Grace:
To find Christ in the midst of chaos
Readings
Reading deeper…
Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary, Chapter 10.
Devotion 1
Be still and aware of God’s presence within and all around.
Read: Acts 10:1-8
Ask:
- What stands out for you in this passage? Share your thoughts with one another.
Pray:
- for one another and the neighbourhood.
- Say together this closing prayer:
In the light of the morning, Lord, we glorify Your name.
May the mystery of Your incarnation shine through the complexities of this day,
so that in all we do, Your name might be praised.
Amen.1
1. From Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove & Enuma Okoro, The Book of Common Prayer, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2010, 490.
Devotion 2
Take some time to still yourselves before God.
Read: Acts 10:9-23a, one person reading 3 verses at a time.
Ask:
- Has there been a time when your concept of what is right and proper has been changed through experience or revelation?
- How did this shift occur? Share with the group.
Pray:
- for one another and the neighbourhood.
- Say this Closing prayer together:
Break down, Lord Jesus,
The barriers of fear, timidity and false humility
Behind which we hide.
Speak to us from the cross and empty tomb
The word of pardon and freedom
That we may discover the will of God –
To know what is good and pure and holy
And what it is you desire, O Lord.
Amen.
Devotion 3
Take some time to still yourselves before God.
Read: Acts 10:23b-33
“Peter said [to Cornelius] that he can no longer call anyone unholy or unclean [v.28]. Everyone is loved by God. Not just Jews. Not just Jews who have already turned to Jesus. Not just Christians. Everyone. We are all flawed and imperfect. So if we go around claiming that anyone else is a sinner, depraved in their sin, fallen from God, unholy and unclean creatures, then we are actually being hypocrites because we too are imperfect and flawed.
So we don’t call anyone unholy or unclean. We love all people and we treat all with respect and dignity. We show grace to all. We are not meant to be ‘sin identifiers’ in this world! No! We are meant to be ‘grace dispensers’!
There are so many people in this world that I want to call ‘unholy or unclean’. In my most honest moments it also includes me. But in my more judgmental moments it includes people like the person who shoots children in a mass shooting; or the terrorist who shot the 14 year old Pakistani school girl for advocating for women’s education; or the drunk who kills an innocent bystander with his car. There are so many. I also know many Christians who enthusiastically add to that list of unholy and unclean people, others, including gays, Muslims, drug addicts, and anyone else in any ‘major sin category’ of theirs.
Yet, God has shown us that we can no longer call anyone unholy or unclean! We are meant to show love and grace to all. We are meant to see that part of them that is still the image of God. We are meant to remember that Christ died for the sins of the world, including theirs. We are meant to love all people, no matter what category they fall under.
I hope and pray that I will never again call any person ‘unholy or unclean’!”2
Ask:
- Who do we tend to write off as ‘unholy’ or ‘unclean’? Gays? Muslims? Drug addicts? Atheists? Drunks? The rich? Paedophiles? How does this story in Acts speak to us?
- Is becoming a friend to any of those people a recipe for disaster? Will it change us? If we become a friend to wealthy people who live only for money and power, will we become more like that?
Pray:
- for one another and the neighbourhood.
- Closing prayer:
Break down, Lord Jesus,
The barriers of fear, timidity and false humility
Behind which we hide.
Speak to us from the cross and empty tomb
The word of pardon and freedom
That we may discover the will of God –
To know what is good and pure and holy
And what it is you desire, O Lord.
Amen.3
2. Jim Reiher, The Book of Acts: A Social Justice Commentary, Dandenong: UNOH, 2014, 103.
3. From Terry C. Falla, Be Our Freedom, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985, 322.
Devotion 4
Take some time to still yourselves before God.
Read: Acts 10:34-48.
“It is possible to sit in wonder at the depth of implications of our last reflection (we are not to call any person ‘unholy or unclean’). We might be so overwhelmed at the magnitude of that statement that it is easy to overlook the rest of the speech Peter gave that day. So let’s make sure we don’t ignore it.
It starts off incredibly with yet another profound statement. Peter begins his sermon (which is without doubt summarised here by Luke): ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism’ (10:34).
The first thing to note is that it does not matter if you are a Jew or a Christian, a Roman or a Greek, a man or a woman, a slave or a free person: God shows no partiality. All are seen as equal and the same in the eyes of God! That is wonderful news. It sits on a par with Paul’s amazing teaching in Galatians 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’
Peter immediately explains it a bit more: ‘But God accepts from every nation, the one who fears him and does what is right’ (10:35)…
Wow! Cornelius was already fearing God and doing what was right. Even before this speech. Even before Peter met Cornelius, he was ‘acceptable to God’. Back in 10:2 we are told that Cornelius was ‘devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need, and prayed to God regularly.’ When Cornelius’ friends turned up to the house of Simon the Tanner and met Peter, they said of Cornelius that he was a ‘righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people’ (10:22). Cornelius was already acceptable to God even before Peter got there!
That is not the teaching I grew up with as a young evangelical… It sounds like people of other faiths just might be seen by God as acceptable to him if they are sincere about their devotion to God, and if that then translates into a life that demonstrates good works – even if they don’t know Jesus personally.
Such a statement in my young evangelical days would be immediately qualified. It would be watered down and changed to say, ‘but you still need to embrace Jesus of course. After all, that is what the ‘doing good’ at least includes.’
But that is not what the text says.”4
Asking the Hard Questions:
- How do you view people of other faiths in relation to where they stand with God?
- How does this view influence your model of ministry?
Pray:
- for one another and the neighbourhood.
- Closing prayer:
Our Father, Though You are worthy of trumpets and the song of angels, you graciously receive our daily prayers of whispered words and mundane habits. Enable us, Father, to love You with all that we are and in all that we do. Teach us how we might truly pray without ceasing. Amen.5
4. Reiher, The Book of Acts, 103.
5. Claiborne, et al., Book of Common Prayer, 103.
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