SERMON PREACHED AT St PAUL’S, ARROWTOWN
and
St PETER’S, QUEENSTOWN
FEAST OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL (June 29th) 2025
Final sermon of fulltime ministry
Matthew 16:13-19
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will
give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
I would of course be telling something other than the truth
if I claimed that it wasn't just a little on my mind that this day is the last of
a stipendiary ministry reaching back 38 years. It is a happy coincidence that
we observe today the feast of the combined Saints Peter and Paul, who happen to
be the saints after whom the two churches of this parish are dedicated. This
parish, this faith community has provided such a heartwarming closure to my
career, though perhaps not my vocation.
The unusually brief gospel reading makes it clear to Peter
that he was to have a pretty significant place in what scholars call salvation
history. I make no such claims for myself. It does though give me opportunity
for me to cast my mind back over four decades of preaching, and a fraction less
than that or presiding at Sunday services. To think back on what has been I
guess a little more colourful a career than I expected when I was ordained in
1987.
This little interaction between Jesus and Peter is a broad
hint that that following Jesus is going to be pretty significant. The changes
in Peter’s life were mind blowing. He had to make huge alterations in the years
before his martyrdom.
For me today the biggest point of reflection is the huge
change that has taken place as what we call Christendom, in which Christianity
was an official, almost imposed religion across vast swathes of the planet, has
crumbled and disappeared into history.
In my early years as a priest I was often called on to
breathe something of God’s peace and love into peak moments in human lives. I conducted
many weddings, baptisms and funerals, civic functions, human crises. Few of
those who called on me and my colleagues for those ceremonies were actively
owning or following Jesus, but most had a sense that language of faith was appropriate
in critical life-moments.
I have said often that the great current work of the God’s Spirit
is the stripping away of assets that once gave us a sense of cosy complacency.
Clergy in particular, consciously or otherwise, could too often took their role
as an invitation to power and its abuse. There was too often temptation to wallow in a sense of entitlement, self-importance. I’m sure
I was no exception. I made mistakes. There were I think Christ-bearing moments,
too.
Peter went on to experiencer the cost of following Jesus.
The, for want of a better word, “rockship” to which Jesus called Peter was of
the hardest granite. This was no money for jam. No money at all, in
fact.
My early days of ministry were remnants of the days in which
belonging to a mainstream church could provide kudos in society. That was
something of a downside, but also provided inroads into society. “The past is a
foreign country: they do things differently there.”
Some abused their status. Thank God most people that I
served with and amongst, ordained and otherwise, made every effort possible to
have integrity as they carried gospel words and actions into the places to
which they were called and in which they lived.
I speak of a word of God’s Spirit. I have said it often, but
I believe it is because we are now called to live solely, to proclaim Christ
and his resurrection solely, by our authenticity. Our infrastructure is
crumbling, and while in this parish we are unlikely to see it for a while, generally
it is unlikely that we will be able to maintain expensive buildings and
stipendiary clergy. There will be a tiny handful of exceptions, privileged to
be so. Great responsibility comes with that privilege. Responsibility to
nurture faith beyond our boundaries.
There is something hypocritical in my saying this after four
decades of privileged existence! I know that. In a few weeks Bishop Anne, as I
am getting used to calling her, will be ordaining four clergy. None of them
will be ordained to what used to be called a living. They will be ordained to
live and serve our God on their merits. They are tomorrow’s paradigm:
non-stipendiary servants of God. As you are. As I will be, now.
The future, though, is God’s. It is full of excitement, challenge and gospel reward for this faith community and for all of us as we
seek to serve God wherever God places us.
The faith will go on.
It will go on in this place and it will go on across the globe. These are
exciting times to be following in the footsteps of Saint Peter and Paul. May
God help us to do so with integrity.
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