Still Speaking -- Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10:44-48

May 6, 2018

“To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
And I've listened to what the preacher said
Now it's to the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat”

            That’s the chorus to Lyle Lovett’s song, “Church,” off of his “Joshua, Judges, Ruth” album. It is a great song and it tells a great story. The story begins with the narrator telling about his trip to church last Sunday. The service began right on time as it always does, but when the scheduled time for church to end came and went, the preacher just kept on preaching.

            The preacher told them that before they left they needed to think about the judgment day. Everyone was getting really nervous, because they were all getting hungry. The preacher seemed to read the congregation’s thoughts, but instead of winding it down, he wound it up.

“And the preacher he kept preaching
He said now I'll remind you if I may
You all better pay attention
Or I might decide to preach all day”

            As the song goes on, everyone gets really, really nervous because they are all getting hungry. Everyone was so hungry that people were getting ill; old folks and young folks, little children and everyone in between. But that did not slow the preacher down one bit. But the narrator came up with a plan. He snuck up to the balcony where the choir sat and pleaded with them to join him when he gave the signal. As the preacher was preaching and preaching and preaching, he prayed for God to forgive him, then he stood up and sang,

“To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
And I've listened to what the preacher said
Now it's to the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat”

            Then he raised his hand and the choir stood up with him and sang,

“To the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat
We've got some beans and some good cornbread
And I've listened to what the preacher said
Now it's to the Lord let praises be
It's time for dinner now let's go eat”

            With that a hush fell over the church. And the Spirit descended like a dove from up above and landed on the window sill. Then the dove flew down to sit beside the preacher, and a fork magically, supernaturally appeared in the preacher’s hand. He ate the dove. To the awe and amazement of everyone there, he began to glow. He was, after all, filled with the Spirit. Then the preacher joined in the chorus. And the moral of the story as we are told is that even the preacher gets hungry too.

            The narrator of the song and the Holy Spirit itself intervened to make that long-winded preacher stop preaching. Do you think the people gathered around Peter, listening to his sermon, were getting hungry too? You might say this is another story of the Holy Spirit intervening, although to be fair to Peter, this was not a long or drawn out sermon. But I believe that this was a sermon that was difficult for some listening to Peter to digest. What we read in our selected verses is the end of a longer story that begins at the start of chapter 10.

            A centurion named Cornelius, who was a member of the Italian cohort – which means he was most decidedly a Gentile and a cog in the wheel of the Roman Empire – was also described as a devout man. He gave alms generously to those in need, and he prayed constantly to God. Cornelius had a vision from God in which an angel of God told him that his prayers did not go unnoticed by the Lord. In the vision Cornelius was told to send men to Joppa to get a man named Simon who was called Peter. After Cornelius’ heavenly visitor left him, he did what he was told.

            The next day while Cornelius’ messengers were on their way to Joppa, Peter goes up on the roof of the house where he was staying. He went up there to pray, and while he was praying, he also had a vision. His vision makes for another one of my favorite stories from the book of Acts.

            In Peter’s vision, he saw a sheet lowered from heaven by its four corners. On that sheet was every animal that was considered unclean according to dietary laws. Peter saw that sheet and he heard a voice telling him to get up, kill and eat.

            Peter refused. He had never broken the Law. He had never eaten anything that the Law said was unclean. He had never put anything profane in his mouth. The voice spoke to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.” Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, he also said, “No,” three times. After the third time, the sheet was taken back up to heaven.

            Peter was confused by what he had seen and heard. While he was puzzling over the vision, the men sent by Cornelius arrived. The Spirit told him to go with the men. Peter and other believers from Joppa went, and they met Cornelius. Cornelius tried to worship Peter, but Peter wouldn’t have it. He told Cornelius and the other members of his household who were gathered there for Peter’s visit that they knew it was unlawful for him, a Jew, to associate with Gentiles. But he had this vision from God telling him not to call unclean what God had made clean. Cornelius told Peter about his vision, and that is when Peter began the sermon that brings us to our part of the story.

            Peter was still speaking. I imagine him cut off by the Spirit, mid-sentence. Perhaps he was unsure of what he would say next, or maybe he had the perfect phrase rolling around in his head. But that didn’t matter, because the Spirit intervened. It fell on all the people gathered there. It fell on all who heard the word. The Holy Spirit was being poured out even on Gentiles. And as our verses say,

“The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.” 

While Peter was still speaking, before he could finish a thought or end a phrase, the Spirit did its work. One commentator said that the Holy Spirit was the true preacher here. Certainly, before I preach every Sunday I pray not just, “Help me. Help me. Help me,” but also “Lord, let your Spirit work through my words and make them your own.” Some Sundays I pray that harder than others.

Yet what is really so amazing about this whole story – from Cornelius to the interruption by the Spirit while Peter was still speaking – is that the Spirit was not just being poured out on the “other,” it was breaking down walls and leaping over boundaries that we humans thought – and still think – are necessary. The Spirit refused to do what the humans thought should be done, and instead did the work of God. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit whooshed through the folks gathered there; it poured itself and its power out on the Gentiles, the strangers, the others. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit proved that God was also still speaking.

There is a famous story about Gracie Allen and George Burns. Supposedly after Gracie died, George found a note she left him. It read, “Never put a period where God has put a comma.” In other words, don’t believe that you know everything. Don’t believe that what you think of as an end is really an end. Never put a period where God has put a comma.

This story, and indeed the entire book of Acts, shows us again and again and again that God was and is about the comma. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit was God still speaking, God still working, God still doing – breaking down walls and boundaries and divisions. The good news, the great and glorious news is that God is still speaking here and now. May the Holy Spirit interrupt and disrupt us today and always.

Alleluia! Amen.