Peter
Over the past six months, we have welcomed over 80 newcomers to the parish, and this fall we will be introducing an exciting new Year of Discipleship. The Spirit is surely moving in this place.
Given this growth, I suspect you love Saint Peter’s as much as I do. It’s a place for friendship, holy moments, and spiritual growth.
Do you know how we chose the name Saint Peter? Read on for the story, and for a sonnet written about Saint Peter.
The name Saint Peter was selected in 1961 when the congregation was still meeting at what is now the James Madison Center on Old Glebe Road. One of our founders, K.T. Johnson, made this persuasive argument. In the language of his day, he wrote:
“Peter worked at an occupation common for his day. Members of the new congregation are a cross-section of the common man in Arlington: government workers, the military establishment, computer workers, lawyers, bankers. They are like "fishermen" of St. Peter's day. Peter was strong, aggressive, vigorous, even "physical". The new congregation is in this same mold. Peter was imperfect. He denied his Lord more than once. Still, Christ entrusted him with a sacred and awesome responsibility; to be the first bishop of His Church on Earth. Like Peter, the new congregation has often denied the Lord but continues to be forgiven. We are persevering in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.”
And we continue to persevere, knowing that, like Peter, we are imperfect followers of Jesus. Nonetheless, we are called to stand as witnesses to Christ in Northern Virginia and beyond. It is God who uses us, as we are, to advance the kingdom of God.
I leave you with this lovely sonnet by Malcolm Guite in Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year for Peter.
Impulsive master of misunderstanding,
You comfort me with all your big mistakes;
Jumping the ship before you make the landing,
Placing the bet before you know the stakes.
I love the way you step out without knowing,
The way you sometimes speak before you think,
The way your broken faith is always growing,
The way he holds you even when you sink.
Born to a world that always tried to shame you,
Your shaky ego vulnerable to shame,
I love the way that Jesus chose to name you,
Before you knew how to deserve that name.
And in the end your Saviour let you prove
That each denial is undone by love.
May we live as Christ lived, trusting that God will work through us.
In Christ,
Jenifer+
