Maybe you heard the joke about a man who enlisted in the army. And the first night while he's lying in bed contemplating his new surroundings, he hears someone yell out, "44!" Followed by laughter from the other soldiers.
He thought that was pretty odd, then he heard someone else yell out, "72!" Followed by even more laughter.
"What's going on?" he asked the guy next to him.
"Well, we've all heard every joke so many times, we've given them each a number to make it easier."
"Oh," he says, "can I try?"
"Sure, go ahead."
So, he yells out "102!" and the place goes nuts. People are laughing in hysteria. He looks at the guy nearest him rolling on the ground with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard.
"Wow, good joke, huh?"
"Yeah! That’s one we’ve never heard before!"
I’ve been thinking about this old joke when I was reading over our Acts scripture reading for today, because it’s a story that was already told just a chapter earlier, and it’s kind of a long story. Sometimes I wonder if we should assign a number to each of these stories so why don’t have to repeat them word for word.
Do you know of anybody who tells you the same story over and over again? Hey, don’t look at me like that! I mean, besides preachers!
You can probably think of someone right now who tells you and others the same story over and over.
These moments can get a little awkward because as soon as you realize they’re telling you that same story again, it can come across as rude if you would interrupt and say, “already heard it, like a million times!”
I’m wondering if we were tempted to do the same thing just a little bit ago when we heard our Acts scripture reading. Here in Acts, chapter 11, the disciple Peter tells the other disciples the story of what happened to him one chapter earlier.
I don’t know if you caught this or not, but before Peter tells them the story of what happened to him, we are told that Peter explained it to them step by step. When you hear those words, you know you’re going to get the long version! And Peter isn’t going to say halfway through, “And to make a long story short.” No, we have to hear the same long story that we already heard just one chapter earlier.
So, step by step, Peter tells these other disciples of how he was praying one day and he received a vision. And in this vision he could see a large sheet coming down out of heaven and it got really close to Peter, uncomfortably close.
And all of these ritually unclean animals were on this sheet that was being lowered to earth. And Peter could hear a voice telling him to kill and eat. But then he says how there was no way that he was going to eat these animals even though he was really hungry at the time, because the bible clearly says to not eat these particular animals, but then the voice spoke again, “Peter what God has made clean, you must not call profane.” He goes on to say how everything in that large sheet was all of the sudden pulled up into heaven.
This long story continues…
And then Peter tells them that just then, three men appeared to him from the gentile city of Caesarea, the ritually unclean city of Caesarea, I might add. And the Holy Spirit told him to not ask questions, just go and follow those men to that Gentile city.
And when they arrived there at this Gentile house, (told you this was a long story), they told Peter that an angel had appeared to them telling them to send men to Joppa and find a person named Peter to bring back to their city. The angel said that this man will have a message to share with them about salvation.
Peter said that when he began to preach there in that Gentile and ritually unclean house, surprisingly the Holy Spirit descended upon everyone and everyone in that house was saved. The point of this story is that God had to send Peter a strange and powerful vision to help him see his faith in a radically new way in which Gentiles were no longer to be viewed as outsiders of the Jewish/Christian faith. God’s all-embracing love was meant for all people.
The reason Peter shared this long story with the other leaders of the early church is because they had asked him or more likely demanded of him to answer the question, “Why did you as a faithful Jew even think about entering the house of someone who was outside the Jewish faith? Don’t you know your own bible? You know we don’t do that! Explain yourself, Peter and you better have a good answer.”That’s my paraphrase of this part of the story.
Now, what do you think would have worked best? For Peter to give these church leaders a lecture on the importance of being inclusive or telling them this amazing story that led to a whole non-Jewish household receiving the good news of Jesus? When trying to help people look at their faith and belief system in a new way, stories can be so much more impactful.
I notice how so much of the Bible is in story form rather than bullet point statements. And often times these stories get told and retold over and over again. Stories are what shape us as human beings. Families have stories that are shared again and again and they serve to remind us of who we are. They shape us and give us an identity. But these stories can also challenge us to think about our faith in a new way, especially the new stories and experiences in life that we encounter.
There are many other examples of stories getting repeated in the Bible. We have this one that became a game-changer in helping those early church leaders to see how God was breaking down cultural and religious barriers in order for the gospel to include more and more people.
These stories get repeated because each time we hear them, God has a way of helping us to see our faith in a new way. Same old story, but it connects with us in a new way.
This story that Peter shared about the Holy Spirit coming upon a non-Jewish household opens us up to how God is inviting us to move beyond the established boundaries in our worldview and be part of the new thing that God wants to do in and through us.
Pastor Cyndi McDonald tells the story of her niece, Samantha who upon turning 10, asked to invite ten friends to her birthday party. Everyone would bring their overnight bags, but her plan was that after the dinner, cake and gifts, she would present one of her guests with a rose. All the other guests would return home. Her mother was shocked and dismayed that her daughter would even think of an idea like this.
The reason that Samantha thought of this was because unknown to her mother, she had been watching The Bachelor show on TV. On The Bachelor, that’s what they do. The person gives a rose to the person they like the most and the others go home. You see, it’s not only the Gentiles of Peter’s time who are told they are not worthy of being included.
Pastor Cyndi goes on to say that she shared this story about her niece during a sermon with her small rural church in Missouri. The next Sunday, during the last hymn of the worship service, Pastor Cyndi passed out a flower to everyone in worship that morning, repeating to each person the words, “Everyone gets a flower. Everyone gets a flower. Everyone gets a flower.”
She said that she wondered how her idea might have impacted the people who were there that Sunday in worship. Sometimes, we preachers have great ideas and other times, not so great.
But later that week, Pastor Cyndi ended up talking with a soft-spoken bachelor farmer who always sits in the back pew because he likes to arrive late and leave early to avoid talking to people. This farmer had called her to say how much the flower meant to him. He said that in his 70 years, no one had ever given him a flower.
It was the first of many conversations she would have with him about the meaning of God’s grace and the pain of feeling left out. He had always wondered about these questions and because of that flower, he now felt comfortable to talk about it.
Now, I’m sure Pastor Cyndi could have gone with a different approach in getting her point across about the importance of widening the circle and including others in the church, but that story about Samantha and the giving of a flower to each person, was something that little congregation will never forget, especially that soft-spoken bachelor farmer who now felt included and welcomed.
When I first heard about this story, I couldn’t help but to think of another story that has always stayed with me. A pastor friend of mine said that it was the custom in his church on Mother’s Day for a church member to give all of the mothers a flower during the worship service.
He said that one year he had a guest preacher fill in for him that Sunday and this guest preacher’s wife was in the congregation. For some reason, when the church member came to her pew, he started to hand her a flower, but then realized she was a visitor, and he said, “Oh, you don’t get one. These flowers are only for our church members.”
When the pastor of the church heard about what happened to this guest preacher’s wife, he called and apologized. He was so embarrassed. This guest preacher’s wife graciously thanked him for his concern, but he still felt really bad about it.
I had another pastor tell me that they went back to worship at a church they had served several years ago. They sat down in one of the pews waiting for the service to begin when another couple came up to them and said, “Please move over, you’re sitting in our seats.”
No wonder that the Bible wants us to hear these same old stories over and over again, these stories of how God is always seeking to break down barriers and move us beyond our comfort zones so that more and more people are included and welcomed in God’s family.
Thankfully, I know of many more stories where I see people including others. Someone new comes to a church event and a church member welcomes them and helps them to feel at home.
A United Methodist pastor who had always believed in being inclusive but never really spoke out regarding his denomination’s ban on conducting same sex weddings or allowing the ordination of those who are gay because of his previous theological interpretation of scripture. He finally speaks out in protest because God opened his eyes to the tremendous emotional pain that is caused when people are forced to suppress their sexual orientation.
A church choir director watching a TV remake of the 1973 musical, Jesus Christ Superstar becomes inspired and receives a vision from God to direct that same musical in his local area with the purpose of reaching people beyond his own church. Instead of performing it in his church where their events are usually held, he has it performed under a massive tent on the grounds of a popular local winery where over 2,000 people end up coming from all over the county to watch it and reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ teachings and ministry and his willingness to die on a cross.
A church’s preschool and Monday lunch ministry decide to partner together and provide a community blessing box of canned goods and children’s books so that people can have access to these essential resources.
These stories are what lead us to break down barriers. These stories are happening all around us because of the same old story of God’s desire for everyone to be welcomed and included in God’s family.
The Same Old Story
O God, we confess how easy it can be for us to forget the stories of our faith. Thank you for your repeated reminders of who you are and who you are calling us to be. Quicken our hearts and minds so that we hear your Word in a new and fresh way today. May we never tire of hearing the old, old story of Jesus and his love. Like the disciple, Peter, lead us to share the good news of our faith with others, not just once, but again and again. Amen.
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