St. Peter's News

The antidote to uncertainty, it turns out, isn’t certainty, but courage; and the best response to insecurity is the confidence that comes from knowing that God esteems you worthy of dignity, honor, and love.

“In short, life was something of a mess for many of Mark’s community, and he employs the symbols and metaphors of apocalyptic traditions about Jesus that he inherits to place the struggles and questions of his people in a cosmic context and, in this way, offer a measure of both perspective and comfort.

We can “allow the images Mark employs to name figuratively some of our own challenges and questions. While there are several elements of this passage that might serve in this way, the one that draws my homiletical imagination is Jesus’ warning that many will come claiming to be him in order to lead his followers astray.

“Perhaps it’s the lure of wealth or possessions, the perpetual contender for our allegiance in a consumerist economy oriented to unending consumption. Or maybe it’s the possibility of a more prestigious position at work or acceptance by an appealing school or social group. Perhaps it’s the dream of the perfect relationship, or just being in a relationship with someone who values and cares for you. Or maybe it’s the “smaller” attractions of being super competent (and hopefully being noticed for that) or the ideal friend/sibling/child (again, with due attention to our achievement). Or maybe we find ourselves worshiping at the altar of providing our children with everything we never had but want to make sure they enjoy (with an emphasis on “making sure”). Or maybe…. Well, you get the idea.

“And here’s the interesting thing that all these various claimants of our attention and allegiance have in common: there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of them – not wealthy or status or belonging or relationship or competency or wanting the best for our children. In fact, there is much to be admired about, and much good that can be achieved through, these various desires. Yet none of them can save. Moreover, none of them can bear the weight of meaning we unconsciously ask them to and for which we desperately long. And yet we are either so insecure or confused (or maybe a little of both), that like Mark’s community we so crave a level of certainty that we take these God-given gifts and turn them into, well, God.

“Which is perhaps the human condition – worshiping the gifts of God rather than God the giver. And perhaps that’s what this tricky little passage is about: in times of confusion, challenge, and distress, we will not only be overly impressed by the symbols of power around us – “Teacher, look how big these stones are!” – but we will also take many of the delights and gifts of this life and seek to find our security in and through them rather than in the One who gave them to us in the first place.

“Living with uncertainty was hard for the first century-followers of Jesus and it’s just as hard for his twenty-first century disciples as well. The promise God offers us in Christ, however, is not that if we just work hard enough, are pious enough, make ourselves acceptable enough, or attain enough we’ll leave all our uncertainties and insecurities behind. Indeed, the Christian faith does not offer an end to uncertainty or insecurity at all. Rather, it promises that we can discover who we are only in relation to Whose we are, as we receive our identity as beloved children of the God who created and sustains all things and loves us unconditionally. The antidote to uncertainty, it turns out, isn’t certainty, but courage; and the best response to insecurity is the confidence that comes from knowing that God esteems you worthy of dignity, honor, and love. Rooted in these promises, we are better equipped to resist all pretenders to throne and give our allegiance to the One who gave all things for us. Thanks to be to God.”

Pastor Vicki Zust was the rector of St. Paul’s, Clarence, NY. Having completed a 2 year cycle of reading the entire Bible she decided to try something different. As she writes, "So I went through the Old Testament and wrote down the stories that a lot of our theology and history depends on. It turns out there are 40 of them." I am excerpting them here.#5 Tower of Babel. Read it here in Genesis chapter 11:1-9..

“This story is often treated as an “origin myth”. In other words, like many stories in other cultures, it is read as telling the story of how there came to be different languages.

“I think that it is as much about the danger of human arrogance as it is about how there came to be French, Spanish, English, German etc…

“This story happens between the story of Noah and the Ark and the beginning of the Abraham stories.

“So on one end of it we have God running out of patience with human wickedness and destroying most of life with a massive flood. On the other end of the story we have God entering into a Covenant with a specific human being and his descendants (tune in next week for more on that).

“So, shortly after people have just begun to recover from the flood, they try to build a city and, through their own power, to secure their future. In other words, to protect themselves from the will of God.

“This is a common theme in scripture – watch out for thinking that you have any real power, God doesn’t react will to human arrogance.

“Notice, again God talking to himself in the third person: “…Come, let’s go down and mix up their language …”

Nov 3 – 24^th Sunday after Pentecost – Mark 12:28-34

The religious leaders come forth to put Jesus to the test with a series of questions: the Pharisees and Herodians (12:13-17); the Sadducees (12:18-27); and one of the scribes (12:28-34). The latter is the Gospel this week The first two groups had asked their questions to try to catch Jesus out and fail. The scribe’s genuinely seeks the truth He askes “Which commandment is the first of all”. Jesus responds that the love of God is first and then loving your neighbor as yourself and together they are the most significant and even more important than ceremonies in the temple. . And Jesus, recognizing this, praises him – “you are not far from the Kingdom of God.” No one came up after the scribe.

Nov. 10- 25^th Sunday after Pentecost- Mark 12:38-44

In this story is the “widow’s mite,” Jesus contrasts the actions of many of the scribes with the action of a poor widow. Jesus criticisms are direct. “They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

This widow is very poor but gives all she has to the temple treasury.  Jesus calls us to give our lives to God, not just our money, not just our prayers, not just our talents, but all of who we are. This poor widow demonstrates that kind of faith and devotion. It’s not about one act or a set of actions, but about who we are and how we live our lives for God.

Nov. 17- 26^th Sunday after Pentecost – Mark 13:1-8

Mark assures us that—even in chaos—God remains in control.  Mark 13:1-8 tells of Jesus proclamation of the destruction of the temple. Jesus tells the disciples to turn from the apparent permanence and grandeur of the temple and instead to place their trust in God’s sovereignty.   The temple was eventually destroyed during the Jewish Revolt in 66-70 AD.

It is most important not to be misled by premature claims that Christ has come (13:6). False prophets were an endemic problem for the early Church. Mark’s conclusion in regard to Jesus’ second coming is: “Yes, not yet but soon—watch!” 

Nov. 24 – Christ the King-John 18:33-37

On Christ the King Sunday, Jesus offers final words before he is handed over to death, as he speaks of his coming reign.

Jesus tells Pilate that “my kingdom is not from this world.”  Jesus uses as a proof of his unworldly kingship the fact that he is in captivity. Were he a worldly ruler, his followers would have besieged the Praetorium. That, however, is not the case. 

Pilate, however, sees this as an indication that Jesus has admitted that is he is a king.  “So you are a king” which Jesus responds. “You say that I am a king.”  Jesus further responds that “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”  Jesus provides another model -the Messiah as Shepherd -one who leads by gathering the flock, keeping them safe, looking out for the lost and the least.

In our Baptismal Covenant we, along with traditional Christians around the globe, profess in the ancient Baptismal Creed the words: “I believe in… the communion of saints, … the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.” (Book of Common Prayer, page 304)

From its very beginning, the Church understood the Body of Christ to encompass all baptized persons, both the living and the dead. Christ’s kingdom transcends time and space; and not even death can sever the relationship that the faithful have in Christ.

All are united in a mystical communion with Christ by virtue of baptism (1 Corinthians 6:11). The term saint was used by Paul to designate all baptized Christians (Romans 1:7; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1), even the unruly ones (1 Corinthians 1:2)!

In the New Testament, all those who believe and were baptized were referred to as saints. The word saint originally meant "holy".

On All Saints Day, we make celebrate this idea in the here and now by recognizing and celebrating our relationship, not only with those around us today, but also with all those who have gone before us in all times and place. They are connected in one communion. 

All Saints is also a time for welcoming new members. Traditionally baptisms are held in the Episcopal Church at the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord,  Easter, Pentecost,  and All Saints. 

It wasn’t until round about the third century that the church began using the word saint to refer to those who had been martyred for the faith

The early Church especially honored martyrs, those who had died for their faith. Praying for the dead is actually borrowed from Judaism, as recorded in 2 Maccabees 12:41-45 of the Apocrypha.

Local churches kept a record of their own martyrs and each year celebrated their “birthdays,” the dates of death when they were “born” into eternal life.

By the fourth century many parts of the Church had set a day of observance for their martyrs, their confessors (those who had been punished for their faith but did not die), and their virgins, all of those known by name and unknown.

The celebration of All Saints’ Day on November 1 began as a feast day commemorating all martyrs, confessors and virgin, including those whose names were not known. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV officially established All Saints’ Day in order to honor all the saints at one time.

It was originally celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost, and the Eastern Church still observes this date. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1.

The confusing aspect of saints is that we have many saints that we honor on specific days. However, there are many unknown or unsung Saints, who may have been forgotten. On All Saints’ Day, we celebrate these Holy Ones of the Lord, and ask for their prayers for us.

Since they are endowed with holiness, saints are close to God, and may perform miracles on earth. Roman Catholics, and some other Christians, honor saints and ask them for guidance in daily life.

Not only is All Saints an occasion on which we might celebrate this communion of saints with prayer, it is also a reminder of God’s desire to sanctify the lives of all God’s people. Too often Christians have used the term saint to describe only those of extraordinary sanctity who have been officially recognized (canonized) by the Church.

But the life of each Christian is to radiate the love of God given to us in Christ so that all the world might know that this love transforms lives.