Fiery Trials, that is what Peter talks about this week—a metaphor about unjust suffering for following Jesus. The believers to whom Peter writes did, in fact, experience this. The Christian Faith and the lifestyle it produced in the disciples was decidedly out of step with the values of the Roman Culture around them. Will we be faced with that? Who knows? This seems weird to us now because in Western Civilization, for hundreds of years, the culture has been so widely shaped by Christianity that values in society have not conflicted so widely or deeply between believers and non-believers. I mean, until recently, in many places like the Deep South even a nominal profession was the social norm. This is quickly eroding, however, and that is why I Peter is relevant to us today like never before in the West. We are increasingly finding ourselves out of step with the culture.

Yet Peter presents this kind of suffering as a mercy—a severe mercy, to be sure, and not something one would seek out but something one should not be surprised to be faced with. As Rod Dreher says in his new book, Live Not By Lies, “No Christian has the power to avoid suffering entirely. It is the human condition. What we do control is how we act in the face of it. Will we run from it and betray our Lord? Or will we accept it as a severe mercy? The choices we will make when put to the ultimate test depend on the choices we make today, in a time of peace.” That, or something like that, is what we will talk about on Sunday.

And what a glorious day it will be! All is not about the brokenness of the world. In fact, joy is a keynote in the Bible, and on Sunday we will drink deeply of the well of joy and thanksgiving. Again, we have a day of covenantal beauty with people joining the St. Patrick family—people taking vows, adults and children being baptized, and making room for our new family members. I can’t wait!

Blessings,

Jim