The quickest way to wreck almost everything is to say who’s In and who’s Out. This is true of the Christian Church, as well: too many wars have been fought (some of them local) over belonging to the movement. The stories to be told on the upcoming weekend give us some idea about how to include those who’re thought to be different than us. I believe that as we’re met by the Risen Christ that we need to pay attention to NOT excluding those not quite like us.
The reading from the Book of ACTS of the Apostles, 11:1-18, retells the story of Peter’s vision on the roof prayer-area in Joppa. He’s been called to account by the Church leaders for visiting with and speaking to those awful Gentiles, and he tells them of God’s encounter with him. Although these men of Cornelius’ home in Caesarea, near Joppa, were not of the Jewish tradition, Peter recognized God’s Spirit working within them. “Who was I, that I could hinder God?” It’s to the credit of the Church leaders that they then acknowledged these Gentiles and included them at the table.
We need to remember that John of Patmos was writing the REVELATION to bolster his faith-community as they cringed from the ongoing persecution. So to ensure that they weren’t guilty of the same kind of exclusion, he wrote in 21:1-6 that the ultimate home of God is with the mortals God created: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more, mourning and crying and pain will be no more…” We have yet to find out how God deals with non-followers–but that’s not our problem: God is present at our birth, at our beginnings AND at our “death”, at the fulfillment of time.
The Gospel lesson is provided by JOHN the Evangelist, 13:31-35. Here at the Last Supper Jesus reminds his friends about the “new” commandment to love each other. Not just this inner circle, but ALL who’ve been created! Perhaps this reading is indicative of how the early Church struggled to accept the unlovely and the awkward. Certainly the Church of today wrestles with the same problem: how can we give a place to the late-comer, the unwashed, the ones not like us?
Who’s watching? Will they know we are Christians by our love? Is there something remarkable about our attitudes of inclusion? A poet has written that “home is the place where they’ve gotta take you in.” Will our Church become Home to the wanderer not far away?
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Come join us every Tuesday as we’re confronted by the texts the Common Revised Lectionary suggests for worship on the upcoming weekend.
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