Aaron Black brought our message today examining the lectionary scripture, Mark 8:27-38. Two of the oft-quoted parts of the scripture include Jesus telling Peter “get behind me, Satan” and “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
Focusing on the former, Aaron, shared that Jesus wasn’t saying that Peter was evil. Rather, he was trying to explain that Peter’s viewpoint was wrong. Peter was looking at everything through the lens of the world, rather than through God’s lens. Aaron gave examples of two movies (Fight Club and Sixth Sense) that illustrate the impact of seeing a situation from different points of view.
Aaron shared that the latter verse is interpreted as meaning that to be disciples, we must be willing to suffer and die. In actuality, it more likely means that following Jesus may require us to fact hard truths in our lives and open ourselves up to see things that we may not want to see. We may have to face things that challenge us.
Today was also “Heritage Day” and we spent some time sharing about symbols of the church and/or Christianity that are particularly meaningful to us.