May 2, 2010 Peter's Vision

John 13: 31-35
Acts 11: 1-18
How Odd, the occasions and seasons of the year, we have chosen to celebrate as Orthodox, and those we avoid?
We know of Noah from a time before recorded history, saving a remnant of the world 2 x 2 to replenish & fulfill. We recall Abram and Sarai who were unable to conceive, who wandered the earth as nomads with God, receiving Covenant Commandments to live as Circumcised and Kosher, with the names Abraham & Sarah.
We remember Moses going up the mountain to receive the 10 Commandments, and the peoples' Golden Calf .
We know the Contest of Elijah and Jezebel commanding Lightning to prove the True God. When is the last time you needed to command lightning to come from heaven? But when he had seen miracles he still looked for more and God asked “What are you doing here Elijah?” We recall all about Ancient Israel's King David & Solomon.
At harvest time, we gather for a feast, a great meal of abundance, giving thanks to God: Thanksgiving.
Family and friends return from all the world to light candles and sing of innocence and God's birth: Christmas.
Wisemen came bearing gifts, The 12th Night of Christmas, we remember as: Epiphany. We even have names, ethnicity and ages for the Wisemen: Caspar, Balthazar and Melchior, though these are not in the Bible!
We burn the branches of the palms of the year before, marking ourselves and one another with ashes for atonement and begin 40 days of fasting and prayer: Lent
Though not indigenous to this place, we ship in Palm branches to cover the floor, to wave shouting Hosanna!
We recognize the Last Supper, the Passover, where all whom he trusts abandon the Savior: Maundy Thursday.
Jesus' suffering and death as Capital punishment for the sins of the world: Good Friday 3 days later: Easter.
40 Days after when the Resurrected Christ goes to heaven to sit at the Right hand of God: Ascension Day.
The 50th Day after Easter, when the Holy Spirit Blew upon and threw the disciples, calling them out to hear people from every corner of the world and to respond to them in the birth of the Church: Pentecost.
But the Scripture passages for this day, rarely are read, even more un-commonly applied.
Perhaps less complicated than testing every bulb and wrapping our homes in electric light.
We could refer to this as the Celebration of Foods we do not like to eat! Declaring: “God has No distinction!”
Perhaps of ending Prejudice, Or of serving one another as we were loved.

We have sought to prescribe a series of holidays and seasons which reinforce identity: who we are.
As a culture, to all give thanks to God; to all have Laws and Commandments basic to human society (Honoring your parents, Thou shalt not Kill or Steal or Lie or Envy); as a Society to all acknowledge the death of the Savior and Resurrection, to recognize the birth of the Christian Church, ANNUALLY RECOGNIZING THESE makes them common, anticipated, safe. Show me, where in all of Scripture is it written: We are to be SAFE?
We are to be Visionaries! We are to Dream Dreams, to challenge preconceptions and Serve, without reservation.

Three separate times, Simon Peter saw a Vision. A Great sheet being let down from heaven by the corners.
Inside the sheet, all prepared for us, were every kind of creature.
To understand this, we need first to know that the Kosher Laws of the Circumcised were that you could eat Beef and Lamb and Mutton, creatures with a hoof, but not camel or goat or pig or monkey, which like us have toes. Few recall why Abram was instructed to do so, whether the Kosher Laws and Laws of Circumcision were for hygiene, to prevent disease, but the identity of the people of faith, the identity of the culture was that when intimate with others in sharing a table and in marriage, when living in the midst of foreign peoples, was to be separate, to be uncommon.
Peter's vision emphasized that if all we are doing is being different, being separate, it is as if claiming half of God's creation is Good and half Evil, rather than recognizing All is Created by God. Rather than focusing upon the differences and distinctions that separate us, as a Community of Faith Christianity needed to recognize that everyone has done wrong, and everyone could be redeemed.

There is a wonderful shift here. Throughout the Gospels Peter was the one who without any evidence, when everyone was filled with fears would leap to make conclusions. Jesus asked all the disciples “Who do you think that I am?” and they were reasonably confused, but Peter leapt to say “You are the Christ, the Son of the Most High!” The disciples saw Jesus walking on Water, and Peter wanting to imitate Jesus stepped out of the boat and began to drown! At the Last Supper, Jesus described that everyone would abandon relationship, and Peter professed “Not I!” Yet here, the Sheet appears and Peter does not understand. A Voice from heaven says Kill and Eat, and Peter says NO. They same voice says “What God has given as a Gift shall not be described as Profane.” The Vision happened in this way three times, before Peter accepted it, and still he did not understand. The next day, he is taken to the home of a Roman Soldier, not only a Non-Jew, Un-Circumcised, Non-Kosher, part of the Roman Legion, part of the Empire of Rome Cornelius was the antithesis of everything that represented the Community of Faith to Peter, and yet Cornelius asked to be Baptized.

We have this common understanding about Conversion, that you come to Faith Once, and provided it happens before the person is dead, the friends and relatives and community cry out “Thank God!” But like the Vision coming in several parts repeatedly until Peter accepts, then still challenging him as he makes application and afterward when challenged about what he has done in faith Peter risks challenging others with what he believes, Faith is not a linear equation, with one simple answer. Faith is circuitous and tends to come to each of us, over and over again.

John's witness to the Sacrament of the Last Supper is un-common. Because where each of the other Gospels and the Book of Acts and the Letters describe this is the Body of Christ, this is the Cup of the New Covenant, John describes simply that they shared the meal. John's emphasis is instead of the humble service Jesus offers in welcoming his guests, and explaining that as I served you, you now need to serve one another.