I have a special attraction for the book of First Peter. I am convinced that this letter is the genuine dictation of the Apostle Peter, written from Rome shortly before his death at the hands of the Romans about 35 years after the resurrection. If that is true, as every commentary in our own church library will attest, then this book is extraordinary. It’s like archeology of the mind. We know from centuries of research that our new testament was written through a span of almost 60 years from the life of Jesus. Lot’s can happen in 60 years. And our New Testament reflects a development of ideas and memories that have passed through many minds before we get them in this written form. That makes an actual letter from a guy that was there when it all actually happened extraordinarily valuable. So, since resurrection is the subject of the season, we may well ask what does Peter say about the resurrection? And in fact, he says a lot. But first, let me tell you what he doesn’t say. In this letter, there is no mention of an empty tomb, and no mention of a fleshly resurrected Jesus. In fact, at one point he says concerning Jesus, “He was put to death in the flesh, but he was made alive in the spirit!” You can hardly get more specific than that.
But mostly Peter describes the resurrection employing two pivotally important words. And they are “revealed” and “glory.” Listen to this.

“Now, as an elder myself and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shared in the glory to be revealed, I exhort the elders among you to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it.—not for sordid gain, but eagerly.”

And here, “But (in your suffering) rejoice insofar as you are sharing in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.”
And finally this one, “Gird up the loins of your mind” (using a good Old Testament phrase that Peter would use) discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.”

Now, what Peter says to me in this letter is that the resurrection was a deeply profound life-changing experience for him – a visionary experience that he describes as a kind of unveiling of something. And the word that he uses for that something is “glory.” And the bulk of the letter is Peter’s best effort – not to explain the experience – but to give us instruction on how we ourselves can have at least a semblance of his experience.” What a gift!!

The problem is that for most of us the word glory is a meaningless word. It’s just another church word like amen and hallelujah. The word just doesn’t take us anywhere. So, before we can even begin to follow Peter’s instructions on how to experience the glory that he’s talking about, we first have to get a sense understanding of what he means by glory.
But here’s the good news. We have all experienced glory. I’ll share with you an experience of mine. I was about twelve years old. I was sitting at the kitchen table doing my homework and listening to the radio. When suddenly a song came on that had an extraordinary effect on me. It kind of sent me into a revere. I put my pencil down, and leaned back my head and closed my eyes. I felt that I was hearing something from the distant past and yet at the same time brand new. It lifted me up into what Carl Jung calls a numinous state – a sense of the presence of the divine. The name of the song was “Puff the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary. And frankly, throughout my adolescence, the music of Peter, Paul and Mary frequently affected me by raising the hair and tingling the skin and setting the mind on a kind of mountain.

Now, every one of you has had an experience like that. Sharon and I showed one of you a picture of a newborn baby the other day and you went ………! And I could tell that you were tasting the glory in that newborn baby. Many find glory in flowers or rainbows or the vision of a beautiful woman. These are tastes of glory. And our first job is to learn to recognize the taste of glory. As Peter says, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

Now, we can’t call these experiences at will. When I listen to Puff that Magic Dragon today, I don’t get that experience. But if we follow Peter’s instructions, we will attune our bodies and minds to become more receptive to the glory that he experienced in the resurrection. What are his instructions? Well, glibly, I might encourage you to read the letter, but essentially, it goes like this. “Be humble; be courageous in the face of suffering. Be forgiving and loving. Occupy yourselves with acts of loving kindness. And often and regularly enter into prayer. These are the steps that lift the veil from our eyes and our hearts, so that the glory from above may be revealed to our souls.

And finally, we must learn to recognize the presence of glory when it is revealed in our daily lives. Last Wednesday evening after Youth Group and Choir were finished and all had gone well in the evening, Sharon and I found ourselves alone outside Danielle’s office with Curt and Claire and Malcolm. And we just found ourselves joking and laughing and talking, and I felt my spirit lifted up. Like Sharon said later, it was like old times – only new. And that for me was an experience of glory – peaceful yet vibrant – familiar yet fresh – touching deep roots yet stretching the wings. Now that, my friends, was glory. May we all continue day by day to seek the glory that is the resurrection, and seek to share in it with one another.

Thanks be to God. Let us pray.

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