The Rev. Stocky Wulsin
Peter Moore has been a very important friend, force and influence in my life since I was 18. He made himself available at critical times of transition (marriage, ordination, a church split, etc.) as a counselor and a friend. He backed and promoted me for job openings to encourage my own calling. He saw things in me that I did not see and believed in me when I struggled to believe in myself.
I first met Peter in June of 1974 at a Focus camp in Pawling, New York. I was 17, searching, not a believer and trying to find out what this Christian faith was all about. Peter pulled me aside one afternoon and invited me into a cottage where he was staying. He opened the scriptures to John 15 and read to me – I can still hear the warm, assuring tone and cadence of his voice: “Abide in me and I in you…. I am the vine you are the branches…” He then invited me to pray with him (out loud); I was shaking in my shoes but followed along. Peter was taking me by the hand in a very non-threatening way and leading me into the kingdom. Later in the summer I wrote a letter with my questions – he responded faithfully. In September my faith came together, in another Focus camp, and my life took a 90 degree turn from that point on.
Later in that school year Peter picked me up from where I was at St. Georges School and had me accompany him to give a talk at Tabor Academy in Massachusetts. I remember him turning to me just before walking into their chapel where he was giving his talk and saying “Well, they’re going to get the gospel, whether they know it or not”. Peter knew his audience and was not afraid of the opposition.
In February of that year a group of us from St. Georges drove up to Philips Academy in Andover MA to hear Peter give a talk on Friendship. I remember him quoting Proverbs: “Iron sharpens iron, so sharpens a man the countenance of his friend” (27:17). How many times Peter, in his steely make-up, sharpened me whether with a brief question, comment or just through honest encouragement. It was who he was.
In 1998, much at his encouragement, my family moved to Pittsburgh to spend a year at Trinity School for Ministry on the road toward ordination. Our one year became three more when we moved to Sewickley and lived near the Moores. My first sermon as a field ed. student was at Calvary Episcopal Church – a large prominent church in the East End of Pittsburgh made famous during the 50’s and early 60’s by Sam Shoemaker’s tenure as rector. Peter knew Sam rather well and preached there himself on at least one occasion. He also knew people in the congregation, which had become quite liberal in the interim since Sam Shoemaker. Peter wanted to be sure my sermon came off right in that loaded environment; he gave me a few tips and armed me with a quote by Martin Niemoller from the wall of the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Peter knew what would strike a chord; he was a master at engaging his adversary – he did it fearlessly and with tact. He knew how to appeal to the skeptic on his own terms and contend for the truth.
Three years ago Peter invited Barbara (my wife) and me to join him and Sandra to help lead the ALI session on Martha’s Vineyard for the month of September, which we did for two years. His love for leaders in the two thirds world was evident. His passion to equip them and to see the church worldwide in the Anglican expression strengthened was not to be denied. Peter was not just a “missionary to the prep school world” – he was an ambassador for Christ to the world across all boundaries of culture and ethnicity.
As much as I admired his great talents and accomplishments, Peter was someone I always felt I could be myself around. I could say what was on my heart knowing he would respond honestly and let me know what was on his heart. I would not be where God has taken me today had Peter Moore not cared to draw alongside a searching 17 year-old and open the word and model the message.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy” Ps. 16:11
Thank you, Lord, for Peter C. Moore.
