Acts 11: 1-18
NPMC
Psalm 82 7
Pentecost
July 19, 2009
Anita Retzlaff
Sharing Life Together
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the
Christ. In our moment of quiet meditation this morning we pray for our city, for
the increasing numbers of people who are poor, for those who do not have strong
role models of grace and encouragement and for those who cannot obtain the
security of an affordable home. Let us pray… Lord God of power and might, of
compassion and grace, help us to become partners with those in need so that more
people might live at peace and in safety. AMEN
How many life-changing stories – life changes that produce positive results –
how many of these stories begin in fear? Most experiences that force something
new upon us involve an element of fear. That is to recognize that when we face
change, when we launch forth into unknown territory we usually carry some
trepidation and anxiety along with the other emotions and expectations we hold.
A new job, the birth of a baby, a new relationship, a building project or a
financial investment – all of these potentially offer wonderful returns but
there is a part of us that knows a twinge of disquietude as we prepare to enter
into a new venture.
When the Holy Spirit moves and breathes life into us and our communities I think
we initially experience a sense of uncertainty, fear. Great idea; let’s lighten
our music on a Sunday morning, add a bit more rhythm and an African drum – oh,
but whom will we offend if we don’t sing 4 part harmony? Will it be too loud?
Will our congregation see the power of God in the lyrics? Or, let’s take on the
support of a housing project in one of our core neighbourhoods but how do we
avoid the political partisanship that seems to go with such initiatives? Will
our congregation be able to relate well to our First Nations neighbours? How do
we support local need as well as honouring our commitments to Mennonite Church
Saskatchewan and Mennonite Church Canada?
Any time we begin a new initiative we are open to criticism and sometimes even
suspicion. That is precisely what the Apostle Peter lived through when the
Spirit provided an opening for a relationship with the Gentile, Cornelius, a man
with an unacceptable heritage and tradition. The Spirit of God placed these two
– Cornelius and Peter - in each others’ path, a daring and risky encounter for
both men. Peter was a devout man, a faithful Jew, who took very seriously the
laws of purity. He did not eat that which was considered unclean. He avoided
sin. Today we raise our eyebrows at this type of rule-keeping so let’s try to
translate this into experiences you have lived through. Can you older folks
remember what it was like to first go to a movie, if you lived in a community
where movie-going was considered impure, worldly, sinful? Can you remember the
first time you encountered people of other denominations or world religions if
you came from a small community that didn’t know people of other traditions? Do
you realize how much, in days gone by, we were separated from others and how
much we feared what we didn’t know.
This present moment is no different. We don’t want to sin and break God’s laws
when it comes to sexuality, for example. Many of us have grown up thinking that
homosexuality is against God’s creative plan and that to be gay or lesbian or
even to be accepting of homosexual persons is a sin. Can you remember what it
was like to first begin to change your mind about that and to feel the fear of
angering your family or community if you held a differing opinion? Most change
is accompanied by fear.
Peter, however, followed the nudging of the Spirit and dared to let go of his
particular understanding of sin and purity. He let go of the distinctions that
he held and welcomed a person whom he formerly considered unclean. In a huge
leap of faith Peter stepped out amidst great criticism and accepted a Gentile as
a brother in the faith. He understood the wider grace of God to be inclusive
well beyond his own initial understanding. With a great deal of humility he
confesses, “Who was I that I could hinder God?”
Do you know what I think? I think that this is what it means to be Christian;
that we know when to get out of the way and not hinder the Spirit’s leading,
that we step aside when the Spirit is on the move; that we dare not stand in the
way of God’s reconciling work. Christianity is not an exercise in believing the
unbelievable and ascribing to the absolute reality of all kinds of inexplicable
miracles. Rather being Christian is the acceptance of the miracles that God
works in our lives and relationships everyday. When Peter has the guts to accept
an unclean man as equal to himself; that is miraculous! When individuals go out
into our community and give their time and energy to making Saskatoon a better
place to live, that is miraculous; the movement of the Spirit, the new and
unexpected. That is Christian. Following Christ does not mean we have a better
belief system than other denominations or faith traditions. It simply means that
we try to follow Christ as Peter does in this story in Acts.
For the story that Acts recounts from beginning to end is the story of who God
is and how God works in the world. God invites repentance from anyone and
everyone and God invites the work of repentance through our encounters with
others. I love William Willimon’s definition of repentance: it is “the divine
gift of being able to be turned toward truth.” God offers repentance to
everyone, no distinctions; no divisions. For Christians, truth is to be found in
the acts of sharing life together, in relationships established with a stranger,
a poor person, or an individual who is marginal to the community. Shane
Claiborne talks about the Christian entering into the abandoned places of our
cities and societies. More about Shane Claiborne in a moment!
When we believe that God invites repentance from everyone, all the time, it
follows that the Church, which is the manifestation of doing Christian things in
the world, that the church, will always be moving and changing to keep up to the
Spirit’s radically inclusive invitation. The Spirit is on the move today just as
it was in the Book of Acts and so we, the Church, are always on the threshold of
that gut-twisting newness, at risk of criticism and faced with the uncertainty
of whether we are avoiding sin or plowing headlong into it.
It was my pleasure to attend a couple of days of the Youth Assembly in Caronport
last week. The worship and music was wonderful and varied; the speakers were
compelling and captivating. Youth and older fogies alike were inspired by the
words of Shane Claiborne, author of two books which I recommend highly to all of
you; The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical and Jesus for
President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals. Shane is in his mid-30s, lives in a
poor neighbourhood of Philadelphia, has worked alongside Mother Theresa, visited
Iraq with the Iraq Peace Team, did graduate work at Princeton Seminary and is a
founding partner of The Simple Way, an intentional community. Shane frequently
quotes John Howard Yoder and other Mennonite writers. I supply this introduction
to Shane to underscore the fact that he is more Anabaptist than most of us.
His message was simple and I paraphrase him here: “Don’t necessarily do what I
am doing but go out and do what needs doing in your community. Don’t expect
people to come to find the church but go out and find the need. Live into
patterns that are different than the norm. We do not do great things but we do
small things with great love. We are the ‘spittin’ image of Christ in the world;
the ‘spirit’ of and the ‘image’ of Christ – hence ‘spittin’ - spirit and image!”
In addition to all of the things he said about going out into the community,
Shane also declared that we must live in submission to the church. In other
words, the church is the foundation on which we build all of our Christ-like
work. This is who God is and we are to share our lives with those who are
seeking partners in community and wholesome living.
On Monday Patrick, Winona and I visited several community development projects
along 20th Street at the invitation of Howard Willems and Brenda Baergen. There
are amazing things happening in our inner city. The Core Neighbourhood Youth
Co-op is one project that is contributing to peace-oriented community life
together. Our challenge as the church and as Mennonites in particular is to
imagine how we might live side by side in communities on the West Side of the
river. Maybe we Mennonites can rent office space in some of these community
projects that subsidize their programs by offering up rental space. Quint
Developments is buying and refurbishing apartment blocks and providing
affordable housing. We can become involved in a myriad of ways.
God offers reconciliation to all; the opportunity to turn toward truth. That
offer remains open for us too. We spend a lifetime turning and turning again
confessing old biases and barriers and prejudices. At any time we can take that
leap of faith as Peter did and share our lives without hesitation because we
have all received the same gift. Thanks be to God. AMEN