I’m sorry, but for the sermon today, I feel the need to address something that is very controversial which is why we don’t talk about it very much. Since I’m now in my 8th year with you as pastor, I feel that I can bring up sensitive topics like this from time to time.
And we’re probably going to have a lot of different opinions on this but please, let’s all be respectful especially toward others who may disagree with you and it might even be someone sitting next to you. Now with that said, here is what I want to know. [Deep breath.]
What is your favorite color?
Now, hear me out. This is a safe space to share our opinions on this. I want to know what is your favorite color.
And we’re not even going to do this by secret ballot. In a little bit, I’m going to ask you to stand and cast your vote.
Here are your color choices so you can look them over. In a moment, I’m going to say these colors out loud and when I get to your personal favorite color, please stand. And I’m going to need you to help me to see which colors are the most popular here in church: Are you ready? I want you to stand when your favorite color is named. Here we go!
Pink – Red – Violet – Green – Yellow - Periwinkle Black – Blue – Brown - Magenta – Turquoise – Beige – [And please stand if your favorite color wasn’t on this list.]
Based on this survey, the most popular color is __________.
Crayola Crayon has conducted surveys on people’s favorite colors and here are our favorite colors in order of popularity out of all the ones on this list:
Blue was #1. Then in order of popularity, we have the colors Red, Violet, Green, Pink, Black, Turquoise-Blue, Blue-Green, Periwinkle, and Magenta.
Brown, Yellow, and Beige did not make the top 10.
The reason I bring up this very controversial topic is because when we think of the meaning of baptism which we are doing on this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we might first think of the color, blue. Blue is a color associated with water. That makes sense.
But based on our Acts scripture reading, I wonder if green is the better choice for us today. Green is a color that is closely associated with a traffic light. Green means “Go!”
I love it when the traffic light stays green and you can keep on going. Red, not so much. And for some people, they seem to think that red also means go. I think they’re getting their colors mixed up!
When we think of a traffic light, green means go. And when we think of baptism, think of the color green as well. And here’s why…
In our Acts scripture reading we have the Apostle Peter preaching a sermon in the home of a non-Jewish family. This was a place where Peter would never have visited because of the strict religious purity laws of his day.
According to Peter’s long-held beliefs, this should have been a red light moment for him because faithful Jews should never enter into the home of a Gentile family. They would be considered ritually unclean.
But the only reason that he violated his own religious rules was because earlier, God sent Peter a powerful vision that he was to go and share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection with this Gentile family. It would be like someone telling you or me that the red color in a traffic light means to go and the color green means to stop. That would not be easy for us to make that transition.
And by the way, please don’t. I’m just using this as an illustration of how difficult this would have been for Peter to know that he now had the green light to go to places beyond the religious boundaries of his day.
And the reason why God was giving Peter the green light to do something that would have been counter to how he was raised in his faith was all because of the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus’ resurrection changed everything!
It not only defied the laws of nature when Jesus was resurrected from the dead, it also broke down previous well-established religious boundaries that had become so entrenched in Peter’s day. And one of those religious boundaries was to not enter the house of someone who was non-Jewish.
To think of doing such a thing was a red light for Peter. But now, in light of Jesus’ resurrection, Peter was discovering that God was dismantling those boundaries.
The Book of Acts also has the name, “The Acts of the Apostles” because it offers us these stories of the apostles being given the green light to go and share the good news of Jesus with everyone, and not just with those who were Jewish. This new green light faith in widening God’s circle to include all people meant that those apostles needed to rethink their faith.
And the other thing that we learn about when reading the Book of Acts was that it was the Holy Spirit that was constantly nudging, and indeed pushing those first disciples of Jesus out of their comfort zones. That’s the whole reason why just before Jesus ascended into heaven following his resurrection, he told his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come.
Jesus told them to wait because they would need the Holy Spirit to push them out of their nests in order to learn to fly so to speak. They were to wait for the Holy Spirit because they needed to rethink everything about their faith and see their faith in light of Jesus’ resurrection.
Peter wouldn’t have gone to that non-Jewish house without the Holy Spirit and the dream that God had given to him earlier in chapter 10 of our Acts scripture reading where a sheet was lowered down to earth from heaven. And on that sheet were all of these ritually unclean animals that faithful Jews would never even consider eating. Peter immediately thought, “Red light! No! Can’t do that!”
But then a voice from heaven said to him, “They are not ritually unclean anymore. The good news of Jesus has changed everything. You now have a green light to go and share this good news with all people, even those who you have considered to be outside of God’s grace and love.”
Reluctantly and still processing all of this new way of looking at his faith, Peter obeyed that vision from God and traveled to that ritually unclean house, well, not considered ritually unclean anymore, and proclaimed the good news of Jesus with them. The Book of Acts is really about rethinking our faith not so much as a red light faith but as a green light faith where all people are included in God’s circle of love.
If Peter and those first apostles needed to rethink their faith, we need to as well in our own day and age. This is a never ending process and one that needs to continue throughout our lives.
Dave Tomlinson is an Anglican Priest who has a podcast ministry that offers thoughts on what it means to be a Christian who is constantly rethinking what it means to be a people of faith. This can be a scary thing for many of us to do since we tend to gravitate toward our past assumptions and beliefs about who we are and what God is calling us to become.
In one of his podcast interviews, he offers this helpful way of rethinking our faith. He says,
“Picture three boxes. The first is order, the second is disorder, the third is reorder. We’re all raised in the first box of order. We were given our explanation of what reality means and what God means. It gives us so much comfort that most people want to stay in the first box forever.
But what has to happen between your 30s and 50s, is the glib certitudes of the first box have to fall apart. Who’s right, who’s wrong, who’s holy and who’s a sinner – I know these beliefs gave your ego great comfort – but if you stay inside the first box, it creates angry people, rigid people and unhappy people. When you leave the first box, it feels like dying. When I had to leave my early Christian faith certitudes it felt like a loss of faith.
But that wonderful early Christian faith understanding holds you strong enough to endure the second box and not throw the baby out with the bath water. In the second box you realize ‘it wasn’t as simplistic as I was told, but it’s not all wrong either.’ If you can let God lead you through the second box while hanging onto order, God can lead you to the third box, reorder.”
Tomlinson goes on to say, “People want the first box at all costs but it doesn’t make them love Jesus. The crucified one who identifies with the poor and tells the outsider ‘never have I found such faith inside Israel’ – you see why they killed Jesus! He was so comfortable with disorder inside of his own highly ordered religion. Be Jesus never throws it out – Jesus still respects the Temple. But he doesn’t waste much time there.”
And then Tomlinson concludes with this thought: “This is the position we’re in. I live with that same tension – figuring out what was good about the tradition I was given and what was accidental and arbitrary.”
This three box illustration helps me to know that it’s not only OK to live within the tension of what I believe to be certain and unchanging, but also to be willing to live in the discomfort of being pushed out of the nest so that I can be open to new perspectives, new experiences and new ways of widening God’s circle.
It seems to me that Peter was willing to move into the next box through the leading of the Holy Spirit, to rethink his faith, and to be willing to go to places he had been unwilling to travel, like to a ritually unclean city and share God’s love with a ritually unclean family.
This image of the three boxes of order, disorder, and reorder is what helps me to keep evolving in my faith.
It is what helps me to accept and not ignore the complexities that we find in the scriptures. It is what helps me to appreciate the historical context of when the scriptures were written. It is what helps me to see the Bible from other people’s unique perspectives that will often challenge my own long-held beliefs. It is what has helped me to have a more inclusive faith for people and groups who have often felt excluded and judged by the church.
On this baptism of the Lord Sunday, as we think of the color green and how God is calling us to go to new places, meet new people, and encounter new experiences where God’s love is being extended beyond the boundaries as we have known them, let’s renew our baptismal covenant with God. Let’s invite God to push us out of our nests as uncomfortable as that may be.
May green be our favorite color at least for today, and may we remember that we have been baptized to go and include even more people in God’s wide embrace.
Baptized to Go!
Gentle Spirit, Holy Dove, reclaim us through the waters of our baptism. We confess our reluctance to live as your beloved children and to go and share your message of love to those around us. As we long to be more than we have become, remake us through the power of your spirit. In our yearning to taste the fullness of life, restore us through the wonder of your grace. Spirit of the Living God, lead us to be a light to the nations and a source of hope to those who sit in darkness. Amen.
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