St. Peter's Church

Sermons
St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Sermons

Sermon preached by The Reverend Eric Kimball Hinds at Saint Peter's Episcopal Church, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, on the date of the Feast of St. Peter. Lessons: Acts 4:8-13;Psalm 23; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Matthew 16:13-19.

Peter's Legacy
Peter was a fisherman. Much of his life was connected to the sea of Galilee and the rhythms of commerce that rippled through the seaside villages. Our knowledge about this part of Peter's life stems from our knowledge about his profession. We know that Peter worked outdoors and worked with his hands. He worked with and depended upon others and he was used to physical labor. Fishing is an age-old profession and one that especially lends its itself to quaint and idyllic images. Images of calm water and a fisherman enjoying peaceful solitude amidst the beauty of nature. Oh to lead the quiet and tranquil life of a fisherman is a lament and a dream completely divorced from the reality of earning a living as a fisherman.

Fishing is hard work. Rowing and sailing your boat on a sea and risking exposure to stormy weather is never an easy proposition. Exposure to the elements especially the blazing sun can be brutal. Hauling, casting and pulling nets remains exhausting work. Even in biblical days fishing required a significant investment of capital. A sea worthy boat was a major expense. In 1986, an ancient boat dating from the early centuries of the Common Era was discovered buried in the mud along the shore of the Sea of Galilee.

An extensive excavation of the boat revealed it to be typical of ancient Mediterranean "shell based" construction. It was skillfully built with both pegged joints and iron nails used to join the wood and hold the boat together. The 27-foot length tells one that many hands were required to operate a boat of this size. The keel was shaped from willow the struts and ribs were oak and the planks for the sides were of cedar. Further analysis revealed that over the years many repairs had been with the workers using what woods were available to keep the boat sea worthy. Maintenance on such a boat would have been a constant expense to which Peter had to add the capital cost of fishing nets and the cost of their constant mending.

Equipped with a boat and nets you would think that all Peter had to do was gather his father and brothers together to launch his boat and fish; but alas this was certainly not the case. Stones have been discovered along the shore of the Sea of Galilee with inscriptions that marked and divided the sea into sections, with each area requiring a commercial permit of sorts in order to fish. So even in ancient times commerce was regulated — you had to pay for the privilege of fishing; and to put the whole enterprise on a par with our modern world, on those days where the fishing was good, and the boat was loaded down low in the water, with a large catch of fish-there near the shore, in an office at the end of the pier, waiting for the boat to come in, was the tax assessor ready to collect his own share of the catch. Some things never change.

It turns out that while we may not know many of the specific details of Peter's life as a fisherman before he was called by Jesus, we do have a good understanding of the general conditions that shaped and circumscribed Peter's life. Peter certainly had a good understanding of what it meant to work and to struggle to make ends meet — and if it is true that hard work builds character then Peter had lots of character to offer when he dropped his nets to follow Jesus.

This day is devoted to celebrating the life of our patron Saint, Peter, who was the first apostle to confess Jesus as the Messiah. And this day is also devoted to celebrating our parish life together of taking stock of the year past and looking ahead to our unfolding future. On this day we have accomplishments to be proud of, blessings to count, along with our share of challenges ahead. I mentioned the maintenance of Peter's boat and nets and I must say they seem small investments in capital when compared to our Church, buildings and grounds.

Over the past four years — but in this year in particular — I am encouraged by the progress that we have made caring for our property and physical plant. A little more than a year ago, we set out to replace the fallen cross atop our Church, clean our large widow and paint the frame, and refinish the front doors to the Church.

The $25,000 estimate for the project ballooned with the discovery of extensive dry rot to the 75-year-old frame, yet the parish was up to the challenge and we raised an extra $40,000 to complete the project. The dedication service for the restored window and new cross on Sunday June 16 celebrated the magnificent work that adds beauty to our church and worship space. In addition to that special project, the property committee replaced our antiquated boiler and improved the heating system. They had the old oil tank decommissioned, and they saw to it that several leaks in the slate roof were repaired. Each of these things were expensive — but they were things that needed to be attended to — and fixed. The Property Committee also managed to repair both of the dishwashers in the kitchen, and worked on many smaller projects. I do not think that Peter would be surprised by the bills that mount up for needed repairs.

This past year, the Memorial Garden Committee make extensive improvements to the memorial garden, and the Landscaping Committee was able to complete the second phase of beautifying our grounds tending to the area near the Church entrance. The sum total of all these improvements represents the hard work of many dedicated parishioners who love St. Peter's and are determined to see that our parish is welcoming place that is tended to and well cared for. It is important on this day to take this time to acknowledge all that we have accomplished in tending to our version of Peter's boat and nets. It is by contrast a sad thing to see a neglected church in a state of disrepair. We have done much to enhance the beauty and to maintain the integrity of St. Peter's buildings and grounds.

Beginning with the day that Peter left his boat and nets behind he spent about three years of his life following Jesus in his ministry; and there eventually came a day when the future of our faith rested largely on Peter's shoulders. In the absence of Jesus, Peter and the other apostles were stewards of the faith given to them and they were challenged to find a way to preach the good news and to expand and deepen the circle of believers. In our day we build upon the work of Peter.

Weekly worship is focal point of our life together where our faith is offered, shared, affirmed, deepened and renewed, and many ministries work together to support our worship. I want to make specific mention of one group— the choir who are the guardians of one of the real treasures of the Church and that is her wealth of music. The music program helps give voice to the beauty and mystery of God's presence in our midst and continues to be a great blessing. Beyond our regular gathering for worship we offer various opportunities to deepen our understanding of the faith that we proclaim as Christians.

This year the Sunday School teachers have invested much time and energy to improve the quality of our Church School program. I am greatly encouraged by our teachers level of commitment and also by the contributions made by some of our older youth. The quality of our educational program has been greatly enhanced. Bible study continues to be offered on Wednesday evenings throughout the year, and we offered two other adult education programs: a five part Lenten Series which examined our faith in the context of our Anglican tradition; and this Fall, 7 sessions examining the life, ministry, and message of the Apostle Paul. Each series was intended to deepen and enrich our understanding of our faith. I can not overemphasize the importance of offering a variety of educational opportunities or the importance of the parish's participation — for it is important that we tend to, nurture and cultivate our own faith and Spirituality.

When you examine our yearly budget you will see that collectively we allocate funds to many different areas to support our mission and ministry. From the beginning of their ministry, Peter and the apostles ministered to those who were sick and in need-- and to this day the ministry of outreach to others is an important part of defining who we are as Christians. This is reflected in our Budget. In a similar vein we are an Episcopal Church whose organization extends far beyond our parish to our diocese and National Church. 15% of our budget goes to support the work of the Episcopal Church beyond our parish.

Our budget in its own way paints a picture of who we are — but no budget adequately reflects who we aspire to be!

We have much to be proud of from the year past — especially in all that we have accomplished, and while we have come a long way in our pledging over the past four years, and we are knocking on the threshold of balanced budgets — It is important to note that we are still shy of adequately funding our yearly budget. Starting with the recognition that in a healthy parish the goal is for pledge and other income to fully support the Church budget — the Vestry has been faced with some difficult choices. Our Diocesan and Outreach contributions while remaining at the same percentages have been reduced due to a smaller budget. Many budget lines have been have been reduced — some painfully so.

The decision not to replace our tenor section leader for the choir is not because the Vestry feels that our music program is unimportant, rather it is a painful function of wrestling with not enough resources to adequately fund everything that we would like to see supported.

As our proposed budget for 2003 stands today we will still have a deficit of almost $8,000 at the end of the year. Your Vestry wrestled long and hard with our budget for this year — for each budget line affects an aspect of our life together. In the end the Vestry was unwilling to make even deeper cuts in programs to balance the budget, and here I think we get down the crucial and central point of the Vestry's judgment, vision and faith. The Vestry recognizes the many accomplishments that we have achieved. The parish's significant financial commitment this year, even in the context of a weak economy. They see the larger picture of where we are heading, and believe that the parish in the long term is willing to support the total cost of our mission and ministry.

To panic at this moment in time is to miss the underlying strength that has carried us to this point. We have our challenges cut out for us but we believe that they are surmountable — and so tending to the financial health of our parish will be central to the work of the upcoming year.

Our Wednesday Evening Bible Study group is making its way through reading The Acts of the Apostles which is the story of how that small group of original disciples went out to proclaim the gospel and spread the Christian faith throughout the ancient world. When Jesus spoke those words rendered in the King James Bible as "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men," Peter could not have fathomed where his decision to drop his nets would take him. From the start of the Acts of the Apostles, Peter emerges as a leader of the Early Church — and his journey was certainly informed by his wealth of life e experience. Peter had faced hard times and I am sure even difficult financial decisions.

But it strikes me on this day that the central decisions that shaped and formed the whole of Peter's life — the decisions that filled his life with meaning, were when he decided to follow Jesus, and then latter when he acknowledged Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Those decisions changed Peter's life.

So far, I have been using the image of Peter's boat and nets to highlight the care and attention that we must pay to the buildings and grounds of Saint Peter's; but there is another way in which the image of a boat-and especially the image of nets can be used. They could represent all those things that entangle and burden our lives-that somehow we need to let go of or get rid of. Peter committed his life to following Jesus, and then to proclaim the good news that he experienced in the life of Jesus.

St. Peter's is an heir to that call, to that ministry — to the faith of God in Jesus; and our mission is ever to tend to the details of our life together so that in our generation and in our day we proclaim that which Peter found so compelling — that we are willing to put all the busyness of our life aside in order that we are able to follow, support and proclaim Peter's Savior — Jesus. The one who said to Peter and ever says to each of us "Come, drop your nets and follow me."