15 - Quo vadis?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
The Apocryphal Acts of Peter tells the story of an encounter between Peter and the risen Christ on the outskirts of Rome. The church had encouraged Peter to leave the city because of the persecution breaking out there so that:
thou mayest yet be able to serve the Lord. And he obeyed the brethren's voice and went forth alone … And as he went out of the gate he saw the Lord entering into Rome; and when he saw him, he said, ‘Lord, whither (goest thou) here?’ And the Lord said unto him, ‘I am coming to Rome to be crucified.’ And Peter said to him, ‘Lord, art thou being crucified again?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Peter, I am being crucified again.’ And Peter came to himself.
Having come to himself Peter returned to Rome to meet his death.
The history of the Christian church is full of examples of the church community getting the direction of the calling of Jesus wrong. Here the church wanted to keep Peter for further service in the gospel. A very sensible judgement. The sort of thing a synod, a mission board or a bishop might conclude. Such further service might be to protect the Anglican Communion as it has developed so far. It might be to insist on my, or our, clear perception of the truth of some matter.
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- An Introduction to World Anglicanism , pp. 254 - 259Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005