Roger Lynn
May 19, 2019
Anyone who has ever watched Star Trek (and many who have never seen the show) will recognize the line which began each episode – “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” It was not a mission for the timid. It was not something they could do halfway. Their mission required courage as they ventured into uncharted territory. It required understanding and acceptance as they encountered new life and new civilizations.
All in all, it sounds a lot like the mission to which we have been called as Christians. The challenge which is laid before us is to reach out with open arms, sharing the good news of God’s love and acceptance with all whom we encounter. It is not a mission for the timid and it requires nothing less than our whole-hearted commitment. Such a mission runs counter to much of our cultural tendencies and our personal inclinations. We often fear that which is different and unfamiliar. It is easier to follow rules which divide and exclude than it is to embrace the diversity which is all around us. It feels safer to live behind walls than to risk venturing into the unknown. But the Christ whom we seek to follow never hid behind walls and never allowed fear to prevent him from reaching out to the world with love. In the passage which we read just a few moments ago from John’s Gospel, Jesus declares what could easily be described as the heart of his mission and his message. “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.” (John 13:34-35) Notice that he did not say, “Love one another if they look like you and act like you and live in the same neighborhoods you do and believe the same way you do and worship the same way you do.” He did not say, “Love one another if they love you back.” He did not say, “Love one another when it is easy and convenient and won’t cost you very much.” He simply said, “Love one another.” In fact, it can be argued that it is this quality that most clearly defines what it means to be followers of Christ.
The Apostle Peter struggled with this foundational principle as he sought to follow Christ. He had spent several years walking with Jesus, listening to his teachings, watching him relate with people, learning about his vision for the what life could be like. In the earliest days of the Church, Peter emerged as one of the central leaders. But it was a Church which was still firmly rooted in and defined by the Jewish faith. So it was a significant departure from the comfortable and the familiar when Peter found himself being called to share a meal with Cornelius, who was a non-Jewish Gentile. You see, one of the central tenants of Peter’s faith as a Jew was the prohibition against sharing table fellowship with people who were not Jewish. Any kind of intimate interactions (and eating together was understood to fit into this category) were seen as a threat to maintaining the purity of the faith. So Peter was actually being true to his faith and his understanding of scripture when he protested. But God refused to be limited by restrictions and prohibitions and even scripture, no matter how well-intentioned. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” (Acts 11:9) Peter came to see that God was at work in the life of Cornelius and his household. “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?” (Acts 11:17) And so it was the Peter responded to the call to boldly go where he had not gone before. He shared a meal with Cornelius and one more barrier was torn down.
2,000 years later we are still being called to boldly go where no one has gone before. And we are still discovering walls which need to be torn down. We follow the Christ who said, “Love one another,” but it is easy to fall into the trap of limiting and restricting that ideal. Some of the barriers which divide and separate us from each other and from God are built out of tradition, some out of cultural expectations, and some are even built out of scripture. We prefer to think of ourselves and the Church as open and accepting, but we dare not ignore the barriers when we become aware of them, because God continues to call us to move beyond them into the brave new world of inclusivity and diversity.
For Peter it was Gentiles. Who is it for us today that we find it hard to accept? Where are the walls God is calling us to break down? To some extent the answer to such questions will be different for each of us. We all have our own set of limitations to overcome and frontiers of growth to discover. I would invite you to be alert and vigilant for those areas in your life which serve to divide rather than unite, to separate rather than bring together. But there are also barriers which we maintain collectively. Sometimes we do so overtly and intentionally. There are times when we even use scripture to maintain such barriers, believing that we are being faithful. At other times we do so subtly and unconsciously, unaware of what we are doing. But in either case, Christ’s command to “love one another” remains unfulfilled. Whether the differences are economic or political or religious or racial or related to gender identity or sexual orientation or anything else we might conceive to divide us, God is calling us to boldly go beyond our differences.
Near the end of the book of Revelation, John of Patmos hears God declaring a bold new reality. In fact, it is the same reality which has always been in the mind of God. But we human beings often manage to lose sight of this reality so completely that it must be declared again as new. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them as their God; they will be God’s peoples, and God will be with them.’ . . . And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ ” (Revelation 21:3&5) May we join God in making all things new as we move beyond our differences and choose instead to love one another. May we dare to risk going boldly where we have not gone before – into a world where love defines the essential nature of our reality.
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