Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
Scripture: Acts 11:19 – 30
Oops!
As many of you know, I’ve spent some time in Greece, and I’ve also traveled to Turkey. I can remember walking around Athens and Istanbul taking in the strangeness of being in a different place: looking at the juxtaposition of ancient buildings with modern architecture; smelling the scents of foreign, yet delicious, food; marveling at unique fashion choices; and listening to the rhythm of languages I didn’t understand.
It’s fun to immerse yourself in culture that’s not your own—dreaming of adventures in a world so very different than the daily monotony of your everyday life.
Yet, home is always beckoning. This is no more apparent than when we come across another American in a foreign county. When this happens, it seems like there’s an instant bond. Even if you have nothing in common and wouldn’t have spoke two words to each other back in America, in a foreign county, you become instant friends: sharing meals, taxis, and vacation plans.
But, you don’t have to travel to a foreign county to feel a close bond with someone or a group of people. It happens all the time. In fact, it’s a natural way of life.
We can feel these sorts of bonds within our church community, or with other Orthodox Christians on social media. Perhaps, you feel a particular bond with other Vikings fans … or other Packer fans. Perhaps, you’re drawn to the political world, and feel something special with other members of your chosen party. Or, maybe, you’re most at home speaking to others who share your taste of music.
This comfort of being with others like you—however you define that—isn’t new, and the Judeans of Jesus’s day felt it too. As Judeans, they had a long history that bonded them together. After returning from exile in Babylon, they had rebuilt their capital city, and resurrected the temple in Jerusalem, the symbol, par excellence, of their people.
After being overrun by the Greeks, they were able to fight their way to independence. They marked themselves apart from foreign invaders, which later included the Romans, by their way of life: adhering to purity laws, eating only kosher foods, circumcising their males, and resting on the sabbath. Everything they did set them apart from others, but it also kept them together as a people. For them, it wasn’t just about culture, it was about survival in a hostile world.
Ugh!
So, when the messiah came, it was a blessing. It brought a renewed sense of hope to a desperate situation. And, when the messiah was raised from the dead after being crucified, it was only natural that these new Judean-Christians went first to the synagogues to preach the Good News.
It was among other like-minded Judeans, who followed the same customs, that these first evangelists felt at home. In fact, this seems to be how Jesus operated. The Gospels relate several stories of Jesus preaching in the synagogues, even if ended in confrontation or the crowds trying to kill him.
But, when you stay among your own kin, the message can’t spread very far. I don’t know what the exact population of the Judean peoples was in the first or second centuries, but if the Good News of Jesus had stayed only among them, we bet we wouldn’t be here today. I bet that most of the world wouldn’t know Jesus Christ, or be touched by the healing power that comes only through Christ. Can you imagine what your life would be like without Jesus? Who would you turn to in times of distress? What god would give you comfort?
The sad news is that I think we’ve fallen into the same trap as these first Judean-Christians. I always said that Orthodox Christians used to be the best evangelists in the world … used to be. We converted the pagan Roman empire, and then we converted all the Slavs, but then we stopped. We peaked in the 10th-century!
If we look at Orthodoxy in America, it doesn’t look much better. If we’re honest with ourselves, Orthodoxy is still a very ethnic church. Here at 12 Apostles, we’re sort of an outcast in that we’re a community many up of various ethnic backgrounds.
But, before we get ahead of ourselves, our church, along with Christianity in general, has a problem: Never mind reaching out beyond ourselves, we’re having a hard time even keep our own. Nationally, statistics show that 35 percent of baby boomers and between 17 and 25 percent have dechurched—that means those who grew up in the church have left. To make matters worse, it’s projected that one million youth who are involved in their church today will choose to leave the church every year for the next 30 years. That’s 30 million total. (Source)
It seems we’re neither living up to Christ’s command to baptize all nations, nor are we even able to instill a love of Christ and his Church in the hearts of our children. What’s to be done? Is there hope?
Aha!
If we look back at those first disciples, we’ll find that they weren’t natural evangelists. They too needed a little encouragement. They needed to see that God had a bigger picture in mind. They needed to see that Jesus wasn’t just a Judean messiah, he was a messiah for all peoples.
And it all started with Peter.
You see, one day Peter went up on the roof to pray. While he was praying he fell into trance where he saw a sheet descend from heaven with all sorts of animals in it. Then a voice said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But, Peter had a problem, some of the animals were unclean, that is, Judeans were forbidden to eat them. So, when Peter refused, a voice boomed, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”
This happened three times. When Peter came to, he discovered that a Gentile was knocking on his door. It was, at this time, that Peter realized what God was trying to tell him: Jesus was everyone’s messiah. God was everyone’s God. Peter must move beyond his Judean community and become an evangelist to all peoples.
What happened was that need to shift his thinking. He needed to see everyone is a part of “God’s tribe.” He needed a mindset that would allow him to move beyond his comfort zone so that non-Judeans could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ too.
Whee!
We see this new open mindset playing out in today’s epistle reading,
“But there were some of them … who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greek also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number that believed turned to the Lord. News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.”
But things didn’t stop there. Barnabas knew that these new Gentile Christians would need instruction, and, thankfully, there was one man who was making it his life’s mission to reach out to Gentiles: Paul, also known as Saul.
“So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church, and taught a large company of people; and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.”
In this passage, we see a few things at work. First, we see a new sort of mindset, one that sees everyone as potential Christians. Secondly, we see courage to actually do the preaching needed to bring new people into the church. And, thirdly, we see a dedication to teaching and instruction that builds up the new folks into strong and mature Christians.
Imagine if we, as American Orthodox Christians, as parishioners of 12 Holy Apostles, were to follow this pattern of living. We might be unstoppable!
Yeah!
From the statistics that I shared with you earlier, the ones about people dechurching, also comes some stats that give us hope.
62 percent of people who have dechurched still believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and 51 percent of people who have dechurched are willing to go back to church.
This is Good News! It means that people in our community are still open to Christ. They’re still willing to give the Church a change. But here’s where we come in. They have to be invited. They need someone to say, “Hey, I have this awesome church community that I’m a part of, and I’d love for you to check us out.”
Perhaps you know a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, or even a relative who fits into this category. Someone who used to be a church goer—of any church, not just 12 Apostles—but have fallen out of the habit. Today, Christ alters our thinking and gives us the courage to reach out, make a connection, and help them find their way to Christ.
There’s also more good news from those statistics. We also know that the more educated someone is, the more likely they are to stay in church. Here in Duluth, we’re an educated bunch. We even have the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota-Duluth right in our back yard. And, we have the best theology that any church can offer. I think it makes a perfect pairing.
But, we need become like Peter, someone who was able to see things different, try new things, speak to new people, and have a willingness to heed Christ’s words to baptize all nations.
I think that if we are able to recover the vitality of the original Christians, the ones we heard about today, we can reclaim the word “evangelical.” It is, after all, a Greek word. And, it is, believe it or not, a part of our heritage.
The only question left is, What’s stopping us from making Duluth an Orthodox city?