Acts of the Apostles
Rose McLean, Diaconal Minister
May 25, 2003

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Well, it isn’t the REAL Memorial Day. I think the REAL Memorial Day is May 30. But like Lincoln and Washington and Martin Luther King’s birthday and Columbus Day and pretty much every National holiday except the 4^th of July, we observe the holiday on a Monday. It’s just so much more convenient and assures us that highly sought after long weekend. More time to shop those sales and have those picnics. I keep trying to figure out what cheap furniture has to do with those persons we honor on this day! But, I’ll bet more of us take advantage of the extra day to shop or get away than actually attend a parade or memorial service.

Today, let’s to remember what Memorial Day is about. It is defined by Webster as "a legal holiday in the United States in memory of the dead members of the armed forces of all wars." In my lifetime that would be World War II, the Korean War, the Viet Nam War, the Gulf War, and this most recent War in Iraq. There may have been some other military actions, but these are the ones I recall. For me, the Viet Nam War stands out, and it is at the Viet Nam Memorial—that stark wall on the mall in Washington D. C. that I feel the most personal losses. Even though I have not lost any family member in military action, I recall the sense of loss our country experienced during that particular war.

I want to take time now and invite you to call out the name of any close friend or family member that you wish to remember who lost their life serving our country in the armed forces during a war.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, before whom stand the living and the dead, we your children, whose mortal life is but a hand’s breadth, give thanks to you:

For the dear friends and family members whose faces we see no more, but whose love is with us for ever, We lift up thankful hearts.

For those who have sacrificed themselves, our brothers and sisters who have given their lives for the sake of others, We lift up thankful hearts.

That we may now be dedicated to working for a world where labor is rewarded, fear dispelled, and the nations made one, O Lord, save your people and bless your heritage. We worship your name forever. Amen

There is another honor roll I’d like to call today. Peter, John, Stephen, Philip, Cornelius, Barnabas, Timothy, James, Silas, Lydia, Dorcas. Those men and women who lived by faith and died in the faith in the early days of the Christian Church so that you and I might know of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ: the Apostles whose stories are told primarily in Acts—that book in the New Testament wedged between the gospels and the letters of Paul. These are among the unsung heroes of our faith.

My guess is that if you were to take a test on the contents of the New Testament, some of you would know that the Acts of the Apostles contains the story of Pentecost—the birthday of the church, which this year is June 8^th. One year we all wore red to celebrate that day. Or you may know that chapter nine is the well known story of the conversion of Saul also known as Paul—that will be one of the Vacation Bible School stories this summer. For extra credit, you may even remember that this is the book that records Paul’s missionary journeys. There are some great stories in Acts as well as some teachings that helped form some of the basic theology of the Christian church as we know it today.

But it wasn’t easy. The doctrine didn’t just drop out of the sky. There was quite a struggle in the early church. One of the debates was around whether or not non-Jews would be welcomed to the faith. Since all of the Disciples of Jesus were Jewish and since Jesus himself was Jewish, the earliest understanding was that the message of Jesus was for Jews only and was more or less a reformation of the Jewish faith. There are even some scriptures that will support that Jesus himself understood that his mission was exclusively to the Jews--to bring them back into right relationship with God because they had become too concerned with their own safety and power and were no longer doing the will of God.

It was not unlike the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther was really trying to reform the Catholic Church which had, in his way of thinking, become more concerned with power than with people. Luther’s initial goal was not to create a Protestant faith.

The same is true of John Wesley. John Wesley didn’t just wake up one morning and say to himself, "today, I think I’ll start a new denomination." He was trying to reform the Anglican Church in which he was an ordained clergy. He hoped it would become more involved in the well being of the poor and down-trodden. He was trying to wed acts of piety—worship, communion, prayer, with acts of mercy—feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, and out of his attempts to make his ministry more inclusive in its practice, came the Methodist movement.

So, as I said, one of the issues the early church struggled with was whether or not Gentiles should be included without converting to Judaism. Gentiles, as you know, are persons who were not Jewish.

Now, this is extra. You don’t have to pay more for this little tid-bit. We Christians usually think of Gentiles as non-Jews because of its use in the New Testament. But actually, a Gentile is someone who is not of the same religion as the majority. In New Testament Jerusalem, that would be the non-Jews who were Gentiles. In Utah, a non-Morman is a Gentile. Someone told me that once in a Newcomer Orientation Class and being the doubting Thomas I am, I looked it up in my trusty Webster’s, and there it was! But I digress.

So one of the big questions for the early church was, could a Gentile become a Follower of the Way (that is what the church was called) without converting to Judaism first? You know, converting to Judaism was no simple matter—there were the food laws, all the other laws in the Torah (the first five books in the Old Testament), to say nothing of that pesky circumcision requirement.

Each side of the argument had its proponents. Those who had been circumcised especially didn’t believe that the other Gentiles could just come into the faith without going through that ritual and they wanted to withhold baptism from them until they had met all the requirements. This was a major decision for the early church.

And whether you realize it or not, the church continues to make such decisions.

For instance, let’s look at our practice of communion. Currently, we have an open table. The invitation reads: "Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another." In our own denomination there is a petition before General Conference to offer communion only to those who have been baptized.

Now, a little tutorial on General Conference: You may know that every four years the United Methodists meet at General Conference to make decisions about our official doctrine and polity which is then reflected in our Book of Discipline. This group of 500 clergy and 500 laity are elected from around the world to represent their region. The Alaska Missionary Conference will elect the two persons who will represent us at the end of this week at our Annual Meeting which this year is being held at Chugiak United Methodist Church.

Many of us are against changing our practice of an open table for all who love God, regardless of their baptismal status. So it will be debated and discussed just as the issue was in the early church regarding Gentiles being received into the community without converting to Judaism first.

The point being that what we teach and believe is not written in stone. It is dynamic. Just as you and I continue to grow in our faith and fine tune our beliefs, so does the church. We continue to be in dialogue with those within our denomination and even in other Methodist communities to try to understand the most faithful way to live in God’s world.

Back to the story from the scripture. In Acts 10:34, Peter begins a sermon to the Gentiles with these words: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears (God) and does what is right is acceptable to (God)." Now talk about Good News!!—God shows no partiality? We’re all equal in God’s sight? There are days that I’m particularly glad that God shows no partiality—those are my humble, repentant days. And then there are my prideful days when I’m hoping God will show just a little partiality to one so deserving as me. Peter believed and taught that anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God. That just is overwhelming to me. It sounds so inclusive and loving.

And evidently the Holy Spirit agreed. The scripture says in verse 44, that "while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues, and extolling God. Then Peter said, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." Maybe not a popular decision with all, but one Peter felt was God’s will.

At St. John, our mission statement is to be a "welcoming family joyfully sharing God’s light." We try to live that out by including everyone who wishes to be a part of our family. One of the founding families in the 60’s was made up of parents who had adopted children of different races. From then until now, we try to be inclusive of all persons regardless of race, life-style, economic status, whatever. Sometimes we succeed and I suspect sometimes we don’t.

Not everyone shares our inclusive outlook however. Last week David received a letter from the pastor in Topeka who has made a career of protesting openness toward gay people. The letter was disturbing and hate-filled and in fact, according to this pastor’s web site, St. John will be picketed at the evening service June 29--Because we are inclusive in our ministry. I didn’t know they cared about us in Topeka.

There are many issues we can debate and discuss and I believe that is how we grow in our faith. But to me, it’s not a matter or being right or wrong, but rather what understanding gives more meaning to your faith.

Friday night our youth presented the musical "Celebrate Life" and did a fine job I might add. One of my favorites from that musical is "In Remembrance": "In remembrance of Me, eat this bread. In remembrance of Me, drink this wine. In remembrance of Me, pray for the time when God’s own will is done. In remembrance of Me, heal the sick. In remembrance of Me, feed the poor. In remembrance of Me, open the door and let your neighbor in. In remembrance of Me, search for truth,. In remembrance of Me, always love. In remembrance of me don’t look above, but in your heart for God.

We can argue with one another until the cows come home about theological beliefs and issues. We can search for better understanding of Jesus’ teaching and God’s will for our lives, but in the final analysis none of that makes much difference. It’s all about love.

The Gospel lesson for today is from John 15. Jesus said, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." Will you love one another? AMEN

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Copyright © 1998-2004 Jon S. Dawson.  Last modified: February 01, 2009

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