All Means All
Acts 11:1-18
Tribalism is defined as the state or fact of being organized in a tribe or tribes and the resulting behaviors and attitudes that stem from loyalty to this tribe. On the surface, that doesn’t sound too bad. Human beings naturally migrate into groups of like-minded people. Tribes may be formed around particular hobbies, or interests, or views, or locations, or even having a star on your belly. We naturally form into groups – into tribes - it’s what we do politically, socially, educationally.
In our culture, the phrase “My Tribe” has become a popular way to describe a person’s closest circle of friends. Those people whom you could call at any time day or night and they’d be there for you that is your “tribe.”
But, what happens when tribalism is taken to the extreme? What happens when our individual groups become more important than the common good? What happens when one’s loyalty to her tribe takes priority over all else? No plain-bellied Sneetches were invited to the weenie roasts on the beaches. Why? Toxic tribalism.
Toxic Tribalism promotes an “us vs. them” mentality. It elevates one’s tribe above all other groups of people. Saying, “My tribe is right and everyone else in wrong.” Sound familiar? It’s not just among the Sneetches, is it?
We don’t really discuss the characteristics of individuals anymore – instead we lump them together into tribes… all of group X must believe this and all of group Y must believe that and there is no middle ground. You are simply a Republican or you are Democrat (with all the baggage those terms carry in our current society) regardless of where you actually fall the political spectrum. And woe to those who identify as Independents and the not party affiliated ones …for you are just tribe-less ones who don’t care about what’s important.
Now, is that what I actually believe? No. But isn’t that the message that we send the world. In our tribes, our tribes become what is most important. And in a culture where we identify ourselves as members of certain tribes, we easily forget our personhood and the personhood of those in other tribes. Toxic tribalism is intent on keeping us all separate and vilifying the ‘other,’ whether we are Sneetches or people.
After his time in Lydda (where he healed Aeneas’ paralysis, and after his time in Joppa (where he raised Tabitha from the dead), and after many hours spent preaching and teaching in these areas and beyond with many people coming into the faith, Peter returned to Jerusalem. But upon his return, his tribe was not happy. They didn’t seem to care that God had performed miracles through Peter. They didn’t seem to have joy in the number of people who came into the faith through Peter’s actions and words. What they cared about was that Peter had crossed tribal boundaries.
If Peter had been a Star-Bellied Sneetch he would have left the weenie roast and gone to share food with the Plain-Bellied Sneetches. And in a tribal mindset – that’s…not…okay.
Peter was a member of the “circumcised” meaning that he was a Jew. And what Peter’s tribe of fellow Jews who believed in Christ, expected from Peter and from others in the tribe was that no one would associate, let alone eat with, those who were uncircumcised (or the Gentiles). So Peter comes back to Jerusalem after this AMAZING and POWERFUL, GOD-INSPIRED missionary trip and he receives no “atta boys,” he receives no accolades or congratulations, what Peter gets is accusations animosity for breaking the tribal barriers. YOU! You went into the home of the uncircumcised and you! ate with them!
That’s not allowed. You can’t associate with “those people.” We don’t like “them” because they are not us. Toxic tribalism in the early church. Toxic tribalism seeking to withhold the gospel from God’s children. Toxic tribalism – you can’t associate with them.
But that’s not God’s message, is it? God is more like Sylvester McMonkay McBean’s machine in the Sneetches story – putting on stars and taking off stars until no one can remember who had and hadn’t stars upon thars! God’s message is we are more alike than we are different.
God’s message is that there no one individual, no one group of people, that is “unclean.”
God’s message is that we need to break down and break through those tribal barriers that separate us so that we can BE the BODY of CHRIST in the world.
Imagine yourself as Peter… imagine seeing a large linen sheet being lowered from the heavens…who or what do you see on that sheet? Who is God saying to you, “Break down this barrier, it’s okay.”
Maybe it’s a specific person – someone to whom you need to be reconciled.
Maybe it’s a group of people – representative of our broken relationships in the world.
Maybe it’s a place where God wants you to proclaim the gospel…
Who or what do you see on that sheet lowered from heaven?
Muslims? Jews? Tattooed and pierced teenagers? Unwed mothers? The man on the street muttering to himself? The child with dirty clothes and a runny nose? That legislator that voted for or against that thing that was really important?
We, as God’s Church for the world – we, as Christ’s Body in the world – WE have to break down the barriers of toxic tribalism plaguing God’s world. We have to have eyes like Peter’s to see God’s desire; we have to have ears like Peter’s to hear God speak the truth of unity and love; we have to have courage like Peter to break out of what is comfortable, to walk away from our tribe, to walk through no-man’s land – to reach others for the glory of Christ.
Barriers, human barriers, of ideology and identity keep us from being the proclaimers of salvation that God calls us to be.
Believing that others who do not look like us, think like us, act like us, worship like us, talk like us, live where live, or any other tribal barriers that we have built – believing that those others are not WORTHY of receiving the gift of salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord is sinful. And it is against all the teachings of Christ our Lord.
Jesus said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…and when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:5, 8)
Jesus didn’t say, be my witness to some.
Jesus didn’t say, once you receive the Holy Spirit, keep it only among the disciples.
Jesus did say – take the Spirit into ALL the world – Jerusalem, Judea, even Samaria, and to the end of the earth.
So where do we begin? How do we begin to dismantle the toxic tribalism controlling our lives and the world?
We begin by building relationships outside of our tribe, one relationship at a time. One brick out of our barrier wall at a time. One step at a time. One smile at a time. One conversation at a time.
This can happen anywhere…
Fellowshipping over coffee and doughnuts at Clean Cupboard ministries.
Working in the Mission Garden.
Taking time to talk to that man on the street who is muttering to himself.
Asking the tattooed and pierced cashier at your favorite restaurant, to tell you about his or her tattoos.
In short taking time and taking interest in the humanity of others, realizing that they, like us, are beloved children of God with hopes and dreams, with struggles and defeats. And like us, though underserving, Christ died for all of us.
Our tribes are really more alike than they are different. But we’ll never truly realize it until, like the disciples in Jerusalem, we come to the conclusion: So, then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.
God has enabled us and God has enabled all the “thems” of this world to change our hearts and to turn them to the Lord.
Let us be the messengers of this good news.
Amen.
