Love Bridging Differences: The Bridge God Builds

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We are continuing our series here. This is the final one on our vision that we, through this year, have come to discern is for this season, in Foothills’ time, in this place, with this people and new people that will come and join us.

We are pursuing this vision together. Together, as a community, we’re pursuing God and reflecting the light of Jesus to see burdens shared, joys multiplied, and love bridging differences. And so we are going to talk about love bridging differences.

This is a powerful, powerful concept that I pray is no longer a concept, but a reality in our midst. I pray that it is something that God indeed does, and I believe he is doing.

Again, here is Acts. So we’re going to read it all again.

No, we’re just going to go right here. I know that was long. That was long, but I wanted you to get the context, and we’ll unpack it.

But Peter began to speak:

“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”

I want to declare, proclaim good news to you today: that God’s love is bridging our deepest differences.

This is what God is doing, whether we join him or not. God is about the work of bridging deep differences between people.

And this is not, unfortunately, the reality that we see in a deeply divided world. Right? We are so divided. And since 2020, right, that became more and more evident: that whatever we looked like we were getting along, really, what unified us was not the gospel. It might have been opinions. It might have been political agreements. But truly, we were not together. We were not truly bonded by the Spirit. We were held together by common belief and different political opinions and lifestyle, whatever it was.

And we’ve seen families—I know my own family has experienced division based on political opinion, based on differences around how we ought to live or be. And this is within the faith, right? We’re not talking about different faiths, just within this faith, the differences we hold.

And I think it’s important to name—let’s just name it—that Foothills has gone through some division. The people here, some of whom are the same that were here five, ten years ago, but there are many missing from this place. And one large reason for that is because of division around political ideology, theological differences, things that were said to some person that didn’t get—or one, you know, didn’t get fully resolved, weren’t ever addressed—conflict avoidance, whatever it may be.

I just want to name that, right? And as we say this new vision, as we live into this new vision, may it not be. May, when we have divisions in the future, when a new political party rises to power, whatever it may be, or a new social movement comes, where there’s conflict and differences of opinion, may the love of Christ bridge these differences.

And so I want to tell you this: that this is what God is doing, and this is God’s heart. God’s love is bridging the deepest of differences. The question is, will we join with the move of God, with the move of the Spirit?

And I believe we will. I believe we will.

This bridge—I came across this bridge in kind of research. This is in Tehran, Iran. This is called the Tabiat Bridge. And it’s an awesome bridge designed by an Iranian woman, 26 years old. It has three levels. And this bridge is designed, as all bridges are, to connect a divided people, right? Divided, but geographically, right?

And bridges do that. They allow connection and communication and commerce. But this bridge is not designed just to get across. It’s designed to facilitate connection even in the crossing.

So there’s three levels. One level is for pedestrians, and there’s park benches and places for people to stop and gather and connect. Another level has cafes and coffee shops and things like that, where people can have a meal, break bread together. And then I think the other one is for vehicles.

Okay, so this bridge is not only designed to just get across, but to actually meet in the middle as we cross.

And I think this is a beautiful illustration of what the gospel is doing. And I believe this is exactly what’s happening in that incredibly long passage we just read. But the Holy Spirit is bridging deep difference, not in just a way to get one side over to the other, but a deep sharing of life, even in the midst of differences, even when differences aren’t resolved or dissolved.

All right. And so, in Acts 10, we have two men representing two very different groups, two ways of life, two very different sets of values and cultural assumptions and preferences. These two people groups have been at odds with one another for generations and generations. And even, it seems, that God—whether it was a misunderstanding or what—but God had said, “Stay away from these people, the Gentiles.”

And Peter was really good at obeying that rule because he was a good Jewish person.

All right. And so there is a history of separation, of animosity, of othering. And here God enters the scene, and I want you to notice: the first thing is that God takes the initiative here. God takes the initiative.

Who builds the bridge that connects these very different people, very different values? It’s God. He shows up. Each of these people are living their best life in their silos.

Okay, Cornelius is praying. He’s a God-fearing man. He’s a Gentile. He’s there, and God interrupts his life, and it’ll never be the same.

Peter is doing his Jewish thing. He’s praying at noon. He gets hungry, having a snack made. He’s praying to the Lord, and God interrupts his life with a vision, a gross vision to him as a Jewish person.

We’ll talk about it.

So we see that God is the bridge builder. God is at work. This is the move of the Spirit and God’s work. The work of the Spirit is to create a new humanity of deep connection that is centered on Jesus, not sameness. It’s centered on Jesus.

And so the next thing: the bridges God builds connect across deep difference.

All right. So let’s unpack this a little bit.

Cornelius. Cornelius is a Gentile, a non-Jew. He is a soldier of the Roman Empire. Do you realize the Roman Empire has occupied Israel? And so this is the enemy. He represents the enemy. He’s a slaveholder. He’s admired by the Jewish people, but not accepted. He represents the outsider from the Jewish perspective: the avoided, the enemy.

And God comes to him.

How dare God come to him? How dare God come to this person, this enemy, this Gentile?

But he takes the initiative.

God always—I believe the gospel reveals a God that moves towards difference. He’s constantly moving towards difference, not away from it.

And then you’ve got Peter, verses 10:9 through 16. Peter is a faithful Jewish man. He’s walked with Jesus. He’s passionate about Jesus. He’s proclaiming the good news to all of his Jewish friends, and he thinks this is a Jewish religion.

And he says his mantra is, “I must keep myself pure. I must follow the laws of God, the purity code.” He represents the insider. He represents the one following all the rules, getting it right, looks the part, right?

And then God comes to Peter as well, again taking the initiative. He’s doing something new, the new kind of humanity. And he gives Peter this vision.

Now, this vision is crazy, right? It’s weird to us, probably to Peter too, but this sheet is lowered down, and it’s connected to the four corners of the earth, symbolic of: “This is about all the—I’m talking about everyone here.” God’s like, “I’m talking about everyone.”

All right. And the four corners. And what’s in the sheet? A bunch of animals. Now, maybe you know that the Jewish people had strict dietary rules, and it was about remaining pure, and they could not eat certain kinds of food. And this blanket, this sheet, has everything: all kinds of creatures, reptiles, dirty animals they’re not supposed to eat.

And God invites. He says, “Hey, Peter, look at that. Take and eat.”

And Peter says, “By no means, Lord.”

This is like a test, right? This is a test, because God has said, “You can’t eat these things.” And he’s like, “God, I will not eat those things because you said to not eat those things.”

And what does God say?

“Don’t call unclean the things that I have called clean. Take and eat.”

Three times. Three times. Three times he does this. They have kind of a back and forth: “Eat, eat, eat.”

Now, this isn’t just about food. Do you know that? Because food represents culture. Eating food represents a sharing of life. To share a table, it means a shared life.

This is what I kind of think about: when you sit in close relationship with another person and you break bread, your germs are being transferred. Okay? Right? There’s spittle coming out when you talk and you’re excited. That’s flying across.

Sorry to ruin lunch, right?

You didn’t wash your hands, maybe, right? And you’re breaking bread, and you’re sharing it.

All right, this is happening.

And so, to share a table with someone who is considered unclean or different, or you’re a little nervous about because you don’t know where they’ve been or who they’re hanging out with or what their lifestyle was or what they did last night, and you’re eating together—this isn’t good. This is gross.

And so this food is culture. To eat is to share life.

So God is inviting Peter to the table with people that he was taught to avoid. “Never. By no means. I follow your rules.”

But God is moving his people from hostility to hospitality. He’s moving them towards difference, not away from it. And so he builds a bridge, and God invites each of these men to walk across.

So it’s not just presenting an idea here. It’s not an academic exercise, saying, “Let’s cross the bridge.” And he invites us to cross it.

Now, the most shocking thing about this is Peter. And if you are reading this as a Jewish person for the first time, you would be mortified. You would cancel whoever wrote the book of Acts.

All right. Because this is not good Jewish. This is not what we were taught.

Peter does first—those men show up. One’s a soldier. They’re all Gentiles, and they show up to Peter’s house. And what does Peter do?

He invited the men into the house to be his guests.

That’s radical. That is crazy.

And then, the next day—so they share a meal, they sleep in his home, and then the next day, these guys take Peter with them.

So not only do they come his direction, enter his house, Peter invites them into his life. Now he goes with them through the bridge. It’s going both ways. The bridge is going both ways.

And now Peter is doing even the more radical thing. He is not just saying, “Hey, I’ll be nice to you on my turf, on my terms, with my food.” He’s saying, “I’m going to go to you.”

And that’s scary.

And so Peter—and this is crazy—went inside and found even more of these unclean people, right? It’s almost disturbing.

But God’s love is bridging our deepest differences. God’s love, the Spirit, is moving us towards difference.

And so here’s another—I want to re-emphasize this: God invites us to walk across the bridges he builds repeatedly. Repeatedly.

All right, let me tell you this. I love this vision statement. But if, by “love bridges differences,” you have in your mind everyone from this neighborhood, in this city, coming into this building and becoming just like you, so that we can just live, dress the same, liking the same things, talking the same, believing the same, having the same values—like, everyone, the gospel will make everyone like us and we’ll be comfortable—if that’s the vision, that’s not what God was trying to say. I don’t believe that’s the kind of bridge building God does.

It’s not a one-way, one-time bridge. It goes both ways over and over again, back and forth, entering into our lives. Not to change one another, not to become like one another, but to learn to love even in the tension of difference, even in the tension of not believing the same thing, not acting the same way, not behaving.

You know, it’s messy. It’s a crossing back and forth. God’s creating a diverse community not of uniformity, but of unity around not behaviors and beliefs, but around a person: Jesus.

So the bridge of love across difference is a well-worn path.

And it’s not just intellectual, it’s embodied. It’s serving one another. It’s supporting one another. It’s weeping with one another. It’s laughing with one another. It’s bearing one another’s burdens, as we said. It’s reflecting the light of Jesus in our difference and in our different ways of understanding things.

And when we do this, it actually strengthens the connections and community we have.

See, being the same does not strengthen community.

I used to play racquetball for many years. I was a pretty good racquetball player. Weird, right? Weird thing to be good at.

And I had a whole community of people. But then I stopped playing racquetball. Now, do I still hang out with those people that I played racquetball with? The answer is, I do not.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. But that community was based on a preference, an activity, something that we both mutually enjoyed. So was there a real relationship there? There was a surface relationship based on preference, based on a common interest. But when one of those—when someone fades away from that interest, then the relationship fades.

And that’s what we see here, right? When an opinion changes, or someone changes their political views, right—which happens. Believe it. I hope it happens all the time. My political views go like this.

All right. So if you like me based on my political opinions, then we’re going to be in and out of relationship, right? Because we’re not going to truly know one another. We’re not going to truly be connected to one another because the relationship is built on a preference or an idea or a behavior, but not on me and you knowing one another.

All right. So that’s the kind of relationship. It’s a relationship that is formed on understanding the person. So it’s not so much—it’s more like the relationship continues. Like, why? It’s from curiosity.

It’s like, “Oh, tell me more about why you shifted your opinion on this, because I care about you and what God’s doing in you or what’s happening with you. Let’s break bread. Let’s have a meal. Or why don’t you like racquetball anymore? Or what are you doing now? I’m playing golf. Okay, I hate golf, but maybe we can still connect over something else.”

All right, so it strengthens connection and community. True community is built on something deeper than our commonalities, right? Our interests and our beliefs.

Oops. Whoa. I must have hit it really hard. Okay. Whoa, whoa. There we go.

Number five: he will bless and empower this new community to walk in love.

Did you notice how it ended, that really long Scripture passage, 10:44 through 46? The Holy Spirit comes upon the Gentiles. Peter is telling them the good news about Jesus and how he came to preach peace. He is the Lord of all.

And I don’t even know if Peter fully understands. He’s starting to get it. He shows no preference. “I come to realize he shows no preference, but anyone who orients their life on Jesus, we can live in community.”

And then the Holy Spirit comes down on the Gentiles. They start speaking in tongues. They start evidencing the fruit of the Spirit, that God himself has indwelt them.

God, the holy God who said, “Stay away from these impure people,” has inhabited the very impurity, right? He lives in them, and now he lives between them. He’s empowering a connection across difference that doesn’t diminish the difference, right? It doesn’t remove the differences.

He doesn’t say, “Okay, you guys are Jews now. Oh, you guys, you’re going to stop being a Roman soldier now. You’re going to stop eating pigs, and you’re going to get circumcised.”

No, right? There’s no change. The differences remain. But the relationship has been bonded by the Spirit, which is an invitation to keep walking that bridge. It’s not a one-way, one-direction thing.

It’s a, “Let’s”—you know, that bridge in Tehran—“let’s have coffee, and you’re going to stay a Gentile. I’m going to stay a Jew. We’re going to disagree about a lot of stuff. Your people are hurting my people. You’re oppressing my people. Let’s talk about it. Let’s bond together. Let’s know one another.”

So the Spirit empowers this relationship.

Now, let me acknowledge that we need this Spirit to do this. We need the Spirit to bridge differences, because in our own strength, as we see in the world, we cannot, cannot do it, will not do it. Too painful, too hard.

The Spirit. We need the Spirit.

But we also need to acknowledge that this is what the Spirit is doing, and then we have to be willing to enter that hard work of bridging those differences and seeking to understand, loving one another, embracing one another, seeking to understand and honor one another even when we disagree, holding space for those differences.

I feel like the last ten years of my life have been one giant lesson in this. And God is constantly peeling back the layers as to how much more depth there is to this and what this invites us into.

I remember, several years ago, a couple of years into our church plant in the International District—you know, International District is a very diverse place. Lots going on there. And for a while, for a season, there were a group of people: homeless people, homeless trans women, Native American trans women. That’s a lot of differences, okay, to name all of them. And there’s more.

But there was a group of Native American trans women experiencing homelessness that would eat meals with us, and were in our homes, and would worship with us sometimes.

And one day we had a conversation, and I just felt led by the Spirit: “Hey, would you want to open up the Bible and just talk about it?”

And they said yes.

And so we set an appointment for the next morning. And, you know, when you set an appointment with people experiencing homelessness, rarely do they come, because they don’t have a watch. There’s lots going on. There’s lots of things that can happen between the night you made the appointment and the morning that you’re supposed to be there.

But I’m sitting on the front porch of Mike Platt’s house. Got some donuts here.

Now, let’s talk about the difference. Who am I?

You know, I grew up in this church. I was homeschooled all my life. Okay, I probably said zero cuss words until I was 19 or 20. I didn’t kiss a girl until I was 25, 26 years old.

So there’s me: white, homeschool, middle-class guy. I live in the mountains. And now I’m going to open the Scriptures with these women. Lots of difference. Lots of difference here.

And so I’m sitting there with donuts, and it’s supposed to be 9:30. It’s 9:40. I’m like, “Oh, they’re not going to come.” I’m about to pack up, and sure enough, here they come, two women.

And we sit down, and we open up the Gospel of John, and we start talking about it. And we start just having this beautiful conversation, and they’re making these beautiful connections with their life.

It was the woman caught in adultery, and at this one beautiful moment, they’re crying and they’re saying, “I just sense that God is telling me, ‘Go and sin no more, but I love you, and I’ve always loved you.’”

Wow. That happened. Beautiful.

Now, did they become like me after that moment?

No. No.

Do we still get to have conversations and break bread?

Yes, we did.

Is there a conclusion to the story?

Not yet. Yeah.

But God’s bridging differences now.

That was uncomfortable. But what I have come to—I have—there’s people now that are in my life that I have more discomfort with, and it’s usually people that hold the same political opinions as I did ten years ago. And I have a hard time with that. And I don’t want to have those conversations.

Or with people—there’s other kinds of people. Like, there’s a lot of people that deconstruct from their faith, and I’ve had that happen. But I have a hard time with the people that get real angry and acidic. And some of them are in my own family.

And I will admit, I am distancing myself. I have not broken bread with some of those folks in my life.

And so God is inviting me to walk across the bridge, spend time on the bridge, have coffee on the bridge—not to change, but to know.

So I’m going to end here. The big message here, I hope you’re hearing, is that this bridge is not about us becoming the same, but it’s about, in our disagreement, not dividing and not disengaging, right? Not dividing and not disengaging.

We’re going to name our differences, and we’re going to talk about them, and we’re going to seek to know one another in the midst of them. So this isn’t saying, “Well, we’re just going to ignore them,” and there’s always an elephant in the room, right, until something flares up and we go our separate ways.

So here’s how we can do it.

First, it’s got to be posture over position. Jesus says the two greatest commandments are these: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s a posture of love.

How you disagree about something is more important than what you’re disagreeing about.

I don’t know if you fully believe that. Let it sit.

How you disagree about something is more important than what you’re disagreeing about.

I think in 1 Corinthians 13: “You have all knowledge, but if you do not have love, you’re a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” right?

Our posture is more important than the position, to love one another in our differences.

If we’re going to do that, we have to have, I recommend, curiosity in a conversation rather than convincing. All right? We’re coming to understand one another, not to convince one another.

When we’re in a posture of convincing, it’s antagonistic rather than humble learning and trying to understand: Why do you hold this belief? What fears, what desires are at play or at work underneath the surface here?

And let me share you my fears. I hold this belief because, really, I’m afraid. Or I grew up this way. I never had another experience.

Let’s be curious together and be curious about how Jesus is leading us into truth.

And then remember: unity can exist without uniformity. Unity and uniformity together are easier, and that’s why we typically hang with people the same.

But unity is not about sameness. It’s about Jesus. It’s about coming around Jesus and saying, opening our lives fully to the light and love of Jesus, and helping one another open up our lives to the light and love of Jesus, and to help one another focus on who Jesus is.

And some of us are wrong about what Jesus wants of us, and some of us are right about it. I mean, I should say all of us are wrong and right about that because we have clouded vision.

And so we’re helping one another to a posture of humility and curiosity and posture of love, where loving one another into the truth as we fix our eyes on Jesus.

And that’s hard, but it’s beautiful. It’s worth it.

So this was supposed to be a shorter sermon. That’s still pretty short. I’m pretty good. Pretty good. Twenty-five minutes.

I want to ask you this: Who are your “by no means, Lord” people?

If Jesus showed up and says, “I want you to spend time—not just hang out, but share your life, go to church with this person, come to the communion table with this person,” who would you be like, “No. By no means, Lord. Obviously, you would not want me to do that”?

Who are those people?

You’ve got them. I’ve got them. I’ve got them.

What’s God—I want you to ask hard about that three times at least, right? Because that’s what he did.

All right. You might say, “No.”

“Take, eat. Don’t call unclean what I’ve called clean.”

Get curious.

And what will it look like for you to join God in bridging that difference? What would it look like?

Maybe it starts by just inviting to coffee and saying, “Hey, would you tell me about what you think about this? Help me to understand.”

And then keep your mouth shut in terms of, “I don’t think that’s right,” or, “What about this?”

No. You’re curious. You’re curious. You’re curious. You’re curious. Your posture: you want to love. You want to learn. You want to seek to understand.

What would that look like?

Who is that person?

Now, it might be too raw, or there might not be access to that. So you might watch a documentary about that people group, that “by no means, Lord” people group that you have a hard time with. Watch a documentary on the opposite political perspective, or those who have a different sexual orientation than you, but not from a Christian perspective. Not a documentary that says, “These are why this people—why you should agree that they are part of you,” but to understand.

God’s love is bridging our deepest differences. That’s what God’s up to.

So I want to ask you: Who is God inviting you to cross the bridge toward this week?

Can you stand, and can we just respond with this prayer? This comes from the Book of Common Prayer.

Stand, please, if you don’t mind.

Let’s say this prayer together. The first part here, I made. The second part, the church has prayed for many years.

Let’s just pray this in response to God, his move in bridging deep differences with love.

God, we grieve the division and disunity in the church and country. We see the pain, isolation, and violence it stirs up.

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.