The Church on the Rock of Peter
SERMON AUGUST 23, 2026, THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
ROMANS 12:1-8; MATTHEW 16:13-20
From the Gospel: On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
When Jesus was ministering, people talked about him. Was he the longed-for messiah? Was he an extremely insightful teacher? Was he a gifted healer? How about a prophet? Or a preacher who drew listeners to God? Definitely he was a miracle-worker: just think of the feeding of the five thousand. Was he a trouble-maker? Bent on stirring up the people against the settled authorities? Or, obviously to some, an iconoclast for better or for worse?
The small group of disciples who accompanied Jesus day and night heard all these things. Calling himself the Son of Man, Jesus wanted to know who people thought he was, and the disciples reported what they had heard. But that was not good enough for this moment. This conversation took place just before Jesus took Peter and James and John away with him to experience his transfiguration, revealing his true self.
So Jesus listened then insisted, But who do you say that I am? With perfect clarity, Simon Peter confessed his faith, proclaiming that “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus knew that only the Father could have revealed this to him. Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, he replied, then laid before this man his future and the future of the Church:
“And I tell you, you are Peter [which means rock], and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
On October 4th, when we celebrate our patronal festival, St. Francis Day, we will be visited by The Rt. Rev. Sarah Fisher, our bishop. The Apostle Peter was the first bishop of the Church, the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope. A distinguishing feature of our Church, the Episcopal Church, is that every bishop in our Church can trace her or his episcopal (that means bishop) lineage all the way back through the years to Peter. Bishop Fisher is the 1177th bishop in the American succession of bishops of the Episcopal Church in America. The American Church has maintained its episcopal lineage through the Church of England and then back through the Roman Church to Peter. So Bishop Fisher is our piece of the rock on which Christ founded his Church
Jesus promised that the gates of Hell will never overpower his Church. As we sang in our entrance hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation,” (BCP 525) in the history of the Church she has been battered, but not broken. “Though with a scornful wonder, men see her sore oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed…she waits the consummation of peace forevermore…to one hope she presses, with every grace endued… and the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.” The Church witnesses to the survival resources of hope and faith, and to God’s steadfastness through every trial.
Each sermon printed on our website is accompanied by an illustration. The illustration I created for today is of a great rock surmounted by a small country church. Can you picture it? The rock is Peter, and ultimately Christ, steadfastly upholding the Church. The small church is St. Francis. A storm rages and blows the trees. The sky is dark. The storm represents persecution, suffering, temptation, and the upheavals of history. The storm also speaks to chaos and opposition. The windswept trees show that creation itself is shaken, yet the Church remains secure.
A path of stone steps leads up the rock to the Church door, which is red to symbolize the Holy Spirit. The path suggests pilgrimage and discipleship, with the faithful ascending toward Christ even in difficult times. And warm light shining through the windows suggests the enduring presence of Christ within the Church, pouring light into a darkened world.
I know that sometimes we are anxious about our small church, St. Francis, whether we will endure. Now pay attention! We are built on the rock of Christ, who will not fail us. We are precious in his sight. I have complete faith that God will continue to provide our needs, and not only ours, but what we need to reach out and serve the community – our hunger ministry being an example.
In fact, it could be argued that God put St. Francis Church here and sustains us so that we can serve the people of this world. So that we can have a hunger ministry. When Jesus sent his disciples out into the villages and towns where he would later go, he told them to bring peace and demonstrate that the Kingdom of God had come near. That’s why our precious small band of followers of Jesus exists: to bring peace and demonstrate the Kingdom of God, where the hungry are fed, where the peace of God breaks into struggles here on earth. Where the poor, the weak, the sick and the lonely are cared for.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul helps us understand the nature of the Church, which is the people of God. Not only do we gather for worship, but each one of us has the care of our own body and soul. We are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our spiritual worship – at home and in the world.
Paul counsels us not to be conformed to this world, but instead to use our minds. With the help of God we are to renew our minds, in this way to discern what is the will of God for each of us – what is good and acceptable to God.
Paul also famously describes the Church as one Body in Christ, with many members. And since we are one in Christ, we are intimately bound to each other. We are one in each other. This is a state of being. It is a state of being that the world doesn’t support and cannot understand. We simply live together in love, as a family with Christ the head. This is how others know we are Christians. When someone visits on a Sunday morning, the love is palpable. This is grace, and God is here.
Not only that, but God the Holy Spirit provides for our common life by providing each of us with spiritual gifts that make us, together, whole. Know that every one receives at least one spiritual gift. Do not be shy in exercising them! Our gifts differ according to the grace given to us. Paul names some gifts: ministry, in ministering; prophecy, in proportion to faith; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
And many other gifts, that enrich our life together. The picture that comes to my mind is a brand-new box of 64 Crayola crayons, just begging to be used! School is beginning now, and that was always my favorite new-school item.
What would we do without each other, and our individual gifts? Special colors would be missing. There would be unfilled gaps in the box of crayons. God would wish to unspool a gorgeous picture, all of us around the table coloring our bit of the drawing. But something could not be colored in the picture of the whole if colors are missing, because some of us are shy about recognizing and contributing our gifts. Let me tell you, sometimes it takes one person to notice and encourage the gift of another. As we continue to love as God loves, and grow in faith, and serve with joy, let us select our own color from the box and use it with artistic abandon!
THANKS BE TO GOD. Amen.