Owning Our Vulnerability
- davidwperk
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Monday, June 30, 2025
Proper 8, the week of the fifth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today's reading:
61The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ 62And he went out and wept bitterly.
(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 972)
AM Psalm 106:1-18; PM Psalm 106:19-48
1 Samuel 10:17-27; Acts 7:44-8:1; Luke 22:52-62
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and Paul (transferred). See below.
David's Reflections
All four Gospels weave Peter's denials into the accounts of Jesus' arrest and trial. Bad sermons, including mine, have been preached about this episode, bad because some rather basic aspects of the story get ignored or missed.
One of the most obvious points we miss is that Peter was even there. All other of the disciples, save one (mentioned only in John), had wilted away into the night. According to the Gospel reports, Peter had risked following the arresting band from the Garden of Gethsemane and had hovered just outside the high priest's house in the courtyard. He alone had drawn his sword to resist the arrest, acting against the odds and at the risk of his own survival, and actually had injured one person before Jesus insisted that he not resort to violence..
Peter had been the spokesperson for the Twelve in addressing their concerns to Jesus and in speaking to those outside the group. According to Acts, he would become the key leader of the earliest church in Jerusalem before persecution drove him elsewhere. He also serves for the Gospel writers as the ideal disciple, a sort of symbol, if you will, of the best and the worst of all disciples.. In this case, all the disciples had abandoned Jesus. Peter's denials display a loss of courage at the last by someone whose very presence nearby was an act of courage. Some have speculated that Peter denied his relationship with Jesus, not because of fear, but because he hoped to set Jesus free.
What's my point? Being a Christian always involves a unique mix of strength and weakness, brash courage and vulnerable fear. Peter's example connects with us all. He could have ended up in the trial with Jesus as a coconspirator against Rome and shared Jesus' fate. Under far less dangerous circumstances, we have been squeamish about our Christian identity and concealed it for fear of disapproval or rejection. We've wilted under far less pressure than Peter was feeling that night. We’ve remained silent, and thus complicit, when others voiced values and beliefs contrary to our own. Yet at other moments, we’ve taken risks and dared rejection.
This episode prods us to pray for courage and for a deeper awareness of the areas where we are particularly vulnerable to failure and unfaithfulness. It prompts us to pray for a greater freedom from the desire for approval and the fear of conflict over our faith. It challenges us to a more militant, tough-minded form of discipleship.
“O God, our Everliving Refuge, with grateful hearts we lay at your feet the folded hours when you know us, but we do not know you; and with joy receive from your hand once more our open task and conscious communion with your life and thought. Day by day make us more like the spirits of the wise and good who have entered into your presence, and equip us in our generation to carry on their work below, till we are ready for more perfect union with them above. And if ever we faint under any appointed cross and say, "It is too hard to bear," may we look at the steps of the Man of Sorrows toiling on to Calvary, and pass freely into your hand and become one with him and you. Dedicate us to the joyful service of your will, and own us as your children in time and in eternity; for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.” (James Martineau, Published AD 1891). *
* Adapted from A Chain of Prayer Across the Ages: Forty Centuries of Prayer, From 2000 B.C. Ed. Seline Fitzherbert Fox. (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1943), p. 65.
Collect of the Day, Proper 8, the third Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 230)
Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Peter and Paul, martyrs. (transferred).
Collect of the Feast of Peter and Paul, Martyrs (transferred)
Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for the Renewal of Life
O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)
Of the Holy Angels
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 251)
A Prayer for Light
Almighty God, we give you thanks for surrounding us, as daylight fades, with the brightness of the vesper light; and we implore you of your great mercy that, as you enfold us with the radiance of this light, so you would shine into our hearts the brightness of your Holy Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Gospel, Luke 22:52-62
52Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? 53When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!’
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house. But Peter was following at a distance. 55When they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. 56Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ 57But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ 58A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’ 59Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ 60But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. 61The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ 62And he went out and wept bitterly.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 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
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