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Storied Faith
June 21 (Acts 10)Over one lunch hour the Apostle Peter went up to a rooftop and prayed. With theheat of the Middle-East’s noonday sun and the time of day we are told understandablythat Peter became hungry but as the food was being prepared he was visited by what musthave seemed the most cruel of visions. Before him heaven was opened and whatdescended? Not a dove. Not fire. But a sheet, a tablecloth, filled with all manner of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air mixed and intermingled together. Andthen as his stomach rumbled the voice came to him saying, “Okay Peter get up. Kill andeat.” Not to waver in his faith Peter stood firm, “No way! I have been formed in faith byyour word all my life Lord and never have I eaten anything unclean.” The voice cameagain, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”It says that this dialogue was repeated three more times and then suddenly thetablecloth was pulled and the vision was gone. And Peter remained hot and hungry pondering this vision when the Spirit told him that three men, Gentiles, were waiting for him downstairs. And so began a miraculous moment in the story of the church. Peter notonly invited the men to eat with him but traveled with them to eat in their house, whichwould no doubt render him unclean by their religious law. Peter, however, had graspedthe vision and we have recorded in our Bible these most tremendous words.
God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean
. And then came hisconfession,
I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts people from every nation who honour him and do what is right
. Then after telling themof Jesus’ life, death and resurrection it says, “while Peter was still speaking these words,the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.”To be honest, it gave me shivers when I wrote these words down in preparationfor this morning. Peter was by no means perfected in his faith. Peter had asked Jesus tohelp him on walk on water and he sank from fear. Peter was often quick and rash in hisstatements often missing the point of Jesus’ words. Peter wanted to deny the opportunityfor Jesus to wash Peter’s feet. Peter denied he even knew Jesus three times for fear of hisown well being. Peter was challenged it seemed at many times about how he wouldrespond in faith to this person Jesus. But in all this Peter continued to follow despitestumbles and even after backpedaling. We are wise to remember earlier in John’s gospelthat when others did begin to fall away from Jesus Peter affirmed, “To whom shall wego? You alone have the words of life.” And when Jesus asked the disciples who he wasPeter confessed, “You are the Messiah.” It is this same, all too human, Peter that weencounter in the book of Acts seeking the Lord in prayer. Here Jesus again calls on himto understand that a shift has occurred. Not a shift
away
from what God has been doing.This is not truly a new thing. From Genesis through to the prophets and into Psalms Godhas always been calling the nations. This shift is away from those things that at one timeserved their purpose but now hindered the blood, the Spirit, flowing from the heart of God. Peter was called to bypass hardened arteries so that the Spirit of God could be poured out on all flesh. This 2000 year old story continues . . .We have heard this morning that Hillcrest too is a part of this story. We haveheard deliberate and bold steps taken. We have heard of tentative and unsure steps. Andif they were steps of faith you can almost be certain they came with some tension and
2conflict within us and among us because this would only be in keeping with the Gospel.There are many more steps that have gone unspoken. Like Peter, some of them were perhaps too rash, some of them were simply in retreat, and others, others, were dead-onin keeping step with God’s Spirit.We are gathered and worship here this morning joined to this story. Whether youare here for the first time or attended the first service over 45 years ago. Whether you are8 years old or 80 you are here and now affect our story. And so I would ask that if youhave not perhaps you should sit up and pay attention. This morning I am posing thequestion, “Where are we in God’s story?” Perhaps I can ask it a little more simply. At aconference that Jan, Andrea and I attended this week the question was asked of our churches, “What business are you in?” To what end do we gather and scatter as HillcrestMennonite Church? What business are we in? You can tweak the language if you want but don’t avoid the point of it. What would you tell someone who asked you this?If I have heard and continue to hear the stories correctly then I would say thatHillcrest exists so that people, individuals, families and communities would betransformed as we work and worship together. We are in the business of faith formation.Does this ring true? We exist for the purpose of having our faith formed in relationshipwith a living God. If we are bold enough we can then move onto the next question that Iheard this past week.So how is business? Are our gathering and scattering, our worship and work connecting us and our world to God’s transforming presence? To use another imagefrom this past week; is our spirituality transforming our hopes, our fears, our work, andour decisions? Or does our spirituality simply stretch a mile wide through programs,committees and practices but only reach an inch deep?Peter was asked to bypass the hardening arteries that kept him
and others
from theheart of God. So is our church at risk not of hardened arteries but hardened categories?Do our practices and ministries exist simply because they always have or do they connectus with life-blood of God? I celebrate and give thanks that I am part of a church that iswilling to ask this question. But as a leader in this church I am also hesitant because if bypass surgery is necessary it is always risky. This is all the more reason why we mustgather to discern this question. We must celebrate and give thanks for those acts whichlead to faith formation. We must also identify where our hardened categories are actuallyrestricting this life-giving flow. And so conversations are happening right now. Someare reminding us that we have named children and youth as valuable members of community so the question continues by asking if we are connecting them to meaningfulopportunities for faith formation and where is that flow being restricted by our traditions.And furthermore we have named that faith formation is for
all
generations. Do we all believe that? Do each and every one of us here desire to commit ourselves to that goal?Do we even know what it would look like if it were happening? We have namedmeaningful and authentic relationships as a priority. Where will those happen? Do we believe that faith formation is a life-long pursuit as it was marked by Peter’s own life?Where are our rooftops where we go to pray? Have some of us already seen a visionfrom God once, twice maybe even three times now as Peter saw? Will we follow them tosit to dine at a strange table that was once forbidden or ignored by our story?
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