Peter Perry

I find myself saying to people, “You can’t control other people, you can only control yourself.” Maybe a little obvious. It’s an attempt to redirect frustration with the decisions other people make to focus on what decisions we can make. Rather than become angry and powerless about things we can’t change, we focus on changing ourselves and our habits of thought and action. Self-control is within our reach. If a friend or family member asks us to participate in something we are uncomfortable...

How would you describe “a Christian Community”? I ask because I’ve been reminded again how fragile relationships are. I often assume that because we’ve worked side by side for years, discussed weighty topics, and share joys and sorrows that we have strong relationships. But then, something happens, and I discover that the relationships aren’t strong at all, but so easily fractured by hasty words, misunderstandings, or pettiness. It reminds me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, Life Together ...

The New Year is a traditional time to reset and recenter. If there’s any good that comes out of New Year’s resolutions, it is the spiritual recentering on God and God’s desires for us. Of course, it’s a good thing to start a new discipline of exercise or diet, but these will be shallow if not rooted in God’s desires for us. God always desires us to grow as disciples of Jesus. In God’s eyes, we aren’t so much “members of St. John’s” but “members of the body of Christ.” We aren’t “volunteers”...