Peter’s transformation – Chapel March 2-6

Our emphasis for chapels this week came from the life of Peter, the disciple of Jesus. We meet Peter in the gospels as a fisherman who encounters Jesus and is transformed by that encounter.

On Monday, March 2, we explored the story of Jesus calling Peter to follow him as seen in Luke 5:1-11. Peter, seemingly a man of intense emotions, went from telling Jesus to go away from him to dropping everything, including an incredible amount of fish, and following Jesus. We read through the story and then discussed the story in our small groups.

Tuesday’s chapel time was in small groups. We had more opportunity to dig deeper into the story of Peter from Monday.

The story of Peter’s transformation continued on Wednesday as Sarena Gerber led us in looking at Peter’s struggles with following Jesus, particularly when he denied three times that he knew Jesus. All four gospels include this part of Peter’s life. Then we looked at John 21 in which Jesus reinstated Peter by asking him, “Do you love me?” Peter went on to become a great leader in the early church.

On Thursday, we were privileged to have with us Larry Detweiler, grandfather of two students, Will and Aiden Kolk. Larry shared about his experiences during the Vietnam war. His experiences there led him to become a conscientious objector.

Friday’s chapel featured Shelby Graber speaking about what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus called his original disciples to, “Follow me and you will fish for people.” Peter responded and followed Jesus but wasn’t perfect. Jesus extended forgiveness to Peter as he extends forgiveness to us as we may stumble on this journey.