Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. – Acts 11:19

Today's Scripture Reading (January 22, 2021): Acts 11

Part of the Christian Church's shame is that we have often gone into other cultures with the demand that to become a Christian, the people had to become like us. In Africa, we mixed up the spiritual with the cultural and often demanded that the Africans become culturally white to become Christian. In North America, our shame was shown in the church's attempts over the years to drive the "Indian" out of Native Americans. I have to admit that one of my most cherished experiences was to attend a Christian Smudging. It was a moment when I was able to take part in a religious experience which merged the Christian belief in the presence of the Holy Spirit with a First Nations experience of inviting the smoke of the sweetgrass to sweep over our bodies, cleansing us from all that we need to be cleansed.

Some Christians struggle with the possibility that someone might be spiritually Christian, but culturally Native American, or Muslim, or even Buddhist or Hindu. We can easily be confused about what it means to follow Christ and what it is that our faith demands of us.

Even after Peter's experience with the Cornelius, the Christian missionary efforts' primary audience were the Jews in Diaspora. It was the Jews who heard the message. The church's expansion into the Gentile populations would wait for the ministry of Paul and his friends. But, for now, it was only the Jews that received the teaching.

The effect of this Christian teaching being directed only to the Jews was that Christianity originally was nothing more than just another Jewish sect. For many of the early believers, being a good Jew was essential to being a good Christian. If you were not born a Jew, then to become a Christian, the first step was to become a Jew. Becoming a Jew meant being baptized into the faith, which meant, among other things, being circumcised and accepting the Jewish food laws. (Imagine, to be a Christian meant living in a world without bacon.) To be a Christian didn't mean becoming like a western white man; it originally meant becoming a Jew.

It was an error from which, through Paul's ministry and the testimony of Peter, the Christian Church would eventually recover. But maybe the saddest part of the story would be that we would lose sight of the early church's mistake and repeat it in the modern era. You don't have to look like me to be Christian. But, according to Jesus, you do have to love God and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). Do this, and believe and serve our Messiah's cause, and you are Christian, regardless of your cultural practices.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Acts 12