Acts 11:18-25

 I had the music for South Pacific when I was a child. I had never been to New York and knew nothing about Broadway, but the songs were terrific – Some Enchanted Evening and Younger Than Springtime. The musical is actually inspired by James Michener’s book, Tales of the South Pacific. It is considered as one of the best musicals ever produced on Broadway. But it is not the easy story of romance that it seems. Michener writes in his book, “I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific,” and goes on to mention the endless ocean, the jungle, the reefs, the full moon. He then writes “But whenever I start to talk about the South Pacific, people intervene.” And the story of South Pacific is a story of love broken by racism. Emile de Becque flees France at the time of World War I and lives in the South Pacific. The war suddenly brings the Americans to his island. He meets Nellie Forbush, a nurse with the US Navy and that romance is where we get Some Enchanted Evening. What the audience finds out is that Emile married earlier when he arrived in the South Pacific and his wife is dead. But the two young Polynesian children always at his house are actually his children. Nellie is shocked that Emile would have married a person of color and runs away from the house and from the romance.

 So the musical explores our feelings about life, about race, and about love. Some of its power is that our feelings about race are so strong. Even in our own church, we struggle to live at a high standard of love. Especially when race and language are mixed , it can seem impossible to live at the same level of Christian fellowship with someone of different ethnicity.

 We are living in an incredible moment in American history. The internet is giving us a new way of organizing communities and friendships. The country and perhaps the world is more and more faces more and more hatred. When World War II ended, Harry Truman hoped that Dwight Eisenhower would run for President on the Democratic ticket. He was very offended that Eisenhower decided to run on the Republican side. Can you imagine Barack Obama turning down the Democrats so that he can accept a Republic offer?

 What does God expect of you and me? South Pacific asks all of us what our foundational beliefs are about race and how to build the new world. I was watching news of Barack Obama’s trip to Afghanistan and people were worried about his safety . Suddenly, one person wrote that they wished that he could stay in Europe until after November, given the racial hatred in the United States.

 We have an incredible text today in the Scriptures that points to the moment that the Jewish Christians realized that the message of reconciliation was meant to reach way beyond their own community. The passage in Acts is a passage rich in hope, but it includes a sacred duty for us all. I want us to reach higher ground in our church. And we need to be part of that reconciling force within our society. So on this Sunday when our guests remind us of the importance of the gospel of peace, let us await with expectation what God will say in this hour.

 The first people to follow Christ were all Jews. It did not occur to them that the message of Christ was anything more than a message of liberation for Judea in its struggle with Rome. One of the earliest clues was Cornelius, the Roman, asking to be part of the Jesus community in Acts chapter 10. He asks Peter, who is disturbed by the request. How can you add a Roman, especially an occupying centurion of the enemy, into the community of the faithful? The situation is comical because when Peter arrives, Cornelius has also invited his family and friends to the meeting. The Jewish circumcision party in chapter 11 immediately believes that Cornelius is trying to join the group to take it over.

 The New Yorker has added to the climate of hatred with a cover showing Barack Obama taking over the White House with the flag in the fireplace and a picture of bin Laden on the wall. That is how people think. This past year our three congregations have been trying to work together through a joint committee. One of the signs of hope that I see is people working together more and disagreements in meetings not always taking racial lines.

 Acts 11:18 is the pivotal verse in Acts. “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." That verse is the small doorway in the Bible through which you and I were originally invited to the table of the Lord unless you are Jewish.

 The new arrangement was not easy on the group. Different groups went out with messages, but only for their ethnic group. The disciples called on Barnabas to help. Why Barnabas? Barnabas was a Levite, speaking Hebrew, but born in Greece. The Christian community needed some people who could assure people that more draws us together than holds us apart. Barnabas then went and found Saul. Saul is a Hebrew name. In Greek it becomes Paul. We know him as Paul, not because he rejected his Jewish heritage, but because like many of our names, we use one name in one language, and a second name in another language.

 Where had Paul been? The gospel is such an amazing story. Paul had been a member of the Sanhedrin, an up and coming leader. After his conversion, he turns to the Christian community with the help of Barnabas, but those in Jerusalem never really trusted him. He went back to Tarsus and seemed to disappear until the moment when Barnabas comes calling.

 I want to say a word to our guests. You are embarking on these important tasks that represent all of us. Some of you will immediately have success and your peers will recognize you. Some of you are going to have a time in life just like Paul’s, the Hidden Years. It’s a time where you learn skills and preparation for a task yet ahead.

 One of the first pastors of the Siem Reap church was Lun Sophy. He had graduated from Phnom Penh Bible School and Siem Reap was not yet seeing tourists. It was a forgotten little town just like so many others. He had no money for a plane trip to the city and the land route still was 12 hours by car. On one of my visits, he expressed his frustration that he might be stuck there for the rest of his life.

 You may be feeling that frustration in your own life today. You may feel like you’re marking time in life. I cannot explain why we have to go through the Hidden Years. I can speak about them because I know them. Lun Sophy will probably be elected the first Cambodian bishop in 2016. I really see no one else as qualified. He will need those Siem Reap years. He was attacked by an Army group at night at the church the first summer I was in Jackson Heights. He nearly died and was six months getting over the attack. Its nice to be bishop, but they don’t mention what the spiritual preparation is.

 Luke speaks more about the role of the Spirit than any other gospel writer. So often the Holy Spirit intervenes in Luke’s account as the early church struggles to incorporate a Jewish and Gentile voice. The Spirit drives the encounter between Peter and Cornelius. Philip meets the Ethiopian through the Spirit.

 We all live in families where there is ethnic mistrust. We live in a society that is challenged by a Black man who may be President. We live in a world who uses the word Muslim as code for race. We all have the glad task of being a witness that there is a higher way. We speak about the only hope we know, the peace that Jesus came to offer, Jesus Prince of Peace.

 We need to be disciplined in our approach. It is a Christian duty that we like to put off til tomorrow. I want our small groups to be filled with diversity so that we break through barriers and find the face of Christ in each other. We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will direct our steps. We need to pray for patience when in the Hidden Years. And we need to thank God for this blessed possibility of a world where color, language, gender, and sexual preference all become diversity that enriches and blesses. May those of you who go out in representative ways be especially blessed.