Tuesday, February 22, 2022 (today’s lectionary)
Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Thoughts on the way to heaven
Do not lord it over those assigned to you but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
Many pastors take Monday off. Eugene Peterson spent Mondays hiking with his wife, before returning to his church responsibilities, the book he was writing, and his remarkable paraphrase of the Older and the Newer Testaments. Peter was surely speaking to himself in the passage above, not to the quieter ones like Eugene. Be still!
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
Yesterday Margaret and Jasper made cookies. Green gluten-free dough, a cookie cutter to make our own sweet frogs, and decorations of all kinds. We slid them onto the baking sheet for 8 minutes, and they were ready. Andi and Miles got here in the middle of things, and Miles jumped into the fray. Jasper is quiet, Miles is decidedly not. And his decorations reflect that stretched-out energy.
You spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
We found a giant teddy bear at Salvation Army in the morning, and it sat in its own chair, supervising the chaos. Decorated with a big Valentine heart, it whispered to both Miles and Jasper, “I love you.” It whispered that to Margaret, Andi and me, too. “I love you.”
Jesus asked, “Who do you say that the Son of Man is? Who do you say that I am?”
The giant bear knows the answer. We know the answer. But walking in the desert, only Simon Peter knew the answer.
You are the Christ, the son of the living God.
Jesus really appreciated Peter’s confidence at that moment. He promised Peter that he would be in the thick of things from then on, making decisions about earth, heaven and hell. Peter would be The Guy on earth who opened the gates or closed them for all of eternity.
Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Talking, writing, painting, or drawing this biblical event take us from the sublime to the ridiculous, and back again. But the papacy depends on this promise.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Here in Texas, some of us get carried away with these promises and even try to claim them for ourselves.
In the Woodlands, Houston, every home sells for over two million dollars, and those on the street named Saint Peter’s Gate are even more dear. You can watch a video in case you might want to buy.
No, thanks. I’ll settle for what God has for me, just as Peter did.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for all the days of my life.
Last painting, “The Servant,” by Ron DiCianni
(1 Peter 5, Psalm 23, Matthew 16)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
#
