Acts 11:3 Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?
“Why do you play that satanic music?” That’s how a woman in my hometown described the punk rock my band played when I was in high school. The woman did not understand punk any more than the church in Jerusalem understood the “uncircumcised,” so she called it (and us) satanic.
Those things we do not understand, we tend to call satanic or some variation of “evil.” This is a challenging thing for me to remember, and it makes me thankful to have received such judgment early on in my life. I knew what we were singing, and I knew the good, spiritual experience of playing music.
Now, when I am faced with something that challenges my understanding of the world, I have the gift of that woman’s judgment to help me remember and consider if God is providing me an opportunity to extend grace just like Peter did. How awkward it would be if the church had chosen to be exclusive in that situation.
