Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide SA SUN 12-SEP-2021 - 11.00 AM Sermon Rev Dr Greg Elsden Pentecost 16 – While Jesus and the disciples were making their way south towards Jerusalem, people along the way were coming up with various stories to explain who he was. When he asked his disciples who they thought he was, Peter spoke for them by calling him the Messiah. When Jesus started to tell them about his future persecution and death, Peter told him to stop being negative; whereupon Jesus told Peter to stop being a stumbling block (a literal meaning of 'satan'), and to follow behind him instead of racing on ahead. Peter's answer was right, as far as it went; but there was much that he did not understand. Down the ages there have often been Christians who insist that they have the correct answers about Jesus, when they don't even know what the questions are. May we resist starting conversations with others from places where we assume we are right, brutally imposing our answers on others, but let us start our conversations by articulating our loves and our doubts. It is often more helpful not to try to answer life's great questions, but to live with them. Mark 8: 27-38 Playing Time   –   16:23