"Hospitality" Acts 10: 1-33

I am already wondering why I have this sermon title!

Willimon asks the question:  "is this story about the conversion of a gentile or the conversion of an apostle?" to which he answers, "Both."  (Acts from the Interpretation series, 96).

As I work on this sermon, in the background is the ongoing discussion in Presbyterian circles and Jewish circles about whether the Presbyterian Church (USA) is being anti-Semitic in its divestment actions in Israel. Interestingly, Willimon notes that in the time that Acts was written, the question being asked was whether the Jewish off-shoot that was Christianity could opens its doors to include gentiles in the worship of the God of Israel.  Now, the question in our time is whether Christians choose to include Jews among those people with whom God has chosen to be in relationship (93)

I am reminded that the Reformers had a bad reputation among the Anabaptists because of the Reformers refusal to believe that the way in which Anabaptists worshipped and developed theologically was acceptable. in essence, as soon as the Reformers declare their right to be different from the Cahtolic church, they began to attack the Anabaptists for being different from them.

Willimon notes that Luke-Acts understands conversion as less and individualized act than entry into a community.  Conversions are always part of a larger story (Willimon, 102).

Conversion is not for the "smug individual possession of the convert, but rather for the ongoing thrust of the gospel" (Willimon, 103)

Willimon also notes that God is "chief actor in all Lukan accounts of conversion" (103).

i am reminded that in the Presbyterian Church, baptism is an act of God that is done ordinarily in the context of community.