Daily Bread

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers.When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’

The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.

It is tempting to look back on the early Church through rose-tinted spectacles, but the truth is that the spread of Christianity was messy and bumpy.

Jesus was a Jewish rabbi and itinerant preacher and Christianity was originally a Jewish sect. What made Christianity different was that you could continue to be a disciple of the rabbi Jesus, even after he had died, because he was first resurrected and then because his Spirit lived on in the Jewish people who followed him.

To be Jewish was not just to follow a religion but it was a culture and way of life. It was something you either 'were' or 'were not'. Yes, you could convert to Judaism, but it would be a whole-life, forever thing — marked with the rite of male circumcision — and so here lay the rub. If being a Christian meant being Jewish, how could you be a Christian and be a Gentile (i.e. not be Jewish)? Surely, to be a Christian you needed to also be Jewish and follow the law of Moses?

The apostles were faced with the reality that Gentiles were becoming disciples of Jesus, and the rite of passage was that these non-Jewish people were being filled with the Holy Spirit. God was doing a new and radical thing, and the apostles and other Jewish disciples had to catch up! How could those who were living what the Jewish people considered a 'sinful' life possibly be included?

And so, we read in the Book of Acts about how Paul and Barnabas defended the Gentiles against the Judaizers — those who regarded the Laws of Moses as still binding on all Christians.

Forward-wind 2000 years, and the Church faces a similar dilemma today. Some Christians assert that one cannot be homosexual or part of the rainbow community and be a Christian, or even more outrageous to Christians — be members of alternative lifestyle communities and be a Christian, but they are being filled with the Holy Spirit. God is making home with them, and the Church, just like those first apostles, needs to decide whether the doors are open to them.

Helen and I take issue with 'exclusivity' and are passionate about 'inclusivity' and this is, in part, why we set up FAB Church. God is a radically inclusive and loving God, and FAB Church is a radically inclusive and loving church, and I give thanks for each and every one of you. I pray we may we never stop extending our divine welcome to those who have previously been excluded.

Holy God
I am undeserving, and truly humbled
that you accepted me as your beloved child.
Thank you that you cast your net wider,
to embrace and welcome me into your kingdom,
and as a rite of passage and extension of your love,
have filled me with your Holy Spirit.
May I now extend your love to others
that they too might come to know your love.
Always and forever yours.