"What God has made clean, you must not call profane...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 11:9,14 NRSV]
In Acts 11 [a portion of which is our Second Lesson for this coming Sunday] Peter recalls the story of a vision he had in Chapter 10 of what I call the heavenly picnic blanket. God shows Peter this blanket and it is filled with all kinds of goodies that are forbidden according to the Holiness Code of the Old Testament. When God tells Peter to "kill and eat," Peter is appalled. He reminds God that he is an observant Jew and would never eat such things. God's response to Peter's protest is "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."
This vision changes Peter's thinking about who should be allowed in the church. He gives orders for the baptism of a group of Gentiles who hear the Good News of Jesus and respond to it. Peter sees that God's Spirit is alive and active in them and says that he will not hinder the work of God.
I believe this text applies to the LGBT community as well. We have been called "unclean" and "profane" for a very long time. We have been excluded and excommunicated by the church. And yet, it is quite clear that God's Spirit is alive and active in the lives of LGBT Christians. God continues to bless us and equip us for ministry in the church and in the world. It's time for the church to stop hindering the work that God is clearly doing in the midst of the LGBT community. Peter had a change of heart. My hope is that the church in our day and age will have a change of heart as well.
1 comments:
Good place to discuss being gay in the lectionary. We all have a something that we need to let go and accept like Peter did. I'm glad to know that ELCA is open and affirming somewhere.
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