Rev. Nancy A. Mikoski

Rev. Nancy A. Mikoski

Psalm 148

John 13:31-35

Acts 11:1-18

“A Story to Tell”

April 24, 2016

Our two scriptures already read this morning lay the foundation for our reading from the book of Acts.

In our call to worship, we read Jesus’s command to love one another, just as he has loved us.Jesus said that others will be able to identify us as Christians, as disciples of Jesus, by the way we love people.

Psalm 148is an amazing Psalm of praise to God.It begins with those in heaven: the angels praising God.And then the universe joins in, sun and moon and shining stars praising God.Then comes the creation on earth, mountains and hills and trees and animals, praising God.Then humans join in the praise of God.

• The kings of the earth (people of power)
• All people (all the regular folks, the ones with little or no power)
• Young men and young women alike (equally praising God)
• And then people of all ages, old and young together!

There are no barriers to this universal praise of God!The story I’ll read in a moment from Acts tells of the ever-widening work of the Holy Spirit

What we will read is not completely new in God’s grand scheme of things.There were glimpses of this in the Old Testament, even as God was in a special relationship with Israel. Naaman, a Syrian, a non-Jew, was healed by the instructions of Elisha, the Jewish prophet. The book of Ruth tells us the story of the great grandmother of King David who was not Jewish.And the book of Jonah isn’t really about a whale, but about God’s love for the Ninevites, the enemies of the Israelites.

Yes, God had, and has, a special relationship, a covenant with the Jews, but in Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection, a new covenant comes into being. A covenant that welcomes all people.

So far in the first ten chapters of Acts we are seeing an ever-expanding sharing and acceptance of the gospel.Thousands of Jews are moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and become followers of Jesus Christ at Pentecost.Not long after that, an Ethiopian eunuch longs to learn, is taught byPhilip, believes in Christ and is baptized.He is an example of a person from a different race and country and culture embracing Jesus as Lord of All.

Then comes Saul, the devout Jew who was a violent persecutor of Christians, an enemy of the early church, becoming the Christian that we call Paul. And then comes Cornelius, a Gentile, Roman military man, a soldier of the military occupying Israel.

As pastor and writer Will Willimon says, “Throughout Acts, step by step, laying scriptural proof on proof, gradually edging us out of Jerusalem and into Samaria, now into Joppa, past the converted Samaritans and then the Ethiopian,Luke has brought us face to face with this Roman soldier so that we may feel the full blast of the gospel, may know the reluctance of the disciples to be here, may know how long and painful was their journey to realize the full and frightening implications of the gospel—God shows no partiality!” (Proclamation: Acts. Will Willimon. John Knox Press. Atlanta. 1988)

In Acts we see the ripple effects of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. God’s love is deep and wide!God’s deep and wide love was Peter’s story to tell the Christian leaders in Jerusalem about the Spirit working in Cornelius.What we have in Acts 11 is Peter’s re-telling of what happened with Cornelius, which is found the chapter before, in chapter 10. He’s telling it to the apostles in Jerusalem.

Listen now for God’s word to the church today from Acts 11:1-18:

1Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,

3saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”

4Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,

5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.

6As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. 7I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

8But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’

9But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ 10This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.

11At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.

12The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.

These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house.

13He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;

14he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’

15And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.

16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

17If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”

18When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

Peter’s story about the Spirit’s work in Gentiles was a story that rocked their boat!Peter went to Jerusalem to tell the key leaders of the young Christian church what had happened.Their categories were scrambled by what the Spirit was doing!This deep and wide love of God was breaking down barriers left and right.To say Jesus is Lord is to say Jesus is Lord of all, not just a few. All.

No one on this planet is on the outside when it comes to power of salvation in Jesus Christ.The Holy Spirit takes the lead!Sometimes we see it first inside the church.The church gets it, becomes more welcoming and inclusive… and then the culture comes along.Sometimes the church is playing catch up.Peter didn’t go looking for Gentiles to include.The Spirit was working in Cornelius and at the same time the Spirit was working in Peter.

What are the boundaries we set up or live with and think are normal?The Jews had been taught from an early age not to mix with Gentiles. Not to marry them. Not to even sit down and eat with them.Table fellowship, as it was called, was forbidden.

Who would we be uncomfortable with sitting at our dining room tables?

Our country is going through a pretty tense time right now.Lines are being drawn.For some of us, not un-friending someone on Facebook, who thinks about politics in a way that is crazy to us, is a matter of spiritual discipline!Love your Facebook neighbor!

The issue of race is an ongoing struggle in our culture.This week I heard an NPR story about a temp agency, Automation Personnel Services, who discriminates based on race and also by gender and age.They have a company policy against this, but it still happens frequently.A supervisor will tell an employee who works directly placing temporary employees with client companies that this company is “special” so give them whatever they ask for.And don’t write down their special requests in hand writing or in the computer.

Some of what is said is outright racist. Vulgar even.There is also sorts of code language.If a company wanted “country boys” they wanted only white men.Big hands meant men only, small hands meant women only.I won’t even tell you the code names that Blacks were called in NJ and Florida. In Seattle, “no Mohammeds” meant no one of Arab descent.”Some wanted only Mexicans because they will work longer hours for lower pay.(Source: When Companies Hire Temp Workers by Race, Black applicants Lose Out” by Will Evans)Stereotypes about giftedness, intelligence, personality and skill continue to pull us apart and do not create an even playing field.

Another ongoing struggle in our country is with those who don’t fit the “heterosexual” majority experience. Gays and lesbians and bisexuals are in greater danger of being victims of violence. The Transgendered community experiences violence way out of proportion to their numbers. In some of the rhetoric about public restrooms and transgendered men and women, boys and girls, people who are transgendered are equated with predators or molesters. This is wrong!We are recognizing that sexuality and gender identification are complex.

In light of these realities, what do we want our story to be?What’s the story about Pennington Presbyterian we want the world to know?

Every church I’ve been part ofhas had homosexual members.For many years, most, if not all of them, were in the closet.I’m grateful that this is changing… that people are becoming more comfortable or feeling safer being their authentic self in private and in the church and in the world.

The Presbyterian Church USA has never had a barrier regarding membership and homosexuality,and now it has no barriers when it comes to ordination as elders, deacons, and pastors.We can now perform weddings for any couple that may legally wed and wants Christian marriage.

At First Presbyterian Church, the church of my college years, I went to a Bible study for college and young adults.One evening a regular member of our group, David, brought his younger brother with him.I knew he had only one sibling and she was a girl.When I went with friends to the high school football game to support church kids who played football and were the marching band, I saw David’s sister on the sidelines taking photos.She was a talented photographer for the school paper.But that night at Bible study, she was now a he.Perhaps the first transgendered person I met.Bible study went right along.I was so grateful for David, and for his faith, and for his trust that he could bring his brother to a Bible study and know that it would be okay.And I was impressed and amazed at the courage of his brother.The church community was loving and included any who wanted to be there.

Years later, I met a transgendered pastor in the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta.A couple of years ago I had lunch with a transgendered seminarian.I share these stories because some of you may not yet know a transgendered person beyond the story of Caitlyn Jenner.In a society of fear or discomfort or hate, the church can take the lead -- and lead with love, affirming each and every human being as being made in the image of God.

This afternoon at 4pm, many will gather at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton for a service of reconciliation.A century ago, the pastor of this African American Presbyterian Church, William Robeson (father of the famous Paul Robeson) was forcefully removed from leadership in his church.His crime? Speaking out about racial injustice. Among whites, he was considered a trouble maker, dangerous to the church and society because he told the truth about injustice and racism. So our presbytery took away his ministry.

His ousting left Robeson and his family impoverished and the Witherspoon church deeply wounded and without a pastor.Last fall, our presbytery voted to issue an official apology, acknowledging our sin, and seeking to repent again of racism.The Synod of the Northeast has given $170,000 to pay the mortgage of the Paul Robeson house so that Witherspoon Presbyterian can keep that historic house, just a few doors down from the church, as a community center.

This afternoon we will worship and pray and be together, black, white, Asian, Latino, Native American, and people of mixed backgrounds, side by side.The very fact that Witherspoon Presbyterian Church still stands,and in the Presbyterian family, is testimony to the Holy Spirit who worked in them, in spite of what we as a church did!What amazing grace and love the African Americans of that church have displayed by allowing us all these years to sit with them at their table!

The Book of Acts is the unfolding story of the work of the Holy Spirit, ever growing the church, ever widening the knowledge of Jesus as Lord of All, tearing down dividing walls,and leaping over barriers when the church was slow to recognize how deep and wide is the grace of God for us in Jesus Christ.The Book of Acts has no “ending.”That is because the story of the Holy Spirit bringing people to faith and working in us to open our hearts and minds to the “Other” keeps on going.Every new generation has to deal with our tendency to categorize people as “us” and “them.” Friend or enemy. Beautiful or ugly. Insider or Outsider. There is simply no place in Christ’s church for that!

Every new generation needs a heavenly vision like that of Peter and Cornelius that challenges our presuppositions, and makes us more loving and faithful.Christ’s saving death and resurrection makes him Lord of All.And this Lord of All commands us to love one another, with God’s love that is deep and wide…in word and in action.That’s a story to tell that will change the world!