Thoughts for the Day

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Today our minds turn to those being ordained Deacon or Priest at this time, for it is Petertide - the time we remember St Peter and St Paul, Apostles. Despite denying Jesus before his crucifixion, Peter has resumed his role as the leader of the disciples after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Now he makes a radical decision to take the news of Jesus Christ to the gentiles, to those who are not Jews and have not been circumcised. We begin to see the tensions between the jewish and gentile Christians, and Peter is called to explain his actions. He tells them of the vision God had sent him, that he should not consider various animal and birds as forbidden. In other words neither are the gentiles to be forbidden. St Paul, despite persecuting Christians initially, was to follow St Peter and continue spreading the Gospel to the gentile world. All this makes it a wonderful time to welcome new ministers into the Church.

In 1980 I was called to be licensed as a Deaconess in the Church of England. There were no other options at the time and two of us were to be the first full-time Deaconesses in the Diocese. I went into retreat three days before the Ordination. It was an exciting but totally terrifying time. My two boys were small, and my husband was left to look after them and bring them to the service on the Sunday. The retreat was in complete silence, and on the Saturday evening most of us escaped for a drink outside the village pub. The Bishop of Hereford saw us and was appalled. He reported our misdemenour to our Bishop who simply smiled. We were all desperate to talk and by the Saturday could only think nervously of the following morning.

That night I spent half the night in the chapel, sure that God had made a mistake, and praying that I could live up to his expectation. But of course He was right, and the next morning the service in the cathedral was a glorious affirmation that God had called us to His service. The question this Petertide is what is He calling you to do?

Heavenly Father,
we pray for all to be licensed or ordained
as ministers of your Church.
May they continue to listen to Your call,
and be strengthened by Your will
throughout their ministry.
May others see their commitment and faith,
and take up their mantle
to nurture vocations
and to minister to Your people.
Amen.