"The single most important theological message of this text is that Jesus the Christ is not only for "insiders" but for "outsiders" as well. On one level, we can easily affirm that truth. And yet, practicing it may not come as easily as believing it." – Dennis Bratcher

Scripture: The apostles and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that even the Gentiles had welcomed God’s word. When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him.  They accused him, “You went into the home of the uncircumcised and ate with them!”
Step-by-step, Peter explained what had happened. “I was in the city of Joppa praying when I had a visionary experience. In my vision, I saw something like a large linen sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came all the way down to me. As I stared at it, wondering what it was, I saw four-legged animals—including wild beasts—as well as reptiles and wild birds. I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ I responded, ‘Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’ This happened three times, then everything was pulled back into heaven. At that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. The Spirit told me to go with them even though they were Gentiles. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered that man’s house. He reported to us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is known as Peter. He will tell you how you and your entire household can be saved.’ When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as the Spirit fell on us in the beginning. I remembered the Lord’s words: ‘John will baptize with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then who am I? Could I stand in God’s way?”
Once the apostles and other believers heard this, they calmed down. They praised God and concluded, “So then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.”
 - Acts 11:1-18 (Common English Bible)

Meditation: As we continue our Lenten series, The Compassionate Table, we continue to focus on the ways that we can see even more clearly the ministry of Jesus Christ specifically at the table.  

In this particular passage, we are actually receiving a summary of chapter 10, of what happened in Caesarea with a man name Cornelius, and his family and friends.  (I highly recommend that you read chapter 10 in addition to what you will hear on Sunday!)  More specifically Peter is summarizing what happened, because the believers in Jerusalem were quite skeptical and critical of Peter's actions.  You see Peter traveled down to Caesarea and (gasp!) ate with people who were not Jewish!

Now I added that little note (gasp!) because it does sound crazy to us now - why couldn't Peter eat with other believers, regardless of how they came to know Christ?  Well, there were very strict laws against this, and Peter's dining with Gentiles prompted quite a few questions to the church in Jerusalem.  Who should be included within the circle of the people of God?  Are the traditional boundary markers will to be observed?  If traditional prevents Jews and Gentiles from associating with each other, what happens when the old social distinctions no longer exist?  How are they to relate to each other within a newly configured people of God?

What about us?  What social distinctions keep us separated from one another?  What social distinctions, if they were to change would dramatically change the way we associate with one another?  What social distinctions might change in order to foster the in-breaking of God's kingdom here on earth?  I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear yours and continue this conversation.  Won't you join us on Sunday?

The angels watched and waited, and as the Passover began in his thirty-third year, God was praised as a liberator, while the one who frees was taken into custody, swiftly tried, driven like a beast to the place of a skull, and nailed to a tree. And the heavens wept.
                                             - "Bo" Crowe

READING:
Jesus, seeing that everything had been completed so that the Scripture record might also be complete, then said, “I’m thirsty.” A jug of sour wine was standing by. Someone put a sponge soaked with the wine on a javelin and lifted it to his mouth. After he took the wine, Jesus said, “It’s done . . . complete.”
                                              - from John 19


REFLECTION:
In the beginning – or even before the beginning if that makes sense – there was God.  That’s it; God.  There were no stars to adorn the night sky… indeed, there was no sky to be adorned.  There was no sun to rise above the world’s horizon signaling a glorious, new day, and no world to greet this divine herald.  But that was okay, because God was perfectly content, complete, and whole.  God’s heart, you see, burned with a Light that warmed and illumined from the inside out, and God’s Spirit swelled with Joy. 

And that’s where it all began, with God’s Joy; because it eventually - and inevitably - overflowed its source.  Some say that God breathed Spirit into the void; others that God spoke into that void.  But if we had been there we would know that God laughed; God’s Spirit over­flowed with a rich, divine laughter that left life in its path.  God’s laughter echoed through the void and a universe sprang forth, a universe full of songbirds and sailors, mountains and mystics, daylight and darkness, rivers and raccoons, black holes and maypoles, damsels and their heroes, thunder and wonder, and all was marked by joy!

God gazed on this marvelous creation and laughed again… woops! More life.  God couldn’t help it – God can’t help it – for God to be is to create; to laugh joyfully again and again into any void that appears, filling it with life.  God gazed on this marvelous creation and was strangely attracted to one group of creatures that seemed very much like God; made in God’s image, per­haps.  So God befriended these creatures - women, men, and children alike – and even allowed them to stand in for God, charging them to care for the rest of the creation.

If all this sounds too good to be true, it was; for God’s chosen creatures, like God, were free, and in freedom chose to abandon God.  Foolish as it may seem, humankind turned from the light to walk in darkness; women, men, and children covered their ears to block the sound of di­vine laughter, the very laughter that alone could fulfill their lives and fill them with joy.

Was God angered by this choice?  No.  Was God tempted to end it all right there and show them just who was boss?  …Well, maybe for a moment; but when all is said and done God is God, and God’s heart was broken.  All of the creation, you see, including those special creatures, represents God’s own family; all of the creation is made from the very stuff of God.  So God wept at the sight of all the carnage called forth by humankind from the underbelly of creation: estrangement, exile, greed, anger, hatred, violence… was there no end to this malady, no end to this empty parody of life?

It seemed that there was no end… that there could be no end, unless God ended it.  So God watched and God wept.  For eons it seemed, God watched and wept; but through it all con­tinued to love these creatures, and strove within for a way to regain their trust, a way to demon­strate clearly that Divine Love knows no limits, and will settle for nothing less than fullness of life for each one of them.  Finally, in a flash of insight God exclaimed, I will become as my creatures; I will share their fate, regain their trust, and above all demonstrate that my love is theirs now and for always.

A novel idea, this.  A novel and, perhaps, dangerous idea; for God to become human, sharing its risks, its frailties!  So God called together heaven’s brain trust – rank upon rank of angels - and ran the plan by them.  An excellent plan, so far as it goes, one angel remarked.  But it’s too dangerous; it has no safeguards.  What if something goes wrong?  What if you are re­jected, or worse assaulted by these ungrateful creatures?  No, we angels cannot recommend that you follow through with this plan.

But God thought otherwise, and as if to avoid a change of heart, swiftly left the assembly, shedding divine robes in haste; rich, blue robes whose stars – all save one - were strewn helter-skelter on the floor.  Before the angels could respond, however, before they could block the door and reason with God to stop this foolishness, the stars burned holes in the floor, and the angels, peering through in curiosity, looked down on a pasture shrouded with darkness and scattered here and there with sheep, and on a small band of shepherds warming themselves by a fire.  Sensing their fear the angels spoke gently to the shepherds.  Don’t be afraid, one began, we mean you no harm.  In fact, another chimed in, we bring good news, joyful news; for this very night a savior is born for you, your - oh, what’s their word; oh yes - your Messiah.  Turning in fear to flee this dreadful apparition, the shepherds froze in their tracks at the sight of one last star shin­ing in the night sky illuminating their village; and then they heard, drifting on the night wind from somewhere in the village, the sound of a newborn baby… laughing.

The angels watched anxiously as this vulnerable infant grew to be a man; for some thirty-three years they waited; watching with baited breath the life of– oh, for God’s sake!  A Galilean peasant! Jesus of Nazareth. How could such a bumpkin command a hearing, how could this peasant Jesus convince anyone of the profundity of God’s love? So they waited and they watched, with little hope that the light of God become human would long shine. And their despair deepened.

The angels watched and waited, and as the Passover began in his thirty-third year, God was praised as a liberator, while the one who frees was taken into custody, swiftly tried, driven like a beast to the place of a skull, and nailed to a tree. And the heavens wept.

Unable to contain their grief, rank upon rank of angels descended through the clouds to hover above the cross, their tears washing the blood from the limp, lifeless body of Jesus.  The light has gone out, one angel said.  God gave everything there is to give, but nothing could withstand such brutality… darkness has overcome the Light.  So the angels wept - lost in darkness - the day God died.

Unity is not something we are called to create; it’s something we are called to recognize.
        - William Sloane Coffin

“We are more alike, my   
                                                  friends, than we are unalike.”
                                                          - Maya Angelou

READING:
In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.
                             - Galatians 3.28-29 (The Message)    


REFLECTION:
I will never forget Louis Moore and the lesson he taught me one sultry summer’s evening long ago in the Deep South. The year was 1967, and Louis was one of a handful of Blacks bussed into Minor High School where I attended. They were all kids of significant courage who braved the slurs and abuse of far too many students who – how shall I say this? – lacked moral fiber. But Louis stood above them all. Of the 150 or so kids who went out for football in the spring, Louis was the only black. Most of the other 149 had advanced from Dixie Junior High School, the home of the rebels. Colors? Blue and Gray. Mascot? A Confederate flag. But Louis was not to be intimidated. He stood up under pressure I can’t even imagine, went back day after day always finding himself at the bottom of the depth chart and starting over, and finally made the team. He was the first, and at the time the only, black football player for the fighting Tigers.

The day etched in my memory occurred half way through summer training camp, 2 weeks of twice a day practice. There was a morning practice of 3 hours, several hours of sleep, a bite of food, and an evening practice that lasted until the cows came home. We were always exhausted; battered, sore, and bruised; never sure if we could make it through one more day.

After one particularly grueling evening practice, I sat on the bench facing my locker, stripped from the waist up, elbows on knees, utterly exhausted, trying to find the strength to get up and go to the showers. Suddenly the isle cleared out and looking up I saw Louis at the other end of the isle sitting on the bench facing his locker, stripped from the waist up, elbows on knees, utterly exhausted, trying to find the strength to get up and go to the showers. Our eyes met, and we shared a pained expression that said everything that needed to be said. But in that moment a light dawned in my spirit, and in that most common setting I realized that we were the same, Louis and I. We mirrored each other; like a reflection in a mirror.

That experience shed a little light for me on ethnic unity and equality, and the light has been shining ever since, growing stronger, and illuminating other groups equally despised, rejected, and pushed to the margins of society; groups with which we need to recognize unity. On Sunday we will celebrate equality and unity with friends from the Historic Second Baptist Church of Olathe, our own ministry partner Rios de Agua Viva, and friends from The Raindrop House in Lenexa. Join us at 10:30 AM for a rousing worship gathering, and stay for dinner… it’s on us.

The table fellowship of Christians implies obligation. It is our daily bread that we eat, not my own. We share our bread. Thus we are firmly bound to one another not only in the Spirit but in our whole physical being. The one bread that is given to our fellowship links us together in a firm covenant. Now none dares to go hungry as long as another has bread, and anyone who breaks this fellowship of the physical life also breaks the fellowship of the Spirit.
                                                              — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

READING:
When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
                                                              - John 21.15-17 (CEB)

REFLECTION:
A friend recently shared with me that while most of us claim to harbor God's love in our hearts, that love is worthless unless we give it expression. Unless, that is to say, it flows through our lives into the lives of others. You know, into the lives of those pesky neighbors Jesus was always on about! My friend’s sentiment rang true to the life and message of Jesus, which I found mystifying, since my friend is Muslim. This twist in the conversation brought the words of Thomas Aquinas to mind, "One may never have heard the sacred word “Christ,” but be closer to God than a priest or nun." But that is not my point, so I will move on.

If we love God we will reach out to our neighbor to offer nurture and nourishment; or, to use the language of the New Testament, we will feed God's sheep. Fair enough; but what does that mean? What do we have to offer? Peter must have been haunted by that question as time and again Jesus challenged him to show his love for the risen Lord by feeding his sheep. What do we have to offer our neighbors? It is the same for us in our day as it was for Peter back in the day: address their needs; share from our bounty; offer personal, material, and spiritual support.

I must admit, that challenge makes me nervous, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner. You see, I want to have that choice drumstick all to myself at the family feast, just as my cousin Richard used to manage (every year! Thanksgiving and Christmas.) I want to sit down at the thanksgiving table, thank God for the many blessings in my life, then keep them all for myself (especially that choice piece of turkey!) But - no - I'm supposed to share, just as Peter was to share. And If that’s not enough, Dietrich Bonhoeffer offered his two cents on the issue. “It is our daily bread that we eat,” he said, “not my own. We share our bread.“ I’ll have to admit, this is not a bad reminder as we approach the season of gratitude.

So, how do we express our love for God; how do we offer thanks for our many blessings? By feeding God's sheep, as Peter learned. Ann Weems seems to have learned this lesson, and speaks of it in a poem entitled Feeding Sheep. Perhaps if we interlace her words with Peter' story we will get a clear sense of what we should do next week:

When they finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said, “Feed my lambs.” There were no conditions… Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Simon replied, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Take care of my sheep.” He said, “Take care of my sheep… feed my sheep.” There were no conditions… Least of all, feed my sheep if they deserve it. Feed my sheep if you feel like it. Feed my sheep if you have any leftovers. He asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was sad that Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” He replied, “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” No conditions… just, “Feed my sheep.” Could it be that God’s Kingdom will come when each lamb is fed? We who have agreed to keep covenant are called… to feed sheep.

No conditions, just feed my sheep. No conditions, but I still have one question; may I please have the drumstick?