A God of Surprises (Easter 6B)

A God of Surprises

Easter 6B
13 May 2012; 8:00 a.m. Said Mass and 10:00 a.m. Sung Mass

Homily Delivered at Trinity Episcopal Church

Ashland, Oregon

Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

[They] were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.  Acts 10:45

God, take away our hearts of stone
and give us hearts of flesh. Amen. 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of the Anglican Church in South Africa describes the final process of his nation moving from its Calvinism-inspired policy of Racial Separation, Apartheid, to the multi-ethnic democracy that followed in this way, it was “a kind of roller coaster ride, reaching the heights of euphoria that a new dispensation was virtually here, and then touching the depths of despair because of the mindless violence and carnage that seemed to place the whole negotiation process in considerable jeopardy. And just as we were recovering our breath, the God of Surprises played his most extraordinary and incredible card.”  “God's sense of humor is quite something, you know… Beyers Naudé … was an Afrikaner who at one point said, ‘No, apartheid can't be justified scripturally,’ and for this he was turfed out of his church.  [T]hey expelled him because they said he was a traitor.   And so he joined up with blacks and others who [opposed Apartheid].  When freedom came, there was a road in Johannesburg that had been named after … the first nationalist prime minister, the … D.F. Malan driveway.  In 1994–95, the name was changed to the Beyers Naudé Highway. I mean, you would almost imagine them in heaven sort of rolling in the aisles.”

God is a God of Surprises.  There is no way that a year ago I would have thought that Elena and I would now be living in Ashland Oregon and I would be priest at Trinity.    Three years before I was ordained, there is no way I would have thought it possible.  

Our oldest son and his wife, after many years of disappointed efforts at having children, gave up and got ready to adopt.  The week they were put on the receive roster, his wife turned up pregnant.  And then, when their daughter was only two, they unexpectedly got pregnant again, but it turned out to be twins, now four years old.  God is a god of surprises. 

The stories we have been reading these last few Sundays from the Book of Acts tell of one of the great tricks played by this God of surprises, the great turning point when the early Christian Church, despite itself, reached out and brought in the gentiles as equal partners to what previously been a Jews-only affair.  

The story is told in Acts chapters 8-15, where gradually, bit by bit, the gentiles—not members of the people of Israel—come to be included in God’s plan.  Rather, God’s people gradually come to recognize that God has already included these outsiders.  

A couple of weeks ago, we read where Philip privately preaches to the Ethiopian Eunuch and baptizes him (Acts 8:26ff).   This guy is not only a gentile, but also had a physical impairment that the Scriptures specifically taught should prevent full participation in the worship of God’s people (Lev. 20:20).  The culmination of the story is the Ethiopian Eunuch’s simple question, “Here is water.  What is there that possibly keeps me from being baptized?”  With this God of surprises, what once was an impediment is no longer one.   

Today’s reading is part of a larger story about Cornelius and Peter. Cornelius is a centurion of the Italian Cohort, a famous military unit known for its harsh suppression of anti-Roman nationalism.  He is a believer in the one God, but one who has not converted to Judaism by being circumcised, or observing Jewish the dietary laws.   The technical term used to describe such people as he at the time was a “God fearer,” someone on the fringes of Judaism but still squarely on the outside.  Cornelius prays, reads scripture, and gives alms.  He has not yet heard of Jesus. Because of his faith, he is told by an Angel to go and find Peter, who will tell him what God wants him to know. He sends messengers to set up a meeting. 

Meanwhile, Peter takes a noon-day nap and has a dream where he sees a giant picnic cloth.  On it is every kind of animal, most of them forbidden as food by the Hebrew Scriptures.  A voice tells Peter to butcher some of the animals and eat their flesh.  Peter is understandably reluctant, saying that he has always tried to keep the commandments of God and he doesn’t want to start disregarding them now.  “I try to keep kosher, like God commands. Those creatures are unclean.  I can’t eat them.  You’re testing me, right?” 

Place yourself in Peter’s position.  Think of something you have always been taught is wrong, something that you have a visceral reaction against.  The dream is telling you to go ahead and pursue this.  You say, no thank you.  

Relentless, the voice replies, “Don’t call unclean what God has declared clean.”  This happens three times, and Peter wakes up, deeply troubled.  Just at this time, the messengers from Cornelius arrive.    The synchronicity is too great for him to ignore.  He agrees to accompany them to see Cornelius.  

Now as I said, Cornelius is a gentile.  Eating with Gentiles or even having extended dealings with them is a contaminating act under the careful and strict interpretation of the Law.   His ‘kind’ has been seen for centuries as unclean by most Jewish religious leaders of any stripe.  It’s the written Word of God that makes the distinctions, and for many, “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.  No more questions allowed.”   

Yet God, that trickster with surprises up his sleeves, has other plans.  Peter has seen the vision of the unclean foods turned clean, and has heard the chastising voice when he is reluctant to follow the voice’s instructions.  And now he meets Cornelius, a gentile, someone his faith tells him is unclean, and he wants to hear the Gospel.  

Peter preaches the Gospel to Cornelius and his companions, and begins with “I understand that God shows no partiality.”  He declares that "no matter what nationality, anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God."   As Peter preaches, the Holy Spirit falls on those gathered, even on the gentiles.  Peter declares, "can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" 

Note this: “The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.  (Acts 10:45)  The point is this—Peter and the other leaders of the early church did not want to welcome these marginal people, these people without God’s Law.  And they were surprised and shocked when they began to see in the lives of these unclean strangers the very signs they saw in themselves of God’s action and engagement.   

Peter, against his native sense of religious duty to God, openly baptizes gentile Cornelius.  It took a dream vision and huge amounts of “coincidence” to bring him to do it, but he does it nonetheless because he recognizes in the lives of these strangers things he knows from his personal experience come from God. In coming chapters, the onetime Saul, now Paul, preaches widely and succeeds beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.  Large congregations of Gentiles become the mainstay of the Church.  Paul is early Christianity’s Beyers Naudé, once an opponent who became a proponent of what he had stood against.  And so in chapter 15 of Acts, the Church must meet and figure out in Council how to manage the new reality, Gentiles as Christians.   

In all of this, the members of the Church were engaged in a great effort at discernment of vocation, or trying to hear and identify exactly what it was that God was calling them to.   They knew they needed to share the Gospel, but did not know exactly with whom. 

Presbyterian theologian Frederick Beuchner defined vocation as where our deepest joy meets the world’s deepest need.  Finding out where we are energized, “in the flow,” and in sober deep pleasure and matching this to the hunger of those about us is the principal task of discernment. 

Attentiveness is key, paying close attention to where our joy lies. 

In the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a key practice in discernment is the examination of our feelings.  Where our actions and aspirations, our dreams and our hopes lead us to greater joy and appreciation, greater connection with God and others, they are seen as congruent with God.  Where they lead elsewhere, they are seen as working against the God who made our hearts. 

The early Church realized that its greatest joy was in sharing the stories of Jesus broadly and serving and welcoming broadly.  And this deep joy met the deep hunger of the people around them in the diverse and messy world that was Greco-Roman antiquity.   

We here at Trinity clearly value welcome, hospitality, openness, and inclusiveness.  It is essential that we continue to seek to discern what God is calling us to, both as individuals and as a parish.    In spiritual life, as in organizations and business, there is no standing still.  You are either moving forward or falling backward.  And to move forward, to grow further, we need to discern more carefully what God is calling us to.

Prayer is a key part of this.  Just like the three legged-stool of Anglican belief—scripture, tradition, and reason—there is a three legged stool of Anglican prayer life:  the Eucharist, the Daily Office (Evening and Morning Prayer), and then private devotions, the meditation and prayer practices that we individually find suit us well and that we use daily.   Private devotion is where we individually find the thin places between this world and the unseen world of Spirit. 

Let us this week continue in our practice of private and family devotions, and common worship as possible on a daily basis.  If you are not praying regularly, then start.  A good place to begin is found on page 136 of the Prayer Book, with the shortened and simplified Morning and Evening Prayer form called “Devotions for Individuals and Families.”   A small group of us sings Morning Prayer here in the Church every day at 7:15, and all are welcome.  

Each day, take a few minutes to examine your feelings.  What is bringing you deep joy?  What is distracting?  Don’t beat yourself up about it.  Just examine and look.  And then let the knowledge gained by the examination settle in you for further reflection over time.  A time will come when it will become clear where this joy meets the world’s hunger.  And then be ready for more surprises.  

Thanks be to God.