There’s a well-known poem by Edwin Markham that goes like this: “He drew a circle that shut me out—Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle and took him in.” Acts 11 tells us of such a circle-drawing moment. This was the moment when the early church had to redraw its circle. A moment when the walls between "us" and "them" began to crumble, not by human ambition, but by divine command. The early followers of Jesus, rooted in Jewish tradition, were beginning to experience the Spirit of God doing a new thing. It was drawing them towards inclusion and community. And it shook them to their core.
The Acts passage opens with tension. Peter has just returned from Caesarea, where he ate with and baptized Gentiles—those considered “unclean” by Jewish law. News of this radical hospitality spread quickly, and not everyone is thrilled. Peter is criticized by the “circumcised believers.” He’s essentially on trial for breaking long-standing religious boundaries. So, Peter tells the story…again. He tells the story not to defend himself, but to witness to what God had done. In his vision, Peter sees all kinds of animals—clean and unclean—lowered in a sheet from heaven. God tells him to kill and eat, and Peter resists. In Peter’s mind, he has been a devout Jew following the dietary laws: “Nothing profane has ever entered my mouth!” But God replies, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” And then he meets Cornelius, a Gentile, and the Spirit falls on his household—just as it had on the disciples at Pentecost. Peter is astonished. And so is the church. The circle is being drawn wider.
“If then God gave them the same gift that had been given when we believed, who was I that I could hinder God?” What a question. To be clear, this was a watershed moment for the early church. What Peter discovers—and what he invites the church to discover—is that the Holy Spirit breaks through boundaries to build bridges. God is empowering people from ALL different walks of life to live in deep community—not uniformity, but unity.
And this message of unity, we need to hear this as much (or even more) today. I say this because we live in a world fractured by: different schools of thought—liberal, conservative, progressive, traditional. A world filled with many different cultures—varied languages, customs, identities. And in the church, a world filled with different forms of worship and liturgy—contemporary praise or ancient chants, silent prayer or Spirit-filled dancing. And amidst all these divisions, we are called towards unity, not division.
And here is the problem. It can be easy—even tempting—to believe that “our way” is the faithful way. But Acts 11 reminds us: God is always bigger than our categories. The Spirit moves where it wills. And when we resist the faithful movement of the Spirit in others, we may find ourselves resisting God.
I think that this story invites us to deepen our empathy, broaden our vision, and expand our understanding of community. Unity in Christ is not about everyone looking, sounding, or praying the same. It is about honoring the divine image in each person—and embracing the diversity God calls “good.” It is about honouring the wonderful diversity that each bring to community: varied schools of thought, culture, forms of worship…the list goes on! This text is about a unity that celebrates our diversity!
But let’s take this one step further. If God’s Spirit calls us into unity with those who are different from us, could it also be calling us into kinship with creation itself? Peter’s vision is filled with animals. And while the primary lesson is about people, it’s not coincidental that this vision is imagined through the creatures of the earth. Could the diversity of creatures be offering a lesson for us in our living?
One troubling way that our modern world functions is that it divides: humans over here, nature over there. But this was not always so! Looking back to our roots, the Hebrew imagination—shared by Jesus and his early followers—understood all creation as a community. We are not separate and distinct from creation; we are an interconnected part of creation. We have a kinship with creation!
To be empowered to unity is not just about human reconciliation. It’s also about finding our place again in the whole household of God—which includes the rivers, the trees, the birds, and even those animals in Peter’s cosmic vision. Unity, then, is cosmic. It’s the healing of all things. It’s reconciliation among peoples and with creation. It's a call to live in a way that honors the interconnection of all life—our shared breath, our shared home, our shared hope. Our work of reconciliation with the First People’s of this land provides a reminder in this area. Indigenous wisdom teaches of the kinship we have with flora and fauna. It is a deepening awareness of our kinship with Creator that is expressed through the varied aspects of which we are just one blessed part!
In a sense then, Peter’s question can be heard echoing through the ages. It’s a confession and a challenge. It is a confession of our tendency to draw tight boundaries. It is also a challenge to step aside when God draws the circle wider. I wonder if these pondering questions might resonate wit this text? When we’re tempted to dismiss a different tradition (or way of thinking), perhaps we are challenged to remember Peter’s humility. When we are hesitant to engage with another culture, can we trust that the Spirit is already present. When we feel threatened by change in worship or theology, perhaps we can ask, “Is this the Spirit moving in new ways today?” And when we are called to care more deeply for the earth and all its creatures, perhaps we can see this not as a political act, but as a spiritual one. A kinship restored among God’s creation. Where creature, creation, flora and fauna see one another as a rainbow unfolding of God’s glorious creation.
There is a challenge in this for us as members of a large denomination steeped in “a centenary of history.” The challenge in this, is how we might welcome and include the evolving of the spirit while honouring our past. A challenge in how we might include fresh ways to ‘be the church’ as we remember the days of old. A challenge in how we might be the church of the growing body of Christ. A retired minister who frequents our afternoon congregation fondly recalls his time leading a new church development. In his multi-decade ministry of service, this was the only time that history did not hold the church back. There was never an utterance ‘we’ve always done it this way!’ The question was always centering around how Jesus’ way of inclusion might be mirrored in the decisions being made. Do you ever wonder how bound we are to our traditions that we value? Do you ever wonder how they ‘may’ be holding us back from the being the vibrant church of the future?
What I hear the text calling us to is a deeper embracing of all. Building a wider circle; building a bigger table; building a community where there is no Jew and Gentile, no us and them, no insiders and outsiders…a community where all are embraced and Christ is at the centre of it all!
We all know the challenges of human nature, don’t we? So we aren’t surprised when we see the chapter ends not with resistance, but with rejoicing. The believers, after hearing Peter, “praise God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life!’” And the table grew wider. The circle expanded. And the community deepened. Friends, this is not an ancient, dusty story. This is OUR story! This is OUR call! Empowered by the Spirit, we are invited to a unity that includes the stranger, the outsider, the other, vast creation. For with God, there is no stranger…there is only kin. With God there is no outsider…there is only kin. With God there is other…there is only kin. There is no creation (out there)…there is only kin. We are empowered to recognize our kinship not just with all creation.
This is not easy work, but it is holy work. Thanks be to God for the gift of this messy, beautiful, Spirit-led community. A place where we can explore how our unity in Christ makes us kin with every aspect of creation! Thanks be to God that the circle keeps widening. Thanks be to God that we are empowered, by grace, to walk together in unity.
Amen.