Acts 10. It's a turning point in some ways for Peter, the outspoken, forthright disciple. In a "trance", as the NRSV of the Bible says, Peter saw something like a sheet coming down from heaven. On the sheet were different animals, insects and "creepy-crawly things"; in other words, "unclean" things. Things that true, devout followers of Jesus would never be caught dead around. Then the voice from heaven says to Peter, "Kill and eat." In only the manner that Peter could act, he says, "No way! I have never touched anything unclean!" "What I have made clean is clean!" responds the voice.

"No way! I have never..."  "We don't do things that way..."  "I don't think that will work; we have never done that before." It took Peter letting down his guard before he could fully understand what the "voice" - read 'God' - was saying. Of course it takes any one of us some time before we, too, can hear what God is saying. I recently heard Brian McLaren say, "What we focus on determines what we miss." It's a creative way of helping us understand the ramifications of saying, "No way!..."

"What we focus on determines what we miss." Think about it. If I focus on the left, I miss out on what's going on to the right. If I focus on what's going on in front of me, I miss out on what's going on behind me. Where do we focus our attention to the detriment of other places? What are we missing? What could ministry look like if several people decided to focus on different places simultaneously? It would mean we would have to listen to one another. We'd have to trust one another's experiences. How hard would it be to adopt a new way of being?

Think about it...