A Church Without Barriers

First Reading

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF ACTS

Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

ACTS 11:1-18

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

Our first reading from the book of Acts marks might be described as a watershed moment in the early Christian movement. Up to this point, all of Jesus’ followers were Jewish. They adhered to the customs, rituals, and purity laws found in the Hebrew Scriptures—especially the dietary laws known as kashrut, or kosher, laid out in the book of Leviticus. These weren’t seen as rules they were forced to obey, but were a way of life that shaped their identity as God’s people—holy and set apart.

The early Christian community was deeply rooted in Judaism. Living according to God’s commandments wasn’t just a practice, but it was central to their faith and identity. In Acts 11, however, everything begins to change.

Peter has a strange vision. A large sheet is lowered from heaven, and on it are all kinds of animals—many of which were considered unclean, not being kosher. Animals that Peter, as a faithful Jew, would never have touched or eaten. Then he hears a voice from heaven: “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

Shocked, Peter replies, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.”

But the voice answers, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”

On the surface, this vision appears to be about food—but it’s not. It’s about people. Peter comes to understand this when he is summoned to the home of a Gentile. Normally, Peter wouldn’t have entered a Gentile’s home. It was difficult to maintain Jewish purity laws in a home that was filled with unclean things. But Peter goes, and what he witnesses amazes him. The Holy Spirit is poured out on the gentile household—just as it was poured out on the Jewish believers at Pentecost. The boundary between Jew and Gentile is being broken down.

One way to read this passage is to say that Jewish followers of Jesus no longer need to follow the laws of their tradition—that the old rules no longer apply. But that’s a harmful and dangerous interpretation. It suggests that Judaism is outdated or replaced by Christianity, and this misses the richness of Jewish faith and its roots in our tradition.

A better reading is to see how the passage isn’t about abandoning Jewish practice, but about expanding our understanding of God's grace. It’s not saying that the way of Jesus is replacing Judaism, but its saying that that the way of Jesus is open to all people and every tradition. As Peter says, “Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

This realization was deeply uncomfortable for many in the early church. They assumed that Gentiles would need to become Jews to follow Jesus—taking on the law, circumcision, and dietary restrictions. But what God shows Peter is something completely different. The Gentiles are not asked to change anything about themselves to follow Jesus, they are welcomed just as they are.

And that’s a challenge we still wrestle with today. We may not use the words “Jew” and “Gentile”, but we still build walls. We create categories of who belongs and who doesn’t.

Maybe it’s those who attend church every Sunday versus those who only come at Christmas and Easter. Maybe it’s those active in ministry versus those who aren’t. Or those who’ve been in the congregation for decades versus newcomers still trying to find their place.

And it extends to even deeper divisions: those with a prison record, and those without; those who are queer, and those who are not; women and men, and how their voices are received. We often make judgments and build hierarchies of belonging—some people belong, and others don’t.

But Peter’s vision—and the Spirit’s movement in the Gentile’s home—calls us to a different way. It reminds us that God’s love and grace transcend the walls we build. The body of Christ is a place where all are called, welcomed, and loved—without exception. It’s a place where we’re invited to let go of the categories and assumptions we cling to for safety, superiority, or comfort.

Today, we are being called to a new way forward—a way where all are seen as holy, welcomed, and part of God’s family.

Our reading from Acts—Peter’s strange vision—is ultimately a call to become a church without barriers. A church that doesn’t require people to conform to our customs or expectations to belong. When we learn to find the value, to see God’s presence, not only in our own practices and traditions but in the lives and experiences of others, especially those outside this congregation, then we begin to live into the kind of church Acts is inviting us to be.

Amen.