The Church is Welcoming - Acts 10:44-48

Wall. Fences. Signs. Ropes. There are many boundaries in our world. So many so that we probably don’t even pay attention to them all the time. We’ve become comfortable with boundaries because they make us feel protected, at the cost of keeping others away. But as I was working at mini-camp Sunday - Tuesday this week at Wellsboro, I had to wonder what the expense was of not recognizing our boundaries. For those of you who have ever attended summer camp, part of the beauty of the experience is the familiarity. You get to be reacquainted with old friends. You follow the same schedule each day and have things that you look forward to. You sing the same songs, mostly see the same leaders. The list goes on and on. Summer camp is steeped in tradition. But what does that tradition look like to new comers? As a new comer myself, one of two new leaders at the camp, I often felt confused and intimidated. I didn’t understand the traditions or know the words to the songs. I didn’t have the deep friendship the other staff had. It was very isolating. I can only imagine that it would be more so for the campers, who were called “newbies”. The entire experience got me thinking about whether the church is just as intimidating for new people.

The passage in Acts today presents a picture of a group of believers that went beyond just not being intimidating to being radically welcoming. This comes at the tail end of the story of Cornelius, which was back near the beginning of our series. As a refresher, Cornelius was a Roman centurion, the gentile among gentiles. And up to this point in his ministry, Peter had not been ministering to gentiles. He actually considered them to be unclean, because they were not of his people, the chosen people, the Jews. But God sent a message to Peter in a radical dream, telling him that all that God deemed to be clean, Peter could not call unclean. Immediately after the dream, Peter is sent to the house of Cornelius, where he declares that all are welcome in the kingdom of God. As Peter continued to preach to the house of Cornlus, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to have the gifts of the Holy Spirit poured out upon them, including the noticeable speaking in tongues. They praised God. Then Peter asked a question similar to what the Ethiopian eunuch asked Phillip last week, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And they were all baptized that day. 

The Holy Spirit interrupted Peter’s elegant words about the welcoming and inclusive nature of God to make the words a reality. It was an unmistakable sign that gentiles matter to God and that they are part of the kingdom. And with this interruption the church had a new mission. Up to this point the disciples were really only preaching to people like them. If you remember back in Acts 2, the Pentecost story, the thousand upon thousands of people that heard the message Peter had for them that day were gathered in Jerusalem, the Jewish center, and were Jews from around the world. Now the mission and message is global, not just for a particular group of people, but for the world. 

This will not be the only time the church will need to revamp its mission at the direction of the Holy Spirit. Later Paul will go before the other disciples and declare that believers do not need to follow Jewish customs or be circumcised in order to follow and love Christ. But beginning in this passage, the Holy Spirit beautifully sweeps through knocking down walls that had been in place, in the hearts and fellowship of the disciples, in order to make the church a gathering where all people are welcome. In fact, their welcome was so inclusive, that Peter did something that he would have never done prior to this event, he stayed with the family of Cornelius for several days, living life with them and accepting their welcoming of him.

Sometimes boundaries in the form of traditions are good - they remind us who we are as they shape us. But we cannot let our boundaries keep us from following the Holy Spirit. For once again, in this passage like others we have studied, the Holy Spirit is the chief character of the story with a firm message - God can draw together people even who are separated by clear boundaries, because they are united in Christ Jesus. Scholar Jeffery Peterson-Davis points out that what the Holy Spirit is really doing in this story is changing the perspective in the early church of who is in and who is out, and moving the boundaries of the “inner circle” keep widening to the point where the boundary is no longer even legitimate. 

The Holy Spirit gives us the power and vision to see the world differently and make the church be a truly welcoming place. Yes, the church needs to be a place where tradition can be passed on from one generation to another and where new believers can be mentored in the faith. But we equally need to be a place where the Holy Spirit blows through us and transforms us. Bishop Robert Schnase expound upon this idea of the welcoming church in his book Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.He reminds readers that when the church is truly welcoming, it is not expressed in a pufunctorary greeting at the church door or even offering a hand, but genuine love and care for those who are not yet part of the faith. It is inviting, welcoming, receiving, and caring for the stranger so they can find a spiritual home. And often that means that we will need to change our believer, thoughts, or attitudes, just like Peter had to, in order to accommodate the needs and talents of those who are new among us.

Oh how Cornelius must have felt when Peter accepted his invitation to come to his home that day. He would have known that Jewish custom forbid Peter from crossing the threshold of his door, because he was considered unclean, but Peter came anyway, with words of grace and peace. He not only came, but he stayed. Peter truly lived into Jesus’s words in Matthew when he said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me. And just as you did for the least of these who are all members of my family, you did it to me.” If we took this call as seriously as Peter did, if we opened ourselves up to the movement of the Holy Spirit amongst us, how would we change? How are we intentionally focusing on those outside of the community of faith and how are we radically welcoming those who are courageous enough to cross the threshold of our doors? 

A few years ago Christian recording artists Casting Crowns put out a song called “We are the Body” and it caught on fast. The song tells the stories of those who did not feel welcome in church - the traveler. A young girl who is mocked. And in the refrain the question is posed, “If we are the body, why aren’t his arms reaching? Why aren’t his hands healing? Why aren’t his words teaching? And if we are the body, why aren’t his feet going? Why is his love not showing them there is a way?” Its a wonderful song, but it needs to move from being a catchy sentiment, to a reality amongst us. How are we welcoming people as Christ would welcome them? Are we open to God using us to draw people into relationship with Jesus Christ? Or is that not what we exist for?

Bishop Schnase claims that “the greatest contribution we can make to the Boyd of Christ is inviting someone else or helping a newcomer to feel genuinely welcome so that she or he receive what we have received.” The church is a beautiful place where when people feel welcomed they can know that they are a child of God of supreme value and know that they matter. It is a place where people can know that they are not alone. A place where true peace can be shared. Above all it is a place where God’s grace and love are experienced. What boundaries do we have that keep people from feeling welcomed? Keep people from experiencing this absolutely uncontainable thing?

Brothers and sisters, if Peter would not have been open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit that day - if he would have insisted on doing things his way - he would have missed his opportunity to be part of re-envisioning the mission of the church. Let’s not miss our opportunity to transform the world by being truly a welcoming place. Not a friendly place. Not a place where everyone knows everyone else. A welcoming place. A place where we are intentional about being inclusive of all people - not alienating people like they did at camp with pet names or a lack of attention to inviting all into the traditions and side stories. A place where people can feel safe and included and respected. If we are the body, then we must, must, must be willing to be welcoming, as Jesus was welcoming. For we are the body of Christ.