Transcending & Transforming 4/28/13

       We can always tell when a critical scene is coming in a movie – the music comes up with a tense feeling, the story moves moment by moment, every word, every act – this is important, we say. Although several normal days or weeks have been condensed, suddenly we are watching a knock at the door, the door opening, seeing the faces react to the sight of the other person, we hear the dialogue. If it’s a crime movie, all the boring stuff like surveillance and waiting for test reports are skipped, but we see and hear every skid of the tires in the chase scene. We might even switch whole countries, skipping the trans-Atlantic flight as the characters move from New York to Paris, say, then watching every moment of a dinner or a party while the spies do their thing… If it’s a love story, it condenses all the days between meetings and centers on the encounters of the future couple, or every fight if they’re breaking up. Books do it,too (except for the music); the author suddenly starts devoting whole paragraphs to every detail of the moment, every thought, every word, every action. They emphasize what’s important to the story moving forward and the development of characters – narrating the car drive from DC to Boston isn't usually part of the plot.
       Now the book of Acts is the same. It chronicles the spread of the gospel from post-resurrection in Jerusalem all through the journeys of Paul, the adventures of other disciples and how various groups of believers in Christ are set up in various cities around the Mediterranean. So there’s a lot to tell. Yet this encounter of Peter and Cornelius is given two whole chapters, which include multiple retellings of this dream and what Paul did about it.The travels and persecutions stop for these chapters while this huge change in perception, the addition of the Gentiles, is detailed.
       This is a critical and vital part of the story of the church, this opening of the gospel to Gentiles.That so much space is devoted to it tells us what a significant development and change this was. Boundaries are transcended; people are transformed – and Christianity is
transformed. We see the astounding new direction the Holy Spirit leads these early believers to go.

The basic short story...
       We read the story, how Peter saw his vision and so responded to Cornelius’ men who came for him. And how they showed the same signs of the Spirit, and were baptized. And how Peter was questioned when he came back, before the whole community would recognize God’s work and move forward into the spread of the gospel. Peter ends with the great question, Who am I to hinder God? Indeed.

Yet the huge change...
       We might not realize how big a change this was for those early Christians. Most believers nowadays are what our Jewish forbears would call 'Gentile,' so we're used to Gentiles in church. To point out the radical change, we might think about a parallel situation in more recent American history, when some believers began to share the gospel with our African-American sisters & brothers, honoring their personhood and being concerned with their souls. Recall the furor that erupted as those assumptions were challenged. ore recently, recall the furor when some began to honor the gifts of women, their souls and their leaderships, and wanted to welcome them to service in the church as deacons, elders and clergy. Notice the current fervor because some believers are welcoming people of a different orientation and challenging those assumptions. 
       Would that believers of those days and this day would have the courage and health to do as Peter’s community did – respect Peter’s personhood and faith, listen to his answers and motivations, and then seek to discern the moving of the Holy Spirit. Instead, many respond with anger, blame, shame, loud voices, accusations and nasty words, as if the one who yells the loudest is right, starting a new denomination where everyone thinks like me. The Christian church has a less seemly side of our history in addition to our faithfulness is hard times.

The response of Peter's community
       Now usually when I preach on this passage, I emphasize the courage of Peter and later Paul ,going to these groups considered outside the bounds of acceptable. Today I want to look at the actions of the group of believers that Peter returns to after welcoming these Gentiles, because this is vital, too.
        The group of believers in this passage actually respond to the challenge of this new action Peter took in what is now recognized as a healthy way of a healthy system. Not all conflict is bad; and they had every right to question how Peter decided to do this new thing, and to challenge him. We believers are the church, the community, the body of Christ. We do not act in a vacuum – how we each live our faith reflects the whole body. What do we do when there are differences?
        What they did was to go straight to Peter and express their concerns in a respectful way. Then they listened, knowing Peter was an apostle, respecting his faith and commitment enough to actually consider and measure what he said. Peter also responded in a healthy way, listening to their questions, and explaining the work of the Holy Spirit in him in a forthcoming way. Finally the whole group validated the word of God to Peter and affirmed his response, praising God for pouring out the gifts of the spirit on Gentiles. The whole church moved together into welcoming these new believers. Not that there weren't more discussions later as they faced how to work out this new thing.  Sharing the gospel of Christ and the church with Gentiles wasn't a quick and painless change.

Indirect ways they MIGHT have responded...
         What if the community had responded in some of the unhealthy ways of communication? What if they didn't go to the person concerned, Peter, but did indirect things like talking about Peter with other people? Did you hear what Peter did? He went to some Gentiles house, actually ate with him and others. That is SO not our norm! Who does he think he is? Why did he do it? Then the rumors and gossip starts…I heard that he’s been having trouble with the other disciples, I heard that Cornelius has a cute daughter, Remember how he denied Christ back on the night he was killed? Maybe his faith is weak! He’s just so arrogant to go off and do this on his own! Why weren't we asked our opinion first? We would have set him straight!           Peter, not being addressed, doesn't know what’s being said and wonders why people aren't happy about the new believers, why no one is talking as freely to him as they used to. He notices that former friends aren't coming to the meetings when these new people come. He notices that people seem to respond to him differently when he talks.
       Or in another indirect method, the rest of the believers might go to Steven or Mark and try to rope them in, saying something that sounds kinda pious like, You know, I am really concerned about Peter - it really worries me that he went off on his own like this – do you think someone should talk to him? I’m sure we all just really want what is best for the gospel, you know, and I really care about Peter except that he’s so independent –I’m sure he means well, but we can’t have someone thinking they know what God wants all by themselves – I’m so worried – could you go talk to him about my virtuous concerns?
       If this other person is healthy, they’ll come back with, Wow, you’re telling the wrong person, and since it concerns our leader Pete, and might have a negative effect on his ministry for this kind of thing to be said behind his back, let’s go to Peter right now and ask him! And if person #1 is unwilling to ask directly, then person #2 will say, “Well then, if it’s not important enough to pursue it with Peter, let’s agree to just drop it, and not spread rumors, gossip & speculation, but support each other in love.” But if person # 2 is also unhealthy, they’ll enter into a nice cozy destruction of Peter’s reputation and undermining of his respect.

Shaming ways they MIGHT have responded...
       Another unhealthy thing those believers might have done was to try and attack Peter, do the shame and blame thing. Yes, they go to him, but with accusations like, You’re destroying the church we’re comfortable with! You don’t care about our opinions! You've gone off on a tangent! You think you’re so great! Are you so arrogant that you think you’re the only one the Spirit talks to? You’re being divisive and destroying the peace! Shame on you! This confusion is all your fault!  See, they don’t really want to listen to him and get an answer; they are actually not seeking the good of the church and the good of Peter; they rather want to cut him down, no matter the cost to the mission of the church. They have no respect or care for his faith or leadership, they just enjoy causing trouble for him.
       If those of Peter’s community acted like this, the door for the Gentiles might have slammed shut before any transformation happened, God would have been hindered, we may never have had Scriptures to read, and you & I, as Gentiles, may never have heard the good news of Christ. Unfortunately, people in the church HAVE acted this way towards one another in challenging times.  Unfortunately, we all bring our unhealthy ways as well as our healthy ways when we come to Christ, and not everyone seeks to grow. Who knows what works of the Spirit have been cut off or delayed by responses like these? Who knows what tender and faithful hearts have been cut to the quick by harsh and accusatory words?

Good thing they were healthy communicators!
       How fortunate for the Gospel and for our salvation that Peter’s community came to him in a wise way, asking about his action, yes, yet in a way that was ready to listen and in a desire to faithfully discern the leading of the Spirit, a way that respected his faith and sought to build up each other in love – not seeking to shame or destroy or make trouble.
       Yes, Peter was the one who received the vision and went with Cornelius’ men to preach to the Gentiles. But the community was healthy enough and faithful enough to listen and discern that God was indeed speaking, and to open the way for all people to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive the love and forgiveness of God… instead of cutting things off at the knees out of destructive and adversarial motives.
     Our prayer is today that we may have this same loving spirit in our times of tension and challenge; that we may seek to act in ways that build up the body of Christ and each other, lifting each other up in love; that we may seek to grow in health and wisdom so that we honor each other as children of God; and all for the glory of God and the gospel. AMEN.