At the close of his letter, Peter urges us to “stay alert” and to remain in a posture of humility, submitting to God, submitting to church leaders, submitting to one another. And in the end, Peter says, God will restore us and set everything right.

This week we look at Peter's reminder that our trials are an opportunity for our faith to be strengthened, our intimacy with God deepened, and our hope to be made all the more strong. 

There is a Living Hope, which brings us together during desperate times, and compels us to engage in the heaviest, darkest, most difficult places. 

According to the apostle Peter, “mission” is not an episodic activity but an everyday identity.

Peter's vision of Christian community calls us to re-order our lives away from individualism and toward shared life and practices.

Being a people set apart for God's special purposes of love is a very delicate balance that is only possible through the grace of the gospel.

Through the power of the Spirit, we can even have hope in the midst of the difficulties that seem to pervade the modern world