"First, Experience"
Acts 11:1-18
Yonce Shelton, Westmoreland UCC
May 18, 2025
Peter wasn’t trying to cause trouble.1 As much as an apostle who believes in the Risen Lord can, maybe he was just going about his usual day. But then … as he describes it, “I was in the city of Joppa praying [maybe his daily routine, like our Sunday worship routine], and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’”
Peter tried to resist what the voice urged him to do. What he was being led to do seemed contrary to God’s rules and norms. And then he was led in another way: into an adventure with three men in real life, who many thought he shouldn’t associate with. Then, Peter learns that an angel told Cornelius to send for him. He probably didn't see all of that coming when he entered into his prayer time.
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God meets us, reaches out to us, surprises us, acts upon us, and creates new situations. Sometimes all we can do is go with it — and improv with God in the human/divine theater. The trick is to do that openly and respectfully; to stick with God. That can be hard — maybe harder than running away from God.
This story is important because it reveals that others could have the same gift as the apostles: the gift of knowing God and the Holy Spirit.2 “The Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us [the apostles] at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
Perhaps Peter began to understand his vision of animals and the command to eat differently. Perhaps this experience — this unique experience of God and others — allowed him to start understanding something better.
Oftentimes, theology — our making sense of God — comes after an experience of God. That's when we get into questions about accepted belief and practice, and what new ways are called for. That's a major part of the history of faith: always interpreting in church community and in the context of culture. That is challenging because God is not always clear. So, we must bring a commitment to faith that is both sound and open and engaged. We must know how to discern well.
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Welcome new understanding via experience. Welcome chances to unite head, heart, and spirit. Seek to be grounded in God and community in doing so. Resist temptations to rationalize our own agendas. Don't look to God or the Bible to cover misguided intentions. Hard, huh? So how do we ensure we are credible as we move from experience to theology?
The Church of the Saviour began in 1950 in Adams Morgan based on the conviction that the “Gospel message was more than platitudes and rules.” It started the first Christian coffee house: The Potter’s House, which is still there today. It birthed dozens of social service ministries over past decades, such as Christ House, Jubilee Housing, and Samaritan Inns. And it committed to a model of small groups of people being church with a focus on the inward/outward journey; of going intentionally deeper with spiritual practice and acting boldly in the world. Helping people in these small mission groups — often just a handful of people — discern what God was doing with them was a major focus. Many Church of the Saviour members — just ordinary people — were supported by others as they explored what spiritual experiences and relationship with God meant. The Church of the Saviour constantly asked: What is church? How do we understand that better? How do we honor that?
These small groups were a way to respect experience, help people understand how that may be guiding them, and ensure that God remained the grounding force. Remember, after this vision, Peter went with a group. Cornelius’ vision told him to seek out another person. Discernment has something to do with the convergence of God’s movement with community. God catalyzes ordinary people — and the church provides context to understand what's next.
In a few minutes, will John Timmer share some experience that calls for more understanding? In past months, while thinking about having someone respond to a sermon, John popped strongly into my mind. No one else compared to the energy I felt when thinking about him. No offense to you esteemed folks. Why? I don’t know. Spirit moving? Is something happening in him now — or will it when he starts to speak? Or in me? Or you? And if so, will we actually be able to name it?
John knew nothing of my sermon before now. He is hearing it for the first time — experiencing my words and, who knows, maybe something from God. His task is simply to pay attention to what he hears or feels and respond. Whether it makes sense right now to you or him might not matter. He may be like Peter fighting the vision of animals. He may be like Cornelius seeing the angel.
Or, he may simply be John, bravely sharing what has grabbed him. Hopefully with faith that it matters to this community, which is seeking to do our theology well. Just like with the chance to write your own Psalm 23. And to improv with God in how we support and serve others. It's all invitation to nurture personal experience that leads you closer to God — alongside others.
Today’s passage says: “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us [the apostles] when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”
You too are entitled to gifts of the Spirit. May gifts flow by welcoming and experiencing John: whose usual Sunday routine has been interrupted.
Amen.
