peter – Blessings on the Journey

Acts, God, Holy Spirit, peter, pride, Transformation

God’s People Expanded

Posted on May 20, 2022 by narciejeter

May 15^th – 5^th Sunday of Easter – God’s People Expanded

I was asked recently what Bible character I most relate to. What would you say? Pete Horlbeck said I preach like John. I would like to think I’m saintly like Mary who shouted for joy when she sung about God using her as God’s vessel to deliver us all. Or obedient like Ruth. Or strong like Samson. Or wise like Deborah. Or tenacious and undeterred like Paul. I am much more like look before you leap, foot in my mouth Peter.

Matthew 14:22-33 says, “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

When he saw the wind, he was afraid, and he began to sink.

In Matthew 17:1-8, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”

Peter, James, and John got an up close look at glow in the dark Jesus, shining in his divinity, so much so that Peter didn’t want to leave. He offers to put shelters up for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He’s taking the mountaintop experience to a whole new level planning to hang out on top of the mountain permanently, but God with a big, booming voice cut that out. I preached last week on the rising of Tabitha/Dorcas. Peter knows how to do it from watching Jesus heal Jairus’ daughter. Again, Peter gets an up close personal seat to all these events. Though he’s not named, I’m sure Peter was among them fighting over who is the greatest disciple after he shared the Passover meal with him on the night in which he was betrayed because he directly mentioned him by name in Luke 22:31-34, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But [Peter] replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

Big words. And words that he’s going to have to prove later that night. Later on Luke 22:54-62:

“Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”

But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.

A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”

“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.

About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”

Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.” So it all came true. Boasting in all his pridefulness in front of his fellow disciples, but as soon as he was out in the world, he’s like a dog with his tail between his legs. Giving Peter the benefit of the doubt, he may have meant it at the time. We all do when the boat is rocking merrily along, but when the ship hits the sand all bets are off. When we get a full gulp of adversity all of us quake in our boots. That’s what distinguishes this Peter, the one in our text today, from the one in the Gospel accounts. We see Peter transformed. We see Peter following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We see Peter having a hand in God’s people expanded and we should do the same.

Acts 11:1-18

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, ³saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” ⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. ⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’ ⁸But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’ ¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; ¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ ¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷If 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?” ¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

We see Peter transformed.

A farmer purchases an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields are grown over with weeds, the farmhouse is falling apart, and the fences are collapsing all around.

During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!”

A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it’s like a completely different place — the farmhouse is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there are plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” the preacher says. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”

“Yes, Reverend,” says the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!”

Simon Peter is long-past questioning his dependence on the Triune God. He understood that he was doing nothing by his own strength, but the power of the Holy Spirit coursing through him. Peter is not the leap before you look, foot in his mouth, disciple who’s full of himself. But he’s fulfilling what Jesus said in Matthew 16:15-18, “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” The gates of Hell will not prevail against the church. Nor against Peter, himself. Remember when Jesus said in the Upper Room where he shared the first Lord’s Supper with the disciples? “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

The devil may win a few skirmishes, but he will never win the war, if we surrender to God’s will, God’s calling in our lives. Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love writes, “Until your knees finally hit the floor, you’re just playing at life, and on some level you’re scared because you know you’re just playing. The moment of surrender is not when life is over. It’s when it begins.” Peter had his knees hitting the floor moment and he is forever changed and his faith has been transformed. You see, his friends in Jerusalem, didn’t see his vision in a dream in Joppa, so he lays it out step by step, bit by bit. He doesn’t cow tow or stutter or appear sheepish in any way. He just lays it out there that God’s people, holding the keys to the kingdom, need to be expanded. Underline several times the word need. Peter was exemplifying what Saint Teresa of Avila once said: ‘We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can — namely, surrender our will and fulfill God’s work in us.’

So, there in Jerusalem, in the midst of his circumcised brothers, Peter reached the conclusion of his account and humbly asks in verse 17, “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?” After these men heard Peter’s “step by step” explanation and understood that they were complicit in opposing God’s will, “they were silenced.” What a reversal that was to get the Jewish Christians to welcome the Gentile Christians so whole-heartedly that “they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

We see Peter following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Only a vision of the Holy Spirit could lead Peter to throw out the customs, what was ingrained in him from birth.

In his book What’s So Amazing About Grace? Philip Yancey tells of a time when he was giving the children’s sermon. He held up a bag, and pulled a package of barbecued pork rinds for them to munch on. Next he pulled out a fake snake and a large rubber fly, which led to squeals from his young audience. Yancey and a few of the children then sampled scallops.

“Finally, to the children’s great delight,” he writes, “I reached cautiously into the bag and extracted a live lobster. Larry the Lobster we called him, and Larry responded by waving his claws in a most menacing fashion.”

Yancey explained to the congregation that Levitical laws specifically forbade everything they had just eaten. No Orthodox Jew would touch any of the contents of his shopping bag. This is why the message in Acts 11:9 is such radical news: “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

Peter knew that this would be a stretch to the people in Jerusalem, but he was hoping, he had faith that the same Holy Spirit that drew him to that conclusion, was working in them too.

The famed Methodist preacher Halford Luccock once published a book of sermons called Marching Off the Map. The title comes from a sermon of his in which he referenced a story from the life of Alexander the Great.

After Alexander’s unprecedented string of victories that opened the way for his army to travel from Asia Minor through Persia and into Afghanistan, his generals came to him one day and informed him: “We don’t know what to do next. We have marched off the map.”

This, says Luccock, is the critical moment of decision, and it doesn’t happen only to world conquerors. Frequently, in life, bold and adventuresome people come across situations in which there is no precedent to guide them.

In such times we are faced with two choices: turn around and return to the security of what we already know? Or forge ahead, marching off the map? Do Peter and the people of Jerusalem trust the Holy Spirit to lead them into a new way, marching off the map? They all shout a resounding, “ Yes!”

We see Peter having a hand in God’s people expanded and we should do the same.

Rita Snowden tells a story from World War II. In France some soldiers brought the body of a dead comrade to a cemetery to have him buried. The priest gently asked whether their friend had been a baptized Catholic. The soldiers did not know. The priest sadly informed them that in that case, he could not permit burial in the church yard.

So the soldiers dug a grave just outside the cemetery fence. And they laid their comrade to rest. The next day the soldiers came back to add some flowers — only to discover that the grave was nowhere to be found.

Bewildered, they were about to leave when the priest came up to speak to them. It seems that he could not sleep the night before, so troubled was he by his refusal to bury the soldier in the parish cemetery. So early in the morning he left his bed, and with his own hands, he moved the fence — in order to include the body of the soldier who had died.

Grace means we move the fence. Grace means we don’t judge a book by its cover. Grace means we don’t live our lives based on a series of assumptions. But oh my golly, we live to be let into exclusive clubs. We secretly relish being on the “inside” instead of the “outside.” It’s safe on the inside, where you have a certain status and it’s comfortable. It’s hard to welcome the stranger, the people who are different from you, the ones that don’t use the same words, or language. Maybe they don’t speak churchese. But the Triune God demands, demands for us to draw the circle wide. There’s hymn “Draw the Circle Wide” with lyrics by Gordon Light and arrangement by Mark Miller in United Methodist Worship & Song Hymnbook 3154.

God the still-point of the circle

Round you all creation turns

Nothing lost but held forever

in God’s gracious arms

Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.

Let this be our song: no one stands alone.

Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide

Let our hearts touch far horizons

So encompass great and small

Let our loving know no borders

Faithful to God’s call

It reminds me of Paul’s words in Galatians 3:26-28 “For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

We don’t have to hog all the love for ourselves. God’s love is available to all. Our lives can be transformed just like Peter’s. If we ask the Holy Spirit to remove all of the bravado and pride, so that we can follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Lastly, we can draw the fence or circle wide. Showing the world God’s love every chance we get. Oh, the Holy Spirit, will guide us and lead us where to go, what to say, and how we should say it. Our God loves a good show and tell story, the believers of the Way, surely saw how the Holy Spirit had transformed Peter, and the world will see us transformed little by little, step by step as we walk in the ways of Jesus, showing compassion when we are hurt, speaking words of love and grace, when it’s so easy to offer judgment and angst, and letting our little lights shine in a world that’s constantly seeking to dim and eventually snuff them out. The Holy Spirit used Peter and may the Holy Spirit use us.

Acts, Holy Spirit, Jesus, peter, Sermon

A Mighty Woman

Posted on May 14, 2022 by narciejeter

I heard a DJ ask people to call in and share their mother’s best advice.

“Whatever you’re doing, make the place better than you found it.”

“The world is full of people all too eager to put you down. Don’t join the chorus and say bad things about yourself, to yourself. Your heart is listening.”

“Never forget your umbrella.” “My mother always used to say this. She meant it literally, and figuratively. For her, and eventually for me, it was about being prepared for whatever life decides to rain down upon your head. I say the same thing to my daughter over, and over again.”

“It’s OK to be shy, but it’s not OK to never try.”

“If you open it, close it. If you turn it on, turn it off. If you take it out, put it back. If you empty it, fill it. If you fill it, empty it.”

“Just because you CAN do it, doesn’t mean you should.”

“Every relationship takes compromise, but don’t push down parts of yourself to make your relationship work. It takes two equal people to be partners, not one person, and one half-person.”

“Always prepare early. Give yourself enough time so you have peace of mind and don’t have to rush.”

“We don’t even know what we don’t know.”

“Do not feed the fears.”

What say you, what advice did your mom’s or mother figures give you?

Jessica Larijani, SUCCESS director of digital content, writes, “My mom puts her whole heart into everything she does. For my sisters and me. For my family. Her friends. Even strangers. I admire her for so many things, but especially her generosity.

“I know what she’s doing right now without asking: sewing. She started as soon as there was a need and she hasn’t stopped since. She is part of a mask brigade making and donating protective wear to health care workers and first responders. She’s sewn almost 500 masks since the start of this pandemic, and I know she’ll keep going as long as there are requests.

“My mom’s mission has always been to help others, and her selfless dedication to that has shown me that nothing matters quite like giving kindness. Our actions leave an impact, and we can all make a difference in this life if we just choose to look for the opportunity to help.”

Our actions in this life leave an impact, not only on our children, but on everyone around us.

Acts 9:26-43

³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. ³⁷At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. ³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. ⁴⁰Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. ⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ⁴³Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

What is grief, but love made real? I wrote that line down when we first watched Marvel’s WandaVision. We binged it all over again on Friday in preparation for watching Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and I wrote it down again. What is grief, but love made real? Luke, the author of the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, the account of the early stages of the Way, known today as Christianity, cites one such story about a mighty woman who had died and as Jessica from SUCCESS magazine said, Dorcas put her heart in everything she did and she was loved and cherished in return.

So what is happening in our text today? What lessons does it have to teach us? They carried her body to an upper room of her house. Nowadays, the scene is often played out in a funeral home, a chapel, a sanctuary, or at a graveside.

The grieving friends of Tabitha, or Dorcas in Greek because Luke realized this story would be told to both Jews and Gentiles, are gathered together in her home. She must have died recently, for she hadn’t been buried yet.

As the sad news spreads through town, her friends and loved ones come and pay their respects. I would imagine the initial conversations at the door are all essentially the same. “I just heard the news.” “I can’t believe it!” “How did it happen?” “Was anyone with her?” “She was such a wonderful person!” The same questions that we would ask.

My grandparents all had large families and I remember funeral homes a lot as a kid. The whole family gathered with all the drama and hijinks that comes with whole families gathered. It gave us a chance to see aunts, uncles, and cousins we wouldn’t see until next Thanksgiving or Christmas. It gave us a chance to see family we don’t normally see. It gave us a chance to see the children and the grandchildren of the people that our grandparents’ talked about. It gave us a chance to share memorable or poignant or funny stories of loved ones and when we were younger to play hide and seek or tag in our funeral clothes until inevitably we were told to stop. But one time something peculiar happened. All of us in the family would each dutifully walk up to the casket, pay our respects, and make a mad dash to the couches and wing-backed chairs over in one of the side rooms. One time, my dad and his two brothers walked out of the viewing room with quizzical looks on their faces. They each took another pass looking at their aunt’s face. Something was definitely wrong and they couldn’t figure it out. I don’t know who noticed first or who said it first, but one of them said, “Aunt blah-blah-blah, is smiling! She never smiles.”

That certainly was not the case with Tabitha. Aunt blah-blah-blah, to protect the innocent, may have lived a life “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” I don’t know if what my dad and uncles said was right because I was little. However, Dorcas certainly was devoted to good works and lived love as the growing crowd of grieving friends and neighbors attest. They reminisce together, sharing their favorite stories of Dorcas. Without the help of videos or pictures, they have to use their own recollections of her. They don’t have a set time for the visitation like we do now. Instead they share for hours, telling their favorite stories, recalling their happy memories together, trading the tales of her life.

While they didn’t have slideshows of pictures to spark memories, they have something even more personal because she made it. They have the things that Tabitha herself had made. For each one of them.

Evidently this saintly woman was masterful at making clothes. Not just skillful, but generous, as well. Was there a friend or a neighbor who hadn’t received something from her hands? The reminiscing turns into a lovely sort of show-and-tell as the townspeople bring out the tokens of Tabitha’s kindness.

“She gave this to me for my last birthday,” one woman tearfully shares, as she holds up a lovely shawl. “She was so thoughtful! She never forgot a birthday, you know.”

“She was always thinking of other people,” another chimes in.

“This robe,” says another woman, drawing attention to the one she’s wearing, “I’m sure she was making this robe for herself. But when I visited one day and commented about how pretty it was, she held it up against me and said, ‘A perfect fit! It’s yours!’ “

On and on the stories went.

You and I don’t get to hear those stories and the truth is we don’t know any of Dorcas’ backstory. Scripture doesn’t give us a glimpse of her life up to now. We have no record of any of her words. If we were going to wear our historian hats – the only part of her biography that is preserved for us is this story on this one particular day; and she was dead for most of it.

And YET, for all intents and purposes, we feel like we know her, don’t we?

We feel like we know Tabitha because we’ve all been loved by someone like her. Perhaps it was your grandfather, your aunt, your sweet next door neighbor, a favorite Sunday school teacher, that one camp counselor who was there when you first encountered Jesus and you realized that he died for you. All of those people who loved you into being who you are. Those generous folks who share their love with the world, not just the rich and fancy, but ALL people.

Personally, I don’t know how many Christmas stockings that my Great Aunt Clair made when we were kids, but I know that I still have mine. She made my mom and aunt long-sleeved denim Winthrop shirts specifically designed for each of them because she was a proud Winthrop alum. She always gave me books that were Newbery or Caldecott Winners for Christmas. I would read every book that I received, mostly the latest Nancy Drew, before I would read those. Sure, they weren’t a fun whodunit mystery, but those “boring” award books taught me lessons that stick with me to this day. I have a whole host of books and quilts and prayer shawls and cross stitch pictures and pottery and a woodworked chair that my grandfather made that I will cherish long after the Saints who have imbued their spirits of selfless goodness and love long after they have gone and I remember the people that made them.

So it was with Tabitha. The family members, friends, and neighbors had all gathered together in her home, clothed and armed with the loving handiwork that she had left behind. Together they oohed and ahhed. Together they reminscised. Together they showed the symbols of her goodness and love to the apostle Peter.

Peter, the leap before he looks, the foot in his mouth, and yet, the rock on which Jesus built his church, had become a pillar of the early church and he was staying in the nearby town of Lydda. He was just a few miles from Joppa where Tabitha had lived. So the Christians there sent word to Peter, urging him to come to Joppa right away.

When Peter arrived, he was taken immediately up to the room where the body of Dorcas lay. There he was surrounded by the grieving loved ones, each one with an article of clothing to show him, each one with a story to tell him. Surely Peter was moved by the stories of the mourners. Surely his heart was touched by the good works of love she had left behind.

Then he did something unusual. Peter sent them all out of the room. They hadn’t asked him anything.

He abruptly told them – all who had gathered – to leave the room. It would have seemed strange to them, he didn’t know Tabitha. He hadn’t heard anything about Dorcas until he came to her house. He’d never even laid eyes on her. I can’t imagine what they whispered to one another as they walked down the stairs, leaving Peter alone in the viewing room.

He told the people to go because that’s what he had seen Jesus do.

Years before, when Peter and the disciples had chosen to follow Jesus along the dusty roads of Galilee, Peter had been in a similar bedroom. The twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus had died, and the house was full of mourners and Jesus sent them away. Or at least out of the room. Accompanied only by a few disciples and the grieving parents, Jesus spoke to the little girl. And in speaking to her, he raised her to life.

So, now, the disciple followed the example that he had seen set by his Master, his Rabbi and did the same thing. He sent the mourners out of the room, and then he spoke to the corpse. “Tabitha, get up,” Peter said, and the dead woman opened her eyes. Then she sat up. And then, Peter called all of her friends and loved ones back into the room and you could have knocked them over like a feather.

They thought she was dead. They are bursting with joy! They can’t believe their eyes! Now they get to say all those nice things TO her, instead of about her. Their grief is turned to love made real in the flesh. They could hug her and she could hug them back.

It was not Peter’s strength that brought about her healing, but by the Spirit of Jesus working within him and through him and for him. He saw his rabbi do it and he had faith and trust that the Spirit of the Lord would do it again.

Peter stays with Simon, the tanner, but he soon goes on his way, on to the next place where he will stay, where he will preach, where he will heal. He leaves Tabitha, alive and well, in Joppa. She is among the good love works that Peter leaves behind.

Earlier, we caught a glimpse of the good love works that Tabitha had left behind. Tunics, cloaks, robes, shawls. But Peter has his own profound collection. Healed bodies, lives transformed in Christ, and a living Tabitha — these are among the good works that Peter leaves behind.

Peter’s example and Tabitha’s example challenge us. We see what each left behind, and we ask, “What is it that I leave? What is the impact and effect you or I having been in a community, a church, a school, a workplace, a family? What is the good, the love, the mercy we leave behind? A life well-lived?”

Where Tabitha had been, she left behind symbols of love and generosity, tokens of caring and love. Where Peter had been, he left behind life and health, gladness and rejoicing.

We don’t have to be an artisan to leave an impact, but as Mary Oliver asks “Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Are you going to live love or are you going to live in fear, anger, and let the root the bitterness creep in?

We consider the example of Tabitha, and we observe that the good works she left behind remind us of her Lord. Afterall, he is the original artist and he gifted her with the creativity and skill with which she made everything. He modeled for her the love and the generosity that she shared with all of the people in her community.

We consider Peter and we see that the works he left behind also remind us of his Lord. When we look at Peter, we remember Jesus who sent his followers out in Matthew 10 “to proclaim the good news … Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.” We remember Peter who went about doing good in Acts 10:38 and when Jesus told Peter and the rest of the disciples in John 14 that they would do the works he had done and even greater works. The Holy Spirit was with Peter. And with Tabitha/Dorcas. And it can be alive in us. Helping us leave behind good love works. Giving us the strength, perseverance in the darkness of this world, and the Mighty will to do it, we can point people to our one and only Savior in whom all of our good works are inspired and are from. That’s the best advice of all. We point people to our Savior by our good love works so they can see, feel and know Jesus. Amen.

Campus Ministry, paul, peter, relationships, Sermons, yoda

Yoda – Who’s Your Peter/Paul?

Posted on October 6, 2013October 6, 2013 by narciejeter

Maybe I built this up too much in my mind, but I really, really, really was looking forward to the Yoda chapter in Len Sweet’s book 11 indispensable relationships you can’t live without. To say I was disappointed when Sweet only talked about Yoda for a paragraph is an understatement. Yoda ihe says is a mentor, a guru, a coach, a spiritual teacher/director. I was discussing this in the College Room and Carly mentioned she had no idea who Yoda is so I should not assume that everyone has watched Star Wars even once, forget watching it incessantly. Enoch, my 6 year old, got both trilogies for Christmas, so I’ve watched them REPEATEDLY. He even watches the offshoots from Lego Star Wars to the Yoda Chronicles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_QcRPNfUuE

I love that clip. Because Yoda doesn’t let Luke get away with anything. And yet he clearly cares about him. R2D2 is clearly the encourager from last week’s chapter. The Master is showing the Apprentice how it’s done. Seeing is believing. Yoda says, “Always two there are, no less: a master and an apprentice.” A master pushes us to help us navigate the way that seems unattainable. A master can help us move to new levels of perception and experience. A master KNOWS us. Our limits. Our strengths. A trusted master knows when to push or prod or ask the right question.

Disney movies have rich and meaningful mentor characters. The emperor from Mulan, Phil from Hercules, Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas, Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio, Merida’s mom in Brave. They clearly provide the morale compass of the story or the wise sage. Their all over pop culture as well. Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix, Mr. Miagi in the Karate Kid, Mother Superior in The Sound of Music….

Mentors often can give a reluctant protagonist a necessary push to get the plot rolling. Mentors also often personify the moral of the story in the protagonist’s story. They offer the inspiration to the protagonist to keep going when they would rather give up. They’re often the voice inside your head urging you on. Urging you forward.

Sweet actually titles this chapter, “Who’s Your Peter/Paul? You Need a Yoda.” So I’m going to read to you snapshots of each. Peter was the one that constantly stuck his foot in his mouth. He was a fisherman. He was with Jesus at the Transfiguration, the glow in the dark Jesus, where Jesus’ divinity is on full display. He was the one that walked on water with Jesus (before sinking). He was the one who denied Jesus three times. He’s the one Jesus said he would build his church upon, because Peter means rock. He was also the one who tore it up in Acts, proving that he was a changed man, preaching at Pentecost.

Acts 3:1-10

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Peter Heals a Crippled Beggar

3 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. ²And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. ³When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. ⁴Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” ⁵And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. ⁶But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” ⁷And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. ⁸Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. ⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God, ¹⁰and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

Let that simmer for a second before we launch into Paul.

Paul was the one who persecuted Christians. He was the chief persecutor of Christians. And he had an experience on Damascus Road with the Living God. He then presented himself to the early Christians and thinking he was going to violently persecute them, they fled. 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament are attributed to him so to say he was a prolific writer is an understatement.

Acts 16:25-34

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹The jailer^[^a^] called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³²They spoke the word of the Lord^[^b^] to him and to all who were in his house. ³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

Acts was nuts! There were all sorts of things going on. That’s why you hear people model their churches on Acts. I don’t entirely agree with Sweet’s simplified explanation of the difference between Peter and Paul. He says Peter was intellectually and culturally slow, but interpersonally was quick and rich, he was a hands on person when it came to relationships, it took him a while to realize the gospel was for everyone, he had a relational point of view. In contrast he says Paul was intellectually and culturally quick but interpersonally slow, he was hands off, not relational, Paul understood early on that the gospel was for all, he argumentative point of view.

I would like the opportunity to be mentored by either one! They were obviously men of God who had much to teach, and they had obviously experienced a conversion experience. Neither Peter nor Paul was afraid of a fight – but a mentor can tell you which battles are worth fighting and which ones aren’t – a lesson that both Peter and Paul had to learn.

You will be mentored by lots and lots of people in your life. I hope you will be. I pray that you will be. Because one having a mentor, means that we do not have it all figured out. You remember when Luke says to Yoda “he can’t do it” and Yoda shows him he can if he just believes….You can’t be cynical or jaded for long around a Yoda.

Sir Isaac Newton said, “IF I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Whose shoulders are you standing on?
Who do you see and say, “I want to be like them someday!”
Who sets standards to which you aspire?
What person are you seeking out to help you find your voice and be true to your own voice?
From whom are you learning when to suppress and when to express yourself?
Whose blessing do you seek?

Those are all good questions as we find our Yodas.

We must choose our Yodas carefully. Sweet writes, “There are as many kinds of ‘Yodas’ as there are heads, minds, and hearts! – don’t hitch your wagon to any single star or listen to any voice that seems to attract a following.” So be discerning in who you choose. Do you see Christ in him or her? Mentors come in all different shapes and sizes, some for only a season and some for a lifetime. We may not even know our spiritual mentors. Do you have a favorite author who’s dramatically shaped your life? Whose books you pick up at just the right time and they challenge you long after you finish reading them. Rob Bell. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Teresa of Avila. Brennan Manning. Donald Miller. Elisabeth Elliott. Hannah Hurdard. Bob Goff. And countless others. It’s like a continued conversation when you find an author that engages you.

Sweet says we must choose our Yodas based on these three things: Humility, Honesty and Honor.

Humility. Peter objects to Jesus’ washing the disciples of feet. In John 13:7 Jesus challenges Peter back, “You do not realize now what I’m doing, but later you will understand.” The Great God of the universe humbled himself because he wanted to get in the disciples heads and make clear to his followers that you must serve. The Master wants to study WITH you, not demand you to study UNDER them. A true Yoda sees themselves as constantly learning. As Sweet says “An ideal Yoda is a One-who-knows … but a One-who-knows he/she doesn’t know it all.”

Honesty. The best Yodas will be honest enough to share their secrets with you. But they will be honest enough to tell you the truth, even to rebuke you, especially when you settle for easy answers. The best mentors let you see behind the curtain to the man underneath – a la the Wizard of Oz. They let you see through to their vulnerability. Their weakness. It’s not a façade. I appreciate people who are “real,” “authentic,” and don’t have it all figured out. Even the Yodas second guess themselves. But they push you out of that same second guessing….towards the light. Because that’s innately who they are.

Honor. To be blessed by and to bless a mentor are two of life’s richest blessings. A Yoda wants to mentor people who will honor them by demonstrating both a love of originality and a love of conformity. So you being you, is all the thanks they need. That they had influence on your life is all the thanks they need. That they see their legacy in YOU is all the thanks they need. Yodas love questions. I’m reminded of a seminary professor, Dr. Thomas Thangaraj, who asked all the right questions. He was from India so he even sounded very much like Yoda. I had the pleasure of being in his Contextual Education class and taking his Images of Christ class. And I had the nerves-inducing opportunity to preach in front of him in Chapel upon several occasions because he attended University Worship at Emory. He would find the one question we hadn’t thought of or engaged in. He was not afraid to answer our questions either. Like Yoda, he often answered a question by asking another question. He modeled the give and take between Master and Apprentice unlike any other.

Throughout this chapter I was writing in the margins the names of my mentors. My parents. Bridgette. Susan. Risher. Sara. Ms. Rhodes. A mentor’s function, according to Sweet, “is to guide and guard us into a living, dynamic relationship with God, to help us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to help us live in a daily relationship with the divine.” With that definition, who are your mentors, your Yodas, your guides? Have you thanked them for shaping you in big and small ways? I encourage you during this week to thank your Yodas. Also, to whom are you a yoda, mentor, or guide? To whom are you going to pass the baton? Or leave your legacy?