May 21st

Change: It Can Do a Body Good

1 John 5:1-6
Acts 10:44-48



Most of you know that before I accepted God’s call to ordained ministry in 1999, I was an accounting professional with Chemical Waste Management, CWM-AETS, AETS, CWM-WMI, and Onyx Environmental Services. Sounds like a lot of job hoping doesn’t it? Well, believe it or not, it was the same company! Yep! In my seven years with this company, I survived 5 name changes and about 11 or so supervisors.

But it gets even better than that. I moved 5 times in those 7 years, as well. First, I moved from Dallas to Houston to accept the position. Then, a year and a half later, the Houston office was scheduled to close; so my position and I packed our bags and moved to Bensalem, PA, just outside of Philadelphia. Then, a year and a half after that move, the Bensalem office was scheduled to close. I was given the choice of moving to Pensacola, FL, Atlanta, GA, or Houston, TX. Since I still had plenty of friends in Houston, and my church—Resurrection MCC was there, I chose Houston.

However, on my way to Houston, I was asked to work in the Atlanta office for a month or so because that office was short-staffed. So, since I had never spent much time in Atlanta, I figured, “Why not?” Then, the Friday before I was supposed to be heading to Houston, another Atlanta staffer submitted his resignation! Soooo, I was asked to please move to Atlanta instead of Houston. I found an apartment in Atlanta and re-routed my furniture from a truck headed for Houston to a truck headed for Atlanta in what had to be at least close to record time!

Then, after a year and a half in Atlanta, the powers-that-be decided there was not enough work in the Atlanta office to keep me busy. So, the move to Houston was back on. However, by this time, I had met Richard, and I wasn’t so sure about moving again. But after a lot of discussion, we both decided it would probably be the best thing to do at the time. So, I headed to Houston via Pensacola, where I had another project to finish.

But, after only 6 weeks, I decided that I had had enough. The job in Houston wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be, my college education had been put on hold for the umpteenth time for this move, and most of all, I missed Richard. So, I worked out a deal with my boss in Houston, and headed back to Atlanta. In 2000, I left the accounting profession to attend seminary, was ordained as MCC clergy in November 2001, accepted the call to Corpus Christi in December 2001, and moved here in January 2002. So, after all that moving, we ended up back in Texas, after all! So, you could say that I am a bit familiar with the concept of change.

As I look back on those days, I found that with each move I experienced pretty much the same emotions: disbelief (“You have got to be kidding! Another move?); fear (“Is this really the right move to make?”); and finally, acceptance (“Yep, I guess this is how things were supposed to happen, after all.”). Now these emotions came at different stages, and expressed themselves in different ways—not all of which were healthy, either. But the most important things I learned from all those moves was: (1) change happens, so get used to it; and (2) how we handle change can make the difference between growing and learning and never reaching our God-given potential.

These observations are a big part of our lesson from the 10th chapter of Acts today. Just prior to our reading, Peter has seen a vision from God. In this vision, God is letting down a sheet from heaven, filled with animals. God commands Peter to “Rise, kill, and eat.” Well, Peter was hungry; but the problem was that the animals in the sheet were considered unclean by Jewish dietary laws. So, Peter basically responds, “You’re kidding, right? I have never eaten anything that is unclean or profane!” It takes three times, but Peter eventually gets the message from God that it is God who makes the determination between what—and who—is clean and unclean.

It just so happens that very soon after this experience, Peter is called to the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion who was very supportive of the Jesus Movement. Nice guy; but there was just one problem: he was unclean by Peter’s standards. So if Peter went into the home of Cornelius, he risked becoming unclean himself. But, since he had seen this vision from God, Peter decided to risk it. So, we have Peter’s initial disbelief, and probably fear as well as he risked becoming unclean to witness to Cornelius. I can almost hear Peter now. “OK, God. Are you sure about this? Was that a vision, or was I just dillusional from hunger?”

But as Peter spoke with Cornelius, the Holy Spirit moved, and the whole house who heard the word were filled with the Holy Spirit! Peter’s eventual openness to change, and his willingness to take risks—despite his fears—resulted in the potential for extraordinary growth in the earliest church, as the good news of Jesus Christ was beginning to be shared with all people! Even those people once thought to be unclean!

We can all learn a lot from the example of Peter, folks. First, notice who initiated the change: God. In our lives, God may initiate change in a number of ways. God may speak to us through friends, pastors, family members, and—as much as it scares me to say this—even some televangelists! It is also possible for God to use certain events to point to our need to consider making some needed changes in our lives.

And like Peter, we don’t always get the message the first time around. It may take two, three, or several messages in various forms for us to finally be able to take that first shaky step of faith toward change. And as hard as that first step might be, as long as we remain faithful to what we feel is God’s desire for our lives, we will get stronger with each additional step we take. Sure, we’re gonna fall from time to time on this road to change. But just remember this: when we fall, a saint is just a sinner who fell down—and got back up.

Change involves taking risks beyond those initial first steps, too. Change means trying new and different things, while remaining true to our core values. That’s a critical point, folks, so I’ll repeat it. Change means trying new and different things, while remaining true to our core values. If change for you means dedicating yourself to climbing the corporate ladder, there are several ways of doing that. But those promotions don’t mean a thing if you mistreat and step on people to effect that change. If change for you means obtaining a college degree, that’s wonderful! But that degree won’t mean a thing in the long run if you get it through cheating.

This point is especially important for our communities of faith. Sometimes, in an effort to increase our market share of available souls, we make wholesale changes in order to create “brand loyalty.” On one end of the spectrum these changes may involve requiring a congregational vote to move the organ in order to protect our beloved tradition from those heretics who want to bring in electric keyboards and drums. On the other end of the spectrum these changes may involve removing any Christian symbolism from the sanctuary, having nothing but a rock band for music, and requiring the preacher to dye his hair to look more like the target audience. Of course in our case, that would require the preacher having enough hair to actually dye!

And in the end, both of these churches have missed the point. That point? Changed lives! You see, change is essential for any church that preaches Christ. But not change for the sake of change alone. Change born of God means keeping one eye on improving of how we do things, and the other on our purpose: to bring people into a closer relationship with God through Jesus Christ by motivating faith, creating unity, communicating the good news, challenging injustice, and celebrating God’s unconditional love.

How will we know when the changes we are making are the right changes? God will affirm those changes in one way or another. In our passage from Acts, the Holy Spirit filled all who heard Peter preach the word. In our personal lives, God may not always bless us with enormous wealth; but God will eventually bless us with a sense of peace and satisfaction that is better than all the goods that money can buy.

And in our communities of faith? We may not all grow to mega church status. But if we are faithful to making the changes that we feel God is calling us to make, lives will be changed for the better and to the glory of Almighty God. And isn’t that the point of Christianity, anyway?

So, let’s start listening for God folks. Let’s take that first step toward fulfilling God’s potential for our lives. Then, let’s start looking for God to do new and wonderful things in our individual lives, as well as in our communities of faith. And as strange and impossible as some of those changes may seem, remember this: all things are possible with God.

Even change in the church.

God bless you and amen.