Today is March 4.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.        
  
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”     
    
Today’s reading is from the Book of Exodus Acts chapter 10.    
   

23 ...The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.” 
  
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” 
  
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.” 
  

Welcome to prayer today. At first glance, this passage describes a simple meeting between two men. But let's consider it more deeply: Peter is a Jew, and Cornelious a Gentile. There is a religious and cultural barrier between them that in their time would have been considered unbreakable. But Peter has had a revelation from God: that through Christ – the old barriers have been torn down. And not only torn down – but what once had been a dividing wall has been replaced by a bridge. A bridge to God, through Christ... and also a bridge to one another, through Christ. When was the first time you realized that Christ came not only to reconcile you to God, but also to transform you into the sort of person who can cross boundaries or division or prejudice?  
 
Listen to the passage again and pay particular attention to how Cornelius describes himself. Not a Jew, he’s yet a man of prayer, a man who cares for the poor, and a man who hears from God! God has given Cornelius a holy curiosity about the gospel of Christ. As you think about Cornelius, ask yourself this question: is there someone in your world who may be in the same sort of space? Not a believer, yet filled with holy curiously?  
   
Peter would have been disinclined to see Cornelius as his brother. He would have initially been disinclined to go to his house even! But Peter’s heart had shifted in posture by the radical realization that the good news of Jesus is that God has invited all people into relationship with him. The old dividing walls and mean to be torn down by the grace of God, and replaced with bridges, with reconciliation... both to God, and to one another.  As we end our time of prayer today, invite the Lord to help you learn to stretch toward others, even if it might make you feel a bit uncomfortable... with grace, and with the message of the gospel.