Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church Blog

Though she is still around, the Irish singer Sinead O’Connor very nearly destroyed her career in 1992 when she tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live.  Two weeks later she was booed off the stage of Madison Square Garden where she was to perform in a tribute to Bob Dylan. You might expect that reaction at a Knights of Columbus meeting, but a rock concert?  It seems the regard for the pope ran much deeper than she had figured. Widely respected by non-Catholics, the pope is regarded by Roman Catholics as the Vicar (Representative) of Christ, the Pontiff (Bridge Builder between earth and heaven), and the direct successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter. Though Roman theology is not strictly dependent on the Scriptures, they believe they have a pretty good proof text for this in Matthew 16.

Of course Martin Luther didn’t think so. Neither did John Calvin.  Neither did most people in the early church or anyone later influenced by the Protestant Reformation.  But then, what did Jesus mean when he called Peter the Rock and said he would build his church on that rock and give him the keys of the Kingdom?  There are several ways of thinking about this that we will explore briefly Sunday morning. We will try to do that without losing sight of the important question Jesus asked that led to all this, “Who do you say that I am?”.  Who we believe he is determines who we are and the rest of the passage speaks of who we are together as the church.  Understanding that should lead us nicely to the Lord’s Table. 

After the service there will be, Lord willing, a COPC congregational meeting.  I trust we are all in prayer for our Lord’s grace, leading, and blessing for this very important meeting.

We will be gathering again for evening worship. We will again be thinking about the nature of the Church.  In 2 Cor. 8 and 9 Paul talks about an offering for the poor, but we will also see how, as usual, he talks about far more than that - matters of grace and unity and love.

This promises to be an unusually challenging and emotional Lord’s Day. How wonderful that we have a God who hears us as we pray and always welcomes us into his presence for worship. Whatever the challenges, as we meet in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ there will be blessings!

Jack