The Rev. Carol S. Wedell
May 6, 2007

Are you a dreamer?  That's kind of a trick question, isn't it - because you could define dreamer in at least a couple of different ways.  There are those who have very vivid dreams when they sleep and can recall them in intricate detail.  How many of you are that kind of dreamer? 

Then there is the kind of dreamer who has hopes and ideas for the future, whose mind is always thinking big, soaring to new possibilities.  Are any of you that kind of dreamer?  I hope that some of you are, because we need some of you among us.  We need your willingness to think "outside the box" - even if it does tend to make those around you a bit uncomfortable.

In scripture, dreams or visions are often the way that God gets someone's attention.  How often do you think of your dreams in that way?  In the cultural world view during which the Bible was written, dreams - waking or sleeping - were understood to be an important way that God communicated with humanity.

Listen as we hear the account of Peter's dream, in the book of Acts, chapter 11.  What's interesting to note is that this story of Peter's dream and of the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile, a centurion of the Italian Cohort has already been told in the previous chapter.  Now, however, Peter retells what occurred to the believers in Judea.  Listen for God's word to us, this morning...

Some may have considered Peter's dream a nightmare, given its startling ramifications in the early church!  The fact that Luke not only included Peter's dream, but then also gives us this retelling of the dream underscores how important it was for the first believers - and also for us.  Something of critical significance is going on here.

Apparently, word has gotten back to Jerusalem that Peter has been hanging out with the wrong kind of folks.  Specifically, he's baptized Gentiles - and joined them at the dinner table. 

Remember that the first Christians were Jews.  For them, to be faithful to God was to observe the ritual and dietary laws that had distinguished them from others for centuries.  That didn't change when they became followers of Jesus.  They still observed the Sabbath, circumcised their male children, and obeyed laws guiding what they could eat and with whom.  That included Peter. There were profound barriers between Jews and Gentiles - racial, cultural, dietary and religious.

So when they hear that Peter has not only baptized Gentiles, but also stayed in their homes and eaten their food, they are outraged.  Please note that this is not some kind of self-righteous legalism.  Peter's actions challenged the very solidarity of the Christian community in Jerusalem - those who had been known for living together with one heart and soul.  That unity now appears to be threatened. 

So Peter tells them about his dream - quite a wild one, at that!   He had a vision of a large sheet coming down from heaven, filled with all kinds of animals - including the kind that Jews NEVER touch, much less eat.  In his vision, a voice comes and tells him to kill and eat these animals.  Peter appropriately is adamant that he wouldn't ever do such a thing!  Why his lips have never tasted any of these unclean animals.  The voice was equally adamant:  If God says it's OK, it's OK! 

This happens three times - the same vision, repeated.  Whether this is reminiscent of Peter's three denials of Jesus or if Peter simply has a hard time accepting what he's being told, we don't know.  Finally, however, Peter "gets it" and goes with the men who have been sent to get him and take him to Cornelius (who by the way, had his own dream from God!).  Peter begins to talk to them, but is quickly interrupted by the Holy Spirit which fell on these Gentiles, just as it had on the Jewish believers.

At this point, Peter turns to those Jewish Christians who have been so upset with him, and asks, "If God gave them the same gift that was given to us, how could I stand in God's way?"  How indeed!  

A most basic understanding of those early believers is turned on its head.  Observance of the Law, doing things as they've always done things, which clearly defines who is in and who is out is not the way that God is going about business.  And amazingly, the believers in Jerusalem get it - they understand that the old boundary lines don't mean a thing any more.

Beverly Gaventa in her commentary on the book of Acts writes, "In no sense would it be accurate to claim that Peter or the Jerusalem church decides to include Gentiles....Peter calls for the baptism of Cornelius and others, but he does so only after the Holy Spirit has dramatically indicated that the decision has been made elsewhere."  In other words, Peter and the Jerusalem church are simply acknowledging where God has already been at work.

God showed us where things were going repeatedly in the life of Jesus.  As he healed on the Sabbath, touched a menstruating woman, ate with tax collectors and spoke of "good" Samaritans, he demonstrated God's preference for people over practice.  Peter and the Jerusalem Christians were called to do the same - and so are we.

You know the old saying, "you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family?"  In essence, that's what Peter and the believers in Jerusalem are being told.  This is God's family - and God will decide who is a part of it.  Now they just have to figure out how to live together!

In truth, while our reading this morning shows the early church affirming that God's love is extended to all, that the human barriers we erect don't count in God's eyes, they didn't always have an easy time living that out.  Throughout the New Testament, the issue of how Jewish and Gentile Christians can live together within the family of God comes up again and again.  The dream is there - and is often repeated - but the practical application isn't always easy.

So it's not surprising that the church throughout the ages has continued to struggle with the same issue.  Oh, it's no longer about the Gentiles - after all, in most Christian congregations almost every single person is a Gentile!    But we have struggled, and indeed, are struggling with issues of who is in and who is out throughout the history of the church.  Sometimes it seems that it takes more than three times for us to get it!

So the real question for us this morning is who are our Gentiles?  Who are the people we don't really believe are in the same family as we are? Where do we draw the line on the limits of God's love?  Most of us, including me, would be quick to say, "Oh we wouldn't exclude anyone."  But stop for a minute.  Think about the individuals, or groups of people you go out of your way to avoid, who would shock or disturb you if they walked through our doors right now, and sat down next to you.  What prejudices restrict you - restrict me?

How comfortable would you be sharing a dinner table with a homeless man or woman?  A person with a serious mental illness?  Someone of a distinctly different socio-economic background? A person whose politics clashed strongly with yours? Someone of a different sexual orientation?  One whose theology didn't line up with yours? Someone whose personal hygiene might not match North American standards? If God came to you in a dream and lowered a large sheet filled with people you have a difficult time accepting, what faces would you find looking back at you?

I once heard someone say, "I choose my friends and I'll choose my family."  And he has.  If he doesn't like or approve of a family member, he simply has nothing to do with them.  No conversation, no attempt at reconciliation.  He simply acts as if they don't exist. What he doesn't realize is how dreadfully small his family has become.

Friends, in the family of God, we aren't given the choice of who our brothers and sisters will be. God chooses.  Who are we to stand in God's way? 

In August of 1963 another dream was shared on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  It resonates with Peter's dream.  In part, Martin Luther King, Jr. said,

"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream...

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."

As we gather around the Lord's table this morning, we bring that dream to life.  An online colleague of mine shared this week about that happened for her as communion was served.  She writes:

Our aisles are long and we come forward to receive the elements.  I was "born" into this church and when you have that history in one church you know probably too much about your fellow church members!  I stood with chalice in hand and looked at the many who were moving out of the pews and into the aisles.

Recovered alcoholics and those who weren't quite so recovered, saints of the church, those who had once had affairs, those at the beginning of their faith journey, those with multi-colored hair and eyebrow piercings, those who were wheel-chair bound and those who ran marathons.  There were gossipers and there were those kept silent and loved others with a tremendous love.  There were those faithful workers of the church and those who only warmed a pew for an hour.  And there was me.  But they were equally invited to come forward.  They rose from the pews at the invitation.... some rose slowly either because of creaking bones or burdens.  Others rose quickly either because of youth or joy.  And as I looked into every person's eyes, I soon began to realize how wonderful God's grace and mercy and forgiveness truly is... offered to each of us...in equal amounts...no matter who we are or what our sins have been.

No matter what size, shape, color, sin, burden, or joy.  No matter what rags we wear or what "name brand" we wear.  It was at that moment when I too heard God say, "Do not call anything impure that I have made clean."  (Anna Murdock, Midrash listserve, May 2007)

God has given us a dream - a table - where all are welcomed, all are valued, all are loved.  Let's dare to be dreamers.