Acts 2: 14a, 22–32 & 1 Peter 1: 3–9

By Tom Donoghue, URC East Midlands Mission Development Officer

In the Easter 2 Lectionary readings for today I was intrigued by the New Testament passages which have been read for us. We have a rather intriguing perspective which take us straight to times after Pentecost, after the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The readings are helpful in sharpening our senses to what changes in the disciples after Easter. If I had included the gospel reading it would remind us that the disciples had gathered together in a room and locked the door behind them – fearful of what’s next, grieving the death of their friend and doubts regarding the reports of their friend’s resurrection. Our readings hold some of that shared tension – fear and courage, absence and presence, fragility and hope.

In our reading from Acts, Peter addresses the crowd, standing with the eleven Peter speaks confidently and with authority to the listening crowd. We don’t see in Peter the frightened disciple of Good Friday, but a transformed man who speaks boldly about Jesus – about his life, death and resurrection.

He has been reflecting deeply on the ways in which Jesus has fulfilled the prophecies of scripture in a quite extraordinary and largely unexpected way. Peter shares his testimony about how his life has been enriched and given fresh meaning, and he is pleased to be able to share these fresh insights with his fellow Israelites, so that they too can experience living a new life.

Peter is quite simply Talking Faith, he is not just teaching about a theological theory but he is speaking from experience. He doesn’t make a case as a theologian, or an expert, but as a witness: ‘This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.’

Peter’s confidence continues in the letter he commissioned (1 Peter) to Christians who are scattered across northern Turkey. Peter addresses his letter to God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces – and the letter would have been circulated around multiple churches in this area – to give encouragement to these mostly non-Jewish Christians who were being persecuted and facing hostility and harassment from their Greek and Roman neighbours.

Many Christians experience extreme persecution around the world. The charity Open Doors aims to raise awareness of the situation that 388 million Christians around the world are in, advocates for them and provides support including biblical literature, training for persecuted Christians, as well as relief aid, livelihood support and community development projects. Open Doors is supporting persecuted Christians in seventy countries because there are countries in this world where people want to make being a Christian impossible – passing laws to close down churches, threaten, spy on and put their leaders into prison. Stories of people being attacked, kidnapped or, if a convert, pressured to renounce their beliefs.

I have friends who are currently in the process of claiming asylum in this country. They are from Pakistan, a country placed eighth on the Open Doors World Watch list in 2026. In that country the majority of Christians are poor and marginalised and are vulnerable to false accusations of blasphemy and mob violence. My friends \who have a daughter the same age as mine, four years old, have fled Pakistan because of a threat to their lives, because of their faith and the advocacy work they have done for women’s rights.

Christians face a real threat to their lives in parts of the world. In the top listed countries on Open Doors Watch List, where only a small percentage of the population are Christian – North Korea, Somalia, and Yemen, our siblings in Christ have to live in secrecy; any gatherings of Christians are rare and dangerous in these countries as there is extreme surveillance and severe consequences.

Peter’s letter to the exiled Christians is not talking about that level of persecution, although the encouragement from Peter is as much for them as it is for us.

The experience in 1 Peter is:

1 Peter 2: 12 – misunderstood
1 Peter 2: 15 – social pressure
1 Peter 3: 16 – being spoken about unfairly
1 Peter 4: 3-4 – feeling out of step with those around them.
1 Peter 4: 14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Peter calls these experiences of insult and slander persecution. They were experiencing social alienation, local harassment and verbal abuse – no major state persecution was being suffered at this time, but the kind of taunting that all Christians who are living out their faith could experience, in any part of the world – in a workplace, a school, among friends, family or neighbours. Perhaps mocked for not watching a certain television programme that everyone else is talking about, cut out of the conversation, called names for being too boring or maybe perceived as a snob!

Peter encourages us to keep going when people give you a hard time – when you are gaslit, sidelined or suffer unjustly because of your Christian faith.

Peter addressed his letter to God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout … they are not just foreigners scattered in a strange land. Peter addresses them as chosen by God. He goes on to say in verse 2 ‘chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:’ They are given value in being known by the Father, sanctified by the Spirit and cleansed by Jesus Christ.

No wonder in verse 3 there is an outpouring of praising God – recognising the certain assurance we are given and the living hope we have because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.

This is not wishful thinking nor optimism. It is living hope – hope that breathes, endures, and carries us through suffering. The early Christians knew hardship, uncertainty, even persecution. And yet – they rejoiced. Why? Because their hope was not based on circumstances – but on Christ, who had conquered death.

I have been following, when possible, the journey of Artemis 2 into outer space and around the moon. I have been struck by the words that astronaut Victor Glover spoke just before their space craft was about to lose contact with earth and they would travel around the far side of the moon:

‘As we get close to the nearest point to the Moon and the farthest point from Earth, as we continue to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos, I would like to remind you of one of the most important mysteries there on Earth, and that’s love,’ Glover said. ‘Christ said, in response to what was the greatest command, that it was to love God with all that you are. And he also, being a great teacher, said … to love your neighbour as yourself. So as we prepare to go out of radio communication, we’re still able to feel your love from Earth, and to all of you down there on Earth and around Earth, we love you from the Moon.’

And as I have been preparing for this Service and hearing those words from astronaut Victor Glover, it made me reflect back to when I preached at my Grandma’s funeral, a celebration of life service, and our reading from 1 Peter was the main bible passage.

My Grandma died in May 2018. The day before she died, she had watched Revd Michael Curry preach at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan: that God is love, and the power of God’s love. I would like to share some of my reflecting on that from my sermon:

The wonderful timing of that sermon, the day before she died, wonderfully reassured me of the love of God, that my Grandma knew. Love that has taken her to heaven to be home with her Heavenly Father.

To live your life well in this earth, as I saw my Grandma do, you need to learn to live in the light of our best life, which is to come! The bible passage from 1 Peter helps us to understand this, it is the life that Grandma is enjoying now.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our inheritance. In heaven nothing can perish, spoil or fade. You will receive through Jesus Christ a gift from God which is Hope, a Living Hope, a certain Hope that when life here is difficult, hard or painful, that the best is yet to come. When you believe in the love of God, you know that He will save you from your sin – that salvation is your inheritance!

God gifts to us what we need, he gives us grace by forgiving our sin. And this is all made possible through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This inheritance, this salvation, this living hope protected by the power of God … is made possible by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is what opened heaven to all of us … it is why Jesus could promise there are many rooms in his Father’s house and a place has been reserved for you!

Friends, we have a living hope, and we have a promise of an inheritance which is imperishable and a faith more precious than gold.

When times are hard, when we struggle or suffer because of our Christian faith, we are encouraged to think ahead to a gospel future. The new life which Jesus breathes into us is assured for ever by our living God.

Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the Artemis 2 journey was their return to earth. Re-entering Earth’s atmosphere at incredible speed, a dangerous, fiery descent that must be trusted to bring them safely home. Those astronauts step into the unknown. They trust the mission and the space craft. They trust that even through darkness and danger – they will come home.

That is not unlike Christian faith.

We do not see everything clearly. We go through dark places. We face, as Peter says, ‘various trials’.

But we trust:

• that Christ has gone before us,
• that resurrection is real,
• that our journey has a destination.

Faith is not certainty about everything – it is trust in the One who leads us home.

In a fragile world where we experience loss, violence and fear we need to talk faith. In the fragile two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict there is a pause – but it is fragile, that coincides with a 32-hour ceasefire for Orthodox Easter in Russia and Ukraine – in the long four-year conflict. Airstrikes continue in Lebanon.

The world longs for peace – but struggles to sustain it. And into that world, Christians are called not just to believe in hope, but to speak it. To talk about a deeper peace: not just the absence of war, but the presence of Christ.

Peter spoke into a divided and uncertain world. And so must we.

Imagine if each of us spoke just one sentence of faith this week: not perfectly; not forcefully; just honestly. Because someone around you is in darkness, someone is longing for hope, and they may never hear it – unless we speak.

Peter stood up and spoke. The early Christians rejoiced in living hope.

The astronaut’s journeyed into the unknown trusting they will return home.

And we are travellers too.

People of resurrection. People of hope. People called to speak.

So may we go from here:

• as witnesses, not experts
• as people of hope, not fear
• as those who are willing to talk faith

And may others, through us, catch a glimpse of the One who leads us home.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

So go in hope, go in faith – and don’t be afraid to speak.

Amen