St. Luke describes the story of the early church in Acts as a series of outgoing ripples — from Jerusalem, to the doubtfully orthodox Jews of Samaria, to an African who converted to Judaism, to a non-Jew (a gentile.) St. Luke is careful to point out that it is St. Peter, the leader of the Jesus movement, who takes the initial step of welcoming a gentile into the primitive Church. As the story of Acts continues, St. Paul builds on St. Peter’s initiative and ripples the gospel out farther and farther. But welcoming non-Jews into the Church is controversial. How to preserve unity in the face of increasing diversity? That question lingers in the Church to this very day. As an ancient saying puts it: in essential things, unity; in non-essential things, freedom; in all things, charity.
