The Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year C), May 6, 2007

BCP: Acts 13:44-52 or Lev. 19:1-2, 9-18; Psalm 145 or 145:1-9; Rev. 19:1, 4-9 or Acts 13:44-52; John 13:31-35

RCL: Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Rev. 21:1-6; John 13:31-35

It has been asserted that the primary spiritual virtue is stature and size. We can judge the health and authenticity of our images of God and our own spiritual traditions by how much complexity they can include and the change they can embrace without losing their identity and center. This same measure can also serve as the standard for our personal spiritual growth. Today’s scriptures explore the issue of spiritual and theological stature and challenge us to embrace God’s world in all its diversity.

In the reading from Acts, Peter retells a life-transforming vision in which God pushes him beyond his “comfort zone” into a new and deeper understanding of his faith and vocation as an apostle. Like many of his Jewish companions, Peter affirmed a spirituality of holiness and purity. His faith involved the affirmation of certain boundaries, which rightly preserved its purity and identified the Jews as God’s uniquely chosen people. Yet, like all boundaries, the emphasis on holiness and purity was also ambiguous in that it excluded as well as included. In encountering Cornelius and his family, Peter discovers that God’s Spirit is all-embracing and unbounded. Faced with this, Peter must choose to grow in wisdom and stature as he experiences God’s lively and unfettered Spirit in the lives of “unclean” Gentiles.

The Gospel of John continues the quest for stature, reminding us that true imitation of God is to be found in loving relationships. Love, even divine love, is not unilateral or one-sided. Unilateral love is ultimately unfeeling, coercive and paternalistic. In its narcissism, it loves according to its vision rather than in terms of the concrete person that stands before us. It never takes into consideration the one who is being served. Alfred North Whitehead spoke of God as a “fellow sufferer who understands.” Holy love, the love embodied in Jesus, has enough stature to embrace the pain and joy of the world, and then respond lovingly and creatively to bring forth healing and beauty.

The text from Revelation ultimately leaves us with the awareness that the reign of God is not ours to build; it is God’s to give. But it is this vision of the New Jerusalem that keeps God’s people going with the conviction that the vision of the heavenly city is worlds removed from the community in which they live, and their belief that it is their task as disciples of Jesus Christ to live toward that vision. That would be our task as well.

Look It Up

The church’s baptismal covenant places no restrictions or boundaries on those we choose to serve or love (BCP, p. 305).

Think About It

As we reflect on Peter’s vision in light of Psalm 148, we are prompted to ask, Where do we limit God’s presence? What persons are “unclean” in our lives?

Next Sunday

The Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year C), May 13, 2007

BCP: Acts 14:8-18 or Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 67; Rev. 21:22-22:5 or Acts 14:8-18; John 14:23-39

RCL: Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Rev. 21:10, 22–22:5; John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9