Acts 11:1-18
Laura Collins
May 09, 2004
Jack Haberer is on of the leading conservative pastors in our denomination, the Presbyterian Church, USA. He helped found and lead the Presbyterian Coalition, a conservative organization whose purpose is to make sure that ordination standards in our denomination clearly prohibit openly gay, lesbian and bisexual people from church leadership. In other words, Jack is someone who might be considered an “enemy” of the More Light movement -- the Presbyterians like this church who are actively working for a more inclusive and welcoming denomination.
A few years ago Jack wrote a book called Godviews in which he gives voice to several of the different ways of understanding and approaching God, all valid and Biblically based, which exist within our church. He wrote it as a way to move forward our conversations with each other, not as enemies, but as Christian brothers and sisters with very, very different ways of seeing the world.
Jack opens his book with the experience which led him to write it. He was traveling in the Middle East and after a life-time of Biblical study was thrilled to be witnessing first hand the land where so many of those stories began. In particular he was eager to ascend Mount Carmel, the place where the prophet Elijah had dueled with the prophets of Baal. That Biblical story meant a great deal to him personally, because it represented the triumph of God’s truth over the pagan powers that threatened God’s people. This was a story that resonated deep in his soul, because he felt like he was fighting a similar battle for the soul of his own church -- trying to assure that God’s truth triumphed over the cultural impurities of our day -- specifically acceptance of gays and lesbians in church leadership.
While standing there on Mount Carmel basking in the glorious memories of that great Biblical battle, the tour guide interrupted Jack’s thoughts to point out some other Biblical landmarks visible from the hilltop. One of these was the town of Caesarea, where the story we heard today in Acts took place.
Now let me give you my take on this story in Acts. Peter’s experience in Caesarea, which occurs in chapter 10 and is retold to other disciples as we heard today in chapter 11, is a foundational biblical text for the inclusiveness of the church. Let’s recap what happens: Peter is praying. He sees a vision and in it, non-kosher food is offered to him. Being strictly kosher, he refuses to eat. Three times the food is offered and three times, he refuses. But the voice in the vision says to Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”
What God has made clean, you must not call profane. It is hard to over-emphasize the importance of this message. Peter was not kosher the way some of us eat organically -- you know, we believe in the importance of organic farming and like the taste of fresh organically grown food. No, the decision to live a kosher life was absolutely central to who Peter was as a person of faith. His relationship to God was not a cerebral one, but one that involved every aspect of his living: what he ate and when and where and with whom, when he could work, when he could make love to his wife, how he could treat his employees. Peter’s entire life revolved around these crucial decisions. And they were not crude legalism, but life-giving parameters within which he maintained his covenant with God
His covenantal relationship with God reminded Peter every day to whom he belonged. By having a clear way of living, he had constant reminders of the promises of God. And these promises assured him of God’s steadfast, unconditional, loyal and forgiving love. Keeping kosher was one of Peter’s own grateful, loving responses to a gracious Creator.
Moreover, keeping kosher in a cosmopolitan context like the Roman Empire formed a sense of identity for the Jewish people. In a deeply pluralistic society, kosher living carved a clear path forward in holy, mindful living. Keeping kosher was a way of practicing daily mindfulness.
It may be hard to us to get the depth of this commitment, but let’s try. I know that in this congregation, we have a wide spectrum of beliefs. Many of us aren’t sure who Jesus is for us, some of us differ in how important the Scriptures are. But all of us have something that is a bedrock belief. Something we believe that we’d be willing to fight for. Take a moment now and think. What is one thing that you are sure about when it comes to God or to living a godly life? Just one thing. Maybe it’s the only thing you can say with certainty.
Now hold that thought in your mind. Imagine that you are feeling very spiritually centered. And you are praying and asking God for direction. And in the midst of this prayer, a message comes to you more clearly than any you’ve ever received. And in the message God lets you know that you must set aside that one belief that is the bedrock of your faith. God has work for you to do and you can’t do it while you’re holding on to the one thing that has always kept you on the steady before. You have to let it go.
Can you do it? Maybe the one thing you believe with certainty is that God’s love and mercy extends to every single person, regardless of worldly conditions that make us feel separate and different. And God says to you, I want you to help me, but that belief is going to get in your way. Can you set it aside?
This is the dilemma that faced Peter. Because the moment he got up from prayer, puzzled and troubled by the vision he had received, word came that a Gentile had been praying in Caesarea and wanted Peter to come and teach him about Jesus. Peter was sure that Jesus was the Jewish messiah. That he came for the Jewish people. That to understand Jesus you really had to understand, from the inside out, Judaism and the heart of God’s covenant with the people of Israel. How could a Gentile ever really get God’s covenant with Israel?
But Peter went. And he spoke to Cornelius and all his family and friends. And the Holy Spirit came to them and Peter saw that God’s spirit was alive and real in them. And he said, “Who am I to hinder God?”
Now you can see how this has been used by Christians like me to say, “You see -- God’s spirit will reside in whomever God chooses. You can’t stop where God’s spirit will go. And it is clear that there are many amazing gay and lesbian and bisexual Christians who are full of God’s spirit. How arrogant to think that we can keep them out of the church!”
This is how we More Light types use this text against our brothers and sisters in Christ like Jack Haberer. So let’s go back for a moment to Mount Carmel, where Jack is standing, feeling good about being on the side of God’s triumphant truth, when the tour guide points out Caesarea in the distance. Now, Jack is very Biblically astute and he knows instantly what Caesarea is and what it stands for in our denomination. He realizes that as he is standing on his mountain of truth, he is being asked to look out and recognize that Caesarea is also the truth. That the Biblical vision of inclusiveness is also part of his story. And that those of us who would stake our lives on that vision of inclusiveness are not simply wild-eyed radicals blowing with the cultural winds of the day, but grounded and rooted, deeply believing, gospel-loving people.
And that he has got to find a way to come down from Mount Carmel and meet us in the middle of this Biblical land that embraces both of us. (i)
Now I will confess to you this day, that I don’t completely trust Jack Haberer. I don’t know him personally, but I’ve seen and heard him speak. I know that he continues to act for the exclusion of gay, lesbian and bisexual people in our denomination. But I also know that what he says is true.
That somehow, I, in my bedrock belief in the inclusive love of God and the wild exuberance of God’s Holy Spirit which will not be tied down to what the church is comfortable with, must find a way to allow for the Jack Haberers of the world and more to the point, in our church, to be my brother in Christ.
And I must do this, not so that we can make nicey-nice in the church and pretend like we agree. No, because we disagree so strongly and so fundamentally about the central message of the gospel, we must find a way to make room for each other in this church. Because for reasons that are absolutely beyond my comprehension, God has put us both here. I cannot simply assume that Jack Haberer is a misguided, angry, repressed, right-wing goof, any more than I can allow him to characterize me in such a way. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I don’t want to be caricatured and so I cannot live a life of faith by caricaturing others.
Why is this important? Is it important for the survival of the Presbyterian Church, USA? Well, maybe. But to be honest, saving the church is not my concern. I love this church. I’ve given my life to this church, but saving it from itself does not really interest me all that much.
What does interest me is this: blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
We live in a world that needs us, as Christians, as the church, to be peacemakers. To show God’s power to reconcile in our own lives. To model the possibility of living in peace with people who feel like the enemy. To demonstrate that we understand that God’s spirit is as truly in others as we believe it to be in us.
How dare I sit in this sanctuary and say to Israelis and Palestinians: learn to compromise! Learn to see the other side! Learn to live in peace! How can I dare to say that to the Northern and Southern Sudanese or to the Sunni and Shiite Muslims? How can we dare to make any claims of peacemaking at all if we cannot do it in this most fundamental matter in our own church family? And when I say church family, I don’t just mean the denomination, I mean this congregation.
The plain truth is, we don’t all agree. About homosexuality or inclusive language or multiculturalism or even Jesus Christ himself. And there is no possible way for us to model with integrity how to be peacemakers in the world until we have learned to do it ourselves. Until we have learned to look beyond our bedrock beliefs and see that the Holy Spirit of God does indeed reside in people who do not share those beliefs. Not to look on them with condescension or pity, but with humility and trust that they have something to teach us, if we could dare to listen.
“If God gave them the same gift that God gave us ... who am I that I could hinder God?”
Who am I, that I could hinder God?
(i)Jack Haberer. Godviews: The Convictions that Drive Us and Divide Us. (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001). (Back to text)
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