Pōkarekare Ana - Love, community & inclusion

 “The waters are agitated” - these are the first words of a well-known love song - you may know it better as  "Pōkarekare Ana".

The story of Peter and Cornelius certainly agitated the waters. The story proper begins at the beginning of Acts chapter 10,  it’s a love story but it’s not a comfortable one. Cornelius has a scary vision of an angel and is told to send for Peter. Then Peter has this confusing vision of food that he had always thought of as unclean and the message of inclusion was so shocking it had to be repeated 3 times. 

It was when the messengers of Cornelius arrived that he began to realise what his odd vision might mean. Peter had to overcome his life-long prejudices to go and visit Cornelius and then while he was preaching the Holy Spirit was there and made obvious to all by the miraculous speaking in tongues event. This showed Peter (who had lived through the events at Pentecost) that there was no difference between him and these Gentiles. Gentiles were the outsiders of the day for this Jewish Jesus movement. Last week we heard of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch off on a desert road - a man of a different race & country and differently gendered. Today it is a whole group representative of the rest of those who were being “othered” - Gentiles - not only Gentiles but those from the race who were oppressing them - Romans. No one is outside the boundaries of God’s love.

Mary Foskett a professor of religion puts it like this - 

This is “a story of transformation and relational border crossing between people who, though not at all strangers, were practiced at holding each other at a distance. It is a story of surprise and joy, and lives transformed by new relationships and new understandings of self and other forged by the Spirit.”

“Christianity is just a crutch” was a phrase bandied about when I was a teenager - the implication being this was something reached for by people who were weak and couldn’t cope with life. While it may be a religion characterised by love - it is not a warm, fuzzy, comfortable love and today’s readings make that clear. 

We in the church celebrate mothering Sunday in Lent, much of the rest of the world celebrates it today. When I think of mothering - there is a whole whirlwind of experiences associated with a mother’s love. Nothing has brought me more joy or more pain than my children, I discovered depths of anger both with them and on their behalf that I didn’t know existed in me. Fear, guilt and laughter are all parts of being a parent. But being a loving parent is certainly not comfortable or “a crutch”. 

The love to which we are called by Jesus is also not comfortable or easy. Peter experienced the challenge of everything he knew being turned upside down. Recently at work we changed the programme we use for medical records. I had been using the previous one for something like 25 years and was comfortable with it. the new programme looks completely different, things are done differently with different keystrokes and called different names. It was painful, exhausting and challenging to have everything turned upside down. Change is like that - it’s not for the weak or faint-hearted. I can’t imagine how painful and challenging it was for Peter to live through the changes he lived through. 

Like Peter, we too are called to love and include those we with whom we are not comfortable  - in God’s economy no-one is “other” - not the immigrant, the one who worships differently, the disabled, the differently gendered, the poor, the homeless - those who smell different or eat differently, those with different politics, whose taste in music or art is different to ours … NONE are excluded. Later in our service we sing the hymn “When I needed a neighbour were you there” it’s about practical love and the chorus is “and the creed and the colour and the name don’t matter…” reminding us like Peter was taught - none are excluded. 

This story of love starts with our God - our God who is a community of love - father son and Holy Spirit. Our gospel reading gives some insight here - Jesus starts with the love the Father has for Jesus - that same love - that same love is the love Jesus has for us - we are invited into that love - abide in it - remain, continue, live, make our home in the love of Jesus we are told. But this is not a warm mushy feeling - this love calls us to obey, to act - living in the love of Jesus assumes our response of obedience - and why wouldn’t we? The underlying purpose of Jesus’ commandment is our joy. Jesus summarises his commandment into just one - love each other AS HE LOVES US. The standard is high - he laid down his life for us. Once again not comfortable, mushy love, not feelings and romance - this is love that treats each other with respect - that gives itself sacrificially for the other - this is demanding, challenging love. 

 The chorus of our Māori love song goes like this

   E hine e,

  hoki mai ra.

  Ka mate ahau

  I te aroha e.

which is usually translated

Oh girl,

return to me,

I will die

of love for you. 

Just as some romantic love songs speak of the cost of love - even to death, so does Jesus - but whereas the love song refers to excessive feelings - Jesus love led him to the cross; Jesus didn’t just sing of dying for love - Jesus died for love of us all. 

Some have accused John of having a gospel that focuses on individuals rather than community - or that focuses on the church and not the wider world - both the gospel & the epistle today tell us that our love for God is shown by our love for others and if we look at who Jesus was sent to love and save it was the world - that’s our example. But remember it all leads to joy - complete joy. The joy is experienced in community with others - not just a private joy to hide away for myself.

Another saying from when I was young that is still spouted now is - “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian” - I can worship God at home, I can just look at nature and worship God - that’s all I need. But our readings show us that our faith is something communal - true love of God will show itself in love of God’s children and we don’t define who God’s children are - God does. God’s love recognises both the humanity and the divinity in all and calls us to do the same - whether we look in the mirror at ourselves, whether we look at our Christian family or whether we look at those the world calls “other”. Recognising the common humanity we share, recognising the divine image in all calls out from us a response of love - love that respects and treats the other as friend, love that can be costly in time and action, love that can be uncomfortable. The love of God is not dependant on our response - God does not just love the ones who love God - God loves the whole world as that familiar verse in John 3:16 reminds us. There are no limits for God’s love in who it is extended to and no limits in how long it is extended. 

If we return to Pōkarekare ana - there is a final verse that goes like this

“E kore te aroha

e maroke i te rā

Mākūkū tonu i

aku roimata e.”

it translates as follows:

“My love will never

be dried by the sun,

it will be forever moistened

by my tears.”

Pōkarekare ana - The waters are agitated - our whole concept of love and community is upturned. For us death and tears may be part of love but they are not the end of love - the end of love (loving the way God loves) however difficult it may be, is joy. God’s love knows no bounds concerning to whom it is offered, the giving in God’s love knows no limit even death and time in God’s love is infinite Love never ends. This is the love we are called to  - we offer it to God and we know we love God when we offer this kind of love the “God-love” to all God created. 

Let us pray in the sublime words of Charles Wesley

Love Divine all loves excelling

Love divine, all loves excelling, 

joy of heav’n, to earth come down,

fix in us thy humble dwelling, 

all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, thou art all compassion, 

pure, unbounded love thou art.

Visit us with thy salvation;

enter ev'ry trembling heart.

Changed from glory into glory, 

till in heav’n we take our place,

till we cast our crowns before thee, 

lost in wonder, love and praise. Amen. 

READINGS - Acts 10:44-48; John 15:9-17