St Peter and St Paul
Sermon by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: Acts 12:1-11, Psalm 125, 2Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18, Matthew 16:13-19
St Peter and St Paul give us the two great figures and examples of Christian leadership. In both cases, their leadership, their ministry is built on personal failure. In both cases this experience, together with an encounter with Christ, led them through humility to a broader vision of faith. Both were tested to their absolute limits and in time died for their faith, which is why the colour of today is red for martyrdom. As the original leaders of the Christian church these two are credited after Jesus with the shape and direction of Christianity. But as people they also offer insight into Christian leadership today.
To understand Peter and Paul we have to begin with their experience of personal failure. Peter continually got it wrong, misunderstanding Jesus. The Gospels document it forensically to his everlasting embarrassment. He denied Christ three times; failing the test at the crucifixion, as a friend and a disciple, to his everlasting shame. But in today’s Gospel Peter is the rock on which the church is built. He has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Per ardua ad astra, his failure does not foreclose his future. St Paul is an accessory to murder,Involved in faith-based lynching, and inciting hatred. But this apostle, untimely called, takes Christianity from a beseiged Jewish sect to a global audience. He is probably the most widely read author of all time.
And there’s nothing new here. God has a habit of choosing unlikely characters. Gideon, youngest child of an unimportant family in a small tribe David, the youngest of his brothers, a ruddy shepherd. Mary, a poor peasant; the shepherds are first to the cradle; at the cross on either side are criminals. ‘He hath brought down the might from their seat and exalted the humble and meek.’ ‘blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth’. Time after time, God chooses what is little and ill regarded in this world.
And because they have learned humility, because they are formed in difficulty and failure, they have a wideness of heart, a generosity of spirit. So Peter and Paul, following Jesus, are great liberals when it comes to faith. From Jesus’ interpretation of the Law to the benefit of the people; St Peter has a vision that ends the Kosher prescription; St Paul argues successfully for the end of circumcision and ceremonial Law, opening the faith to Gentiles as equals before God. And the Church becomes a religion of women, slaves, outcasts, the orphans and widows, the leprous and cursed. And without the limitations of race, gender, nation, or wealth, without the privilege of power, Christianity is freed from cultural and national ties.
These leaders demonstrate that failure can produce humility, and humility generates generosity, and generosity can transform the world.
Now I have called Peter and Paul liberal because they found freedom in Christ. We live in a liberal society today. There are certain accounts of liberalism though that bother me. Frequently in recent years we’ve seen people pillaried in public for some tweet they’ve made fifteen years ago. Jobs have been withdrawn or lost; shame and condemnation mounted. There is a purity to today’s liberalism that closes freedom of speech and seeks to eradicate all who challenge it. The safe space of liberalism becomes intolerant of free speech. That’s liberal but it’s not generous. It does not come from humility and it does not know forgiveness.
Those who would seek to erase from public memory all taint of error, will not find anything in our history uncontaminated, including that history itself. All human striving for purity ends in violence.
But even worse, political correctness can easily become more about public expressions of right-on behaviours than justice. We were aghast two years ago when Rhiannon received an email after an audition. It boldly stated that the panel had been very impressed and felt that Rhiannon had given the best audition, but had decided that because she was pregnant they didn’t feel the job was appropriate for her. It’s somewhat incredulous to read such a concrete statement of discrimination.
I was reminded of this recently when a young ordinand, who has been praying with us online these past months, received a letter from the diocese of St Albans. They wrote that they did not feel there was a ‘sufficient match’ between him and the parish he was looking to serve in because, I quote, ‘the demographic of the parish is monochrome white working class, where you might feel uncomfortable’. But what was even more galling was the so-called ‘unreserved apology’ that followed when the outrage followed. The sender wrote: ‘I quickly recognised and regretted my poor choice of words and I am very sorry indeed that what I said was hurtful… I still regret my choice of words.’ Not the decision, the thought process, the thing they regret is ‘the words.’ Not that a decision had been made about how someone should ‘feel’, and on what working environment is appropriate, based on colour of skin. We can master the art of politically correct writing, but still be corrupted by prejudice. And these are I’m sure good liberal people in roles of responsibility in the arts and the church, writing letters of open discrimination. True inclusion begins from repentence and humility.
St Paul does not succeed very far in being politically correct, but he understands that the Gospel is for everyone and he is quick to recognise his own errors. It’s easy to forget how radical his statements are, but worth trying to grasp just how revolutionary it is for a first century church leader to say: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’ This is a world-changing generosity born out of the humility learned by one who had failed badly but himself met with grace in the person of Christ.
I want to take a moment here, in this hopefully final service taken in our homes, to reflect on where we are as a church. I spoke on what would have been the AGM at the beginning of lockdown, about the highlights of 2019; and how the most significant of these was the service we had provided for people affected by homelessness. And that this project had connected us more closely with people of other churches and the community as a whole. Through this venture we have been able to lead the community in the service of the community.
We have over the past 15 weeks had another opportunity to lead the community. I estimate that we’ve given away around £3000 worth of food, completed around 300-400 deliveries of essential items, delivered up to 80 portions of cake and soup to isolating households each week, collected puzzles and books for those in prison, and housed a young man with no options. That’s just what I know about. People have stepped up in looking after one another; and in both our efforts to support those struggling, and maintaining the church, which has lost its main sources of income, we have achieved a great deal.
There are many we have not been able to reach and poverty, unemployment and isolation are increasing; but we can take some consolation that we are increasingly an outward looking church. As St Peter and Paul were not content to look to the needs of their own people, but took the Gospel into the world, we will continue to extend our service where we can. Even as we return to our beloved building, services will be different; not everyone will return with us, but we will continue to gather together, both in person and online. But we must also think of how we can serve our wider community. There has been a strong desire for a fairer better society, But it will be easily lost in the striving to get things going. Many will struggle to maintain a sense of hope. It’s hard for most of us individually to make this happen, but we can as a church have a wider impact, especially on Putney. Churches in this country used to offer a leading voice, especially on issues of justice, education and the arts. I would like us to think how we can achieve that. The church has shown in recent weeks that it continues to fall short in discrimination. St Peter and St Paul remind us that even where we have failed we can come back stronger. They remind us that God chooses unlikely characters, and that despite being a small tucked away church, we can make a profound difference. They remind us that everything we do must begin in humility and end in generosity. And in the words of St Paul, ‘that Faith, hope and love, abide these three, and the greatest of these is love.’ Amen.