I preached this sermon on Sunday, November 6 at St. Lydia's. That night, we celebrated our first baptism as a community. After hearing Rachel's testimony, congregants read fragments from the first letter of Peter, which appear in italics below.
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A reading from the first letter of Peter:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To the exiles of the Dispersion, may grace and peace be yours in abundance.
In the early days,
they wrote letters.
They wrote letters to one another
and waited months to receive them,
to hear word from the leaders of the other communities that were springing up,
the other communities of people who were following Christ.
The letters were exhortations.
In the letters, they wrote about how everything was different now,
and what that meant for how they should live.
Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
We can press our ears to the wall,
listen back through the centuries
to the things they had to say to one another.
The letter we hear tonight,
was written by someone
whose name has been lost.
He writes under the name of Peter,
because his words are not just for those who he’s writing to,
but for all of us.
For his church, and for our church, in every age.
Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
They gathered in upper rooms like this one,
to read the letters aloud.
To hear, once more, a story
that confused and bewildered them,
and at the same time,
filled them with an wild, widening hope
they could not begin to understand.
They gathered because they had caught a glimpse,
of something that they felt they needed.
A light in the darkness.
A way in the waters.
A drink in the desert.
A spring in the wilderness.
A door that, one day, swung open.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Once you were no people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
These letters are our inheritance.
Passages that have been passed down from hand to hand,
They were read again and again.
They were copied by hand,
on scraps or in books.
A word.
A phrase.
A fragment,
a shard,
of a story,
of a memory,
of something someone said once,
long ago.
so that we might listen,
so that we might hear,
So that we might recognize the voice of God.
Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing.
Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.
And we call it holy.
Sacred scripture.
Read it and turn it over.
Feel the ancient, worn words in our mouths.
Startle as they chip away at our hearts of stone,
and reveal what lies beneath:
a living, beating, heart of flesh.
The word is a chisel that breaks us open.
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God.
The word is a gift:
a gift for all of those who have walked to the edge of the water.
For all who have been drawn down into its depths
and emerged gasping on the shore.
For all who stand on the banks and wait, or wonder.
The word is a promise:
a promise that this wild, widening hope
will confuse the chaos
into an upside down order
in which the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.
Through Silvanus, whom I consider a faithful brother, I have written this short letter to encourage you, and to testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. Your sister church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark. Greet one another with a kiss of love.
Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
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