Complicated Loyalty: Reflections on Peter’s Denial of Jesus…
With Easter approaching, it’s likely just a matter of time until you are reminded that the most famous of Jesus’ disciples, Simon Peter, denied knowing who Jesus was not once, or even twice, but a brazen three times. While overall Peter gets an impressive grade as the first human leader of the early church, this lapse is always remembered. Often it is spoken of in cautionary terms: “If it could happen to Peter, it could happen to you.” It also seems to have plagued Peter for the rest of his days. If the traditional account of the martyrdom of Peter is correct, he...
Read MoreRemembering the Friday…
We are sometimes a little uncomfortable with Good Friday, and tend to rush past it to arrive at Easter Sunday as quickly as possible. Yet unless we feel the weight of the Friday, we will miss much of the mystery of Easter. If you are a theologian you might say that a theology of suffering must precede a theology of glory, lest the latter becomes trite and superficial. So this Good Friday I have been noting the things I need to remember… I need to leave the last supper and walk to the Garden of Gethsemane. I need to pause – is that Jesus, crying out to God, “Father if it is...
Read MoreWho would have thought? When change is possible…
Ever had one of those “who would have thought” moments? I’m thinking of those in the positive category – when you are delighted that something has unexpectedly come off, or you are so pleased that someone you underestimated has hit a six. True, we also have dismal and disappointed “who would have thought” nightmares when things don’t go at all to plan – but this is not the place for those. I’m writing this just a short while after Easter. Easter Sunday was history’s greatest “who would have thought” moment. Who would...
Read MoreJust Another Sunday?
Don’t know about you, but Easter has snuck up on me unexpected. In my head I think of it as an April thing, but of course it’s on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the Spring equinox, and sometimes that’s in March. It’s so much easier to remember Christmas with its solid 25 December location (unless you are part of the Orthodox tradition, in which case it is 7 January). Ah well, what’s it about dates and remembering? For most Easter will be just another Sunday. Except it isn’t. Those who think that Easter has nothing to do with them...
Read MoreFriday…
If you are part of the Christian world, you’ll know that we attach the descriptor “good” to this Friday. “Good Friday.” It would have seemed an impossible stretch if you had been there on the day. If asked to give your own word you might have chosen “tragic”, “awful”, “brutal”, “cruel”, “ruthless”, “barbaric”. If of a more cynical or world weary frame of mind you might have selected “predictable”. “Predictable Friday.” Why? Because it was. Look at what was happening....
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