I seem to be absorbed these days in thinking about our Church, its life and future. The Church means a great deal to me, because it is our common way to be with our God in these uncommon times. I hope it means much to you, too.
Today’s first reading recounts how the fledgling Church handled its first major problem: What were they to do with the Gentiles who wished to become members of the community? Should they be required to observe the traditional Mosaic Law? Should males be circumcised? Should women and men observe the customary dietary regulations?
Hearing these questions probably makes us shrug our shoulders. They are non-questions for us. But they weren’t non-questions for the early Christians all of whom were practicing Jews. These were new questions, previously unasked. There were no models to which they could refer.
But the questions would not go away. Real people were standing across an apparent divide from them. They would not go away.
The Acts of the Apostles reports that people on both sides of the question met face-to-face. Their efforts led to a wonderfully succinct statement showing the confidence they had in the Holy Spirit with them:
It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and ours too
not to lay on you any burden
beyond that which is strictly necessary.
Talk about bold and daring statements.
The first things this bold statement of the Council of Jerusalem reminds us in our day is that there are very few absolutes in life. Christ’s Spirit had shed new light on what they had inherited. Some of it was to be passed on. Some of it was not.
The second learning from this text is that each generation needs to ask: What is for now and what is forever? What is essential and what can change?
And finally, connected as we are through the Holy Spirt, nothing burdensome should be imposed unless it is strictly necessary.
Today, you and I are pioneers, not unlike the members of the Council of Jerusalem. There has never been a culture like ours. We can’t look at our history for the answer. There is no exact model – nothing out there – that is going to tell us how to live lives that are fully in harmony with God.
We are creating a new faith in 2022.
As the first Century Christians did, we are called upon to address life’s questions using the values of Christ: unity, not uniformity, compassion, devotion to God, refusing to call anyone a stranger or outcast. As a church with a very long history of struggle with the questions of the times, we got it wrong sometimes. It sometimes took us centuries to get it right and apologize…but we have tried and grown. Other people have joined us in the exploration into living truth.
It seems to me that our most important work of faith is to hold for ourselves and pass on to the next generation what is essential and crucial and to let all the rest blow away on the breath of God.
~Sister Joan Sobala
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