ST PETER, Year A: June 29 2008

Preacher: Fr Andrew Greany

'On this rock I will build my church'. Simon is given a name which he will deny by his subsequent behaviour — particularly the three-fold denial — but we might add the reluctance recorded in St John's Gospel to accept ministry at the hands of Jesus in the footwashing: a reluctance to make himself vulnerable. We might add disputes with St Paul, slowness to understand the inclusiveness of the new community of faith. It's a sobering thought, that this is a pattern to be found in most of us. We too deny &mdashdeny Jesus in moments of fear, deny Him ways in which He longs to touch and to heal us, suppressing our vulnerability; and we deny the way that Jesus desires the church to be and plunge time and again into conflict and dispute. A sobering thought, because although Jesus may not have given every one of us the name 'Peter', He has called us by name, made us His children, members of His body, He has entrusted us with Himself. Sobering, but perhaps a reassuring thought as well: that this pillar of the early church should so frequently have denied his Lord in denying the meaning of the name which the Lord had bestowed on him.

It's a sobering, yet reassuring thought for us all, but perhaps particularly this weekend for those newly ordained — among them, Stephen here with us this morning and exercising the liturgical aspect of his diaconate for the first time; David, down in Salisbury, but returning to us on Wednesday to sing his first Mass; Alex up in Newcastle. Their names were spoken by their Bishop as he laid hands on them, and entrusted them in God's name with particular responsibilities among and on behalf of the People of God. Whatever they may have felt in that moment, there is little doubt that they will experience, if not senior moments, Petrine moments: the pain of having to acknowledge failure, inappropriate response to a person or a situation. That's certainly my experience over my years of ministry. Peter, they, and we: all of us deny the trust which the Lord has placed in us. Yet still he calls, and challenges us — all of us, people of God — to build on rock, even as we recognize our own fragility.

So what is this rock? Fundamentally, the rock on which we build can be nothing other than Jesus Himself; and this has a number of implications for the individual and for a local Christian community. Jesus was a man of prayer; Jesus was a man who reached out to those in need; Jesus risked and offered all for the building of a greater community, one which would turn the world upside down. He was the initiator: 'I will build', He said; and He entrusted the work of prayer, and the ministry of care and healing, and the building of community to Peter, the flawed rock, and to others like him. Here at LSM we are in the process of formulating what is described as a 'Mission Action Plan'. Perhaps the title is off-putting; I don't think that this matters — it's a question, first, of accepting that, like Peter, we are entrusted by Our Lord with mission in some form, a responsibility for building community; then of finding local ways, appropriate and realistic, of furthering the task entrusted to us. My hope is that we shall do this in a manner which connects us with Jesus. So then: Jesus, man of prayer, teaching His friends to pray, sustaining His own life and ministry by His own times of prayer. The first objective of our plan here is to build on the gift of the Church's daily prayer. For nearly 14 years the psalms and readings used here in Church at Morning and Evening Prayer have been printed on our pewsheet, with the suggestion that people might like to use them at home, as a link with what is happening in church. But are we going about this foundational matter of daily prayer in the most helpful and constructive way? What do people know about the purpose and form of Morning and Evening Prayer? Might there be more effective ways of drawing ourselves into this lifeblood of Christian discipleship? What has happened to the Catholic disciplines of daily prayer, daily Mass? And who would be excited at the prospect of looking at these questions and offering some answers?

And Jesus, the man who reached out to those in need: the second objective of our plan is to explore the possibility of a scheme under which a team of people might be trained and formed to take on aspects of pastoral ministry — one idea would be the visiting of a particular sheltered housing complex — but there are other possibilities in relation to the visiting of the sick or elderly. Is this worthwhile? If so, is it to be left to two or three individuals in our Social Responsibility Group to struggle with — or are others excited at the prospect of such a development?

And Jesus, the man who risked and offered all for the building of a wider and more generous community. The third objective of our plan might be, literally, building: building, in accordance with an imaginative design, a centre based on the current Parish Room which enabled us to do what we currently do socially and educationally and pastorally, very much better — but which also made it possible for us to do new things, more inclusively, more effectively. When we hear this, is it apprehension or excitement which we feel? Doubt and fear, or an expanded vision? Who's interested — or do we just let things be?

I suspect that there are deep underlying questions here: who, what is Little St Mary's? We begin the summer vacation, and accept that we shall see people here whom we won't see when the College Chapels are operating again, or who we won't see when holiday seasons, conference seasons, are over. Well, that brings us to the point: we would wish, surely, that those who join us from time to time find a community which is deeply rooted in Him who was man of prayer, man of compassion, generosity, the man who risked and offered all that others might find fuller life, a more inclusive community. At least pray for us, encourage us, offer what you can of yourself among us, if this is only a temporary home for you. Help us to remain focused, flawed and fragile as we are, to remain grounded on the true rock, Jesus Christ, and learn from Peter, who was so ready to tell Jesus that He was going about kingdom building in the wrong way.