Tu es Petrus!
Sermon for Second Sunday after Epiphany – 18 January 2026
All Saints, Kesgrave and St Mary, Playford
Text: Turning round, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ (John 1v38)
God give you peace my sisters and brothers
I am named ‘Andrew’.
This is not because I am the first-born son of a proud Scotsman and so named for the patron Saint of the Highlands.
Nor because Andrew is a family name. As far as I can see I am the only Andrew in our part of the Dotchin Clan.
Nor even because my father was serving in ‘The Andrew Miller’ (the Royal Navy)[1]when my name was chosen.
I am named Andrew because when my dad heard of my birth he was in New York onboard the submarine HMS Andrew[2]. Her claim to fame is that she was the last submarine to have a gun on her casing. To mark this she was given the honour of being ‘paid-off’ in the Pool of London alongside HMS Belfast, firing a (blank) round towards the Admiralty before she was recycled into razor blades. Oh, and she also made an appearance in the movie of Nevil Shute’s book ‘On the Beach’[3]. So I’m quite happy to be named after this particular ‘Andrew’.
Is there a story behind your name? How and why it was chosen?
Choosing names is a thorny issue for many families and can lead to friction rather than joy.
This is not simply reserved to birth. There are many occasions in adult life when names are chosen and changed.
Names are changed when we marry, when people are baptised, if someone transitions their gender, and when someone enters the Religious Life.
Changing your name is not always easy to do. Precious people took time to give us our names and when they are changed emotions become charged and mixed.
Changing given names is not a new thing and it seems to be something at which the Holy Trinity is very proficient.
Throughout the Scriptures there are incidences of people being re-named by God and the direction of their life changing from that moment onwards.
We see this today with Jesus renaming Simon the Fisherman and calling him Peter from then onwards
Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas’(which, when translated, is Peter). (John 1v42)
It is interesting that Jesus, as he did with Nathaniel, knew Simon’s name before it was told to Him… and then went on to change it! The Son of God is definitely not backward in coming forward! So it is even after the Resurrection we find that ‘Saul’ becomes ‘Paul’.
Names are important. They define us, they say from where we have come, to whom we belong, and tell people what our purpose in life is.
And when God calls us by a different name to that with which we have been called it is a watershed moment of saying goodbye to our heritage, leaving our homes and families (as would the first disciples cf. Matthew 19.27-30), and walking a very different road…
The season of Epiphany is about travelling on roads that are different to those to which we have been used and giving up on the way of life we have previously led.
Epiphany is about following a call to leave things behind.
The Holy Family left their home in Nazareth and even their shack shelter in Bethlehem to become refugees wating for angelic words in dreams that felt more often like nightmares.
The Shepherds left their flocks defenceless on the hillside; a price they were willing to pay that they might, ‘Worship Christ the new-born King’.
The Magi travelled to a strange land and even disobeyed the orders of a tyrant that they might offer their prophetic gifts to the One who would rescue them and all the people of the world.
The fisherfolk left their nets and their livelihood and even their names to become vagabonds of Christ.
And now it is our turn…
Here is the good news.
As with Simon the fisherman God knows every single one of us by name. The price? Giving up our name and all the baggage that comes with it. Once we have done that we will be able to follow God free from all that holds us back from living lives of utter joy!
For me this is a no brainer. Let me tell you part of my story.
One of my most vivid memories is being on a retreat in a Convent of the Schoenstatt Sisters in Grassy Park[4] one of the areas of Cape Town reserved for so-called ‘Coloured’ people.
During the Confession at the Eucharist I realised what a particularly displeasing sort of Christian I was and was moved to tears. I felt a gentle presence stand behind and around me, moving to embracing me and whispering gently into my left ear, ‘Andrew, you are mine!’ The tears flowed more freely after that for the sheer joy of knowing that obedient or disobedient to God’s desires for me, near or far from God’s presence, God saw something in me to which I was blind.
I was then, and I am now a beloved child of God who, warts and all, is pleased with me.
And so is every one of us. If we but stop to listen and look we will hear, as Jesus did at his Baptism, the voice that spoke Creation into existence say to us, ‘You are my child, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’[5]
It does not matter to where we have wandered – God seeks us out.
It does not matter how much we have failed – God smiles on us.
It does not matter how much we feel unworthy – God is well pleased with us.
It does not matter who we are, God calls us by name today and says, ‘Come and see.’[6]
Join me on this journey.
[This blog ‘Tu es Petrus!’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2026 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged]
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John testifies about Jesus
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.’
32 Then John gave this testimony: ‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water told me. The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptise with the Holy Spirit. 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.’
John’s disciples follow Jesus
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning round, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’ 39 ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas’(which, when translated, is Peter).
(John 1.29-42)
[1] How the Royal Navy got its Nickname
Suffolk Vicar 