The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Have you ever known a person who was so staunch in their position about something

that only an act of God would make them change their mind,

and perhaps not even that?

Change, especially change of the heart,

is not easy.

For example, 

The position of the early church was that:

The Holy Spirit is at work in those who are baptized.

And the understanding was that the Holy Spirit was

ONLY

at work in those who are baptized.

(Unfortunately, though this position has changed, 

many people still believe this way.)

People who were baptized and went to church were the special ones.

The one who knew God and could interact with God.

No one else could get near God,

no one else was working with the Holy Spirit.

If you wanted to access God,

you had to go find God in a church.

Many changes have happened throughout the centuries

the world of the first century church was extremely different than the world of the twenty first century church

yet, we still have the tendency to want to control God

and specify where God can be at work in the world.

I mean, God couldn't possibly be involved with all those other people,

could God?

We aren't going to find the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of ... them...

You know, the poor, the unchurched, the criminals,

the ones hanging out watching the news on Sunday mornings in their pajamas...

Yes.

Most emphatically, yes.

Case and point:

Peter was one of the twelve disciples,

he was one of the big shots of the early church.

(So much so, the Roman Catholic Church have put their claim on him as the first Pope.)

And Peter believed that the mission of Jesus

was to the Jewish people,

Gentiles need not apply.

Yet some other big shots of the early church,

namely Paul 

felt that Jesus' Good News

was for everyone, 

including the Gentiles.

So it was an issue...

Gentiles... in the church!

Good God!

Exactly.

Thankfully for us, who all started as Gentiles,

the originally mostly Jewish church community started to welcome Gentiles,

without making them become Jewish first.

It happened in this way:

There was a centurion named Cornelius.

A Roman soldier living in Caesarea.

A Gentile.

There wasn't a church in Caesarea at this point in the story

there wasn't a community following the ways of Jesus in Caesarea.

However, Cornelius is visited by an angel in a vision

and told to send for Peter to visit him.

So Cornelius sends some of his men to Joppa, by the seaside,

to find Peter and convince Peter to visit Cornelius.

While Cornelius' men were on their way,

Peter has his own vision from God,

in which he is told, 

"What God has made clean,

you must not call profane."

(Some of you will remember this story from reading through Acts with the Good Book Club

or talking about it in Adult Formation.)

Anyway, Cornelius' men convince Peter to go with them back to Cornelius.

When they get to Caesarea, they find that Cornelius

has called together a bunch of his friends and family to hear Peter speak.

(There's nothing like being invited to an event and then being called on to speak.)

Peter tells the group in front of him about Jesus and the Good News.

And the crowd of people believe him.

The Holy Spirit comes upon them and they start praising God and speaking in tongues.

Peter is amazed.

He then asks a good question, one that he had never thought about before.

Who can stop the work of God?

"Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"

It was a moment of a change of heart for Peter.

One that changed the community of followers of Jesus forever.

Who are we to stop the work of God in someone else,

even if they are not like us?

Even the apostles and believers back in Judea,

when Peter goes home,

end up questioning Peter as to why he accepted

and met and ate and drank and prayed with Cornelius and his men.

Peter has to give a verbatim, a step by step narrative of everything that happened,

before they could accept that God might be at work,

even in the Gentiles.

In this passage, we see a very important Christian story.

We see one of the many changes in heart and mind

which happen because of the Good New of Jesus.

Peter had been in the camp of people who thought that only

good Jewish people could become Jesus followers.

Yet, because of an act of God, the presence of the Holy Spirit,

Peter becomes one of the first apostles to baptize Gentiles into the community.

Later on in the story of Acts, when Paul and Barnabas come to Jerusalem,

they are called out by some other members of the community for accepting Gentiles.

Peter stands up alongside them in accepting Gentiles who have become followers of Jesus.

He argues that since the Holy Spirit had been given to them,

just as it has been given to the Jewish followers, 

they were true followers of Jesus.

The sign of the Holy Spirit in these stories was speaking in tongues and praising God.

Two good signs.

There are also many other signs of the Holy Spirit in someone's life.

Last week, I spoke about one of the fruits of the Spirit,

the outward and visible signs of something going on deep inside of us,

God's grace at work in our hearts.

There are the traditional signs, and then there are the signs more likely to be noticed today,

community service, engaging in biblical study, getting involved in the ministries of the church.

No matter what the sign,

they all signify the same thing,

the workings of the Holy Spirit upon us.

Even when the people engaging in the signs of the Holy Spirit,

are not the people we expect.

The understanding today is that the Holy Spirit is always at work in a person's life

BEFORE they are baptized,

especially for those who receive baptism later in life,

otherwise they would not seek baptism at all.

The Collect of the Day makes this connection to baptism and this idea of the Holy Spirit in our lives very clear.

It says, "Pour into our hearts" 

and y'all already know, 

you can't fill an already full cup.

When we are full of ourselves, there is no space for the workings of the Holy Spirit

there is no space for the fruits of the Spirit to grow within us.

When we pour water over the head of Logan today,

we already know that God has poured into her heart, 

the grace and love of God,

the Holy Spirit,

already.

We have seen the signs in her life here at St. John's,

volunteering with Shepherd's Green Community Food Pantry.

The Holy Spirit has already been at work in her life,

and we celebrate her life and gift today.

Today, as we go out in the world

Jesus sends us out to find

where the Holy Spirit is ALREADY at work,

to support the Holy Spirit,

to help the Holy Spirit,

to encourage the work of the Spirit,

wherever and whenever 

we find her.

Amen.