Who Matters to God?

Who Matters to God?--June 7, 2017

"Then Peter began to speak to them: 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all.' ....While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.  Then Peter said, 'Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?'" [Acts 10:34-36, 44-47]

I did something today that I should have done a long time ago. 

At long last, after years of thinking, "This would be a good idea, and I should probably get around to doing it," I mailed a check to make our household members of the local ambulance service for the rest of the calendar year. 

Now, a bit of background, especially for those reading who aren't familiar with the quirks of emergency service in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania: in our fair state, emergency services like ambulances are not simply paid for by a local tax that covers things like fire, police, and ambulances.  Here, in our neck of the woods, there is a single ambulance service that is stretched awfully thin with having to cover a LOT of Pennsylvania territory (where the miles are longer than in other parts of the country--it's true!) but that actually gets pretty minimal compensation from local municipalities, towns, boroughs, townships, etc.  So, in addition to whatever other funds they get from local or state government, and in addition to whatever monies can be recouped from insurers (and that's a whole other sticky wicket in this age of people calling for ambulances and then not actually consenting to go to the hospital...), our local arrangement is that a household can become an annual member of the local ambulance service.  The upshot is that if we ever need an ambulance, the costs that wouldn't be covered by insurance are now considerably lessened if we are members.  So far, so good.

But I'll be honest with you.  I didn't get around to becoming of the local ambulance service because I think I am actually likely in this coming year to need an ambulance.  (I mean, at least no more so than usual--I'm clumsy all the time, but no more so now than any other year).  I did it because the workings of the Holy Spirit are getting to me.

No--I didn't hear a voice in the night, have a vision, or get a note on my pillow saying, "Invest in family ambulance service coverage..." What I mean to say is that after all this time, I got around to actually contributing to the local ambulance service because I know that there are other people who WILL need an ambulance this year, and I want to be sure that it will be there for them.  And honestly, there are concerns in our county that there just won't be enough support around to keep the current arrangement going, unless things change. 

So here it is: I am convinced that the needs of other people, who definitely will need an ambulance at some point in this year some night in the middle of the night, are important enough  for me to take the time and money and effort to contribute to, even though the chances are pretty slim statistically that my household will be the ones that need it this year.  And the reason I am convinced it's worth it to help make sure something is there for someone else, is that the pattern in the Scriptures is that the Spirit of God keeps reaching out to include people who weren't previously included in the people of God.  The Scriptures are finally getting through to me--I should have made this connection long, long ago--but the New Testament witness is that other people's needs matter, and in fact that they matter enough for me to care about, even if it means a sacrifice or an inconvenience or a cost to me.

The world is great at teaching us to look out for Number One (for me).  The world is great at teaching us that the rule of the day is "Everyone for themselves." The world is great at teaching us to say, "It's not MY problem--you deal with it."

But that is not the way the Spirit speaks or acts. The Spirit of God is teaching me, the way the Spirit has been speaking and nudging and pushing the followers of Jesus for two millennia now, that other people outside of our own little group matter to God.  And because of that, guess what--God has a vested interest in seeing me give up some of my resources for the sake of those who will be protected by those resources.

Whether it was Peter in the first generation of the church, coming to the realization that God loved outsiders ("Gentiles"--that is, anyone who wasn't Jewish) and so God reserved the right to send Peter out of his way to bring the love of God and the news of Jesus to them, too.  At first, of course, Peter is a little skittish about this idea.  He had grown up with a very clear set of boundaries ("we" are the good people, and "they" are the bad people... sound familiar?), and now the Spirit was leading Peter not merely to any old ordinary Gentile person's house, but to the house of a Roman centurion named Cornelius (that's right--an officer in the army of the occupying empire!).  There were a million reasons for Peter to say, "No!  I won't be led out of my way, or pushed to sacrifice any of my time or resources to help him--he's the enemy!"  There were a million reasons for Peter to say, "Look, if he goes to hell that's his problem, not mine." There were a million reasons for Peter to say, "But helping HIM will cost ME, and that's just not fair--I'll be laughed at!  I'll be taken advantage of!"  We have heard those same excuses for not caring in our own day, too--they are on television every day, they are in the halls of power, and they are on our own lips.

But instead, dear ol' Pete finally gets it.  Because God doesn't just care about Peter, or Peter's family, or people "like" Peter. It turns out that God cares about all people.  And if Peter is going to be a part of the work of God's movement in the world, it is going to mean realizing that his time is not simply his to hoard, but it is God's to use.  And his resources are not simply his to hold onto, but they are God's to use.

We have trouble in our day with learning that same lesson, even though the story has been staring at us from the pages of Scripture for twenty centuries now.  We have this way of saying, "Well, I can't be expected to give up some of my resources for somebody else--that's not fair!"  We do it at the local and household level--all those years I thought to myself, "Eh, it's not likely that I'm gonna need an ambulance this year, so I'll take the gamble and not support them, because it's really all about me and my convenience, after all."  And we do it in the larger scale, too, treating "me and my group" like we are the only ones who matter.  We have this way of imagining that I can't be expected to be asked to be put to trouble for someone outside of my household, or my community, or my country.  And we have this way of imagining that if something isn't going to directly affect ME or my family, I don't have a responsibility for caring about it... and certainly not for being asked to absorb a cost for the sake of someone else being spared something worse!

But the Bible doesn't talk that way.  Not the Old Testament with its recurring prophetic call to take care of the widow and the orphan and the stranger, and not the New Testament with moments like this one from Peter who sees the Spirit reaching out--and pushing him along with that movement--to attend to the needs of those who were previously considered "outside."  If we are going to actually listen to the voice of the Spirit in the Scriptures, we should be prepared to hear the living God say to us, "Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I do expect you to give up some of what you call "yours" (but is really all mine anyhow) for the sake of helping someone else."  And the same living God will say as well, "Actually, yes, I do reserve the right to call you to use some of your resources to relieve the strain on someone else."  Because, news flash--God cares about "them" as well as "us."  And just as in a family, sometimes we are called to go beyond what we imagine is our "fair share" because we care about the one who is greatest need, even if helping them doesn't directly benefit me.  We get that in a family--when we all pull together when one person in the household is in the hospital, or struggling with grief.  But we have a harder time hearing the Spirit of God say, "But you are all in the family of God's creation--and God doesn't show partiality between one group called 'us' and another group called 'them'."

The more I read and re-read these stories from the Scriptures about what happens when the Spirit is let loose and pulls the followers of Jesus outward, the more I realize I am going to be called out of my own little myopic view to look for ways to care for people beyond my immediate circle or family.  If the Spirit can reserve the right to send Peter out of his way to bring the Good News to Cornelius and family, then the Spirit can reserve the right to lead me to give up some of my resources for the sake of someone else that I may never meet, but who still matters to God.  That's true whether it's about making sure there is an ambulance around for someone in my county when they need one, or making sure that some child who would otherwise go hungry can be assured there will be food on the table, or caring for people a half a world away who find the monsoons are growing stronger and are washing away more and more of their land every year.  They matter to God, and so they must matter to me, too.

It has taken me a long time to see that as more than an intellectual exercise.  It has taken me a long time to see that when people "matter," the Spirit leads us to act like they matter, too.

Lord God, pull me out of my self-centered little black hole, and lead me out to care for the people you care for--and to see, too, that all the time, talent, and treasure that I call "mine" are really yours anyway, and are meant for caring for those who matter to you...