“1 Peter makes visible powers of authority and the invisible power structures of the world.”
“1 Peter holds the tension between faithfulness and survival.”
This letter aligns the unjust suffering of the persecuted with the unjust suffering of Christ.
These readings have been used to justify great evil; to support slavery, to uphold colonialism, and empire, tyranny, despotism, mass killings, even genocide, and they have been used to defend those who carry out domestic violence, and they've been used to defend those who engage in sexual violence and conflict, gender based violence.
We know these are all wrong, yet we are part of a global church, empire, and Anglican Communion where history is wrapped up in empire, power seeking, and subjugation. But we also have a history of resilience and resistance think of Desmond Tutu.”
“Power is according to context and contacts.””
Wives and slaves are explicitly compared in 1 Peter. We are very comfortable in condemning slavery, but we are less confident in condemning systems that keep women, girls, wives in situations of domestic violence, abuse, and exploitation.
“We are challenged by one Peter. Are we to accept the power of all human institutions?”
So Peter asked the question, how do we reconcile the world systems in which we live, the different ones, with the single system of freedom and grace we all receive in Jesus Christ. And the answer is “Sanctify Christ as Lord”.
“Those that live under conditions they cannot control whether it’s injustice or others; disability, exile, displacement, refugees, all live as children of God.”
“The central affirmation of this chapter indeed the central affirmation of the whole book is that we are not left comfortless!”
How do we challenge systems of power but also dismantle fear especially when power does threaten death and when that fear is very real indeed? We recognize our own power.
Power is not a zero-sum game: the more you share it, when it comes from God, the more there is; the more you hold on to it, the more it slips through our fingers.”
These are only a few of the quotes from 1 Peter 2:13-3:22: Resistance and Resilience.
The 1 Peter Bible Study is now ‘soul-ly’ on Zoom Wednesdays! 😊 The next sessions are August 2 and 9 from 6–8pm.
To access this worldwide Bible study, email Bonnie Bivins at blbivins@verizon.net to get the Zoom link and study materials!
To Watch the 1 Peter 3 Video Click Here:
Ways to participate:
Come Wednesdays from 6–8pm and participate LIVE.
View the current week’s video and come Wednesday at 7pm to reflect on the questions LIVE.
View the previous week’s video and find a friend, family member, or Trinity Church member to pair with, and discuss the study material.
Come and listen to Archbishop of Canterbury Welby leading next week’s Bible text with global contextual reflections.
Week 4: Suffering in Christ, August 2, 1 Peter 4:1-19.
If you want a digital copy to access the links and Bible study materials, send me an email to my address above and I will happily send you a digital copy! 😊