Who is Gamaliel? Ever heard of this guy? Have you ever even met a person named Gamaliel? (Just for the record our US president Warren G. Harding—the G is for Gamaliel)

The Gamaliel who speaks in our story today was later known as Gamaliel I, or “Gamaliel the Elder.”  He was a descendant of the great rabbi and scholar Hillel, and was a respected Jewish scholar in Jerusalem from 25-50 CE/AD. Gamaliel is present with the Sadducees, those in the Jewish religious sect that ran things at the Temple and did not believe in resurrection, though he himself was a Pharisee, the Jewish sect that taught in synagogues dispersed throughout Israel and did believe in resurrection.  Jesus was thought to be trained in the Pharisaic tradition and the apostle Paul claims that he was taught at the feet of Gamaliel.

From our reading it looks like Gamaliel was part of the group that made decisions, the Sanhedrin, the Jewish body made of up of important leaders and rabbis like the unnamed high priest in today’s text. The Sanhedrin was called when there were problems to deal with or decisions to be made. The current problem was Peter and the other apostles preaching and teaching in the temple despite orders not to. They are popular, which is irritating enough, but they were spreading a heretical message. Something had to be done. The apostles are arrested and put in prison but an angel springs them in the night. Instead of leaving town (like I would have) they go back to the temple again and start up their preaching.

The leaders, mindful of the miracle and the popularity, have them firmly but not violently brought before them and interrogated.

“We can’t stop,” said Peter. “We must obey God rather than human authority.”

Then the real miracle happens in my opinion. Gamaliel stands up and says, “fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men…. I tell you keep away from them because if this is a plan of human origin it will fail. But if it is of God, you will be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God.”

How do we know if someone or a group is of God or not? Gamaliel says if they start up but then die out, clearly God is not with them. But if their words, their movement spreads, God is there.

Is Gamaliel right? Does momentum signify the movement of the spirit, the presence of God? How do we know? I think this discernment is much easier said than done.

How do we know what is of God? Lot of people claim it. The horrors of crusades was said to be of God: centuries of genocide. This week our Jewish friends and neighbors mark Yom HaShoah, the day of remembrance of the Holocaust. The Christian Democrats in Germany under Hitler’s leadership said what they were doing was in the name of God.  They certainly had momentum and millions were exterminated.

We claim that we are working on behalf of God in our justice and peace work at the church. When we march in the pride parade and work against the Defense of Marriage Act, when we write letters for universal health care, when we travel to Washington to protest the war, we say we are of God. But truthfully, sometimes we don’t have that much momentum

“They” say and “we” say we are doing what is of God. Who is right?

Each semester I serve as a guest panelist for MSU education class on religious diversity. I usually represent all Protestants, an impossible challenge. But in my brief synopsis, I specifically take time to distinguish between the movements on the right, trying to bring religion into the public sphere, and the left, working toward maintaining the separation of religion and state.

I also talk about the social justice work done on the progressive end of Protestantism.

Often there is one student really paying attention who asks a difficult question about the conflict between the two: “you say that you want separation of religion and state but then you go ahead and tell people what should or shouldn’t do based on religion. Isn’t that hypocrisy?”

Isn’t that what we do? Tell our legislators or the public they shouldn’t cut food stamps because God loves the poor. Or that we should promote right to choose because women’s reproductive health questions are between her and her God? Or that we should not go to war because war on our enemies is not what Jesus preached like the bumper sticker I saw recently that said “I think when Jesus said love your enemies he didn’t mean kill them.”

The students ask a tough question. We do walk the line between two goods;  we uphold social justice work and the separation of religion and state. I often say in response to the question that we clamor for social justice because our faith, our belief in God, informs us that that is the right thing to do. But we don’t say that everyone has to do it because God says so. We say it should be done because it is just.

It is a bit slippery, I admit.

And truthfully I can also get so mad when other faith based groups do the same thing, advocating for what they believe is of God, like try to kill off the second parent adoption bill because it is not of God. But aren’t they doing what they think is right in the eyes of God?

Which of us is of God? Do we wait and see?

That’s what Gamaliel would suggest. Over time we will know. But I don’t think we always have the luxury of standing aside and waiting. Gamaliel’s counsel is good for religious authorities contemplating murder. But for us, we are called to take a stand, even when we aren’t so sure where to stand. We constantly have to decide where we stand on things. Sometimes not so easy. It is hard to tell what is of God.

For example, what about charter schools—is this idea of God or not?

I can see the arguments for both sides. Charter schools can gut already struggling schools of teachers and motivated parents leaving the others to fend for selves. They can take away money especially publicly funded schools. On other hand, after a long conversation with Pete Plastrik a former member who worked for a foundation I really respect on a charter school grant, I could see that charter schools can turn around the worst schools in difficult areas. They can reward teachers in other ways.

What about home schooling? My gut reaction is against it believing that we need to support the schools in our neighborhoods and communities. My stereotype was that the only home schoolers are those who are upset with sex ed or evolution being taught in schools. But then I heard from a friend who home schooled her son because he was struggling with severe self esteem issues and was at risk for suicide. Or another who home schooled because the family took a year off to sail around the world and expose their children to different cultures.

What about stem cell research? I have come to the place, after a great amount of time in discernment, of supporting stem cell research and funding. But I also understand my colleagues or others who have great religious misgivings. Is stem cell research of God? I suspect we would not all agree.

As we move into uncharted territory, this becomes harder. Just this week I was listening to an NPR program talking about how we might have to mitigate global climate change with technological climate engineered solutions that would alter our actual weather patterns, for instance creating reflecting clouds with particles or installing floating reflective sheets in the arctic.

Is that of God? Developing nations turn to the developed world and say, wait a minute, you destroy the environment we share and now want to tinker with it by adding Frankensteinian, unproven technology? It seems that better global stewardship is what we really should be after but what if we have gone beyond the tipping point?

What is of God?

We can learn a few things from the stand off between the apostles and the Sanhedrin, and Gamaliel in particular.

Are we open to a new thing in our midst? Sometimes what is of God is not immediately clear. Are we open to doing things a new way, hearing new ideas, even from unlikely or unwelcome sources? The Sanhedrin were locked in their administrative, rigid way of worship and could not see God doing a new thing in their midst. We are not so different. Can we be open and receptive especially in charged situations and with difficult topics?

Are we open to doing new things with others? Sometimes the people we need to listen to are not the ones closest to us. To hear the whole picture, to truly wrestle with a concept, we must listen to others, to those we disagree with, to our enemies, or we risk become just like the Sanhedrin, unable to hear the word of God in our midst.  It is not easy, but are we willing to work with others, even those we dislike, to solve some of the problems we confront.

The name Gamaliel is known in one sector of our society in the form of the Gamaliel Foundation. This group is an umbrella community organizing foundation that trains, supports and nurtures individuals and communities gathering together to solve common problems or do advocacy work. Our president Barack Obama worked under the Gamaliel Foundation in his community organizing work in Chicago.  The Gamaliel foundation brings together disparate groups who may not agree on many or even a few fronts but who are committed to seeking solutions and resolutions in their communities. Are we willing to do the same?

Finally, I think we do have to remember that though sometimes we do not have the luxury of waiting to see what is of God, in the long run we do see the movement of God in the great changes in our society. Justice and change do come about. Long struggles like the end of apartheid, the civil rights movement and women’s suffrage show us that the momentum of God is behind the great movements for justice. Our current struggle in advocating for human rights for LGBT folks is gaining momentum despite opposing views each saying they have God on their side. In time, love and justice do win out.

So, as people of faith we are challenged to be open to new things, to seek to work with neighbors and friends and enemies alike in discern our way forward, and having faith that even as the struggle seems hard and the journey so long as to be endless, the power of God is moving within us and with us, strengthening us, changing us, challenging us, as we seek to bring justice to our world.  Amen.

Benediction:

Do not pray for easy lives;
            Pray to be stronger women and men.
Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers,
            But for power equal to your tasks.
Then, the doing of your work will be no miracle—you will be the miracle.
Every day you will wonder at yourself and the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.                          --UCC New Century Hymnal