Sunday 28th April 2013.
The Collect
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant that, as by your grace going before us you put into our minds good desires, so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect; through Jesus Christ our risen Lord. Amen.
First Reading Acts 11.1-18
The Lesson is written in the eleventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles beginning at the first verse.
The apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’
Here endeth the Lesson.
Gospel John 13.31-35
The holy Gospel is written in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel according to Saint John, beginning at the thirty first verse.
Glory be to thee, O Lord.
During the supper, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’
Sermon.
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. One minute runners were crossing the finish line, exhausted but exhilarated at having completed the Boston Marathon. Family, friends and onlookers were cheering them in. And the next moment there was an explosion; a cloud of flame, smoke and dust; fragments of glass flying though the air; panic. People screaming running everywhere and then another blast. Three people were killed. Another 282 were injured. And the Boston Marathon, the oldest in the world, suddenly became synonymousnot with sporting achievement but with terrorism; with the willingness of two young men to wreak havoc on hundreds of innocent people for reasons that are still unclear.
But this is a tale of two marathons. Not one. The other is not the London Marathon that we know so well and that thankfully went off without incident last Sunday. The other marathon also took place last Sunday but this one was in Bethlehem, in Palestine. It started and finished at the Church of the Nativity. This was the West Bank’s first ever marathon. Around 1000 runners took part. Sadly, they did not include any from Gaza. Twenty two people from the Gaza strip had been hoping to take part. One of them, Nader Masri, had represented Palestine at the Beijing Olympics. But they were denied travel permits by the Israeli Defence Force.
The marathon took place amidst tight security. The runners often ran alongside the 8 meter concrete security wall that divides Israel from the West Bank and hems in much of Bethlehem.
I was in Boston last summer. It’s a wonderful cosmopolitan city which is known for its liberal tolerant values. Like any international marathon, the Boston Marathon is about people from all nations and races and faiths coming together to compete in sport. It’s about breaking down barriers between people. And although Bostonians are clearly scarred by what happened, I get the impression that they are determined not to let the terrorists win. Not to change their open, tolerant culture because of the fear created by two misguided young men.
In Palestine the story is very different. The decades of violence and mistrust have helped to build barriers, physical and otherwise, between people. The Palestine Marathon did not break down many barriers. In fact it just drew attention to them. But it was a start. And hopefully, marathons in future years will help to build trust and understanding. The lessons from Northern Ireland and of Berlin are that barriers have to come down eventually. That people have to learn to live with one another. And tolerate and even celebrate difference. And we pray that that may happen one day in the Holy Land and in the Korean peninsula.
But what has all this got to do with our readings today? Well I think our reading from the Book of Acts is pretty important for our world at the moment. It retells what happened in Acts chapter ten when Peter had a vision. In it, a sheet was lowered from heaven. And on the sheet were various animals that Jews are not allowed to eat. And Peter was told to kill and eat them. And this for him was a powerful sign that the old Jewish laws of kosher and non-kosher, clean and unclean no longer applied. Not just to food but to the whole of life. The new covenant in Jesus Christ was inclusive of all people; circumcised and uncircumcised, male and female; Jews and Greeks. Slaves and free.
After waking from his dream, Peter is invited to come and see Cornelius, a Roman centurion. He is not a Jew but God is clearly at work in his life. God had given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life. No barrier that can be created by human beings or by tradition could impede the work of the Holy Spirit.
And what has all this got to do with us? Well, this week I had time to go and visit the rebuilt St Barnabas Church in Erdington. If you haven’t seen it then I do encourage you to go. I hadn’t been inside the old St Barnabas and I know that some people have struggled to come to terms with the changes.
But I think that what has been achieved is pretty incredible. The church is open every day and on the side of it there is a lovely café with glass walls that look out over the town. And it was the town that really shocked me when I went to visit. I thought that Sutton was having a hard time but Erdington is obviously struggling economically. And I was shocked that I was shocked. Because it’s only a few miles down the road, I go past it in the car and on the train. But I hadn’t quite appreciated how hard things are getting for some people and what sort of bubble I live in here in Sutton. What sort of barriers there are between richer and poorer areas in this country. These divisions are unhealthy. They are unbiblical. And although there is no excuse for violence and terrorism they risk creating environments where these things may develop.
In future years Sutton Coldfield is likely to become more diverse. We may soon have our first Islamic Cultural Centre. We need to work hard at breaking down barriers; getting a better understanding of different faiths; building relationships. If we are to be faithful to that biblical vision of a God who is bigger and more inclusive than we can even imagine.
Jesus understood our deep human tendency to huddle together. To care only for those who are like us; for our nearest and dearest. To build barriers that separate us from those who are different and especially when life gets hard. Jesus understood all this and at his moment of crisis, at the last supper. When he must have been tempted to put up barriers and run away. He did the opposite. He told his disciples to love as he had loved; to be open and vulnerable as he was being open and vulnerable. Jesus told them and he tells us. Love one another. Amen.
Rev’d Dr. Matthew Rhodes.
Area Dean.