A synopsis of the sermon delivered by the Rev. David L. Hicks at St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church at the 10:30am service on Sunday, Lent V, March 13, 2005. Please read I Peter 4:12-19.

I recently saw something strange on a television program. It was a squirrel water skiing in a swimming pool, being pulled by a remote control, battery operated boat. Video clips like this make their way on television and are entertaining because they are so strange. Squirrels do not water ski by nature – it is not the expected or customary activity of a squirrel’s life. St. Peter tells the Christians to whom he is writing in his first epistle not to think that suffering is something alien to the Christian life, “as though something strange were happening to you” (I Pt. 4:12). Suffering is part of the Christian’s experience because of his or her identification with Jesus Christ. “Rejoice,” the apostle says, “that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (4:13). 

Peter is quick to note that Christian is not to suffer simply for the sake of the experience. If someone receives punishment for being a criminal or meddler in other people’s business, then the suffering is a just reward for the poor conduct. True Christian suffering is done for the sake of Christ, and in it there is blessing (4:14). But why should we expect to suffer today for the sake of Jesus Christ? After all, is not persecution something of a bygone day or the lot of Christian people who do not live in a free country such as ours? While it is true that our nation is blessed with a freedom of worship that is not characteristic of every place in the world, it is not true Christians are exempt in any time and place from some sort of persecution or rejection. There will be always a point of contention between society and the church, between the mind of Christ and the mind of the world. As St. John reminds us, “In this world, we are like him [Jesus]” (I John 4:7); and St. Paul states, “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:6). Whoever strives to live a life pleasing to God will find that some sort of rejection awaits him from those who are not living according to God’s will, whether it may be the loss of a friendship, the insults of family members or the loss of acceptance by some group of people. Yet, Peter tells us not to despair as though such happenings were akin to the water skiing squirrel. It is not something strange, but it is evidence of a life that reflects the light of Jesus Christ in this dark world. 
Amen.