Psalm 133:1, 3b
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity! ...
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
Acts 4:32-35
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions were their own, but they shared everything they had with each other.
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
The events of the weeks and early months immediately following Easter – the death of Jesus and his rising again in one form or another, come down to us in a tumultuous jumble from the concluding pages of each of the four gospels and then largely from the Book of Acts.
It’s hardly a tidy straightforward narrative – more a series of individual vignettes from an increasingly multiplying and diverse people who call themselves ‘Followers of the Way of Jesus.’
Jews from the areas around Jerusalem and Galilee, educated in the prophets and their ancient writings were, for the most part, the first of his followers, but after Pentecost, they were soon joined by new converts from all over, Greeks, Phoenicians, North Africans, Syrians – those who followed Jesus since the beginnings of his earthly ministry and those who only heard of him in his last year here, as well as those who never saw or heard him in this life but only came to know him through the stories of those who themselves had seen and heard.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to be meeting, in no particular order, some of the people who laid the foundations for what we experience today as “church.”
Our primary reading for today comes from Acts –The Book of the Acts of the Apostles -- and describes the lives of some believers in the weeks following after Pentecost – the Coming of the Holy Spirit.
It is described this way several times in those early weeks, they hung together, shared their meals together, even lived together.
It would still not have been entirely safe to advertise oneself as a follower of Jesus too publicly – it was after all, only a short time since Jesus was executed. While they weren’t necessarily hiding, they didn’t often choose to flaunt it in the faces of the Temple authorities, either. So they kept to themselves leaving it to their leaders, Peter and John, to do the public speeches and healing.
And as they stayed together and built their lives together, they welcomed newcomers and they shaped the story that was building as to who Jesus was and what he was becoming in their minds and hearts. And in time the home groups spread out further and further into new lands and new people and the story grew. And the believers held together with each other, and they drew more believers in, and the story expanded, and the story grew and eventually became church.
And over the centuries these new churches continued to call people to come in. And that can’t be bad... can it? Isn’t it true that most of the things that Jesus told us directly to do were not about forming our circles and bringing others inside. Weren’t they about going out to where the people are?
The only time I recall Jesus saying anything about going inside was his instruction to do our praying privately—“in the closet”-- instead of standing on street corners showing off our piety.
Now I understand that what the earliest Christians were doing wasn’t always about being exclusive – they were gathering to support each other and to learn from each other and share what they knew, but unfortunately, down through the centuries the story has changed, little by little, until in many cases it has become “Jesus lives in our church—come inside here and we’ll show him to you,”
But Jesus doesn’t live in our church buildings. He lives in the hearts and spirits of every believer and in all creation. Matthew’s gospel tells us: “Go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28) or as Mark’s gospel tells us: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16)
So, where do we find the risen Jesus? Inside the church or outside with the people? Should we be enshrining Jesus’ words with those who share our beliefs or carrying them out into the world to share with everyone? I’m pretty sure it’s not Inside or Outside—it’s both. We find Jesus in those who know him just as we find him in in all creation. But to find him at all, we have to open ourselves—both to hear and to share.
Jesus told us to care for each other – but, except in a handful of cases, he didn’t specify HOW Finding that HOW is up to us.
So we come to church to re-charge our batteries, to remember who we are and whose we are, to learn, to share, and to find that sometimes elusive HOW.
Thanks be to God.
It’s hardly a tidy straightforward narrative – more a series of individual vignettes from an increasingly multiplying and diverse people who call themselves ‘Followers of the Way of Jesus.’
Jews from the areas around Jerusalem and Galilee, educated in the prophets and their ancient writings were, for the most part, the first of his followers, but after Pentecost, they were soon joined by new converts from all over, Greeks, Phoenicians, North Africans, Syrians – those who followed Jesus since the beginnings of his earthly ministry and those who only heard of him in his last year here, as well as those who never saw or heard him in this life but only came to know him through the stories of those who themselves had seen and heard.
Over the next few weeks we’re going to be meeting, in no particular order, some of the people who laid the foundations for what we experience today as “church.”
Our primary reading for today comes from Acts –The Book of the Acts of the Apostles -- and describes the lives of some believers in the weeks following after Pentecost – the Coming of the Holy Spirit.
- All the believers were one in heart and mind. They shared everything they had with each other...
- God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
It is described this way several times in those early weeks, they hung together, shared their meals together, even lived together.
- From time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
It would still not have been entirely safe to advertise oneself as a follower of Jesus too publicly – it was after all, only a short time since Jesus was executed. While they weren’t necessarily hiding, they didn’t often choose to flaunt it in the faces of the Temple authorities, either. So they kept to themselves leaving it to their leaders, Peter and John, to do the public speeches and healing.
And as they stayed together and built their lives together, they welcomed newcomers and they shaped the story that was building as to who Jesus was and what he was becoming in their minds and hearts. And in time the home groups spread out further and further into new lands and new people and the story grew. And the believers held together with each other, and they drew more believers in, and the story expanded, and the story grew and eventually became church.
And over the centuries these new churches continued to call people to come in. And that can’t be bad... can it? Isn’t it true that most of the things that Jesus told us directly to do were not about forming our circles and bringing others inside. Weren’t they about going out to where the people are?
The only time I recall Jesus saying anything about going inside was his instruction to do our praying privately—“in the closet”-- instead of standing on street corners showing off our piety.
Now I understand that what the earliest Christians were doing wasn’t always about being exclusive – they were gathering to support each other and to learn from each other and share what they knew, but unfortunately, down through the centuries the story has changed, little by little, until in many cases it has become “Jesus lives in our church—come inside here and we’ll show him to you,”
But Jesus doesn’t live in our church buildings. He lives in the hearts and spirits of every believer and in all creation. Matthew’s gospel tells us: “Go and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28) or as Mark’s gospel tells us: “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16)
So, where do we find the risen Jesus? Inside the church or outside with the people? Should we be enshrining Jesus’ words with those who share our beliefs or carrying them out into the world to share with everyone? I’m pretty sure it’s not Inside or Outside—it’s both. We find Jesus in those who know him just as we find him in in all creation. But to find him at all, we have to open ourselves—both to hear and to share.
Jesus told us to care for each other – but, except in a handful of cases, he didn’t specify HOW Finding that HOW is up to us.
So we come to church to re-charge our batteries, to remember who we are and whose we are, to learn, to share, and to find that sometimes elusive HOW.
Thanks be to God.
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