I seen so many things
I ain’t never seen before
Don’t know what it is
I don’t wanna see no more
Mama told me not to come
Randy Newman as sung by Three Dog Night (remember them?)

Something is happening
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mr. Jones?
Bob Dylan

I was not always a pastor and I did not grow up in a pastor’s home. Sometimes my thoughts run toward the less-than-pious. When they do, I can often incorporate them, nevertheless, into sermons, church newsletters, and the like. Sometimes, however, such less-than-pious notions are better kept out of my pastoral ministry.

Such a thought occurred to me this week as I was considering my sermon for Sunday. The primary biblical text I was working with was Acts 11:1-18. In it a man named Peter, a Jewish disciple of Jesus, is reporting back to other Jewish disciples of Jesus – remember Jesus was Jewish as were his earliest followers – about a remarkable experience he had. Peter is telling them about a wild dream in which “something like a large sheet” comes down from the heavens. It is filled with all kinds of animals, animals considered unclean to eat. Peter hears a voice telling him to go, kill and eat. It is the voice of God. Peter resists, noting that eating such things is against his religion. The Voice tells him “what God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Right after this, some men come and ask Peter to visit with one Cornelius. To do so would mean a violation of Peter’s religious scruples, but after his wild dream, why not? He goes and I wonder if he feels a little like Randy Newman showing up at a party – uncomfortable with things going on, feeling uncertain and insecure. But then Peter discovers that God’s Spirit has also shown up. God’s Spirit?!! It should not be here – but Peter discovers something is happening, even though he was not sure what it was. There is a movie soundtrack in the making here somewhere.

So I am thinking about all of this, and it suddenly strikes me, like a sheet floating down from the heavens – I should call my sermon “holy sheet.” Can’t you just hear Peter muttering to himself as God asks him to kill and eat unclean animals? Can’t you hear him, in between verses of “Mama Told Me Not to Come” at the residence of Cornelius, mumbling a bit? Don’t you imagine him saying to himself after God’s Spirit shows up in a place that it was not supposed to, “well holy sheet.” For better or worse, I could imagine all this, but for better I decided not to go with it in any official way. One of the fruits of the Spirit, after all, is “self-control.”

But I still found the phrase personally helpful. The other Bible passage under consideration for this week is John 13:31-35. There Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I got to thinking – doesn’t love take us into strange places sometimes? Aren’t we invited by love to meet difficult people and issues? While love is remarkably inspiring, and filled with joy, doesn’t it also challenge us to the core sometimes? And maybe one appropriate response as we follow the direction of love in our lives, at least one that may fit certain occasions is a simple – holy sheet.

In my sermon on Sunday I am going to share the story of how it is I ended up being the pastor of a congregation that openly welcomes and affirms gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons. We are a Reconciling Congregation. The church made that decision before I arrived, but I support their stance. Getting to that place was not simple or quick or easy. I had to work through some issues and it was uncomfortable. One reason I have come to think that same-sex relationships can be appropriate and Christian is that I have witnessed people of deep and genuine Christian faith live out their faith in the context of such relationships. If God’s Spirit is a work in the lives of GLBT people, who am I to hinder God’s Spirit. But I did not arrive here overnight. Love’s invitation is not always to the easy or familiar or comfortable.

Maybe God takes us to difficult and challenging places because that’s where God needs to be and where God’s love needs to be shared. That God invites us to be loving, to be Christ-like, in just those places is rather mind-boggling. Holy sheet.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David