Change

Rev Bob Dorans

Change can be very challenging. Today we have changed how we receive the elements. We will see how that works.
We have all been challenged by changes in our lives. I know my life has taken many twists and turns and I’m sure that is true for us all. From infancy to the trauma of adolescence to the vicissitudes of old age. Shakespeare described it eloquently in the seven ages of man.

Resistance:
One day a preacher went to his monthly meeting with the elders and presented an idea that he believed he had received from God.
1. After giving his most impassioned plea and really “selling” the idea to the elders, they voted down the preacher’s proposed changes.
2. The elder leading the meeting said to the preacher, “Sorry, but it looks like the only vote you received for your proposal was the vote you cast for it.”
3. The elder continued, “Well, that’s all we had on the agenda tonight.” So he asked the preacher to lead a prayer to close the meeting.
4. The preacher, not wanting to give up on an idea that he felt God had given him, lifted up his hands to heaven and prayed with all his heart, “Looorrrddd, I know my brothers here do not have the same vision that you have given me. Please help them see that this is not my vision, but that it is your vision. Please give us a sign. In Jesus name, AMEN!”
5. Immediately, a lightning bolt with a loud clap of thunder burst in through the window in the meeting room, striking the table, splitting it in two and knocking all the elders to the floor. As the dust cleared, the preacher looked at the elders and said, “So, what do you think about my proposal now?”
6. The lead elder, dusting himself off, sighed and said, “Well, I guess that’s now 12 votes to 2, still not enough to pass your proposal.”

Change.

Change is really hard on all of us, even when it is obvious that God is the one instituting the change and today here in our parish we are in the midst of change, the challenge of an interregnum - an undefined future.

In today’s reading from Acts we turn our attention to the life of Peter, we come to one of the most challenging situations he had to face in his life and ministry.

God was orchestrating an amazing turn of events that was intended to signal that it was time for a big change.

It was a change that Paul described as a mystery kept hidden for generations but was now revealed to the saints (Colossians 1:26).
In Ephesians 3:6, Paul revealed what that hidden mystery was: This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

When God desired to expand the horizon of the church, God first had to expand the personal horizon of Peter, one of the church’s strongest and most important leaders.

As we examine Peter’s experience and what God was doing in him and through him, I want us to wrestle with a personal question: How does God want to expand my horizon and our horizons here as a Church community.

Are there any old traditions and habits, any old mindsets, biases and prejudices that God wants to help us give up and move beyond?
 
Let us look for a moment at the idea of tribalism. Defined as the state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes and the resulting behaviors and attitudes that stem from loyalty to this tribe. On the surface, that doesn’t sound too bad. Human beings naturally migrate into groups of like-minded people. Tribes may be formed around particular hobbies, or interests, or views, or locations, or particular tattoos.. We naturally form into groups – into tribes - it’s what we do politically, socially, educationally.

In our culture, the phrase “My Tribe” has become a popular way to describe a person’s closest circle of friends. Those people whom you could call at any time day or night and they’d be there for you that is your “tribe.”

But, what happens when tribalism is taken to the extreme? What happens when our individual groups become more important than the common good? What happens when one’s loyalty to a tribe takes priority over all else? That becomes a toxic tribalism.
Toxic Tribalism promotes an “us vs. them” mentality. It elevates one’s tribe above all other groups of people. Saying, “My tribe is right and everyone else is wrong.”

We don’t really discuss the characteristics of individuals anymore – instead we lump them together into tribes… all of group X must believe this and all of group Y must believe that and there is no middle ground. You are simply Labour or Nationalist etc, regardless of where you actually fit the political spectrum. And woe to those who identify as Independents and the not party affiliated ones …for you are just tribe-less ones who don’t care about what’s important.
Now, is that what I actually believe? No. But isn’t that the message that we send the world. In our tribes, our tribes become what is most important. And in a culture where we identify ourselves as members of certain tribes, we easily forget our personhood and the personhood of those in other tribes. Toxic tribalism is intent on keeping us all separate and vilifying the ‘other.

After Peter’s time in Lydda (where he healed Aeneas’ paralysis, and after his time in Joppa (where he raised Tabitha from the dead), and after many hours spent preaching and teaching in these areas and beyond with many people coming into the faith, Peter returned to Jerusalem. But upon his return, his tribe was not happy. They didn’t seem to care that God had performed miracles through Peter. They didn’t seem to have joy in the number of people who came into the faith through Peter’s actions and words. What they cared about was that Peter had crossed tribal boundaries.

Peter was a member of the “circumcised” meaning that he was a Jew. And what Peter’s tribe of fellow Jews who believed in Christ, expected from Peter and from others in the tribe was that no one would associate, let alone eat with, those who were uncircumcised (or the Gentiles). So, Peter comes back to Jerusalem after this AMAZING and POWERFUL, GOD-INSPIRED missionary trip and he receives no accolades or congratulations, what Peter gets is accusations, animosity for breaking the tribal barriers. YOU! You went into the home of the uncircumcised AND you! ate with them!
That’s just not allowed. You can’t associate with “those people.” We don’t like “them” because they are not us. Toxic tribalism in the early church. Toxic tribalism seeking to withhold the gospel from God’s children. Toxic tribalism – you can’t associate with them.
But that’s not God’s message, is it? God’s message is we are more alike than we are different.

God’s message is that there is no one individual, no one group of people, that is “unclean.”

God’s message is that we need to break down and break through those tribal barriers that separate us so that we can BE the BODY of CHRIST in the world.

Let us for a moment personalise this. I suggest that for a moment you close your eyes……

Imagine yourself as Peter… imagine seeing a large linen sheet being lowered from the heavens…who or what do you see on that sheet? What is God saying to you, “Break down this barrier, it’s okay.”
Maybe it’s a specific person – someone to whom you need to be reconciled.

Maybe it’s a group of people – representative of our broken relationships in the world.

Maybe it’s a place where God wants you to proclaim the gospel…
Who or what do you see on that sheet lowered from heaven?
I give you a moment….

Muslims? Jews? Tattooed and pierced teenagers? Unwed mothers? The man on the street muttering to himself? The child with dirty clothes and a runny nose? That legislator that voted for or against that thing that was really important?

We, as God’s Church for the world – we, as Christ’s Body in the world – WE have to break down the barriers. We have to have eyes like Peter’s to see God’s desire; we have to have ears like Peter’s to hear God speak the truth of unity and love; we have to have courage like Peter to break out of what is comfortable, to walk away from our tribe, to walk through no-man’s land – to reach others for the glory of Christ.

When I taught counselling skills one of the basic skills was to be able to walk in others shoes.

Barriers, human barriers, of ideology and identity keep us from being the proclaimers of salvation that God calls us to be.

Believing that others who do not look like us, think like us, act like us, worship like us, talk like us, live where we live, or any other tribal barriers that we have built – believing that those others are not WORTHY of receiving the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord is sinful. And it is against all the teachings of Christ our Lord.
Jesus said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…and when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:5, 8)
Jesus didn’t say, be my witness to some.

Jesus didn’t say, once you receive the Holy Spirit, keep it only among the disciples.

Jesus did say – take the Spirit into ALL the world – Jerusalem, Judea, even Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

So where do we begin? How do we begin to dismantle the toxic tribalism controlling our lives and the world?

We begin by building relationships outside of our tribe, one relationship at a time. One brick out of our barrier wall at a time. One step at a time. One smile at a time. One conversation at a time.
Fellowshipping over coffee and doughnuts.

Taking time to talk to that man on the street who is muttering to himself.

Asking the tattooed and pierced cashier at your favourite restaurant to tell you about his or her tattoos.

In short taking time and taking interest in the humanity of others, realizing that they, like us, are beloved children of God with hopes and dreams, with struggles and defeats. And like us, though underserving, Christ died for all of us.

This is the message that we as a Church need to take out. To take out beyond these walls. To be alive as a Church in Christ. To rise to the many challenges ahead of us.

Let us be the messengers of this good news and expand as a Church in our community, believing and supporting each in the other.
Amen.

Sermon presented and prepared with acknowledgement to David Owens and Beth Gerrard-Logsdon for their inspiration and ideas.