Stretching the Boundaries

Devotional Reflection, Thursday, September 12, 2024

Proper 18, the week of the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

15:1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ 2And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.

You will find the full text of today’s Acts reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 983)

AM Psalm 50; PM Psalm [59,60] or 93, 96

Job 29:1,31:1-23; Acts 15:1-11; John 11:17-29

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart. (See below).

David’s Reflections

A few years ago, I was visiting in the home of a seminary classmate in Mississippi. He and I had gone through Th.D. work together and had been rather close friends, but our lives had taken different pathways and we had drifted apart. Now I was an Episcopal priest and he was the pastor of a large urban Baptist church and had drifted to the right theologically. As we sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee, his wife asked me, "David, what's your plan of salvation in the Episcopal Church?" I responded, "The same as yours, faith in Jesus Christ." Her response was incredulous, "Really!!"

Language like "plan of salvation" puzzles many Episcopalians. What she meant was how did we present the Christian message to nonChristians and how did we ask them to respond in order to become Christians? Her perception was that our boundaries were different from those in the Baptist tradition, and she was in part correct, even if the essential message of Jesus' saving love was the same.

The early church was coming to a crisis on the issue of boundaries, and I want to write more at length than normal to talk about it because these issues are central to an understanding of the New Testament and of our own current struggles with diversity. Just  who was in the faith community and who was out?

The backdrop to today’s reading involves large numbers of nonJewish people, Gentiles, being converted and added to the life of the church. Table fellowship, a shared meal that included the Eucharist, was at the center of each Lord's Day worship in house church settings. Those Jews who lived with strict commitments to ritual purity and kosher diet would find it abhorrent to eat at the same table and share the same diet as uncircumcised Gentiles. Even though Jesus had crossed those boundaries in table fellowship in his ministry by sharing ritual meals with unclean Jews, the early church struggled with those boundary distinctions

According to the Acts account, Peter had been led by the Spirit out of his traditional orientation (See Acts 10 for a vivid narrative regarding that struggle) and had shared in table fellowship with the newly converted Gentile Cornelius.  However, other strictly pious Jews who had embraced Jesus by faith descended on the Antioch church contending that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses.

They had precedent on their side. Jesus was a descendent of Abraham come to fulfill a promise of salvation made to him (Genesis 12:1-3). Circumcision was the sign of those who shared in that promise.  Gentiles who desired to share in that promise always had been required to receive circumcision and become Jewish. The coming of Jesus did not change any of that in their minds. However, Paul, a Pharisee himself, had abandoned the orientation that focused on clean vs. unclean (See Philippians 3:1-10 and 1 Corinthians 9). He believed that Christ was the center of Christian faith. To require Jewish ritual observance of Gentiles was to push Christ from the center in favor of Jewish law (The issue addressed in Galatians and in Romans 1-8)

The issues were serious and threatening to the life of the church. In Galatians 2:11-14 Paul had confronted Peter for withdrawing from sharing the common meal with Gentiles at the arrival of Jewish Christians of a strict orientation from Jerusalem. They would not eat with Gentiles and Peter made a pastoral response intended to preserve unity. However, his withdrawal scandalized the Gentile Christians and put pressure on them to accept these ritual laws in order to preserve fellowship with him and other Jewish Christians.  (Paul's version of the conference recorded in today's Acts reading can be found in Galatians 2:1-10. His concern about table fellowship is not reflected in the Acts 15 account.)

Diversity does stretch our understanding of boundaries. These early

pioneers were stretching the boundaries intentionally, seeking in include those who were quite different religiously and culturally. What would your church look like were we to take seriously that challenge? Would we be more diverse ethnically? Would we be more inclusive of the very poor? Would we have more theological diversity?   Would we display more diverse backgrounds in terms of moral and criminal history and sexual preference?

It would demand an incredible, heartfelt, aggressive hospitality for many to feel comfortable enough to allow themselves to be included. Those first century Gentiles must have been shocked at the openness of Paul and Barnabas and the others who reached out to embrace them. Would that people in our context would feel similarly about our openness and embrace of them.

Collect of the Day, Proper 18, the sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts;  for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast in your mercy;  through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  (BCP, 233)

Today we celebrate the Feast of John Henry Hobart, bishop of New York (died 12 Sep 1830 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/JHHobart.htm

Collect of the Feast of John Henry Hobart

Revive your Church, Lord God of hosts, whenever it falls into complacency and sloth, by raising up devoted leaders like your servant John Henry Hobart; and grant that their faith and vigor of mind may awaken your people to your message and their mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A Collect for Protection

O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  (BCP, 124)

For the Parish

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 817)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of

our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)

Daily Office Epistle, Acts 15:1-11

15:1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ 2And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.  3So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. 4When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’

6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. 7After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; 9and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. 10Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?  11On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’

Daily Offices in the Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer