{"id":1376,"date":"2012-05-10T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2012-05-10T09:57:47","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T13:57:47","slug":"acts-10-44-48-holy-calamity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/05\/acts-10-44-48-holy-calamity.html","title":{"rendered":"Acts 10: 44-48: Holy Calamity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

By Rev. David Lewicki<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

We were warned.<\/p>\n

In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, after a resurrected Jesus leaves the scene for good, the first disciples are hanging out, waiting for God-knows-what. What, exactly, does one wait for after you\u2019ve just seen your dead friend come back to life and eat a piece of fish (Luke 24<\/a>)?<\/p>\n

Watch the Video: Faces of Poverty: A War Veteran<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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After serving in Iraq, a young father returns to Reading, Pa. and battles unemployment as he and his wife fight to get a leg up in a tough economy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Then, she arrives. The Holy Spirit enters, bringing holy calamity. People speak in every kind of language\u2014people from every corner of the Near East, who have no business knowing one another, can suddenly talk like family. Everyone outside the group thinks they\u2019re drunk. But Peter, the group\u2019s leader, has another idea:<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose\u2026. 16
\nNo, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
\n17 \u201cIn the last days it will be, God declares,
\nthat I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
\n and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
\nand your young men shall see visions,
\n and your old men shall dream dreams.
\n21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
\nshall be saved\u201d (Acts 2:15-21, NRSV)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Like I said: we were warned that there would be holy mayhem. At the provocation of this mysterious Holy Spirit, there will be prophesies, visions, and dreams. And by these flights of imagination and forays into the subconscious, we will discover a world in which everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

The Wheels on the Bus Are\u2026 Coming Off<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Book of Acts is often referred to as the story of the Gentile mission. Most of its 28 chapters tell the story of how \u201cThe Way\u201d of Jesus (Acts 24:14<\/a>) expanded from its origins in and around Jerusalem to gain followers all around the Mediterranean. This was no easy feat. To adapt from Jewish into non-Jewish cultures required excruciating growing pains. Did new followers have to be circumcised\u2014as adults? Did they have to follow Jewish dietary customs? None of these questions brought unanimity. I love remembering that good church folks have been fighting with each other since the beginning\u2014it makes today\u2019s church fights seem less threatening. People of faith have always disagreed about the path of integrity. We always will until Jesus comes back to render our debating moot.<\/p>\n

All of this provides important background for what happens in Acts chapter 10. The wheels have already come off the church bus\u2014the darn thing is still hurtling down the highway<\/a>\u2026 but it\u2019s about to split in half.<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a highlight reel:<\/em><\/p>\n

Scene 1:<\/strong><\/u> We meet Cornelius, a Roman army officer. He\u2019s not Jewish, but he respects God deeply, gives to charity, and has a robust prayer life. And he\u2019s having dreams.<\/p>\n

Scene 2:<\/strong><\/u> Peter, the leader of the apostles, is seeing things, too. There\u2019s a white sheet that descends from heaven containing every known animal, clean and unclean. Peter is told to \u201cget up, kill, and eat\u201d (and you thought Jung\u2019s dreams<\/a> were weird!).
\nPeter rebels\u2014what?! I don\u2019t do that! We can\u2019t do that! How will we maintain our religious identity if we don\u2019t separate ourselves by our unique practices?<\/p>\n

Scene 3:<\/strong><\/u> Messengers from Cornelius arrive seeking Peter. Peter is not sure where he\u2019s going, only sure that God is directing him. He\u2019s not driving this bus after all.<\/p>\n

Scene 4:<\/strong><\/u> Peter arrives at Cornelius\u2019 house. The two men talk openly, sharing their dreams.<\/p>\n

Scene 5:<\/strong><\/u> Peter preaches one of the most powerful sermons in history: \u201cI now know that God knows no partiality.\u201d It was a shocking declaration then. Truthfully, it may be just as shocking today for those who have been on the business end of Christianity\u2019s judgment stick\u2014and for those who have wielded it.<\/p>\n

Scene 6:<\/strong><\/u> The Holy Spirit rests on Cornelius and his family, showing everyone that these Gentiles are full members of the family of faith. Cornelius invites Peter to stay the night at his house: hospitality seals their friendship and their kinship.<\/p>\n

Scene 7:<\/strong><\/u> At the beginning of Acts 11<\/a>, Peter tells the Jerusalem disciples his experience with Cornelius. After a (long?) moment of silent shock, a word of praise emerges: \u201cGod has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

God Shows No Partiality. Can We?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re excused if you don\u2019t feel the heat in this passage, if you don\u2019t feel tectonic plates moving under your feet. Our cultural context is far removed. A debate over the religious repercussions of eating pork may feel like small beans.<\/p>\n

But if you don\u2019t stumble over the line \u201cGod knows no partiality,\u201d you\u2019re not paying attention to the jagged edge where the church and the world meet. The very phrase is audacious. NO partiality? Aren\u2019t young people are fleeing churches today in part because churches express too much partiality<\/a>? The church could respond: doesn\u2019t God judge sin? Don\u2019t sinners have to repent to come into the church? Don\u2019t statements in scripture that expressly forbid certain behaviors mean anything?<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

\n

  • Does the church have a right to keep gay men and lesbian women out, given what the Bible says?<\/li>\n

    \n

  • What about young people of faith who acknowledge, through their advocacy of birth control as medical necessity, that they are having non-procreative pre-marital sex? In or out?<\/li>\n

    \n

  • Can the church keep out those who are disruptive of worship\u2014mentally ill men and women\u2026 little children?<\/li>\n

    \n

  • How welcome are returning soldiers in liberal anti-war congregations? How welcome are corporate leaders?<\/li>\n

    <\/br><\/p>\n

    None of us knows exactly what Peter meant when he blurted out, \u201cGod shows no partiality!\u201d He didn\u2019t include a 10-point list of the folks who should be included in faith communities. He didn\u2019t make a Biblical case for his bald assertion\u2014he never says \u201cthose dietary laws in our Scriptures are moot.\u201d He skips over the biblical argument\u2014his only defense seems to be \u201cthe Spirit made me do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

    What Peter did changed the course of Christianity forever. He opened it to the whole world\u2014to you and me, who would never have been welcome if this vision of God\u2019s impartiality had not worked its way through Peter\u2019s\u2014and Cornelius\u2019\u2014active imaginations.<\/p>\n

    When Peter declared, \u201cGod shows no partiality,\u201d he opened the possibility that anyone\u2014everyone\u2014is welcome in the family of faith. He also put us on warning: the rules were changed for you, so that you could come in\u2014who are you, then, to prevent God from blessing the whole human family? Who are you to stand in the way of God\u2019s love?<\/p>\n

    The Spirit is still here. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone. We can\u2019t say that we weren\u2019t warned.<\/p>\n\n

    <\/br> <\/p>\n

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    \"\"<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/br>
    \n<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Rev. David Lewicki We were warned. In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, after a resurrected Jesus leaves the scene for good, the first disciples are hanging out, waiting for God-knows-what. What, exactly, does one wait for after you\u2019ve just seen your dead friend come back to life and eat a piece…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[296,291,290,292,71,300,289,295,298,6,301,299,103,293,47,297,294],"class_list":["post-1376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-scripture","tag-birth-control","tag-book-of-acts","tag-calamity","tag-carl-jung","tag-disciples","tag-exclusiveness","tag-holy-spirit","tag-homosexuality","tag-iraq","tag-jesus","tag-loss-of-faith","tag-partiality","tag-poverty","tag-speed","tag-the-bible","tag-war-veteran","tag-youth"],"yoast_head":"\nActs 10: 44-48: Holy Calamity - ON Scripture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/05\/acts-10-44-48-holy-calamity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acts 10: 44-48: Holy Calamity - ON Scripture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rev. David Lewicki We were warned. In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, after a resurrected Jesus leaves the scene for good, the first disciples are hanging out, waiting for God-knows-what. 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