fishing, blessing him with a great catch and even joining him for breakfast!  But it was only after that incredible meal that Jesus asks him three times “Do you love me?” And Peter is invited to respond – each of those three times – “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” (John 21) It could not have been lost on him that he had to affirm his love three times…the same number of times he had denied even knowing his rabbi and friend because of his own fear.

I’ve often wondered if, when you and I meet Jesus face to face, if part of that moment of judgment will be affirming our love as many times as we have denied him in this life.  I don’t know about you, but if that’s so, I’m going to be standing there a long time. (Pause) But then, I guess we have all eternity!

The conversion of St. Paul – which we heard about in our First Lesson today from the Acts of the Apostles – is not all that different in some ways. Once again we have a notorious sinner – Saul the Pharisee – who was zealously going about his business of threatening and arresting followers of this same Jesus.  When he too is confronted with the Risen Christ – this time experienced in a brilliant light from heaven.  And a voice asking him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (And when) he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (Acts 9)

It would take Saul (who also, later, has his name changed to Paul) twenty years to figure out how in the world he could be persecuting Jesus – the man who had already been arrested, executed, and whom some were claiming had been raised from the dead. It would, I believe, only be while dictating his First Letter to the little church in Corinth, two decades after his conversion, that Paul would realize that those whom he was persecuting were actually members – limbs and organs – of Christ’s Body.  And that what he was doing to them….he really was doing to Jesus!

So, with the conversion (or perhaps in Peter’s case the “re-conversion”) of these two men, the stage is set for the greatest missionary movement in the history of the world.

Peter, the conservative leader of the Jerusalem church who initially thought that you had to be a Jew first in order to become a Christian. Paul, the revolutionary, who seemed to believe almost from the beginning that God was doing a new thing in this crucified and resurrected Messiah and opening the door of salvation to all people, to all who put their trust in him.

These two men didn’t even get along very well. They could not have been more different! The “conservative” working man and the “liberal” scholar. The “traditionalist” leader of the original apostles who had actually spent time with Jesus, and the “progressive” missionary and tent-making evangelist who was willing to risk it all for the sake of One he never met “in the flesh” but certainly encountered “in the Spirit!”

Yet somehow God used them both to transform a local “movement” into a worldwide phenomenon. Peter becomes the model for apostolic leadership and a voice for the unity of the Church across time and space. Paul not only planted individual Christian communities all across the Mediterranean world but wrote most of the New Testament in the form of letters and exhortations to those young Christians about how to remain faithful.

Is there a lesson in all that for us today?  In a church and a secular society which are, all too often, rent asunder by partisanship and division, it’s so easy to want to choose sides and identify the “good guys” and the “bad guys.”  To believe that we have all the truth and that “they” (whoever the “they” are!) have none of it. But what if the early Church had done that in the case of Peter and Paul?

What if they had seen these two men bickering as they regularly did – by letter and sometimes even in person – and decided that the Church could do without one or both of them? Would we be any better off without Peter’s remembrance of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry (which may have eventually become enshrined in the four Gospels)? Or, how would it be if the church had decided that only good Jews could become good Christians after all?  How many of us would be sitting in this church if that had been the decision?

No, good Queen Elizabeth the First had it about right when she fashioned a balanced English Christianity which sought to hold together the Petrine Catholics and the Pauline Protestants in her Realm by refusing to “make a window into men’s souls” but to provide space at the Altar for any Christian who could embrace the Gospel, worship with the Book of Common Prayer, and come forward to receive the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist (even if they didn’t all understand it in exactly the same way!).

It all goes back to Peter and Paul who, I believe could affirm with Queen Elizabeth and, I hope, US the words of this morning’s Collect: “O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread:  Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in ALL his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.