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"Gifts Found In A Spirituality of Imperfection" - Greg
Briggs, Preacher
I. Prologue
A. Bennett, is the mic on?
B. Plan for today's sermon – introductory ideas, then a walk through the
scripture, may ask you some questions along the way and if you don't
understand something, feel free to ask me a question
C. have the scripture open in front of you, Bible or pamphlet        
D. I see today's scripture reading as a journey, a story, and many visions.  
Will tell some other stories to accent the main story of the scripture
E. A disciple once complained, “You tell us stories, but you never reveal heir
meaning to us” Said the master, “How would you like it if someone offered
you fruit and chewed it up before giving it to you?”  No one can find your
meaning for you.  Not even the master.  
i. preaching – teaching vs storytelling – resist the urge to chew for you
ii.  trying to not over chew the food for you, but give you some extra
seasonings
iii. stories, when done well, share an experience in a way the facts alone just
won't do
II. Gifts of the Spirituality of Imperfection
A. open ended spirituality – our spirituality as a journey.  Growth, building up
are other good metaphors
B. pervasive spirituality – found in everything.  
C. Most of the supplemental stories come from Spirituality of Imperfection
III. Power of journey
A. Billy's path – read it and have them look at the picture
B. not getting to where you expect in a straight line
i. one way to interpret today's story is that Peter ends up where he didn't
expect to go, both with the vision that is given to him, and to Cesearea to
see someone he didn't expect
C. easy to confuse aimless wandering (meandering) with a journey
D. journey originally meant distance traveled in one day  “How was your
journey?”  Taking multiple journeys at the same time
E. no “shortcuts”
F. if you are lucky, you get some sort of a map, but as the map of what Billy
did coming home, and what Billy's mom expected him to do to come home,
that map may change by who's looking at it
G. journey does not equal scheduled trip.  It isn't an itinerary, and it isn't
aimless wanderings
IV. Power of pervasive spirituality – when you hear stories
i. transforming the extraordinary to ordinary, and ordinary to extraordinary
ii. expanding the story to a new context – as we will see today
iii. today's scripture illustrates the power of a pervading spirituality in a story
V. Acts 11:1-18
VI. Backstory – Acts is the story of what the apostles did to help found the
church after the resurrection of Jesus.  An Easter story during Lent?
i. Today's scripture reading is Peter's telling the story of what happen in Acts
10, how Cornelius, a centurion (commander of 100 roman soldiers) was given
a vision by God to bring Peter to his house
ii. One of the first stories of conversion of a Gentile.  And a powerful one at
that.  The story of Peter's vision went against the Jewish understanding of
the relationship with God
VII. Verses 1-3
A. Words gets around.  Wasn't a formal announcement, but hearing things
B. “why did you go with THEM and EAT with them...(the undeserving)” -  Ask
congregation who can we picture as being the undeserving today?
C. The issue isn't that they were converted, it's that he ate with them.  Their
food.  Believing in Jesus didn't make them convert to Judaism?  Threatens
the church as it was.
VIII. Verses 4-10  
A. Peter breaks it down, bit by bit.  So let's do the same.
B. Saw a vision – not a decision of his own – gift from God.  Doesn't try and
reason it out, just tells the story.
C. In Acts 10, they say it was during noon, time to prep for the mid day
meal.  So Peter was hungry.  Visions relate to need.  
D. This story is a big one, the overturning of Jewish food laws in
Christianity.  
E. Let's take a second and imagine what this was like for Peter.  It is a central
key to Jewish identity.  It's not just giving up something for Lent, but food
that is repulsive, things that he couldn't even imagine eating.  
F. What might some modern equivalent animals be today?  Snakes?  
Wolves?  Our pets?  The food scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom – monkey brains, beetles, etc.
G. it's one thing to talk about someone offering you fruit and then chewing it
for you, but it's something wholly different when you are offered a juicy
beetle instead.  Sometimes, the best we can do is to try just a little taste
i. For Peter, it is a major re-ordering of  life.  In terms of food, the closest
analogy I can come up with is being vegetarian, and that's not even close.  
Tell story of living with my Grandmother during CPE.  But this affected where
you could travel, who you could interact with, and so on.  We might view it
as being freeing, but I imagine it was more like chaos to Peter.  
H. Peter refused 3 times – for emphasis or to echo when he denied knowing
Jesus 3 times?
i. Limitations of culture in conflict with the expansive demands of faith
ii. went despite his hesitations
iii. this is clearly one of those Billy-type veers off of the path that Peter
thought he was to follow.  
I. “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  Good scripture to
live by
IX. verses 11-18
A. At that very moment...  making a clear link to the immediacy of God's
power
B. not to make a distinction between them and us.  It was breaking Jewish
law to socialize or enter the house of a Gentile.  Similar to Jesus going to the
home of a tax collector.  
C. Cornelius also had a vision.  Coordinated visions.  
D. In Acts 10, Peter says explicitly that God has told him to not call any
person profane or unclean.  
E. The story was persuasive and transformed their understanding of God's
expectations for them, yet we don't get a lot about the reaction of the
group.  It's one thing to experience this, but it's another to hear this and
believe.   I imagine some had to sit with it a bit.  Change to the community
might come gradually.    
F. I wonder if anyone left the community because of this.  It's not in the text,
but I suppose it's possible.  Of course, what could have happened is that
there was a spiritual re-ordering in their head.  
G. Last week we talked about being a more open church, welcoming
alcoholics and others who might have felt pushed away by the image of a
perfect and pure church.  
H. I find myself wondering what it was like for this church to become ONA.  I
wonder what it has been like in other struggles that have split churches –
women pastors, interracial marriage, ending slavery.  I wonder what is to
come next.  How this church will change in the coming years as we deal with
money issues, people leaving the state to find work, people who can't leave
the state to find work, and things I can't imagine.  But what I can imagine is
that by telling our stories, whether from the Bible, or our church's history, it
will help us with what will come next
X. Close with Baal Shem Tov story
A. Once some disciples of the Baal Shem Tov approached him and asked:
“Why do you answer all questions by telling a story?  Why do you always tell
stories?”  The disciples then steeled themselves, certain that, true to the
tradition, the Baal Shem Tov would necessarily answer such questions about
story with a story.  But the Baal Shem Tov, after a loving, lingering pause,
responded: “Salvation lies in rememberance.”