Spiritual Journeys: Weekly Messages from St. Peter's Episcopal Church

Deacon Pete delivers a Memorial Day homily that contrasts the holiday’s cultural start-of-summer tone with the church’s solemn remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring veterans present and especially fallen service members and their families. Centering on John 15—“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”—he explains that Jesus speaks on the eve of his crucifixion, describing love that is concrete and costly, and he connects this to military service, loyalty to comrades, and the grief of Gold Star families and veterans living with physical injuries, moral injury, PTSD, and loss. He highlights Jesus’ call to “bear fruit that will last,” urging veterans to honor the fallen by living for freedom, peace, and justice and by keeping the baptismal covenant to strive for justice, peace, and respect for human dignity. He closes with a prayer for comfort, gratitude, and a future of peace.00:00 Opening Prayer00:14 Memorial Day Meaning01:24 Greater Love Verse01:41 Jesus Calls Us Friends02:37 Veteran Sacrifice03:32 Wounds and Grief04:12 Bear Fruit After Loss04:45 Living the Covenant05:36 Final Gospel Charge06:16 Closing Prayer

Deacon Pete reflects on Pentecost as the celebration of God’s divine indwelling through the Holy Spirit, recalling an childhood conversation with Father Boyd about connecting with God in ourselves and others. He contrasts this with the disciples’ fear behind locked doors, noting that fear can be physical, emotional, or communal, and that resurrection does not deny suffering but enters and transforms it, echoing Richard Rohr’s idea that untransformed pain is transmitted. In John’s account, Jesus greets the disciples with “Peace be with you,” shows his wounds as proof that scars remain yet do not block resurrected life, breathes the Spirit as in Genesis, and commissions them for mission: being God’s hands and feet and embodying Christ’s peace. He emphasizes forgiveness—especially self-forgiveness—as freedom from guilt and shame, concluding that Eucharist gathers people behind locked doors and sends them out to do holy work and offer peace.00:00 Opening Prayer00:51 Pentecost Explained02:35 Locked Doors and Fear05:11 Peace and Scars07:15 Breath of the Spirit08:14 Sent on Mission09:11 The Challenge of Forgiveness10:30 Four Things Jesus Does11:38 Eucharist Sending Forth

Bishop Susan preaches at St. Peter’s on the Ascension, describing the disciples’ in-between moment after 40 days of the risen Jesus teaching about new creation before ascending from the Mount of Olives. Drawing on trips to Israel, she portrays Jerusalem as holy yet conflicted, both today and in Jesus’ time, and imagines Jesus ascending with a clear view of the Temple, Golgotha, Roman power, and ordinary life. She explains the Ascension as completing Jesus’ earthly mission and offers two perspectives: looking up, Jesus ascends still marked by crucifixion, carrying wounded human humanity into God’s presence and interceding for us; looking down, the angels redirect disciples from staring upward to witnessing in widening circles. Christians are called to be Jesus’ hands and feet, living sacrificial love that seeks justice, peace, and dignity, returning to forgiveness and trying again amid division and fear.00:00 Welcome and Context00:14 Ascension Mystery01:30 Jerusalem Then and Now04:15 Mount of Olives View07:16 What Ascension Means07:59 View Up Wounded Healed10:04 View Down Our Mission12:31 Love as Witness13:39 Final Amen

Mother Paige reflects on Paul in Athens using the Temple of the Unknown God to meet people where they are and proclaim that God is not far from us: “in Him we live and move and have our being.” She asks the congregation and those worshiping at home why they came—praise, community, peace, guidance, love, even donuts—and says that whatever we seek, the answer is love. Turning to Jesus’ farewell address on the night of the Last Supper, she recalls foot washing, Judas’ betrayal, Peter’s denial, and the mandatum novum: “Love one another as I have loved you.” This sacrificial, chosen love is how Christ abides with us, how we keep his commandments, and the message the world needs: “If it’s not about love, it’s not about God.”

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:08 Paul in Athens

01:17 Why We Came

02:32 The Answer Is Love

02:49 Last Supper Night

04:16 New Commandment

05:29 Abiding in John

06:30 If Not Love

07:36 Love Is A Choice

08:14 Closing Charge

Rev. Madeline reflects on discipleship and faith by lingering in Psalm 31, describing the Psalms as ancient prayers spanning the full range of human experience. She notes Psalm 31’s distinctive intertwining of lament and hope—pleas for rescue, fear under persecution, and tentative trust in God existing at once—and connects this pattern to Acts’ account of Stephen’s stoning and Luke’s crucifixion narrative. Centering on Psalm 31:5 (“Into your hands, I commend my spirit”), she highlights its echo in Stephen’s final words and Jesus’ last words on the cross, showing trust in God amid desperate circumstances. She names the Christian paradox of “already, but not yet,” where resurrection hope persists alongside ongoing suffering, and closes with Frederick Buechner’s reminder that God is with us in a beautiful and terrible world.

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:20 Following The Way

01:08 Why The Psalms Matter

02:04 Hearing Psalm 31

03:37 Lament And Hope Together

04:50 Stephen And The Cross

06:51 Already But Not Yet

08:52 Hanging Your Heart On God

10:01 Final Blessing

Mother Paige leads an instructed Eucharist on the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday), offering three brief teaching addresses instead of a single sermon to help confirmation/reception candidates and the congregation understand the service’s history and theology. She explains liturgy as “the work of the people,” with God as the audience, then walks through the entrance rite (Easter acclamation, Collect for Purity, Gloria, Collect of the Day and the congregation’s “Amen”), the lectionary readings (including Acts in Easter), and Gospel customs. Using John 10 and the man born blind, she highlights belonging and the Good Shepherd’s call, connecting this to baptismal vows. She describes the creed’s fourth-century origins, the required themes and flexibility of the Prayers of the People, confession/absolution options, and the ancient Peace. She outlines the Eucharist’s four actions—take, bless, break, give—emphasizing thanksgiving, real presence, transformation, multilingual Lord’s Prayer, communion options, post-communion mission, and Easter dismissal.

00:00 What Is Instructed Eucharist

01:17 Easter Acclamation And Sacraments

02:56 Entrance Rite Explained

03:26 Collect Gloria And Amen

05:18 Scripture Readings And Gospel

07:07 Sermon Prayer And Purpose

08:44 Good Shepherd Belonging

12:50 Creed History And We Believe

16:04 Prayers Confession And Peace

20:16 Four Eucharist Actions

22:37 Real Presence And Lords Prayer

24:41 Communion Sending Forth

Mother Paige opens with her sermon prayer—asking that God’s word be spoken and heard—and reflects on preaching with humility and trust in the Holy Spirit. On Good Shepherd Sunday she connects John 10 to the healing of the man born blind in John 9, describing how the expelled man is offered belonging as Jesus speaks of being the gate into beloved community where the shepherd calls sheep by name. She links this belonging to Acts’ devotion to apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayers, echoed in the baptismal covenant, as life in the Body of Christ and abundant life. She then explains the Nicene Creed as a communal “we” shaped by fourth-century Trinity debates after Constantine, allowing grace for doubt and ongoing questions. She outlines the Prayers of the People, confession and absolution (including private confession and seasonal omission), and the ancient practice of the Peace as reconciliation before communion.

00:00 Sermon Prayer

01:23 Breaking Open Scripture

01:49 Good Shepherd Context

03:33 Belonging and the Gate

04:40 Acts and Baptismal Vow

05:41 Why We Say the Creed

07:29 We Believe Together

08:55 Prayers of the People

10:17 Confession and Absolution

10:47 The Peace Is Ancient

12:20 Forgiveness Before Communion

Guest speaker Rick Ochocki reflects on Luke 24:36 and the disciples’ struggle to recognize the risen Jesus, noting that it was Jesus’ actions—taking, blessing, breaking, and giving bread—that opened their eyes, and emphasizing Christians’ call to receive and practice peace. He shares personal grief after learning that FDNY Lt. Kevin Pfeiffer, a paramedic mentor, was killed on September 11, 2001, and parallels it with meeting a distraught father whose daughter was hospitalized for psychiatric care. Speaking as Chief Development Officer for NAMI San Diego and Imperial Counties and as a family member of someone with mental illness, he describes connecting the father to NAMI resources including Family-to-Family education, a local helpline/warm line, support groups, and NAMI Walks. He invites St. Peter’s to join and support next Saturday’s NAMI Walks at Liberty Station and thanks the church for partnering with NAMI.

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:16 Scripture and Grief

01:57 Emmaus Recognition

03:51 Why Peace Matters

05:19 A Father in Crisis

06:13 NAMI Resources Offered

07:59 What NAMI Walks Means

08:57 Join the Walk

09:51 Thanks and Sending

Rev. Madeline challenges the common “Doubting Thomas” framing, arguing that Thomas’s skepticism after Jesus’ brutal crucifixion was reasonable and shared by other disciples, including Mary Magdalene and Peter. Drawing on Barbara Brown Taylor, she highlights how resurrection upends what seemed certain about death and power, making the disciples’ need for proof and understanding deeply human. She presents resurrection as a central mystery of Christian faith, echoed in Eucharistic Prayer A, and contends that doubt should not be shamed or treated as the opposite of belief but seen as wonder-filled engagement with God’s work beyond human logic. Citing Rev. Ethan Lowry, she shifts the focus from intellectual certainty to trusting that death does not win and asking, in light of Christ’s death and resurrection, “How now shall we live?”

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:24 Rethinking Doubting Thomas

01:43 Trauma And Disbelief

03:46 Resurrection As Mystery

05:41 Doubt Without Shame

07:21 Belief And Wonder Together

08:09 How Then Shall We Live

09:21 Closing Doxology

Mother Susan invites listeners to “walk with Jesus” through Holy Week, drawing on John’s Gospel and the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” Reflecting on the passion narrative written decades after Jesus’ death, she emphasizes that the crucifixion was not a surprise but the completion of Jesus’ steadfast mission amid the clash between Roman violent power and a covenant of love. She recounts Jesus’ purposeful entry into Jerusalem alongside Pilate’s intimidating military display, Jesus’ arrest and abuse, and Pilate’s role in the death sentence. Citing “God so loved the world” and Jesus’ words “It is finished,” she presents the cross as a paradox: a horrific death that becomes a sign of God’s overflowing love, reconciliation, forgiveness, and the opening to eternal life, urging silent vigil on Holy Saturday and reflection on how to live this gift.

00:00 Opening Prayer

00:32 Choosing Jesus to Walk With

01:28 John’s Passion Lens

03:13 Jesus’ Mission and Purpose

04:40 Palm Sunday Clash of Powers

07:01 Arrest and Pilate’s Trial

08:37 The Cross and It Is Finished

10:39 Paradox of the Cross

11:35 Holy Saturday Silence

11:58 What Will We Do