Thoughts for the Day

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, beast 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 norhing 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.

(New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

The new Christians were initially all Jewish, brought up with the Law of Moses, but this quickly spread to Gentiles, especially through the work of Peter and Paul. Today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows us how Peter was called to work among the gentiles.

In his vision, he sees a sheet of animals and birds that he is told to eat. We need to note that these are all forbidden by the Law, and no Jew intent on obeying the law would have disobeyed it. But God declares that "What God has made clean, you must not call profane". The good news of Jesus Christ is for the whole world, Hebrews and Gentiles.

Today, we need to ask ourselves do we invite the following to 'the feast': those who are younger or older than ourselves; those with different lifestyles to our own; or those of a different nationality? We may not be able to invite them to a service in church, but can we do this some other way: email or text others; send these Thoughts to others; pray for others?

Tuesday 8th September, follow up thoughts

Lord God,
all too often we meet other Christians
in our own circle,
and forget to pass the good news
on to others who might want to know
about Your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Help us to remember that we are
Your hands, feet, eyes and mouth
in the world today.
Amen.