(Saarna ekumenisessa vesperissä Roomassa – Kristittyjen ykseyden rukouspäivä)
The Apostle Peter addresses his fellow human beings in a most beautiful way. Men and women, living far away in the diaspora in Cappadocia, Galatia, Bithynia, receive a letter – a loving and caring letter. These men and women were not from a privileged class; they were not part of the elite where they lived. They knew how it feels to worry, to struggle, to fail.
And now these people receive this letter. And what does the Apostle call them? How does he label them? How does he address them? They are told that they are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God´s own people”. What an empowering message!
Is this how God sees us – in spite of everything? Is this the Apostle’s lesson for us: that we should and we can see each other in God’s light?
Just look at the potential, the capacity, the possibilities, which we have in each other and in our Christian communities! Would such a perspective encourage us to forget all the unnecessary barriers, to forget our prejudices, to forget the hatred of the past?
What would happen if we really addressed each other as respectfully, welcomingly and empoweringly as the Apostle Peter did his fellow men and women?
He would have had many good reasons to use very different words: “You dear followers of Jesus there, you who keep quarrelling, who do not love your neighbours and who forget too often the joy of the Risen Christ…” However, the Apostle saw what was essential: that every human being has his or her dignity, his or her own potential, his or her personal gift to act as a part of “the royal priesthood and as a member of God´s own people”.
In response to the Apostle’s words I keep asking myself, are my words discouraging or empowering? Do my sentences carry the stink of rejection or the perfume of mercy?
We are called God´s people; those whom God has called out of darkness into his marvellous light – as the Apostle so beautifully describes us and our position. This position calls us into the promise of unity and into the richness of inclusiveness.
Our calling by God empowers us to focus on the essential and fundamental. We are thus enabled to see beyond walls of division and cruel prejudice. Thus, we are willing to see beyond national borders and across denominational barriers. We are God’s people; there can be no reason to categorize us in boxes of “them and us”. We are God’s people – we, and many, many others we do not know.
The Apostle Peter reminds us: “But now you have received mercy.” This is also an empowering message. Yet at the same time it is an open door, not opening to the inside, but rather to the outside. We, who are forgiven and welcomed, are asked to bring with us the message of mercy, the strength of solidarity, the promise of hope. We need to take all this in our actions, attitudes and prayers outside our Church structures – to all people everywhere.