Spirit of Love

Acts 10:44-48

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. Those with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.  The Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have recieved the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  . . .

             We read in this passage about the Holy Spirit’s ability and timing to interrupt our lives as we mere mortals tell stories, take risks, and remain open to what God is nudging us toward. In our encounters, in our dreams and in our confusion and befuddlement, we are being nudged and called to obey. This passage is about the power of God’s love to break boundaries, to open us to new opportunities, and to create new communities, beyond what we can imagine.

           Peter was sharing stories about the power of God's love, about Jesus who showed Peter and the other disciples how to be faithful and stay focused on God's love. 

           In Peter’s encounter with this group of Gentiles we might see for ourselves that while we are not called to fully understand what’s happening around us, to find logic and reason clearly with every turn. We are called to be faithful and follow Jesus’s way - the way of love, the way of connection to those with whom society wishes to keep separate. And when we listen and trust, we become vessels of the Holy. The Holy Spirit falls on those who hear Peter’s words. It is not Peter who is responsible for conversion or transformation of anyone, but the Holy Spirit working through Peter’s words. 

          Once again, we can reflect on the nature of social groups back then in biblical times and relate their experiences to our own. What we have to learn, still. How we misunderstand, how we might mis-trust, how we might categorize groups of people in our own society today.  We all do - its human. God chooses humans, like Peter the reluctant apostle to show us this. This message from the Spirit of who is in and who is no longer out is still very relevant to us today. 

              As the Israelites once understood God’s love as jealous and exclusive, Peter begins to see God’s love as inclusive and limitless.  And the work of the faithful and the curious was then and is now constantly evolving. The God of Love has not changed, but our understanding of God has and continues to evolve.

              And as we see that power of Ultimate Love here in this story, we can see the possibility of disrupting patterns, disrupting the status quo, re-interpreting our histories to bring about needed social change. God’s intent of breaking down barriers, connecting humans of different backgrounds, diverse communities, . . . these we are meant to carry on. Whatever is made by God is clean. Whatever God makes is worthy of God’s love. We are all children of God.

           And we are only limited by our own imaginations, our own limitations of how we may envision our community - where it is going, what it is doing . . . what might we become. . . . 

           Each Sunday when we praise God for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus here with us - as people of faith, these traditions, these practices give us the strength and power to go about God’s holy work in the world.

         God’s love breaks boundaries, connects people and creates community. And it is through faithful discipleship that we become bold and courageous enough to be vulnerable and open to the Holy Spirit among us. This doesn’t mean that we will necessarily understand messages from angels we encounter, but we are called to be faithful just the same.