This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on May 19, 2019. It’s based on Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6; and John 13:31-35. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Acts 11:1-18
Now 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.”
Revelation 21:1-6
1I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
5And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.”
John 13:31-35
31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
In her book, Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama describes her first solo campaign event inside a modest home in Des Moines: As I scanned the room, preparing to speak, what I observed probably shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did, at least a little. Laid out on the end tables were the same sorts of white crocheted doilies that my grandmother Shields used to have at her house. I spotted porcelain figurines that looked just like the ones Robbie had kept on her shelves downstairs from us on Euclid Avenue. A man in the front row was smiling at me warmly. I was in Iowa, but I had the distinct feeling of being at home.
I wonder if Peter had a similar sort of experience in Caesarea, in the home of Cornelius. After hearing the voice of the Lord in a vision, What God has made clean, you must not call profane, Peter, a Jew, is led by the Spirit to the home of Cornelius, a Gentile.
Was he surprised to observe there things that were comforting in their familiarity? Was he surprised to see people gathered there to meet him, people who seemed not so different from himself? Did he have the distinct feeling of being at home?
Michelle Obama writes: My job, I realized, was to be myself, to speak as myself. And so I did… The more I told my story, the more my voice settled into itself. I liked my story. I was comfortable telling it. And I was telling it to people who despite the difference in skin color reminded me of my family…
Peter’s job is to tell God’s story. He begins with a description of the transformation God is working in him at that very moment. He says to Cornelius and all those gathered there with him: You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.
Peter goes on to share God’s story of peace, and healing, and forgiveness given through Jesus. And while Peter is speaking, the Holy Spirit falls upon all who have gathered there and heard the word, and Peter orders that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. He recognizes that they have received the Holy Spirit just as he has. These strangers are family.
Along the way, Michelle Obama writes, reporters and even some acquaintances began asking me some form of the same question: What was it like to be a five-foot-eleven, Ivy League-educated black woman speaking to roomfuls of mostly white Iowans? How odd did that feel? I never liked this question…It was an idea, I felt, that sold us all short, assuming that the differences were all anyone saw.
Peter, too, is faced with a question that focuses on the differences. When he returns to Jerusalem, he’s criticized. Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?
The criticism sounds like so many of the accusations that were leveled at Jesus himself. Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?
Peter is responding to the vision he has received from God—extending grace to all God’s beloved ones, recognizing that they are one family—and instead of applause or a word of congratulations, he is criticized. Why, Peter? Why?
What is it, in us, that perceives the new thing God is doing as a threat? What is it, in us, that clings to old rules instead of new visions? What is it, in us, that finds security in distinguishing clearly between us and them?
Why them, the critics ask Peter. Why did you go to them?
So again, Peter tells God’s story, concluding with a question of his own: Who was I that I could hinder God?
When they heard this, they were silenced. And their criticism of Peter turned to praise of God: Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.
Even to the Gentiles, even to the ones it was unlawful for us to associate with, even to the ones we deemed unclean, unworthy, useless, profane…God has given life. Who are we to hinder God?
See, I am making all things new, God says. And that’s scary, if the old has served you well. That’s scary, if you’ve always been us and never been them. That’s scary, if you need to be in control in order to feel safe and secure. But it’s also life. It’s also freedom. It’s God making God’s home here…with all people, with you.
The song that comes to mind is Home, sung by Phillip Phillips. Can’t you hear God singing this to Peter? To Cornelius? To the believers who were at first critical but who in time turned to praise? Can’t you hear God singing this to you?
Hold on to me as we go, as we roll down this unfamiliar road. And although this wave is stringing us along, just know you’re not alone, cause I’m gonna make this place your home.
Settle down; it’ll all be clear. Don’t pay no mind to the demons; they fill you with fear. The trouble, it might drag you down. If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone, cause I’m gonna make this place your home.
In making this place God’s home, God makes this place our home—a place of beauty, a place of prayer and visions fueled by hunger for justice, a place where no one is named profane and instead all are named beloved, a place where the Spirit is poured out, again and again, to challenge, to invite, to open hearts and minds, to make all things new for the sake of love.
Back to Michelle Obama: …the man with a seed-corn logo on his breast pocket, the college student in a black-and-gold pullover, the retiree who’d brought an ice cream bucket full of sugar cookies she’d frosted with our rising-sun campaign logo. These people found me after my talks, seeming eager to talk about what we shared…These interactions felt natural, genuine. I found myself hugging people instinctively and getting hugged tightly back.
We are home in the embrace of God. We are home in the embrace of ones we thought were so different, but are instead family—siblings in Christ. God holds on to us all as we roll down this unfamiliar road where all things are being made new for the sake of love. Amen.
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Preview Becoming by Michelle Obama here: https://books.google.com.
Listen to Home sung by Philip Phillips here: https://www.youtube.com.