Pew Sheet, Sunday, June the 29th 2025. Trinity 2 / Saint Peter and Saint Paul
Today we celebrate ‘Petertide’ which marks the twin feast of two of the Church’s most important and influential figures, St Peter and St Paul. It is traditionally one of the feasts on which those being prepared for ministry in the Church of England are ordained as deacons or priests at the end of their training or ‘formation’, the other popular date being ‘Michaelmas’, the feast of St Michael on September the 29th each year. I say ‘formation’, because we are not really ‘trained’, but are ‘formed’ for that purpose. I never quite understood the distinction during my years as an ordinand, though if you happened to use the ‘T’ word rather than the ‘F’ word during lectures or seminars, you were quickly reminded that you were speaking out of turn.
‘Training’ implies that the person who has been trained is fully capable to do the ‘job’ or ‘tasks’ expected of them at point they become ‘qualified’; whereas the job of a parish priest is not quite as black and white as others, and we do not do it in our own strength but God’s. Much of what we need to know we have to learn ‘on the job’ afterwards, so our ‘training’ is always provisional and never stops. It is a lifetime process, just as it is for any other Christian. As priests, we never really know what lies ahead at the moment the Bishop puts their hand on our heads and sets us free at our ordination ‘to wreak havoc’ on our unsuspecting parishes with the power, but also the great responsibility of acting in ‘loco parentis’ for God by declaring absolution to those who ask his forgiveness (as Jesus empowers Peter to do in today’s Gospel passage), or to represent God’s people before Christ in the breaking of the bread at Holy Communion – and he to us by return, when we bless them afterwards.
I am slightly relieved however, that we are seldom called to martyrdom as Peter, Paul, and James (in our passage from Acts) were, or face imprisonment, torture, or persecution for the sake of the Gospel as they and so many others have endured since then. And yet suffering may, and I stress may, be a part of our formation as Christians whether ordained or not; though it is not God but others who invariably initiate it, just as a brutish master might have beaten a slave for good reason or none in first century Palestine, as Peter reminds his
readers in his epistle. It is not the suffering but our response to it, which sets apart those who are the true servants of Christ he says, and it is better to wait for God’s vindication than try to vindicate ourselves. This seems counterintuitive in the modern age, when we spend so much time justifying ourselves to God, to others, and to ourselves; but if we could only do so, we would learn that God is just as able to free us from that prison of our own making as he was able to free Peter from Herod’s untimely incarceration, for it was neither the time, nor the place for Peter’s martyrdom as yet; and I like to think that his deliverance from it caused as much consternation to Herod for that reason, as for his soldiers!
Collect
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you in their death as in their lives: grant that you Church, inspired by their teaching and example, and made one by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Acts 12:1-11
About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword, and after he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. When he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.
The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” Peter went out and followed him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
As soon as he realised this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer.
On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate; and they said to her, “You are out of your mind!”
But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel,” but meanwhile, Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the gate they saw him they were amazed. He motioned to them with his hand to be silent and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he added, “Tell this to James and to the brothers and sisters.” Then he left them and went to another place.
When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.
1 Peter 2:18-end
Now Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. For it is to your credit if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, where is the credit in that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’
When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his woundsyou have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Matthew 16:13-19
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 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.’
Post Communion Prayer
Lord God, the source of truth and love, keep us faithful to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, united in prayer and the breaking of bread, and one in joy and simplicity of heart, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Today: Winslow in Bloom: 11.00 am to 5.00 pm.
Visit a variety of gardens and enjoy a light lunch or cream tea in The St. Laurence Room afterwards. Cost: £6.00 for adults or just £1.00 per garden. Accompanied children go free (cash only please). All proceeds to local charities.
Monday (Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles)
Bell ringing at 7.30pm in St Laurence. Contact Jan on 07835 461361.
Tuesday (Henry, John, and Henry Venn the younger, 1797, 1813, 1873)
Zoom Morning Prayer at 9am. Meeting ID: 539 3978774 Password: TuaR0T or contact Sue on [email protected] (The 0 in R0T is a zero not an ‘O’)
Evening Home Groups, contact Jo on 07803 942 687.
Wednesday
Morning Coffee from 10.00 am in the St Laurence Rooms/Great Horwood Village Hall followed by Midweek Holy Communion at 12 noon in St Laurence’s.
Thursday (Thomas the Apostle)
Daytime Home Group, contact Jo on 07803 942 687.
Friday
Junior Choir, 6.30pm in St Laurence, followed by full Choir Practice at 7.30pm.
Saturday, July 5th 1.00pm-4.00pm
‘The Green’ at Great Horwood.
Please do support this annual event which helps raise funds for St James’ Church amongst other local charities. Raffle tickets for the Grand Draw are available at the end of our services in both churches today.
