Weekly Sermon

"Welcome Home" - September 8, 2002

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Geneva Presbyterian Church

Acts 10:34-44

Before I read the scripture, let me take a minute to explain the setting. We are studying The Acts of the Apostles, which is the story of the early church. In the middle section of Acts, we hear a series of stories about conversions as the word of Jesus Christ spreads. In the spring, we discussed the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch. Next, we learned about Paul's conversion. The first part of chapter 10 is the story of Cornelius, a Roman officer, who receives a vision telling him to find Simon Peter. Cornelius' servants are traveling to Simon Peter in Joppa, when Peter has a dream. He sees something like a large sheet covered with all kinds of creatures. A voice tells him to get up and eat. When Peter says that he won't eat foods that are unclean, the voice answers, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane." While Peter was trying to understand what this meant, the men sent by Cornelius arrived. The Spirit tells Peter to go with them. He arrives in Caesarea, where he is greeted by a crowd of Gentiles. He says to them, "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 asks Cornelius why he summoned him. Cornelius answers that he had a vision telling him to send for Simon Peter. This is where our passage begins. Acts 10:34-44 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ-he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. Prayer: Gracious God, May the Holy Spirit fall upon us, opening us to this your Word in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. As I studied this passage, I became more and more excited. Here in ten short verses we have the gospel clearly laid out. It is as complete a statement of faith as you can find in the scriptures. Quite frankly, I could probably preach a whole series of sermons on these ten verses, but instead, I'll try to give you one good sermon. Let me lift up just three points. First, Peter begins by affirming that God shows no partiality. All are welcome who fear God. Second, in Christ we have the model of a Godly life: a life doing good and healing. Third, we, that is you and I, are the witnesses who eat and drink with the Lord because we gather around him at the communion table. We are the witnesses of his presence in the world today. The fact that God shows no partiality is a good news/bad news piece of information. On the good news side, it is encouraging that we are accepted and surrounded by God's love and grace. That is like finding out that you made the team. It's exciting and challenging; our place is reserved. We will get a seat. On the bad news side, God shows no partiality. Although we are unique, we aren't joining an exclusive club. It is painful for us to accept that all God's people aren't really our kind of people. We would prefer to close the door behind us. It is a very difficult issue. It seems natural to want to be with people who are like us, but the gospel calls us to stretch beyond our comfort zone, to reach out. In the June issue of Presbyterians Today, I read the story of Howard Wall of Rockingham, North Carolina. He wrote: "At the school where she was teaching, my wife met a bewildered little boy dressed in a T-shirt, short pants, and flip flops, on the coldest morning of that November. He was a member of a refugee family from Laos. We quickly formed a committee to work with the several families of refugees. "When 25 of them started attending our church, some church members complained to presbytery that I was ruining their church. The presbytery committee told me I was a troublemaker, and that I would have to leave. "I was down in the basement, lamenting that 25 years as a full-time minister were ended, that I had no home for my family, no work, no income. I looked up at a picture of Christ and angrily asked, 'What more do you want?' "I heard his answer, 'What more do you have?' "I had to smile and reply, 'You got it.'" [Howard Wall, "What more do you have?" Presbyterians Today, Louisville, KY, June 2002, p. 18] When Peter says, "God shows no partiality," it is not all good news. It means welcoming all kinds of people into the church, the body of Christ. The second point I want to lift up is the model of Christ's life. Peter says, "He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed." This is another radical idea. We stand convicted. What good have we done this week? What healing have we nurtured? Doing good and bringing healing are inconvenient. Few of us have the disposition to do good all the time. I think that disposition to do good was a distinguishing mark of Trish Royston, a long-time member of Geneva. Her kindness was so natural that you never felt any condescension. I'll never forget when Trish's friend Deb spoke at Trish's funeral. She began by saying, "Trish and I were a match made in heaven. Trish loved helping to solve problems and I always had plenty of problems I needed help solving." Doing good and bringing healing came naturally to Trish, but the rest of us have to work at it. In that same issue of Presbyterians Today, Katherine Dunlap of Charlotte, North Carolina tells a revealing story filled with grace. "It happened at a cocktail party early in the fall of 1983. I was trying to impress D.G. Martin, a candidate for Congress, with intelligent small talk. I remembered that D.G. was an elder at a racially integrated mission church in downtown Charlotte. 'What can I do to help?' I queried. I expected D.G. to suggest a volunteer assignment. I was even prepared to donate a little money. I was not prepared for his request. 'Come worship with us,' he asked. "For me, at this moment, time stood still. I heard-or felt-the voice of God calling me to worship at Seigle Avenue Church. 'I don't want to do,' I pleaded. I had been attending Myers Park Church for nearly a decade. 'Go,' insisted the voice again. Like Jonah in the belly of the big fish, I tried to bargain with God. 'Give me until Epiphany, and I will go for one year,' I pleaded. I really believed I could set the terms of my call. "The minister's welcome was the only warm thing about that January day, my first Sunday. To conserve meager funds, the furnace had not been turned on and the lights were dark. There were only seven people in the sanctuary for the service-seven including the minister, pianist, and choir. "And so my new life in Christ began. Listening to members of the neighboring public housing project, I learned to pray. Together, we visited the sick and elderly. We encouraged lapsed members and potential friends. We moved the Sunday school program to Wednesday nights to attract more children, and we brightened the sanctuary with candles and flowers. My faith moved from the intellectual to the practical as I tried to become a servant leader. "Today Seigle Avenue Church is thriving. Membership has topped 400, and the campus has been expanded to include a new community life center." [Ibid., p.16-17] Katherine Dunlap didn't want to confuse worship with doing good, but somehow the Lord called her to mix them all up together. She found that doing good and bringing healing meant welcoming all kinds of people into the house of the Lord. The final thing I want to emphasize is that we are the witnesses who eat and drink with Christ. We gather around him at the communion table and experience his presence. Years ago when I was working in New Jersey, I led a service and celebrated communion in a nursing home every month. Most of the residents were beyond knowing what was happening. We would sing the old hymns-I always took a few choir members to help-then I would read the scripture and give a three or four minute homily. After that I would serve them communion. Since most of them were in wheelchairs, I would break the bread, dip it in the juice and place it in each one's mouth. I would say, "This is the bread of heaven, and this is the cup of salvation, thanks be to God." At the moment when I would serve communion, vacant stares would disappear. Our eyes would connect and I knew that they felt Jesus with them. In that moment, they witnessed to me. I received their testimony, their witness. Thanks be to God! In their presence, I understood that we are all welcome in the house of the Lord. In the Washington Post, they have a wonderful feature called "Life Is Short: Autobiography as Haiku." My husband, John, pointed one out to me from last Sunday. It read: "I don't work anymore. Arthritic, poor health and age have changed my life. But a child needs me. He is bright, not stupid or retarded, as schoolchildren call him. He is sensitive and caring, not bad and in need of detention, as the school officials said. He is a special-needs child, with ADHD, Tourette's syndrome and other psychological problems. So we struggle with home schooling, teaching with love and patience, trying to give him a chance in life. The public school system has failed him, but I can't. I'm Grandma. I don't work anymore." Audrey Riley, Chantilly. Society can fail the children, the elderly, the lonely, the lost, but we can't. We're the body of Christ, the church. We can't fail them because God shows no partiality and neither can we. Welcome home, people of God! Amen.