Acts 9: 36-43
Psalm 23
Revelation 7: 9-17
John 10: 22-30

When I sit down and read the book of The Acts of the Apostles, I sometimes I have the feeling that I am on an enormous roller-coaster. It would make a good movie, with suspense and intrigue, plenty of travel and adventure, gorgeous ancient Roman and Greek architecture and scenery and feats never again achieved. In this book we hear stories of the disciples who go from town to town, speaking to the people about the good news of God in Jesus Christ, healing the sick, and raising the dead. It is highly ironic that the gospels tells us, that when Jesus was alive, the ministry of the disciples was marked by a lack of faith and an inability to perform the kind of miracles for which Jesus was known. In the book of Acts though, this is no longer a problem, and we need to note that Jesus is not with them any longer, in the physical sense. Actually, it has been said that, as an internet colleague, the Rev Barbara Heidin, points out, the book is really mis-named. It should be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit” for that’s what it is; stories of what was accomplished though the power of the Holy Spirit.

As Luke, the author of Acts, develops the second part of his story about Jesus and his followers, he lets us know that not everyone considered the news of the power of God in Christ to be “ Good News!” We learn that being a disciple of Jesus could not only, GIVE new life, it could COST someone his or her life! Church tradition tells us that all of the remaining eleven original disciples were executed for their faith in and witness to Jesus the Christ, as we countless others.

Yet the disciples were not as intent on preserving their lives and avoiding death, as they were on spreading the gospel.

Along with the making of new disciples, and the creation of communities of worshippers, there was the task of caring for these communities of faith. In today’‘s reading from the book of Acts, Peter was sent an urgent summons to go to Joppa., a town where there was a community of believers. It seems that one of their disciples, a woman named Dorcas, had died. Peter was in Lydda and has just healed a man named Aeneas. The name itself reminds us of the great Roman epic, the Aeneid. All that is really important though, in making this connection, is that this man was, in all likelihood, a gentile. We are told that the healing prompted the whole town to believe in Jesus. The barriers between Jew and Gentile are being broken down in Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit is making the old divisions between people null and void.

As if that healing was not enough, we hear soon from nearby Joppa. The scene shifts before we have a chance to take it all in and to catch our breath. There is already a Christian community there. As I said, a woman named Dorcas has died. While we are not given much information about this woman, what we are told is very interesting. We are told that she is a disciple. Clearly it was not a tern reserved for either the original 12 followers of Jesus, or just for men. This woman seems to have a special place in the community as a seamstress devoted to good works and acts of charity.

We do know that from the very beginning the early Christian communities developed a ministry to the widows and orphans, two groups of people who were the most vulnerable in that society. Since there was absolutely any other ‘social safety net’ her ministry would have been very important. She may, or may not, have been a woman of means. She was clearly devoted to her community and a faithful follower of the gospel.

When Peter arrived the people were weeping and they began to show him the garments that she had made. As anyone involved in meeting people who are in the raw, first stages of grief, knows, this is not unusual. They were likely wondering how they could do without such a person. They were holding onto those very things which reminded them of her, tangible evidence of her ministry among them.

The raising of Dorcas from the dead is told of in a very straightforward manner:

Peter requests privacy.

Peter prays.

Peter tells her to get up. Using words very similar to the ones Jesus himself used weeks earlier when he raised the daughter of Jairus, Peter says to Dorcas, “Tabitha cum” , or simply, “Get up”.

She does.

He then gave her back to her community.

Of course, what we are meant to know as well is that not only is Dorcas alive, but that Jesus himself is alive in the community of faith. The power of the resurrection faith has brought her to life. Not only this, but the life giving power of the Holy Spirit is available to all believers. So, let’s get out and start raising the dead!

This is, of course, where it becomes a little tricky. Many generations of folks since that time have wondered why these things no longer happen. Surely it’s not a lack of faith; certainly not a lack of prayer! These are questions for which there are no answers, but there is still good news.

You see, if we limit this story’s power to its literal events, we actually rob it of its power to truly transform our own lives all these many years later. This true meaning of this story for us is not about having the power or the faith to resuscitate the dead; it’s about the power of the Spirit to bring new life. Like the story from the book of Ezekiel about the dry bones, it’s about God’s transforming power. It’s about how God can take lifeless people and breathe into them the breath of life and enable them to do things they never dreamed of doing.

In many ways, all of the passages for today are about God’s transforming power; God’s transforming presence. It’s about how people go on living with meaning and purpose after unspeakable tragedy and disappointment and change. It’s about how the Spirit gives us the power to embrace new directions in life and to live into the future with faith, purpose and meaning.

Peter’s act of returning Dorcas to her community was one of kindness and mercy as were the acts of Dorcas herself, acts for which they remembered her.

Peter’s power is simply an indication that the power of God at work in the prophets and in Jesus had continued in the church. The proclamation of God’s call and God’s promises was continuing in the church.

Not only does this passage hold up as valuable the efforts and ministry of all of those unsung heroes of the faith; the UCW’s who cook and clean for the shut-ins and the bereaved, it also promises the new life of Christ’s resurrection to all people; both individuals and the community of faith.

As a community of faith we make a mistake when we see this resurrection power to be something reserved for ‘life after death’. It is a power offered to us in the here and now so that our lives here on earth may have depth and purpose and meaning. Jesus promised us ‘life in all of its abundance’.

As the story of the early church unfolds in the book of Acts there is great controversy over the presence and value of Gentiles in the new community of faith. Coming out of a Jewish context, the early church has many of its assumptions about Gentiles strongly challenged, as it sought to spread the Good News of Jesus, the Christ. As our passage ends we note that Peter went to stay with a tanner named Simon. What we need to know is that tanners were considered unclean because their work brought them into contact with dead animals and the methods of tanning would have made them smell! Peter’s ministry is clearly one of challenging assumptions and pushing boundaries of who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’; of who is acceptable and who is not.

The experience of the early church calls us to take a hard look at our faith communities and at our communities at large and to ask how we accept or do not accept those who are different, or those who may \ not ‘measure up’ to our criteria of belief or practice. We are called to remember that it was the Spirit of God who calls both those who were Jews and those who were Gentiles to follow in the way of Jesus. So too today, God calls those who may be quite different from us, with different life experiences and different histories and calls us to welcome them into the community of faith as brothers and sisters in Christ. Are we open to the challenge of the Spirit?

We are celebrating the sacrament of baptism (here) in St John’s this afternoon. We celebrate the love of God which has surrounded Alleyah from her very beginning. We celebrate that her family and neighbours and friends and all of us will form a community of love. We will make promises and will realize that we, in turn, are promised the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to enable us to do the tasks we have all promised to do.

The Acts of the Apostles continue on as long as we realize the action of the Holy Spirit.

Remember. Its about God, not really about us.

Amen.

Acts 11: 1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21: 1-6
John 13: 31-35

Family Sunday

Robert Munsch, well known Canadian children’s book author, usually known for silly tales about such things as subway stops appearing in people’s houses and “pony tail copycats”, has a much more serious side to his writing. He has written a delightful book that crosses all generations - its called, “Love You Forever”, and it tells of the unconditional love of a mother for a son advancing from his infancy, through the “terrible twos” and the “trying teens” though to adulthood. He tells of that love of mother for son becoming love of son for mother and then love of that son for his own daughter. Throughout it all, a song is song:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My baby (or my mommy) you’ll be!” 

This second Sunday of May is usually observed as Mother’s day. On this day we visit our mothers, or remember them. We send cards, flowers, and perfume, much to the delight of Aliant, the flower shops and the local cosmetics department! Mothers everywhere, particularly those of school age children ignore the noises and smells coming from the kitchen so that they can be surprised and delighted by breakfast in bed. The rule among mothers is that it is always “wonderful”, because it truly is! These mothers look at the burned toast with the globs of half melted butter, the cold coffee and the warm juice and can still sing the song from the heart:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My baby you’ll be!”	

By chance, I met friends of mine from University in a Moncton restaurant one day. Gathered there that day were three or four generations of one family. Sitting there were the couple who are my classmates, his parents, at least one grandparent and the couple’s adopted children, one from China, the other from Russia. As they introduced these chosen children to me I heard the song in the background:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My baby (or my mommy) you’ll be!”

I phoned another friend, not long ago, but she could not talk on the phone because she was nursing her new baby. The pictures she sent show a clear family resemblance; and across the miles I heard the song:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My baby (or my mommy) you’ll be!” 

Yet, not all families are happy ones. Some are downright poisonous. I was watching a movie the other night about a very dysfunctional family. The mother of this family constantly berated her children. During the movie we see how, she had driven her son away. Amazingly, her daughter stayed at home, married, had a child of her own, but had to endure the constant abuse and criticism of her mother. Finally the son-in-law snapped under the strain and beat her to death. Sadly this work of fiction is close to the experience of many. Family violence and parental neglect are the sad reality for many families. In those families, the song may be sung, but everyone knows that it isn’t true.

However, the lectionary appointed for this day, and the focus of the mainline churches, call us to look beyond our family of origin and even all families, either traditional or unconventional, and look a the other family to which we are called: the family of God, the Christian family. Such a focus takes nothing away from Mother’s day; indeed, it adds a great deal to it. For many here have today lost mothers, some of us have no children of our own, through choice or circumstances, and some have memories of mothers or motherhood that are far less than pleasant. To impose this unquestioned celebration upon the captive masses sitting in the pews and assume it to be the reality, is cruel indeed. To assume that the gospel has nothing to say to these people and situations is to limit the gospel to less than it can be. No matter what our current family situation, no matter what our family or origin, we can all learn to sing the song from our hearts:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My brother or sister you’ll be!”

The scriptures talk a great deal about the call to love, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Sometimes it is very hard. But it is God’s call to us. It is God’s promise to us. It is God’s will for us, as individuals, and as a community of faith.

As I read the scriptures, it becomes clear to me that from the moment of creation God’s relationship to the creation itself, and to the human element of it, is a work of love. The gospels make it clear that the church is called to reflect that love, to model that love, to develop and sustain that love and to respond to the world out of that love.

This is the kind of love that they knew in Jesus. It was a total love of God, of self and of neighbour; three loves in perfect balance. Unfortunately, many of us were taught that in order to love God and to neighbour meant that one always, and in every instance, had to put one’s own self last. That is not the case. If we don’t look after ourselves, and cherish God’s gift of life that is in us, then we will have no love to give to others. If we do not cherish and nurture that love by caring for ourselves, our actions will be mere duty, at best, or at the worst, grudging life-denying burden.

This does not mean that from time to time, our call is to act in love even though we do not feel that way, but it does mean that -12- we respond to those around us in the spirit of the Christ. We need to ask ourselves, in prayer and reflection, what it is that the Gospel calls us to do.

In the book of Acts we are continuing to look at the growth and development of the early church. As I have said in other sermons, the church had a mighty struggle with the call to preach the gospel to the nations. The Jewish people had survived for many years by isolating themselves in various ways. They became a community set apart rom the world. They sought to follow God’s way and separating themselves from various negative influences was part of this. In order to follow the ten commandments which, among other things, forbade worship of foreign and false gods they were careful not to associate with people who followed other religious practices. Since the hope for the Messiah was an essentially Jewish hope, it seemed only logical that Christianity was a second step of the Jewish faith. If pagans were to be admitted at all, it seemed only right that they embrace Judaism first. In the end the gospel call challenged both of these assumptions. Through the love of God in the risen Christ they learned to see the value inherent in others and to take the gospel to them without reservation. You see, Peter’s vision in today’s reading from the books of Acts is not really about food, it is about the value of the human creation. While that may seem to be a stretch, it is clearly how Peter himself interprets it, as the next people to arrive on his doorstep are there for the purpose of furthering the mission to the Gentiles.

In today’s world and church the issues are different but no less important to the living our of our faith. In the church and communities there are many issues which can become very divisive. The united church always seems to be on the forefront of one issue or another. Sometimes the issues become emotionally charged and very divisive. People take one side or another and use their view as a test of true faithfulness. From the beginning of the church, the apostles called the faithful to another vision; to act in love and to be open to the Spirit’s work in those of differing opinions.

When we go into the wider community there are many issues. Pesticide use and environmental regulations about agricultural operations pit those who want perfect lawns against others, and farmers trying to make a living against those with other ideas of how agriculture should operate. Of course, there the age old difference s between Tories and Grits; PC’s and Liberals and NDPers! As a community of faith, as Parents Committees of various organizations we need to learn how to care for one another, to rise above differences without becoming a kind of nonidentifiabel cream soup of sameness.

The gospel’s call is to celebrate our differences, and to respond to the other in love. God loves us. God calls us into community, into a world-wide family of faith, hope, love and justice.

As a people who follow in the way of God as revealed in Jesus of Nazareth we are called to love. We are called to sing the song to friend and stranger, to neighbour and relative, and to sing it from the depths of our being:

	I’ll love you forever, 
	I’ll like you for always,
	as long as I’m living,
	My brother or sister you’ll be!”
	

Let us go fother in the love of the gospel of Christ.

Amen.