May 13 NOTES FOR REFLECTION Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 13                        NOTES FOR REFLECTION                         Sixth Sunday of Easter

Texts:  Acts 10:44-48; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17

Note: I am tempted to write "See last week's reflections" and leave it at that!  Most of what I wrote then is just as applicable to this week's readings, which means that these can be a little shorter than usual.

Theme: I feel the need for a classical flourish this week, so I'm going with "A Tale of Two Visions".  A more serious suggestion would be to take a lead from one of our Liturgies and go with "Breaking Down the Barriers that Divide".

Introduction.  The menu remains the same, as we continue to ponder the way in which Christ's Resurrection is working itself out internally in the hearts, minds and spirits of his disciples, and externally in their actions.  Last week the emphasis was on Philip, one of the lesser known members of Jesus' Ministry Team.  This time the focus is on the Team's captain, whose form varies from awful to sublime; this week he's back at his best.  [Incidentally, by jumping from Chapter 8 with Philip to chapter 10 with Peter, we have omitted chapter 9 with Paul, a rather important chapter as it deals in some detail with his conversion experience on the Road to Damascus.  Read it for yourself.

A key element in this week's main drama is once again the Holy Spirit, who manifests himself through the appearance of an angel, and through two visions.  The key theme in Acts is the "conversion" of Peter (one of many!), as he is forced by his experience of the Divine to come to the conclusion that the old barrier between Jew and Gentile is a man-made rather than God-ordained division.  Just as John talks of our relationship with Jesus as being one of friendship, so now we see the implication of that at the horizontal level.  Who are our friends?  All those whom God loves – which is quite a few, really!

Background.  If I've said nothing else of any importance in over 20 years of preaching and teaching, one thing I do insist on is this.  Our faith is not an intellectual construct: it is rooted in experience.  Perhaps more than any other book in the New Testament the Book of Acts is testimony to that.  In fact, an alternative title for the book could be "the Book of Religious Experiences".  Today in our first reading we have some wonderful examples of that, and I'll get to that shortly.  But first a plug for a hero of mine, Sir Alister Hardy.  He was a brilliant biologist; he held chairs at Hull and Aberdeen Universities, before reaching the pinnacle of his career with his appointment to the Linacre Chair at Oxford, from which he retired on reaching the age of 65.  His career in science, therefore, had filled forty years.

But throughout all those decades he had a secret agenda.  As a young teenager he became convinced of the reality of a spiritual element to life.  He might be described as a nature mystic, rather along the lines of the Lake District poets such as Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey.  Then, aged 18, he was called up for service in the First World War, and he made an extraordinary vow before God.  He promised that if he survived the war he would dedicate the rest of his life to reconciling science (and, in particular, Darwinism) to religious belief.  He recognised that the scientific world was already becoming more and more sceptical of matters spiritual, and no one would listen to him unless he could fist establish himself as a first-rate scientist.  Only when he had done that did he begin, very cautiously, to express an interest in studying religious experiences in the same way that biologists studied life forms, and with the same rigour.

Picking up on the work of the great pioneers, William James and his student Edwin Starbuck, Hardy decided to ask people to write to him about their own religious experiences.  Interestingly, he gained very few responses when he advertised in the religious press; he was swamped when he engaged with the secular press.  He established the Religious Experiences Research Unit within Manchester College in Oxford to continue this work, and was still at it when he died at the age of 88.  The unit is now based at the University of Wales Lampeter.  The most direct link on the web is www.alisterhardyreligiousexperience.co.uk.  A very comprehensive and readable biography of Hardy's life and work was published last year by D.L.T.: God's Biologist, by David Hay.  Hay worked with Hardy and succeeded him as Director of the Unit.  One rather interesting little fact, only lightly touched on in the biography, is that one of Hardy's students at Oxford was Richard Dawkins!  You won't find many references to Hardy in Dawkins' published works.

Enough of riding hobby horses; it's time for relevance and sombre reflection!

Acts. I know I shouldn't keep repeating myself, but Luke really is a master story-teller.  Read slowly through the whole of chapter 10 to get the feel of what this climactic scene today is really about.  And in your mind put it alongside the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch from last week.  This time we meet Cornelius who, like the eunuch, was what was known as a God-fearer: that is a non-Jew who nevertheless worshipped God and practised Judaism's rites and practices so far as they applied to worship, prayer, etc.  We are told that he and his family were very devout, generous to those in need and regular in prayer.

The story is set in Caesarea, a place of considerable significance in early Christian history.  A centre of imperial power and pomp, it was nevertheless the site of the famous question Jesus raised about his true identity, which prompted Peter's equally famous confession of faith.  Here one day Cornelius had a vision.  Interestingly, Luke tells us the time of the day when this vision occurred, 3.00pm, perhaps because this was the time of Christ's death on the cross.  At that time Cornelius "distinctly saw", anticipating the mockers and deriders.  He saw an angel who addressed him by name.  The whole experience was visual, auditory and personal.  Cornelius' response was one of fear, the usual response to an angelic appearance.  The angel gives him a mission, with far more detail than that given to Philip last week: he is to summon a man known as Simon Peter to his home.

Cornelius sends three men on the mission.  The number may or may not be intended to remind us of the three visitors to Abram at the Oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18, a sort of Trinitarian visitation.  Be that as it may, Cornelius' response to the Angel's message is one of obedience.

Meanwhile, in a house in Joppa Peter also has a vision.  Again, we are given a time signal: it is noon, the time when darkness came over the whole world as Jesus hung on the cross.  Peter is hungry, so he sends for some food, and while he is waiting for it he falls into a trance.  A cynic would suggest he fell asleep and what followed was a dream.  What follows is classic Peter.  He sees Heaven open (echoes of Christ' baptism, Stephen's martyrdom, John the Seer's revelation in the book of that name, and a whole lot else).  Then what looks like a sheet is lowered from heaven containing animals, reptiles and birds; and a voice commands Peter to stand up, kill and eat.  Characteristically, Peter argues with the voice.  Here the parallels include the foot-washing episode in John 13, his denial of Christ in the High Priest's courtyard, and the story of his so-called "reinstatement" in John 21.  With Peter, everything has to be in triplicate!

To cut a wonderful story short, Cornelius' men arrive, they are received as guests, and the next day Peter leaves with them on the journey back to Caesarea.  The divinely ordained encounter, therefore takes place.  Cornelius, we're told, was expecting him: he did not doubt that Peter would obey God's summons.  A congregation was assembled in the house and Peter preached to them.  Once again the sermon has at its heart the death and resurrection of Christ, and the consequences that follow from that.

As he is preaching, the Holy Spirit falls on all present, again requiring a change of mind and attitude on the part of the Jewish Christians present.   And the whole thing ends in baptism, as it did for the eunuch last week.  Word and Spirit effect conversion for which the appropriate response is to accept baptism.

What more need be said?  Well, perhaps this.  It is this sort of story that points the way to breaking down other walls that divide.  When I was asked by a fellow-priest why I supported the Bishop's decision to ordain a gay man I referred to this episode.  I said Peter's belief was absolutely sincere, but he was shown (by God) that it was wrong.  So let us look around: do we find women with fruitful ministries?  If so, we must accept that God is blessing that ministry, and there is no ground for excluding women from ministry.  Do we see gay people with fruitful ministries?  If so, it follows that there are no grounds for excluding gay people from ministry.  There are no clean and unclean divides here; that is the real witness of the New Testament.

Peter found that out, Paul spelt it out (at least three times!), and John told us to go and bear fruit.  That really is enough for now.

Taking It Personally.  See last week's suggestions.