In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last week we explored the idea that the essence of Christianity is community. We worship and live not as individuals but as a community of faith who is responsible to God and to each other. This morning I would like to continue on this theme of community and explore some of the particular qualities that mark a community as Christian. For as each of us are aware communities come in all shapes and sizes and manifest various qualities that may be quite contrary to the Gospel.

For example I was reading an article this week in a back issue of the Christian Century concerning the dangers of the “church growth movement” in the United States. The basic thesis of the movement is that congregations must be built from homogeneous groups of people. Adherents to this movement argue that it is important that people can “feel at home” and know that they are among “our kind of people”. Over and over the literature stresses that people, “men in particular, like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers. And the church ought to accommodate itself to the structure of the society that surrounds it.

Now the basis thesis of the church growth movement is not new. In fact it seems to reflect a type of social organization in Judaism which Jesus was constantly fighting against throughout his whole ministry. A system based on measurements of who is pure and who is impure and for this reason it is labelled the Purity system. Jesus in contrast offered a compassion system which grew out of his understanding of God and the Kingdom which was to be established. (I have provided a framework of both systems in the bulletin and I invite you to turn to it now.)
Now I would like you to keep these two systems in mind as we explore our reading from Acts 10. In our reading we see the Gospel beginning to spread beyond the bounds of Palestine into the wider Mediterranean world. The two primary characters are Simon Peter and Cornelius and in their interaction they personify the clash between these two systems as the early church begins to form its identity.

At the beginning of chapter 10 we are told that Cornelius is a centurion in the Italian regiment, a Gentile or non-Jew who has been attracted to the Jewish religion. He fears God, gives generously, and prays regularly.

Simon Peter on the other hand is an observant Jew. Fomerly a fisherman but called to be a disciple by Jesus. Peter has grown up with the Purity system his whole and seeks to maintain its observance in terms of who is pure and who is impure. No mixing with gentiles.
“You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him.” 10:28 The boundaries are rigid and well established.

But through a vision Simon Peter’s mind begins to change in relationship to the Purity system. He finds himself to be a guest in the home of Cornelius. And it is there that Peter comes to realize that God does not show favourtism but accepts people from every nation who fear him and do what is right. This is confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s presence with the Gentiles. Then Peter asks perhaps rhetorically, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized?”

In this encounter between Jew and Gentile the Purity system gives way in favour of the Compassion system espoused by Jesus. A system of social organization that was inclusive, which knew no boundaries or limits. A “Kingdom” system where God does not show favourtism to any particular group of people. Now the early church sought to embody this system as it began to spread throughout what was then the known world. But as time passed and the church became more solid and less fluid the Purity system found its place once again this time in the church. There were those who were pure and those who were impure.

And in fact it continues to be alive and well. The church growth movement which I mentioned at the beginning is a contemporary example. The Apartheid system in South Africa, supported theologically by the Dutch Reformed church, is another contemporary example. Unfortunately, throughout church history many groups have been at the sharp end of the Purity system. Women-Why did it take so long for us to ordain women to the ministry of Word and Sacrament? And some churches still don’t. People of other races with their own segregated churches. Today the hot topic is sexual orientation-our brothers and sisters who are gay or lesbian. They to have a place in the Kingdom.

Jesus initiated a movement, built a community, that was based on compassion-to suffer with. It knew no boundaries nor limits but was open to all who sought to live their lives according to qualities of the Kingdom. This theme was picked up the Apostle Paul and is reflected in his letters as he seeks to encorporate Gentiles into the church. To paraphrase
Paul, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, gay nor straight, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
We are the inheritors of this compassion system and we have experienced it ourselves through the grace of God. It is this same grace that has given birth to the deep sense of community that is found within this congregation and that is is rare thing. I have seen much evidence over these past four years that you genuinely care for each other. This is a gift of grace.

But in this time of deep change within the church one of the most powerful instincts we have is to preserve ourselves. It works all the time in subtle ways and can make us exclusive, protective, even possesive of what we have. However, the dynamic of that instinct is reversed through grace. A grace that includes all and calls us to include all. A grace that calls us to open ourselves to the other in our midst, to make them part of the Kingdom community.

Mother Teresa was once asked by an interviewer: “What’s the biggest problem in the world today? Without hesitation she replied, “The biggest problem in the world today is that we draw the circle of our family to small. We need to draw it larger everyday.”

Drawing the circle wider everyday, that is pretty good summation of the compassion system. A circle that is wide, which does not exclude people on the basis of race, or gender. That does not exclude on the basis of sexual orientation. That does not exclude on the basis of mental or physical disabilities. This is Kingdom theology that challenges and contradicts the natural groupings of us humans and our purity systems. It is one of the marks of authentic Christian community which transcends all boundaries and limits because the circles of compassion grow wider everyday. THANKS BE TO GOD, AMEN.