Today is what we used to call a "Red Letter Day" the Confession of Saint Peter. It comes from the story in Matthew's gospel where Peter declares Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God (16:16).
Last Monday night the Brattleboro community gathered at a local Congregational Church to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. I was asked by the organizers, other religious leaders in town and colleagues of mine, to say an opening prayer. I knew there were going to be people from the local synagogue there, and I assumed there would be people of "other faiths" too, Unitarian Universalists, Buddhists, etc. So I sat down to compose what we might call a "good, inclusive prayer." Except that when I tried to write, nothing good came out. It was all watered-down mush. I decided to write the prayer imagining that only Christians were going to be present at the event. With that framework I was able to compose an acceptable something in a few minutes, and the prayer included references to Martin's faith in Jesus, and references about Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.
I stood at the pulpit of this country church, asked people to stand, and then told them that I was intentionally using Christian imagery, not to be exclusive or to denigrate the authentic faiths of others (non-Christians) in the room, but to stand on a foundation of integrity for myself.
After the service a woman came up to me and said, "I really appreciated your prayer. As a Jew I get tired of listening to people struggle to say things that will 'include me' so it was nice to hear somebody include me without trying to talk like or pray like a Jew. Thank you."
It was kind of her to say those things to me, and I thanked her for doing so, and admitted to her that I was a little nervous beforehand. Every person of faith has an experience of God that belongs only to himself or herself. I learn far more about God when I listen to another person speak out of her or his experience of the Holy. Far more than when I try to emulate or repeat what I think their experience might be.
Peter confessed his faith in Jesus clearly and unequivocably. Maybe this Major Feast is about an authentic expression, even if that expression is as clear as "I'm not sure who Jesus is, or what I believe, but I'm glad to be part of a community where I can ask this question."
The only hymn in The Hymnal 1982 appointed specifically for this day has the author Willaim Walsham How putting it this way, "Oh! Peter was most blest with blessedness unpriced, who, taught of God, confessed the Godhead in the Christ! For of your Church, Lord, you made known this saint a true foundation-stone." Nothing in there that says you should do the same.
A blessed Feast Day to you.
