Acts 10:44-48
A Veritable Smorgasbord
University Christian Church, Seattle, WA
May 28, 2006
Rev. Sandy Messick

• Have you heard of “High School Musical?” If you have contact with a pre-teen child between the ages of 8 and 14, ask them, because they have. High School Musical is a Disney production that started out as a made for TV movie and has exploded into a cultural phenomenon for the tween age-group. It’s a cross between Romeo and Juliet and Grease and shares the story of Troy and Gabriella trying to find themselves and each other in a typical American high school. Typical except for the fact that in the end all the kids are pretty nice, there’s no evidence of drugs anywhere, and the whole school breaks out in song and dance at spontaneous and random moments. When the soundtrack was released a couple of weeks ago, it quickly hit no. 1 on the Pop Music charts. The DVD was released this past Tuesday, and was featured in last Sunday’s ads from Wal-Mart to Circuit City. Soon the movie will be released on cable in numerous other countries and a sequel is already being planned. And I confess, I know the words to most of the songs, I get to sing them every morning as I drive my daughter and her friend to school.
• One of the songs is called “Stick to the Status Quo.” The premise is that everybody has their place and needs to stay in their place. The jocks should stay on the court, the brainiacs should stay in the science room, and the drama club should stay in the auditorium. No mixing. So when Troy, the basketball star, and Gabriella, the scholastic over-achiever, dare to try out for the high school musical, the school erupts in chaos. Suddenly, everyone is confessing to their secret interests that challenge the status quo. The basketball star who plays the cello, or likes to bake. The math nerd who does hip hop. No, no, no, says the song, stick to the stuff you know. Stick to the status quo.
• Because everyone has their place. There are rules, and there are roles, and order is only maintained when everything remains the same.

• Peter, the apostle, might have been singing that song, because he too also preferred that people stay in their assigned places, and live out their assigned roles, and he knew what they were:
• In Peter’s world, there were Jews and there were Gentiles, there were the faithful and the not so faithful, and there were the ins, and the outs. And Peter knew which was which.
• Peter had lived all his life knowing the rules, following the laws, keeping the commandments. OK, he’d had that one little slip in the courtyard by the fire where he’d denied Jesus, but hey, they’d worked that out.
• Now Peter found himself the head of a fledgling movement, not separate from Judaism but very much a part, trying to figure out who belongs to this group of Christ-followers and who doesn’t.
• Peter knew all the rules, what was kosher to eat and not, which rules were essential, which could be ignored, and most importantly, who was in, and who was out.
• And Gentiles, they were definitely out.
• Not that Peter didn’t like Gentiles, not that there was anything wrong with being a Gentile, why some of his best friends were Gentiles. It was just that, well, you know, Gentiles weren’t Jewish. And if a Gentile wanted to follow Jesus, why that was just fine, as long as they converted to Judaism first.
• Peter wasn’t being judgmental, it was nothing personal you know, he was just following the rules. Sticking to the status quo. And of course, Peter knew the rules.

• Until of course, God changed the rules. And that’s really what’s happening in the scriptures today.
• It’s hard to understand the passage I read, unless you understand the story woven around this passage. Basically, it goes something like this:
• Peter was in Joppa. Now interestingly, the only other time Joppa is featured as a city was back in the Old Testament, in the story of Jonah. Remember how Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah and so he fled to Joppa. And it was there that God convinced Jonah that he couldn’t avoid God’s grace or God’s challenge and sent Jonah back to Ninevah to preach the good news to God’s people there. Now here’s Peter in Joppa. And it is here that God will speak to Peter, challenging Peter’s perceptions of who’s in and who’s out and sending Peter out to welcome others in. Who knows, maybe this is Joppa for us…but I digress.
• So Peter’s in Joppa and he’s up on the rooftop praying. See, I told you he was devout, he was following the rules, he was a good Jew.
• And in the midst of his prayers he had a vision. The scriptures do say he was hungry and that he was praying while the food was being prepared, so perhaps that’s why the vision was about food. But anyway, in the vision a large sheet was let down from the heavens, and on the sheet, all kinds of animals and reptiles, and birds. And then, the voice of God is heard, “Rise Peter, kill and eat.”
• Now Peter thinks this is a test, an opportunity to show his faithfulness, his understanding of the rules. So he replies quickly, “No Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And he’s feeling pretty righteous, even though he’s hungry.
• But to his surprise, God rebukes him, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” Or, as God says in The Message Version: “If I say it’s OK, it’s OK.”
• Now this happens 3 times, and when something happens 3 times in scripture, that means something. And Peter knows this, so he’s thinking, “There’s a message here…”
• Just then, there’s a knock at the door. It’s stranger sent by one Cornelius, a Gentile, asking Peter to come and visit. Cornelius, a devout man who feared God, also had a vision telling him to send for Peter.
• Now Peter, probably would have ignored the vision except just then God whispers in his ear, “Go with them, without hesitation, for I’m the one who sent them.”
• So Peter goes, still wondering what’s up, and enters the house of Cornelius. He’s not quite a gracious guest, for the first words out of his mouth are: You know, I’m not supposed to be here, it’s unlawful for a Jew to associate with a Gentile, but God told me to come, so here I am. What do you want?”
• Then Cornelius revealed that God had spoken to him as well and lo and behold it’s like the lightbulb goes on and Peter suddenly gets it. God changed the rules. Or maybe God didn’t change, Peter just finally understood. That’s what the vision was all about. “Truly, says Peter, I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who loves God and does what is right is accepted by God.” And Bingo! Peter understood.
• Then comes our passage for today: The Holy Spirit came upon these unclean, uncircumcised Gentiles, and Peter declared, “How can we not offer baptism to these who have received the Holy Spirit for clearly God has already accepted them.” In other words, how dare we deny fellowship to those God has welcomed in? How can we deny water for those God has already made clean?

• I hope you realize what good news this is for us. You see, we are the ones descended from the Gentiles. We are the ones who were outside the covenant God had made with God’s people. We were the ones who were lost and without hope. We are the ones God has welcomed in.
• But with the gift, comes the responsibility. For now, it’s us on the inside, and the question is ours: Who are we keeping out?
• One of our founding sayings as Disciples is “Christians only, but not the only Christians.” Our tradition reminds us that our family is not limited to Christians within these walls, or even the Disciples who gathered for the Regional Assembly last weekend. We recognize that our family includes all who claim Christ as Son of the Living God.
• So the African Christian with AIDS is family. And the Chinese Christian whose faith is despised by the government is family. And the gay Christian who is struggling with his identity is family. And the Iraqi Christian who fights against American soldiers, and the Christian American soldier who does his perceived duty is family. And what hurts one member of the family hurts us all. And what offers healing to one member of our family, heals us all. And we know all that. And we accept all that.
• But who else is part of our family? How about the Christian with the “W in ’04” bumper sticker on his car? Or the Christian who believes that Jesus is THE way, and worries about those “not saved”? Or the Christian who believes that abortion is wrong? Are they our family too?
• Oh, that’s much harder. I found myself wrestling with that question this week as I read the article about churches urging parishioners to sign Tim Eyman’s petition to overturn the anti-discrimination statute. They don’t speak for me. I’m not like them. Are they really family?
• You wrestle too don’t you? As we wrestle with the question of selling the building, OK maybe we’ll sell, but not to them. In the Ecumenical Parish as more conservative groups are moving into the neighborhood, do we invite them to join us? How ecumenical do we really want to be in this Ecumenical Parish?
• If we’re wrestling, we’re in good company. Despite his proclamations to the contrary, Peter was not immediately converted to an inclusive mindset. He still wrestled with just how Jewish a Gentile had to be. Eventually it led to a churchwide scuffle between Peter and Paul. Paul eventually one that round. But it was a challenge.
• Still as I wrestled with the article in the paper in one hand, and the scripture for today in the other, I kept hearing God’s refrain, “Don’t call unclean what I have cleansed,” and Peter’s response: “I perceive God loves all kinds of people”
• In the end, I have to conclude, they are family. We are family. Oh they may challenge me, and God willing, I’ll challenge them too. We may argue and disagree and shake our heads, but that happens within my nuclear family too. But we’re still family. Even when we don’t agree. And while I may not like their politics, I may even think they’re wrong, which is OK because they think I’m wrong too, I still think they should be invited to the Thanksgiving Dinner. One bread, one body, lots of pieces

Richard Lischer, professor of preaching at Duke Divinity School, tells the story of presiding over communion at his first church, a Lutheran congregation. During communion, he would pick up the shiny silver chalice and hold it high over his head as he pronounced the words of institution. Some complained. They thought that practice was just a little too Catholic. But he explained. He did it because as he raised the chalice high, he could see reflected in the rounded underside the faces of all the congregation. The family of believers, reflected in the one cup.

Upon the table, a simple meal of bread and wine. But around the table, in the wide diversity of the community, a veritable smorgasbord. Thanks be to God.