*This meditation was taken from West Grove Meeting’s November Newsletter.
A Meditation
Peter was asleep.
He saw a rift in the sky, and a thing coming down that looked liked a great sheet of sail-cloth. It was slung by the four corners, and was being lowered to the ground. In it he saw creatures of every kind, whatever walks, or crawls or flies.
Then there was a voice which said to him, ‘Up, Peter, kill and eat.’ But Peter said, ‘No, Lord, no: I have never eaten anything profane or unclean.
The voice came again a second time: ‘It is not for you to call profane what God counts clean’.
This happened three times; and then the thing was taken up again into the sky.
. . . Peter said to them, ‘I need not tell you that a Jew is forbidden by his religion to visit or associate with a man of another race; yet God has shown me clearly that I must not call any man profane or unclean. Acts 10: 11—16 & 28
Peter, also called Simon. Of the twelve disciples, he, James and John formed the inner circle, Jesus’ best friends.
Peter, like Paul, knew the Torah, the Law, and the Prophets. And like Paul, Peter loved God with a zealous love. He would never betray his religion by eating with a non-Jew; by associating with someone of another race.
He would not. . . until one day God reminded Peter that it was not up to him to determine who or what was profane, unclean.
Peter and Paul were convinced, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they knew what and who was approved by God. Wasn’t the truth written down in their holy books, on the holy scrolls? Hadn’t their scholars, their rabbis, their schools of learning debated and wrestled with the words since the beginning of the writing down until they knew what the words meant and could tell the people?
They were convinced of their truth. They knew be-ond a shadow of a doubt.
There is a saying: When God hates the same people as you; you can be quite sure that you have created God in your own image.
Many are they who sleep.
Many are the scholars, the pastors and the priests who have studied and debated and wrestled with the written words since the beginning of their writing by Peter and Paul and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and James.
Like Peter and Paul many are zealous in their love of the written word. And they too are so captivated by the word on the page that they have forgotten the heart that beats in each Word.
They have forgotten that when written, the Word becomes merely a symbol, a mark on a page. A code trying to explain the inexplicable.
Codes are important. They form the stories that we base our own stories on. But a code should never be mistaken for the real thing. The Jews had it right when they prohibited even the pronunciation of God’s name. When an object with the written Name on it was to be retired, it was buried in a cemetery to prevent desecration. . . and we blithely put the name of God on bumper stickers and tee shirts. . . but, I digress.
Over the last two thousand years, the worldwide Church has forgotten the message given to Peter: “It is not for you to call profane what God counts clean”. Ever since the first feet jumped from the boat to these shores, the Church they brought with them has also forgotten that admonition. But it is not just ‘our’ Church that has forgotten. It is every church, temple, synagogue that teaches that IT has all of Truth and that those who believe or live differently are the ‘other’ who can be denigrated, denied equal access under the law, whipped, and even killed.
Isn’t strange that we collectively have this amnesia? Every faith tradition has at it’s center a heart of com-passion for the other. And, yet, we sleep on, dreaming our dreams; not hearing or caring for the cries of those who are different. . .
But, hey, I’m sure our god must not like them either.
Comments are closed.