Six years ago I began the search for a new calling. Over the course of four years of research, I read countless websites and parish profiles. When I discovered St. Peter's, I could almost predict what I would find in each parish's profile from flowery language about their mission and vision to their deep desire to become a planned church full of young families. And yes, somehow the new rector would miraculously manage to make this happen through inspiring homilies and a welcoming personality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay I was grateful when I was asked to consider St. Peter. Yes, you sought a warm and welcoming rector who preached inspiring sermons. (Well, I guess one in two isn't bad.) And yes, your mission and vision statements are lofty. However, that being said, the reason you stood out is not what you said, but how you said it. Our vision is simple: “To become a community of Apostles”. As I told our staff at the planning retreat Tuesday and to the vestry at their last meeting, I was intrigued by our choice of words. Saint Peter does not want to become a community of disciples, but a community of apostles. This is significant. This says that we recognize something that few other parishes understand, we are already a community of disciples. Because by definition the disciple is a follower, a student of the master or in our case a student of Jesus himself. An apostle, on the other hand, is both a follower and someone who is sent into the world to share the teacher's message with others. This, my friends, is where, as our presiding bishop calls us, the episcopal branch of the Jesus movement gains ground. traction and discovers new growth. The growth of our movement is not contained in these four walls, or in our Sunday media, but in each of us. And this is where the day of Pentecost will take us. Think about it for a moment, to this point post-resurrection stories often take us back to the empty tomb or the upper room. This morning's alternative Gospel, in fact, takes us back to Easter night when the risen Christ appears in the cenacle where the disciples are literally hiding. There he breathes on them the Holy Spirit and charges them to go out, to share the Gospel, to offer the love of God through the forgiveness of sins. Haven't you noticed a theme in the Easter Gospels? They tend to start with someone looking back or hiding out of fear, and then end with these same people being sent out into the world to find Jesus or proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. This morning, our disciples, now apostles, finally left the cenacle and entered the heart of Jerusalem. And the message spreads without limit as the Holy Spirit literally vomits from them with tongues of fire and a mighty wind. Now here's the question: What was the focus of their message? It was simply a man who lived, died, and came back to life, or that and more. When we look at what Jesus actually taught, it was more about the Kingdom of God than His impending death and resurrection. If we read the Gospels with a careful eye, Jesus mentions his death only once and only to his inner circle of twelve people. The message we are sent to proclaim is not just about a dead and resurrected man, but about a man, who is literally the begotten Son of God, who embodies the love of God, and who tells the world that the kingdom of God is at hand. That the kingdom of God is not only near but possible. And, if you don't believe it, Jesus' death and resurrection not only proves it, it shows us”..