#BeUMC - From Fear to Freedom

From Fear to Grace

#BeUMC - Part 2

Sunday, July 2, 2023
Romans 8:1-17

You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, “Abba, Father.” 

Romans 8:15 (CEB)

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

The sound of crashing metal echoed through the dark cavernous sanctuary as a stream of light flickered on a small collapsible screen. A reel-to-reel whirred from the back of the room projecting gruesome images of human flesh run through with huge rusty spikes. Screams of agony drowned out the film reels and the clanging hammer, followed by a few guttural words in some foreign language I would later come to know as Aramaic.

 “Father, forgive them,” the dying man cried as he was hoisted up on a cross. “They know not what they do.”

In all honesty I don’t remember the words first hand; only the graphic sounds and images flooding the consciousness of my seven or eight-year-old mind. It wasn’t until middle school that I even began putting the pieces together, but the jumbled nightmarish images haunted me for years with little to no real meaning.

My childhood experience in the Catholic church left me with the confusion of mixed moral messages and a general fear of God and religion.  Looking back, I can appreciate many things about the Catholic faith, especially its positive influence in my grandmother’s life as one of the most devout prayer warriors I know.  Attending an occasional mass or Catholic funeral as an adult, I am struck by their rich heritage and their overwhelming reverence for the Scriptures. I am even moved on occasion to go and light a candle for friends who are grieving the loss of loved ones. But in elementary school, I did not have the wisdom or discernment to separate the anxiety of my personal experience from the whole of the Catholic church or even the whole of Christianity. 

The film we watched on the death of Jesus did not even come close to the graphic depictions of Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ”, but at the time I felt as if I were actually there in Jerusalem, cowering away so the blood would not splatter on my face.  Like Peter, I would likely be huddling by a fire in the courtyard, unwilling to admit that I even knew the unrecognizable man on the cross.

I made straight A’s in school. My intelligence and imagination always ran high. Yet no matter how hard I tried, I could not wrap my brain around why this man would have to suffer the way I saw that night. I couldn’t rationalize how anyone could inflict such a horrifying punishment on anyone, not even a mass murderer. 

Still reeling from the shock of it all, I heard the nun explain that Jesus died because of my sin.  The horror I had just witnessed was all my fault. OK, maybe not ALL mine, but I couldn’t stomach the idea that I needed forgiveness as much as the ones who nailed him to that cross. I never even had a poor conduct mark in school.  How could my wrongdoing cause this man to die nearly 2,000 years before I was even born? 

I don’t remember hearing anything about resurrection or the hope of eternal life. Maybe they taught it later on, but after that night, I was too scared to hear anything else.  Being a good kid would never be good enough anymore. I had to be perfect. I couldn’t live with his blood on my conscience but I didn’t understand how to remove the stain. I couldn’t even figure out how I ended up being responsible in the first place…

… and so begins my journey from fear to freedom...

For the rest of the story, listen to this week’s sermon here.

Also be sure to check out Rev. Tangela Cameron’s UMC story as shared at Shiloh on June 25th to kick off this series. You can see the video here.

Your Faith Has Healed You

Your Faith Has Healed You

A Service of Healing & Wholeness

Sunday, June 11, 2023
James 5:14-16, Mark 5:21-43

Are any among you sick?  They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them,  anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.  The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.  Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.

James 5:14-16

Listen to this Week’s Sermon here:

From The United Methodist Book of Worship, pp. 613-614

Scripture strongly affirms ministries of spiritual healing, which in recent years have received renewed emphasis throughout Christ’s holy Church. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness. Spiritual healing is God’s work of offering persons balance, harmony, and wholeness of body, mind, spirit and relationships through confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Through such healing, God works to bring about reconciliation between God and humanity, among individuals and communities, within each person, and between humanity and the rest of creation. The New Testament records that Jesus himself healed the estranged and sick and sent out his disciples on ministries of healing. James 5:14-16a calls us also to pray for and anoint the sick, that they may be healed.

All healing is of God. The Church’s healing ministry in no way detracts from the gifts God gives through medicine and psychotherapy. It is no substitute for either medicine or the proper care of one’s health. Rather, it adds to our total resources for wholeness.

Healing is not magic, but underlying it is the great mystery of God’s love. Those who minister spiritual healing are channels of God’s love. Although no one can predict what will happen in a given instance, many marvelous healings have taken place.

God does not promise that we shall be spared suffering but does promise to be with us in our suffering. Trusting that promise, we are enabled to recognize God’s sustaining presence in pain, sickness, injury, and estrangement.

Likewise, God does not promise that we will be cured of all illnesses; and we all must face the inevitability of death. A Service of Healing is not necessarily a service of curing, but it provides an atmosphere in which healing can happen. The greatest healing of all is the reunion or reconciliation of a human being with God. When this happens, physical healing sometimes occurs, mental and emotional balance is often restored, spiritual health is enhanced, and relationships are healed. For the Christian, the basic purpose of spiritual healing is to renew and strengthen one’s relationship with the living Christ.

Patterns of healing services grow out of both Church traditions and the needs of the moment. Prayers for healing, accompanied if desired by anointing with the laying on of hands, may be incorporated into any service of congregational worship as a Response to the Word. Also, there may be a healing service at a stated time each week or month, or healing may be ministered privately to individuals. Many find not only prayer but also Holy Communion, laying on of hands, and anointing with oil to be healing.

Laying on of hands, anointing with oil, and the less formal gesture of holding someone’s hand all show the power of touch, which plays a central role in the healings recorded in the New Testament. Jesus often touched others — blessing children, washing feet, healing injuries or disease, and raising people from death. Biblical precedent combines with our natural desire to reach out to persons in need in prompting us to touch gently and lovingly those who ask for healing prayers. Such an act is a tangible expression of the presence of the healing Christ, working in and through those who minister in his name.

Anointing the forehead with oil is a sign act invoking the healing love of God. The oil points beyond itself and those doing the anointing to the action of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the healing Christ, who is God’s Anointed One.

A prayer for healing:

O God, the giver of health and salvation, we give thanks to you for the gift of oil.

As your holy apostles anointed many who were sick and healed them,

so pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on this gift,

that those who in faith and repentance receive this anointing

may be made whole; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

May the power of God's indwelling presence heal you of all illnesses—

of body, mind, spirit, and relationships—

that you may serve God with a loving heart. Amen.

Spiritual Language

SPIRITUAL - PART 7

Spiritual Language
Sunday, May 28, 2023
Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-21

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.  They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them?  How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language?

Acts 2:4-8

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

I’ve always been highly academic and I love learning just about every subject, but the one thing I cannot seem to learn is how to speak a foreign language. I took several years of French in high school and barely remember a word. I tried learning Spanish later in life and nothing seems to stick. I aced Greek and Hebrew in seminary, but without a lexicon in front of me, I don’t even remember the alphabets. Perhaps it comes down to a lack of practice or opportunities to be immersed in speaking the language regularly, but for whatever reason, languages are just not my gift.

I discovered in South Africa they have 11 official languages and I thoroughly enjoyed preaching a revival service last year with a translator who spoke Ndbele. Even though he was simply translating my words, somehow his sermon sounded a lot better than mine. The children’s Sunday School teacher in the church there mentioned that some of the kids in her class did not speak any of the same languages and could not always understand each other, and yet somehow the Holy Spirit kept drawing them back together as one family.

The coming of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts demonstrates the truth that Paul speaks of in Ephesians when he writes:

You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.

Ephesians 4:4-6

In many nations around the world fluency in two or more languages is nearly a necessity. I fully recognize the privilege of having English readily available almost anywhere I go. Even when we are all speaking English, however, we are not always speaking the same language. I’m not just talking about southern vs. northern accents or British vs. Australian vs. American dialects. Language is more than the words we say or even the accents with which we say them. Words have meaning based on cultural context and often take on further nuance based on individual experience. Most arguments involve people talking past each other using the same language and the same words with very different layers of meaning and interpretation.

The same is true in our churches.

Every time a congregation gathers for worship, many different people, from different points in life, with different needs and perspectives come together; each refracting messages through their own lenses. Each person processes communication in ways that are influenced by age, gender, race, personality type, ethnicity, education, and social and economic backgrounds.

Joseph R. Jeter Jr. and Ronald J. Allen, “One Gospel, Many Ears”

It is easy to rail against people who don’t speak “English” in America, but perhaps we would be better off recognizing that we have a much more serious language problem. We all struggle to say what we mean and often to mean what we say. We all talk past each other on a regular basis. We all misinterpret or misunderstand what people are saying to us, even our closest loved ones.

This is why the unifying language of the Holy Spirit is so crucial. Too often the church sounds just like our political rallies and our news media, fighting and arguing and talking past each other as if shouting in a thousand different languages, when in truth, we all desire the same thing. We just have different perspectives and approaches.

What would it look like for your church to look less like the people fleeing from the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and more like the church at Pentecost, who truly speaks “One Gospel to Many Ears.”

---

If you are interested, here is the sermon I preached with the translator in South Africa. It was my first time trying to communicate to an entirely different culture who spoke multiple languages which I did not understand. Truly a blessed experience.

Invitation to a Journey - Session 12: Social Spirituality

---

Invitation to a Journey

Session 12: Social Spirituality

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves. Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do. If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us.

James 1:22-27 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 12 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 13 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

_____

Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 12: Social Spirituality

• Notes for Session 12

Spiritual Discernment

SPIRITUAL - PART 6

Spiritual Discernment
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Acts 17:22-31, John 16:12-15

“I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.

John 16:12-13

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

The Spirit may guide us in all truth, but that does not mean we have “all of the truth” about everything.

Sometimes truth may take generations to uncover or discern. How many centuries did astronomers study the skies before they realized the truth that the earth was round and revolved around the sun? Even when Copernicus first released this fundamental scientific truth, the church rallied against him declaring the scriptures such as Psalm 93 which declares that “God has fixed the earth as immovable and firm.” So was Copernicus listening to the Spirit of Truth or was the Church? It took generations to accept, but eventually the Church came to accept that they were wrong. This does not mean that nobody in the church was trying to listen to the voice of the Spirit, or that the Spirit was even directly involved in the natural discovery of scientific realities.

Throughout history, Christians across the globe have disagreed on countless “truth claims”. Early Christians argued over the divine nature of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Were they eternally begotten, co-equal with God, or where they created by God? Was Jesus fully Divine or fully human? Could he be both?

Century after century, groups of Christians separate over any number of “truth claims” ranging from the authority of the Pope to the method and meaning of Baptism. The Methodist Episcopal Church South and other Christians in the 1800’s stood firm on their “truth” that even slavery was an institution ordained and approved by God. Christians fought on both sides of the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, and virtually every other social and political conflict throughout history. Churches still split over almost anything and both sides of every split claim that their side stands on the “Absolute Truth” of Scripture.

Rev. James Howell notes that this “spirit of truth” is perilous, as too many Christians treat “truth” as some sledgehammer to judge or belittle others. St. Ephrem the Syrian (4th century) writes, “Truth and love are wings that cannot be separated, for Truth without Love is unable to fly, so too Love without Truth is unable to soar up; their yoke is one of harmony.” Denominations are lousy about truth; both “sides” blithely presume to have cornered it.

Good Bible believing Christians hold opposing views on countless political, ethical and even moral issues. Some may indeed be misinterpreting scripture. Some may be intentionally twisting scripture to fit their own agenda. But not all. Many people are sincerely trying to align themselves with God’s truth to the best of their ability and yet still come out on different sides of the aisle.

In Acts 15, we read the story of a conflict between Paul and Barnabas which ends in each of them parting ways. Who was right? Which one of them listened to the truth of the Spirit? Scripture doesn’t say, and perhaps it does not matter. In the end, the Spirit guided both of them in successful missionary journeys. Neither one was outcast by the church or by God and yet clearly they could not both have been “right”.

So where is this “Spirit of Truth”?

Why don’t we all hear the same truth when this Spirit speaks?

Perhaps we do. At least on the things that matter most. Holy Spirit reveals to us the nature of God. Holy Spirit teaches us the way of salvation. Holy Spirit convicts us of the truth of sin in our lives and leads us in the way of repentance. Holy Spirit resonates with our spirits to assure us that we are beloved children of the Most High.

Jesus told his disciples there were many things they were not ready to hear. In truth, there are still many things we are not ready to hear. There are many things good Christians have thought were true that are not so black and white. Just like Jesus, Holy Spirit knows the places in our lives where we are ready to see a bit more gray, to hear a more nuanced approach that isn’t always either/or, in/out, right/wrong. But Holy Spirit also knows the places in our lives we need a bit more certainty and assurance and the Spirit teaches us all that is spoken clearly by the Father and the Son. Holy Spirit is the Wisdom of God personified. Wisdom doesn’t simply teach us right and wrong. Wisdom also guides us in how to appropriately apply the truths we have learned.

We may know the truth, for example, that a tomato is a fruit, but wisdom reminds us not to put one in a fruit salad or smoothie.

Likewise, Holy Spirit guides us in all truth, but she also grants us the wisdom not to use that truth as a weapon against our brothers and sisters. She grants us the wisdom to be patient with one another, bearing all things in love rather than quarreling with those who hold to a different truth. She even gives us a discerning ear and heart to learn from one another, perhaps even to be corrected in our own misunderstandings of what we thought was true. She gives us humility to admit when we are wrong and the humility to reign in our arrogance and pride in being right.

First and foremost, Jesus says that Holy Spirit will remind them of everything he taught them. This third person of the Trinity, fully divine as Christ and the Father are Divine, will consistently point believers to the Father. The disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father”. Perhaps our primary question pray should not be, “Spirit show me the truth so I can be right,” but instead simply pray, “Holy Spirit, show us the Father.”

Invitation to a Journey - Session 11: Corporate Spirituality

---

Invitation to a Journey

Session 11: Corporate Spirituality

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Certainly the body isn’t one part but many. If the foot says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not a hand,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the ear says, “I’m not part of the body because I’m not an eye,” does that mean it’s not part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, what would happen to the hearing? And if the whole body were an ear, what would happen to the sense of smell? But as it is, God has placed each one of the parts in the body just like he wanted. If all were one and the same body part, what would happen to the body? But as it is, there are many parts but one body. So the eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” or in turn, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” Instead, the parts of the body that people think are the weakest are the most necessary. The parts of the body that we think are less honorable are the ones we honor the most. The private parts of our body that aren’t presentable are the ones that are given the most dignity. The parts of our body that are presentable don’t need this. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the part with less honor so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.

1 Corinthians 12:14-27 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 11 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 12 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

_____

Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 11: Corporate Spirituality

• Notes for Session 11

Spiritual Connection

SPIRITUAL - PART 5

Spiritual Connection
Sunday, May 14, 2023
Acts 16:9-15

A vision of a man from Macedonia came to Paul during the night. He stood urging Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!”…

…On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the riverbank, where we thought there might be a place for prayer. We sat down and began to talk with the women who had gathered. One of those women was Lydia, a Gentile God-worshipper from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened, the Lord enabled her to embrace Paul’s message.

Acts 16:9, 13-14

Listen to this week’s sermon here:

Lydia is one of the few named women we have in the early church, and it is generally believed that she became one of the leaders and hosts of the church at Philippi. We know plenty about this church from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, but here in Acts we find the beginning of her story. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say, we meet her at a significant transition in her life of faith and perhaps at the moment of her call to ministry.

To understand the beginnings of this new church movement in Philippi, we have to step back a few verses to see how the Holy Spirit was at work in Paul’s missionary journey.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the regions of Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit kept them from speaking the word in the province of Asia. When they approached the province of Mysia, they tried to enter the province of Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them.  Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas instead.

Acts 16:6-8

Don’t you just hate it when travel plans get messed up? Clearly Paul’s mission trip was not going as planned. He and his companions tried to proclaim the Good News of Christ in Asia, Mysia, Bithynia, Troas, and no doubt many other places along their route. But in each case it says the Spirit of Jesus wouldn’t let them.

At first glance this seems absurd. Why would the Holy Spirit not allow them to proclaim the Good News?

Personally, I don’t believe God wanted to withhold the message of salvation from these places. It may be that they were either not yet ready to receive the message or that Paul was not the one God wanted to use to bring this message to these particular groups. Instead, God was calling Paul to answer the prayer of this man from Macedonia.

When Paul responds, he finds Lydia, a woman of means who believed in God and already hosted a prayer-gathering in her home.

This is the key to the work of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t expect us to simply drop into a new place or knock on a random door, pray a miraculous prayer with a perfect stranger, and expect them to be saved and change the world.

We have a bad habit of practicing what I call “Air Drop” Christianity. Whether it’s a quick in-and-out mission trip, door-to-door evangelism, or a quick handshake on Sunday morning and then we move on, we have a bad habit of sprinkling ourselves here and there as if our faith is a garnish, rather than at the heart of who we are. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I’m sure: INVEST IN PEOPLE. It’s hard work, but it’s the stuff of life when we have the proper perspective

Christian Piatt, Sojourners (https://sojo.net/articles/ten-antidotes-christian-cliches)

The Holy Spirit works primarily by making connections between people. In this case, the Spirit connected Paul and Lydia through the prayers of another unknown third party from Macedonia. When Paul saw how God was already at work in Lydia’s life and incorporated her ministry into the larger work of the Church, the Church grew and a new faith community was planted.

Who might God be calling you to connect with? We were never meant to do this work of ministry alone.

Invitation to a Journey - Session 10: The Inner Dynamics of Spiritual Disciplines

---

Invitation to a Journey

Session 10: The Inner Dynamics of Spiritual Disciplines

based on the book Invitation to a Journey, by: M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.

When you pray, don’t pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they’ll be heard. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask.

Matthew 6:5-8 (CEB)

Welcome to Session 10 of Invitation to a Journey.

Before watching each video session, I encourage you to read the corrosponding chapters in the book which you can order here. I also invite you to have a pen and journal handy as we will begin each week with a contemplative Lectio Divina exercise using a related passage of scripture for each week. You may want to pause the video at various points to journal and reflect on your own spirtual journey as it relates to the themes we are discussing.

Below the video you will find a PDF of the notes, lectio reading, reflection questions, and next steps for each week. Feel free to download them as you follow along with the video.

Be sure to read chapter 11 before watching this session.

May God richly bless you as you enter into this journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ.

_____

Watch video session on YouTube here.

Resources for Session 10: The Inner Dynamics of Spiritual Disciplines

• Notes for Session 10

Spiritual Discomfort

SPIRITUAL - PART 4

Spiritual Discomfort
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Acts 11:1-18

I heard a voice say, “Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’” I responded, “Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.”

Acts 11:7-8

Listen to theis week’s sermon here…

We all want to live good, moral, and righteous lives, yet in truth, Paul reminds us that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yet somehow in our “righteous minds,” we have created our own hierarchy of sins. If someone calls us out when we disobey God’s law, we quickly respond as though our infraction is relatively insignificant on the larger scale. “I’m only human,” we say. “Nobody is perfect.”

Yet when someone else commits a sin that we could never imagine committing ourselves, that sin becomes so repugnant to us that we are quick to condemn. As Jesus says, we rarely notice the “logs in our own eyes” (Matthew 7:3-5).

“Morality binds and blinds. It binds us into ideological teams that fight each other as though the fate of the world depended on our side winning each battle. It blinds us to the fact that each team is composed of good people who have something important to say.” 

“If you really want to change someone’s mind on a moral or political matter, you’ll need to see things from that person’s angle as well as your own. And if you do truly see it the other person’s way—deeply and intuitively—you might even find your own mind opening in response. Empathy is an antidote to righteousness, although it’s very difficult to empathize across a moral divide.” 

― Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

This description of the endless moral, ethical, ideological and political battles in our culture and our world sounds a lot like Peter’s dilemma when he was called to the home of a Gentile, and not just to his home, but to dine with him at a table full of unclean foods.

“Absolutely not, Lord,” he responds.

Notice the irony and the confusion present in Peter’s response.

On one hand, he is saying “Absolutely not” to something which he considers to be a horrible sin, that is, eating unclean foods that go against the Jewish dietary laws.” This is admirable and proves Peter’s desire to remain pure and righteous.

But in the same response, he says, “Lord”. The very Lord and King he is seeking to honor by not eating with the Gentiles is the same Lord and King he is defying by refusing to do so. How can this be? Would God call us to sin?

Of course not.

But as Jonathan Haidt says, morality binds us together but also blinds us to the stories and experiences of others who do not share our moral values.

Consider these words from the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth.

Everything is permitted, but everything isn’t beneficial. Everything is permitted, but everything doesn’t build others up. No one should look out for their own advantage, but they should look out for each other. Eat everything that is sold in the marketplace, without asking questions about it because of your conscience.  The earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord.  If an unbeliever invites you to eat with them and you want to go, eat whatever is served, without asking questions because of your conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This meat was sacrificed in a temple,” then don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience.  Now when I say “conscience” I don’t mean yours but the other person’s. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience?  If I participate with gratitude, why should I be blamed for food I thank God for?  So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, you should do it all for God’s glory.  Don’t offend either Jews or Greeks, or God’s church.

1 Corinthians 10:23-32

Everyone has a conscience, and that conscience or moral code is determined in life by a number of factors including upbringing, culture, education, religion, etc. And because everyone’s experience is different, everyone’s conscience is slightly different. For one person a single glass of wine may be as bad a sin as drunk-driving. For another, a fully stocked wine cellar in their home tells a different story. Has either one sinned? Not necessarily.

God wasn’t calling Peter to sin, but God always puts relationships first. Our conscience should never prevent us from “building others up”. Our conscience should never allow us to “put someone else down”. God isn’t interested in our personal moral values. God is interested in how we treat those whom he loves, regardless of how their conscience may or may not differ from our own.

If we view someone else as morally repugnant and keep our distance, we may just be keeping our distance from Christ. Jesus says, “Whatever you do (or do not do) for the least of these, you have done (or not done) it for me” (Matthew 25:45).