The Rev. David Lynch; Rector; Episcopal Church of the Resurrection; Blue Springs, MO |
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From the Rector . . . July 1, 2016 |
This week, on June 29th, we remembered the commemoration of two of the prominent disciples who went on to build the church after Christ's ascension. These two often did not agree but loved each other for their gifts and common cause to grow the church of Christ.
Peter and Paul, the two greatest leaders of the early Church, are
commemorated separately, Peter on January 18, for his confession
of Jesus as the Messiah, and Paul on January 25, for his conversion,
but they are commemorated together on June 29 in observance of the tradition of the Church that they both died as martyrs in Rome during the persecution under Nero, in A.D. 64.
Paul, the well-educated and cosmopolitan Jew of the Dispersion,
and Peter, the uneducated fisherman from Galilee, had differences
of opinion in the early years of the Church concerning the mission
to the Gentiles. More than once, Paul speaks of rebuking Peter for
his continued insistence on Jewish exclusiveness; yet their common
commitment to Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel proved
stronger than their differences; and both eventually carried that
mission to Rome, where they were martyred. According to tradition, Paul was granted the right of a Roman citizen to be beheaded by a sword, but Peter suffered the fate of his Lord, crucifixion, though up-side-down.
A generation after their martyrdom, Clement of Rome, writing to the Church in Corinth, probably in 96 A.D., says: "Let us come to those who have most recently proved champions; let us take up the noble examples of our own generation. Because of jealousy and envy the greatest and most upright pillars of the Church were persecuted and competed unto death. Let us bring before our eyes the good apostles-Peter, who because of unrighteous jealousy endured not one or two, but numerous trials, and so bore a martyr's witness and went to the glorious place that he deserved. Because of jealousy and strife Paul pointed the way to the reward of endurance; seven times he was imprisoned, he was exiled, he was stoned, he was a preacher in both east and west, and won renown for his faith, teaching uprightness to the whole world, and reaching the farthest limit of the west, and bearing a martyr's witness before the rulers, he passed out of the world and was taken up into the holy place, having proved a very great example of endurance." (From the reference book: "Holy Women and Holy Men").
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul
glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church,
instructed by their teaching and example, and knit
together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon
the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who
lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Fr. David
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