God, the Ultimate Missionary
- davidwperk
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, November 28, 2025
Proper 29, the week of the last Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison . . . . 6For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 994)
AM Psalm 140, 142; PM Psalm 141, 143:1-11(12)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Clement of Alexandria. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Whom would you suggest as the most persistent and committed missionary of all? Who has gone farther and sacrificed more and been more persistent than anyone else to share the message of salvation with others? First Peter's answer is God.
Who went to the spirits in prison to share the message of salvation? Jesus after his death. Who preached the message of salvation to the dead? We probably are to suppose that unnamed preacher was Jesus.
If God will extend Godself to that degree, descending even to the realm of the dead to reclaim those separated from God, what does that imply about us who remain alive and who daily encounter countless people without faith? Should we be hiding our faith for fear of offending another? Should we be silent as a protection to our egos, as a shield against rejection?
First Peter's obvious answer would be "no."
We miss the point when we base our speculations about the fate of unbelievers or the existence of purgatory on passages like this one. The point lies elsewhere. If God extended Godself in Christ to that extent, to go to the realm of the dead, where might we suppose God will be active now? God will be extending divine love and care into the darkest and most threatening places in our world.
Where should we as God's children and servants be? Is there any person, is there any place, is there any circumstance that we could avoid without having failed to follow the urgings of God's missionary love? First Peter's obvious answer would be "no."
Note: We don’t have to know exactly what the author (Peter or someone writing in his name) understood that region to be; nor do we have to prognosticate about the ultimate fate of the dead who die without faith. Those can become distractions from our passionate concern for the current well being of people without faith. We know something of the hell they now experience, a hell we hope they escape through faith in Christ. We do not need to know anything about life after death to be passionate about those people now.
Poet Mary Oliver put it so well in her poem “Sometimes.”
4.
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.+
+Mary Oliver, Red Bird (Boston: Beacon, 2008), p. 37
Collect of the Day, The Last Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 236)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Clement of Alexandria, theologian and apologist (died ca 211-215 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Clement of Alexandria
O God of unsearchable wisdom, you gave your servant Clement grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the source of all truth: Grant to your church the same grace to discern your Word wherever truth is found; through Jesus Christ our unfailing light, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Especially suitable for Fridays
Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 253)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
Daily Office Epistle Lesson, 1 Peter 3:13-4:6
13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;
16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
4:1Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), 2so as to live for the rest of your earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God. 3You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.
4 They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme. 5But they will have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Comments