Sunday's Sermon
Before my junior year in college, the fall of 1995, I had a vision. Not like Peter’s in today’s Acts reading, but one that was transformational. The vision I had took place one starry night on a dock, somewhere in Wisconsin. You see, I had discovered a calling I thought I would enjoy, I was about to embark on my first year of being a resident advisor. I was excited, and eager to find out what the year would have in store; I was looking forward to being a leader, being present to the students in the dorm, and to the opportunity to be transformational in some way. That evening, shortly after arriving at the cabin, I wandered down to the dock to get away from all the energy and extroversion of my friends. As I lay on the dock, I decided to pray. I had discovered a piece of my calling, and being an introvert, it required me to take some time to reflect, so on the dock I began to reflect about my life, about the gifts I had as a child of God, about the joys I was beginning to anticipate for my future. I began to pray and then I began to ask those big questions about what else I might be called to do. I had been in conversation for some time with LeeAnne Watkins, the associate rector at Ascension Stillwater, my home parish and she had planted a seed about ministry, ordained ministry in my head that I was unable to forget. As I lay on the dock I began asking questions, and with each question a shooting star, as bright and colorful as I have ever seen shot over head. Each prayer was answered, so to speak, by a bright, colorful shooting star.
As the stars continued to streak across the sky, I felt warmth begin to grow in my belly. It wasn’t temperature warmth; it was a joyful feeling, something that clearly was filling me up, something that was saturating me with joy. Finally it became so overwhelming that I threw my hands up in the air, above my head and let out a scream at the top of my lungs. It was as if someone had told me I just one the lottery. I was overwhelmed with excitement, with passion, with joy, with gladness. It was amazing, I ran back up to tell my friends, my extroverted self urgently needing to spill my guts about this God experience, I ran up to the cabin and looked inside to find everyone fast asleep. It was early in the morning, what had seemed like minutes, was actually hours, what had seemed like a harmless moment, took all night. I had received an affirmation that this work I was about to embark upon was what I was called to do; I had experienced my first call.
Peter in today’s Acts reading is having a vision, Peter had already lived with Christ, so he knew what Christ had literally, called him to do. For Peter, this vision was not one of call, it was one of transformation. For many disciples, reconciling the Jewish custom of clean and unclean with the commands of Jesus was a difficult one. Peter still was holding fast to certain rules and customs that made some things unclean in the eyes of God and others clean, basically, some things edible and others not. Peter sees a vision of a sheet being lowered from the sky with all sorts of animals walking on it, presumably mostly unclean animals, animals that were not fit for Jews to eat. Peter, still struggling with these customs is told by God to kill and to eat, which he refuses to do, because his lips will never eat anything unclean. God’s response is precious. God says, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happens to Peter three times before he finally understands what God is saying to him.
Before I go on, we have to look at the context of Peter’s hesitancy to eat the animals considered unclean, to do that, if you would like to follow, please turn to Leviticus, chapter 11 verses 2 through 28. As I read this text, think about those things and those people we consider unclean, those things and people we consider abhorrent. Liberals and conservatives; native and immigrant; what do we hold away from ourselves, what do we hold up as an obstacle to God’s desire to make us new? As you make those lists, listen carefully to what the Jewish customs required, particularly in terms of food restrictions:
“Speak to the people of Israel, saying: From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat. Any animal that has divided hoofs and is cloven-footed and chews the cud—such you may eat. But among those that chew the cud or have divided hoofs, you shall not eat the following: the camel, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The rock-badger, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The hare, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cloven-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you. These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams—such you may eat. But anything in the seas or the streams that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and among all the other living creatures that are in the waters—they are detestable to you and detestable they shall remain. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall regard as detestable. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you. These you shall regard as detestable among the birds. They shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the buzzard, the kite of any kind; every raven of any kind; the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, the hawk of any kind; the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the water-hen, the desert-owl, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you. But among the winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground. Of them you may eat: the locust according to its kind, the bald locust according to its kind, the cricket according to its kind, and the grasshopper according to its kind. But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you. By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries any part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every animal that has divided hoofs but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean for you; everyone who touches one of them shall be unclean. All that walk on their paws, among the animals that walk on all fours, are unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, and the one who carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean for you.”
Not sure what all those animals were, but those are some serious dietary restrictions. These dietary laws were physical expressions of God’s call for holiness in Israel’s life. They were important. It helped the Israelites distinguish between the sacred and the secular in every area of their lives. Jesus, in his ministry declared all foods clean, so the disciples were surprised to find that this idea held true not just to food, but also to people. Following his vision Peter says, “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.” Peter immediately moves from his rules and regulations to his new call for mission and ministry. Peter immediately moves from fear of the other, to embracing this call from God and Jesus to lift up everyone as holy, those he would have otherwise called profane. Peter moves from a limited grace of God in the world to an abundant overflowing love and grace that spills out from him in a transformational and risky way.
It is no coincidence then, that our Gospel is Jesus’ great commandment. It is no coincidence that Peter has a life and doctrine changing vision in Acts and we conclude our Scripture with Jesus saying to his disciples love one another as I have loved you. The Love that Jesus speaks of is a love that makes everything new, as Peter was made new. The love that Christ speaks of is a transformational love that moves us out of fear into an abundant faith that we can’t help but share with anyone who will listen. It is time for us to claim, once again as Christ desired while he was alive, that our love for one another be that thing that is at the core of who we are as Christians, that it is our ability to love, not our ability to hate; that it is our ability to love, not our ability to exclude; it is our ability to love, not our ability to ignore one another as we live our lives.
How has the love of God transformed us as it did Peter, taking our expectations, our rules and our regulations and shattering them to bits? How has the Spirit led us, as it led Peter into the midst of people who are unlike us? How have we been loved and led into the reconciling, and I mean seriously reconciling, ministry Christ demands each of us to participate in. Think about those questions, think about those moments in your life, they have happened, and they are your story of faith and love and hope in God. Those are the moments we must learn to see as pivotal moments of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Those are the defining moments when we have been made new by God’s presence in our life. Those the transforming moments we must have the courage to share with others.
I do not remember a single minute of the week between my vision and when I finally told LeeAnne I was ready to proceed with the process for discerning Holy Orders. The next moment I remember is sitting on a radiator, in a hallway of my dorm, speaking in a quiet voice about all that had happened. Eagerness not just about what I was embarking upon as a Resident Advisor, but eagerness about what I was to discover as I journeyed down this new road, into this new world, away from those things I had always perceived as foundational to my faith and my person.
We are made new, and when we are made new, we are really made new; God is up to something here in the Garden, God is up to something in our midst right this moment. We are being made new; we are being transformed, what will be our response?
As the stars continued to streak across the sky, I felt warmth begin to grow in my belly. It wasn’t temperature warmth; it was a joyful feeling, something that clearly was filling me up, something that was saturating me with joy. Finally it became so overwhelming that I threw my hands up in the air, above my head and let out a scream at the top of my lungs. It was as if someone had told me I just one the lottery. I was overwhelmed with excitement, with passion, with joy, with gladness. It was amazing, I ran back up to tell my friends, my extroverted self urgently needing to spill my guts about this God experience, I ran up to the cabin and looked inside to find everyone fast asleep. It was early in the morning, what had seemed like minutes, was actually hours, what had seemed like a harmless moment, took all night. I had received an affirmation that this work I was about to embark upon was what I was called to do; I had experienced my first call.
Peter in today’s Acts reading is having a vision, Peter had already lived with Christ, so he knew what Christ had literally, called him to do. For Peter, this vision was not one of call, it was one of transformation. For many disciples, reconciling the Jewish custom of clean and unclean with the commands of Jesus was a difficult one. Peter still was holding fast to certain rules and customs that made some things unclean in the eyes of God and others clean, basically, some things edible and others not. Peter sees a vision of a sheet being lowered from the sky with all sorts of animals walking on it, presumably mostly unclean animals, animals that were not fit for Jews to eat. Peter, still struggling with these customs is told by God to kill and to eat, which he refuses to do, because his lips will never eat anything unclean. God’s response is precious. God says, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happens to Peter three times before he finally understands what God is saying to him.
Before I go on, we have to look at the context of Peter’s hesitancy to eat the animals considered unclean, to do that, if you would like to follow, please turn to Leviticus, chapter 11 verses 2 through 28. As I read this text, think about those things and those people we consider unclean, those things and people we consider abhorrent. Liberals and conservatives; native and immigrant; what do we hold away from ourselves, what do we hold up as an obstacle to God’s desire to make us new? As you make those lists, listen carefully to what the Jewish customs required, particularly in terms of food restrictions:
“Speak to the people of Israel, saying: From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat. Any animal that has divided hoofs and is cloven-footed and chews the cud—such you may eat. But among those that chew the cud or have divided hoofs, you shall not eat the following: the camel, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The rock-badger, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The hare, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cloven-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you. These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams—such you may eat. But anything in the seas or the streams that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and among all the other living creatures that are in the waters—they are detestable to you and detestable they shall remain. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall regard as detestable. Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you. These you shall regard as detestable among the birds. They shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the buzzard, the kite of any kind; every raven of any kind; the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, the hawk of any kind; the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the water-hen, the desert-owl, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you. But among the winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground. Of them you may eat: the locust according to its kind, the bald locust according to its kind, the cricket according to its kind, and the grasshopper according to its kind. But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you. By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries any part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every animal that has divided hoofs but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean for you; everyone who touches one of them shall be unclean. All that walk on their paws, among the animals that walk on all fours, are unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, and the one who carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean for you.”
Not sure what all those animals were, but those are some serious dietary restrictions. These dietary laws were physical expressions of God’s call for holiness in Israel’s life. They were important. It helped the Israelites distinguish between the sacred and the secular in every area of their lives. Jesus, in his ministry declared all foods clean, so the disciples were surprised to find that this idea held true not just to food, but also to people. Following his vision Peter says, “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.” Peter immediately moves from his rules and regulations to his new call for mission and ministry. Peter immediately moves from fear of the other, to embracing this call from God and Jesus to lift up everyone as holy, those he would have otherwise called profane. Peter moves from a limited grace of God in the world to an abundant overflowing love and grace that spills out from him in a transformational and risky way.
It is no coincidence then, that our Gospel is Jesus’ great commandment. It is no coincidence that Peter has a life and doctrine changing vision in Acts and we conclude our Scripture with Jesus saying to his disciples love one another as I have loved you. The Love that Jesus speaks of is a love that makes everything new, as Peter was made new. The love that Christ speaks of is a transformational love that moves us out of fear into an abundant faith that we can’t help but share with anyone who will listen. It is time for us to claim, once again as Christ desired while he was alive, that our love for one another be that thing that is at the core of who we are as Christians, that it is our ability to love, not our ability to hate; that it is our ability to love, not our ability to exclude; it is our ability to love, not our ability to ignore one another as we live our lives.
How has the love of God transformed us as it did Peter, taking our expectations, our rules and our regulations and shattering them to bits? How has the Spirit led us, as it led Peter into the midst of people who are unlike us? How have we been loved and led into the reconciling, and I mean seriously reconciling, ministry Christ demands each of us to participate in. Think about those questions, think about those moments in your life, they have happened, and they are your story of faith and love and hope in God. Those are the moments we must learn to see as pivotal moments of the Spirit’s work in our lives. Those are the defining moments when we have been made new by God’s presence in our life. Those the transforming moments we must have the courage to share with others.
I do not remember a single minute of the week between my vision and when I finally told LeeAnne I was ready to proceed with the process for discerning Holy Orders. The next moment I remember is sitting on a radiator, in a hallway of my dorm, speaking in a quiet voice about all that had happened. Eagerness not just about what I was embarking upon as a Resident Advisor, but eagerness about what I was to discover as I journeyed down this new road, into this new world, away from those things I had always perceived as foundational to my faith and my person.
We are made new, and when we are made new, we are really made new; God is up to something here in the Garden, God is up to something in our midst right this moment. We are being made new; we are being transformed, what will be our response?
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