Reflections on "A New Worldview" Acts 10: 1-44

I'm not sure I actually figured out what was at the heart of this portion of the "ministry of members," but I did end up with a sermon!

“A New Worldview” Acts 10:23-44; SAPC, Denton; July 24, 2022;  Richard B. Culp 

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at his feet, worshipped him. ²⁶But Peter made him get up, saying, ‘Stand up; I am only a mortal.’ ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled; ²⁸and he said 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. ²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I ask why you sent for me?’

30 Cornelius replied, ‘Four days ago at this very hour, at three o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling clothes stood before me. ³¹He said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. ³²Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.” ³³Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.’

34 Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. ³⁷That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: ³⁸how 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. ³⁹We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; ⁴⁰but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, ⁴¹not 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. ⁴²He 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. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’

44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. ⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, ⁴⁶for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’ ⁴⁸So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Introduction: We continue reflecting on what the Book of Order calls, the “ministry of members,”  remembering that the expectations we have of members reflect what it means to be a disciple of Christ and a member of the body of Christ. 

 In other words, anyone listening in or here in person, not just members of St. Andrew, is invited to explore how we all can grow in our discipleship.

This week, we reflect on how we demonstrate “a new quality of life within and through the church, " (G-1.0304, Book of Order).

this story in Acts gives us two examples of people — Cornelius and Peter - who are called to a new quality of life.  As we explore their stories, perhaps we can gain some insights into our own lives and the work of the church. 

Move 1: Two people have come to a new understanding of what they should do with their lives.

a.  Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort,

1.  A centurion was commander of a company of one hundred men in the Roman army, responsible for their discipline, both on the field of battle and in camp.  

Cornelius was a centurion in the Italian Cohort, the Cohors II Italica Civium Romanorum, a cohort of the Roman army formed of citizens from the province of Italy.

 Cornelius was a military career man, well-paid, and generally noted for courage and competence. (https://forallsaints.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/cornelius-the-centurion-5/

In other words, Cornelius was a foreigner, a man of authority, used to commanding people.

2.  Cornelius was also a Roman citizen, with all its privileges

3.  in his religious life,   he was not a Jew, but he had come to believe in the God of the Jews.

4. He gave his offering back to God.

5.  Cornelius was a well-respected, religious man.

6. But he was not a follower of Christ;  he had not come to believe in the resurrected christ whom Peter preached.

b. then there is Peter.

1.  One of Jesus’ closest disciples.

2. He was the one Jesus said would be the “rock on which the church would be built”

he was the one who betrayed Jesus three times

he was the one the resurrected Christ told  to “feed my sheep”

And he had been doing that.  His whole life was committed to sharing with others about the resurrected Christ.

3. If the others were Jewish.

He came out of the Jewish tradition and understood Jesus as the Messiah who had come to save the Jews.

4. Gentiles were not part of the target group.

they were outsiders, meant to be left on the outside.

c. Two men, at pretty good places in their lives.  

1.  They had it together and knew what they were supposed to do.

2. Until, until God decides they need to change.

They were being called to reflect the new quality of life that came with following the resurrected Christ.

3.  For Cornelius, it meant not just saying he believed in the God of the Jews, but in giving his life over to following the Risen Christ.

4. For Peter, it meant giving up his whole understanding of who God sent Christ to save and opening up the possibilities to include Gentiles.

Transformation in the works!

Move 2:  What can we learn from Cornelius and Peter being called a new quality of life

a  big shift

1.  I do not want to be overly dramatic, but the new worldviews Cornelius and Peter adopt reveal significant shifts.

2. Not just a surface change, but changing their whole understanding of who they are and what God is calling them to be and do.

3.  I had a friend who approached banking a bit differently than most.  this was back in the days before online banking, automatic withdrawals, Quicken, and Venmo. Back when most people painstakingly balanced their checkbooks each month after receiving a statement from the bank in the mail.

My friend either wasn’t very good at balancing the bank account, or she just didn’t want to do it.  So she began this pattern of banking -  For a few months after opening her account, she would be able to make some sense of her bank statements, but each month a few more unreconciled problems became part of her bank statement. Apparently, at about six months these past mistakes would become too cumbersome to handle so she would...close the account and move to a new bank.   this went on for For four years of undergraduate and three years of law school - roughly 14 banks - a good thing Austin had lots of banks!

this was surface change - she moved banks, but never changed how she did things.

Peter and  Cornelius are being called not to just make surface changes but to actually redirect how they lived their lives and how they understood their relationship with God.

2. I love how Ann Lamott describes God coming into our lives and calling us to be new creations.  She writes ann Lamott, Bird by Bird, p. 167: “When you ask God into your life, you think God is going to come into your psychic house, look around and see that just need new floor or better furniture, or that everything needs a little bit of cleaning, so you go along for the first six months thinking how nice life is not that God is there.  Then you look out the window one day and you see there is a wrecking ball outside.  It turns out that God actually thinks your whole foundation is shot and you’re going to have to start all over.” 

3.  Many of us hear this message today after working on our lives of discipleship for many years.

4. it is hard to hear and comprehend this message of taking on a  new quality of life.  

5. We think - "I've already done that!"

6.  So here’s my challenge - if you look to God and ask for God’s guidance, and all you hear is God saying do exactly what you have been doing, maybe look and listen again.

And, if you still need help, ask a prayer partner or someone in your small group what they are seeing.

7. The God of resurrection is not done with you or God’s work through you in the world.

8.  If you read or hear the news and think, “Wow, there are a lot of challenges in this world,” then you better be ready for God to call you to new understandings in order to use your o deal with those challenges.

9. Discipleship is not standing pat.

Discipleship is moving forward following God’s call, which seldom is to do the same old thing.

b.  We also notice that this new quality of life involves ongoing transformation.

1.  Cornelius -  Roman soldier; a believer in the god of the Jews; alms giver; now he’s being called to be a disciple of the resurrected Christ.  

Tradition has it that Cornelius would later travel with Peter to share the gospel and then become the second bishop of Caesarea.

not just one change in life but a life of ongoing change.

2.  Peter - fisherman; disciple; betrayer; evangelizer of Jews; now being called to recognize God’s desire for all people to come to know and follow the resurrected Christ.

Not just one change in life, but a life of ongoing change.

4.  discipleship is not a world of one and done - one change, and we are done.

 

5. Discipleship is about discovering that new quality of life, and rediscovering it, and then doing it again.

Move 3: Notice that the ministry of members ties this new quality of life to our work as the church.

We are called to demonstrate a new quality of life “Within and through” the church

a. In other words, the church is both the place of change and the vehicle for change.

1.  that changing worldview we hear God call us to have is reflected in our work as the church.

2. St. Andrew, or any other church that makes up the body of Christ, cannot just hang on to who we were.

3. God demands we change in order to do our work in the world as the body of Christ.

b.  Sometimes the change is thrust upon us.

1.  Our Daily Bread is leaving our campus for a wonderful new facility on the Loop.

2. Does that mean that now St. Andrew can relax and say, “Wow, that was g great thing we did for 20+years?” 

3. No, it means we need to be exploring the new life to which God is calling us.

4. New ways of engaging the community that reveal God’s presence and love.

c. As the world changes and faces new challenges, God has sent us to meet those challenges.

1.  It will probably involve a new understanding of our calling in the particular place.

2.  It may mean discovering new insights about the God whom we proclaim.

3.  It undoubtedly means being changed ourselves.

d. No easy task.

1. But like Peter, we turn to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and follow where the Spirit sends us.

2.  Always, always in the name and by the power of the resurrected Christ.

Conclusion:  

 

Reflections on “Showing Up” I Corinthians 12: 14-31

It was a shorter sermon than normal due to our having a hymn sing during the first part of worship.  The focus on participating in the common life and worship was implicitly lifted up by the singing of familiar hymns.  They would not be familiar if we have not been in worship through the years singing them.

The first section of the sermon continues to be a question before the leadership of the church as we struggle to understand who makes up the church membership after Covid and how we extend the church's presence in the lives of some who are not living in our geographic area.  We have not engaged that well enough yet.

 “Showing Up” I Corinthians 12: 14-31; SAPC, Denton; July 10, 2022;  Richard B. Culp 

¹⁴Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ¹⁵If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. ¹⁹If all were a single member, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many members, yet one body. ²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²²On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; ²⁴whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, ²⁵that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ²⁸And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? ³⁰Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? ³¹But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

Introduction: We continue reflecting on what the Book of Order calls, the “ministry of members,”  although we recognize that our call to membership is tied to our call to discipleship.

”Taking part in the common life and worship of a congregation" (G-1.0304, Book of Order);

Move 1:  We, perhaps, reflect on that ministry in different ways given the past two years of discovering the challenges and opportunities that come from being apart intentionally due to the pandemic.

a.  For example, we have had a strong commitment to trying to build community by having an Advent or Lent project for every family to do at home.

1. Those front porch deliveries and the sand that spilled on your carpet or the cubes you had to read directions to figure out how to use were more than just some crazy pandemic idea some committee dreamed up with too much time on their hands.

2.  They were provided so there would be a sense of connection, a sense that we were taking part in the common life of the church together.

3. Even so, those who join on the live stream, not in driving distance missed out on that opportunity.

b.  How do we expand our sense of the common life to take into account a church community where people zoom into Sunday school and live stream worship?

1. I know for a fact that joining us for worship today are members of this congregation who could not be here for a variety of reasons;  

We also have people who have made St. Andrew their home for worship even though they do not even live in the area.

2. When Paul describes an ear and a nose, it suggests proximity.

3. what does it mean if the eye and ear, make up a body that stretches beyond a 15-minute drive to St. Andrew?

4. how are we finding ways for people to take part in the common life and worship if they are not here each Sunday?

c.  If we understand our task as equipping our members for ministry, that taking part in the common life means being equipped for ministry, then what does that look like in an expanded community or for those who no longer come to the physical building we call St. Andrew?

1.  Does it mean that as we talk about HFH build here in Denton, we encourage those not in this area to join with HFH in their area?

2. Does it mean that as we talk about ODB, we also invited people to be involved in feeding ministries wherever they live?

3.  As I have been reflecting, I have been reminded of an older woman in the church I served in OH.  

when I arrived, she was primarily home-bound with her husband who was very sick and could not get out.

  As I visited in people’s homes and met different members, I kept hearing her name.

she was not the ears or the nose, but more the mouth.

Or, really, the connective tissue of that congregation.

4.  Jesus was always expanding the boundaries, so it seems to me that as we speak of the joining in the common life of the body of Christ, we need to expand our understanding of the geographical reach of the body.

Move 2:  Singing hymns reminds me of how joining together, participating in worship and VBS, and Sunday School gives us opportunities to be exposed to and learn 

a.  Like many of you,

1. Singing together.

2. Learning.

3. A few years ago during Lent, we used the same hymn each week for the opening hymn.

4.  A mother of one of our young disciples sent us a video of her daughter singing the hymn in her car seat as they were driving down the road.

5.  a learned response from participating in the common life and worship of the church.

b.   Robert Putnam and Lewis Feldstein, better Together (291):  “Again and again, we find that one key to creating social capital is to build in redundancy of contact.  A single pitch is not enough, whether you are preaching unionization or Christian salvation.  Common spaces for commonplace encounters are prerequisites for common conversations and common debate.  Furthermore, networks that intersect and circles that overlap reinforce a sense of reciprocal obligation and extend the boundaries of empathy.”

1.  Going to SS and then seeing someone in worship and then volunteering with them at the habitat house.

2.  or, zooming into SS and then sharing worship on live stream, and then emailing someone on the prayer list.

3. The redundancy of contacts creates opportunities for relationships.

4. Sharing in the common life builds community and creates opportunities for us to serve in the world.

Move 3:  Common life and worship

a.  IN the pastors’ class we are finishing up a study of Revelation.

1.  Throughout Revelation, there are images of worship - images of heavenly worship and also the call for God’s people to be in worship.

2. no surprise -throughout the biblical story God’s people are called to worship.

3. We remember that when Moses goes to Pharaoh and ask Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery, Moses says they want to be freed so they can worship God.

4. The first thing they do when they get into the Promised Land is worship God.

5. Jesus’ first public declaration of who he was takes place in the synagogue as he reads from the prophet Isaiah.

b.  Amid the various ecclesial, ethical, and liturgical reforms of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther was once asked to describe the nature of true worship His answer: the tenth leper turning back. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=783, David Lose, Mount Olivet Lutheran Church Minneapolis, Minn.

1. Turning back to give God thanks and praise.

2.  Part of our calling as disciples of Christ, as members of the body of Christ.

Conclusion:  Participating in the common life and worship.