God Plays No Favourites - Acts 10
Living in a Co-op can really have its interesting moments. Let’s say I’m chatting with someone I haven’t spoken with or seen for a long time. It’s good to catch up and listen to how the other person is doing and all the changes that have occurred. Almost always the conversation is pretty upbeat and we are both tempted to oversell how good things are actually going. But that’s ok, there often isn’t time in these conversations to admit how things really are. Somewhere along the line the question, “so where are you living these days?” comes up. Now perhaps it shouldn’t really matter, but the reality is I can answer this question in one of two ways. I can simply say I live in an area of northwest Richmond called Terra Nova. For anyone who knows Richmond this will immediately conjure up images of the Fraser River meeting the ocean, strolling on the dyke with the scenic coastal mountains in the background, gated townhouse communities, people walking their little dogs that wear little dog reflective jackets that are nicer than mine, million dollar homes which you’d think were abandoned if you didn’t see people come out maybe once a year to either wash their Mercedes Benz or prune their prize-winning rose bushes. Many would probably also mention the Starbucks we have on the main corner which I think would win the skinniest Starbucks in the world award.
Now I can leave it there and let people think I must be doing pretty well for myself for living in such a swank neighbourhood or I could share a little more by adding that I also happen to live in a Co-op. I always add the part about living in a Co-op as well. This has at times ended that part of the conversation because people in middle-upper class suburbia will often attach a stigma to Co-op housing by lumping it in with other forms of social housing. I’m already used to this because people generally don’t know what to do when I tell them I’m a pastor either. Sometimes, when our church gets missions teams up from the American south and I explain where we live and where we are doing church before they come, they think I’m talking about “the projects.” But even many Canadians have many misconceptions about what Cooperative housing is as well. So let me briefly explain: Simply put, it is a community of people who have entered into a limited partnership with the government to create more affordable housing for those who need it and to bring together people of various income levels to live together in an intentionally cooperating community. We have Ph.D’s, lawyers, pastors, single mothers, mechanics, construction workers and social workers all living in the same complex together. Most pay a market rent which tends to be at most 90% of the rent prices in the neighbourhood and those who can’t afford that, around 1/3rd of the residents, also get further rent subsidies from the government. Glenda and I thank God for this place because not only has it allowed us to stay in Richmond near our family in a time of incredulous real estate prices but it has also allowed us to live out our dream of creating intentional Christian community within an existing community here at the Co-op.
Now I bring this all up because I have to be honest in saying that at times I am tempted to leave the part of our living in a Co-op out of such a conversation. And my question is, why? I think you’ll agree with me when I say it’s because we live in a world where most people are tempted to play favourites. We tend to stick with those who are most like us and if someone doesn’t fit our particular sphere of culture, economic status, etc. we might not be as inclined to build a relationship with them. This is a real problem today, as it was in the time of the New Testament. On Sunday in Acts 10 we saw how God taught Peter (a Jew) that He doesn’t play favourites and was just as willing to give His Spirit to Gentile (non-Jewish) converts to Jesus as he was to Jewish converts to Jesus. This was absolutely revolutionary to Peter who like all Jews was taught not to associate, or even eat a meal with Gentiles.
Is this not still just as revolutionary today?
So my question for you is do you play favourites? Or do you, like God, invite people of all ethnicities, socio economic levels, cultures, sub-cultures, age groups, religions, etc. into your life?
God certainly doesn’t play favourites and neither should His people!
First let me say thanks to my fellow church planter Nick from 