https://joelssermons.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/20160424sermon.mp3
Text: Acts 11:1-18
During the Easter season we’ve been talking about different conversions. Not just a one and done experience, but a series of experiences that convert us toward the overflowing love and grace of God. We looked at Thomas, then Saul, the artist formerly known as Paul, and last week Chris talked about Oscar Romero. With Peter up this week I’m aware that makes for four men in a row, so I’m glad to report that next week the lectionary features Lydia, the seller of purple cloth, and the week after that, Mother’s Day, we’ll meditate on the Divine feminine.
As I looked at this Acts 11 story, which is one of Peter’s many conversions, I was reminded of a model I’ve found helpful in thinking about spiritual growth. We’ve included an image of that as a bulletin insert. It’s a pretty simple model, based on concentric circles, or in this case concentric hearts. Rather than being linear, it starts inward and moves outward, from egocentric, to ethnocentric, to world centric. And then there’s a fourth ring which for some reason isn’t in this image. It’s sometimes called cosmo-centric, or being-centric, or Christ-centric. I’m not even sure...