Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
This past week has been a rough one. The passing of the revised so-called “Healthcare Plan” has been hard on the soul. I don’t believe it will ultimately pass the senate in its current form, but even modified, it will most likely be a disaster for so very, very many people. Real live people are going to be so hurt by it.
And the gloating faces and the celebrations of those who pushed this heartless bill through have been the hardest thing to bear. My heart and my soul recoil from accepting that there can possibly be so many heartless people – people who so clearly value dollars and power over fellow humans -- people who seem to have no care about others at all. Evil is at work among us and we cannot just “pooh-pooh” that idea because it makes us uncomfortable. Some things truly are evil.
I tried praying about it all, I really did. I tried praying for those politicians in their awfulness – but my prayers kept coming out sounding more like calling down curses on them than prayers for the healing of their brokenness, and I'm pretty sure that's not where God wanted me to go. So I just gave up for a while. I stopped talking to anyone about it – including God, by the way. I took the day off from being part of any greater community.
I needed to step away from the news and the chatter and give God time to remind me that the road is often rough, but that charity and grace and basic goodness will always – eventually – prevail. The road may be, not only rough, but ugly -- but in the end God's love will win – eventually. I was allowed my brief rest from responsibility and then it was time to get back up and into the world again.
And while all this was going on, I was preparing for this week’s message – and, yes – the irony is thick here. I was working with this week’s story of how the earliest Jesus-followers came together; how they met together and shared life together – held all things in common – all with glad and generous hearts -- all while our current story of selfishness and exclusion was playing out all around us. The scripture sounds so lovely – with all that sharing, while we today appear to be growing more and more crass and greedy. Yes, the scripture sounds lovely -- and I’m certain that in many ways, it was this lovely.
But even then, people were a mixed lot, just as we are today. We’re going to be shifting into Summer Sermon Series time shortly and so we won’t be following the lectionary and we’ll be getting some of the early church stories that would normally show up in the coming weeks a little later as we read through Paul’s letters, so it might help us to be reminded today that in those first weeks and months and years the new communities had their share of cheating and more than their share of greed. Remember Ananias and Sapphira, who publicly claimed to share their wealth with the community but in reality kept half of it back for themselves – and then lied about it? It didn’t go well for them.
And there were the trouble-makers who kept insisting that everyone had to convert to Judaism – be circumcised - in order to be a Christian. The folks who followed along behind Paul and countermanded everything he had taught the new churches. And generally just a lot of folks who wanted to be boss and were willing to do terrible things in pursuit of what they wanted – and, quite literally – to hell with anyone who disagreed with them.
It was no more all sunshine and light 2000 years ago than it is today. But Christianity hung in there and is still going strong -- different, maybe, but still strong. Even though Jesus' message is so often warped and distorted as it is today by those who shout "Jesus" the loudest.
Jesus’ message of hope and grace is still being preached, and his followers do still gather in communities all over the world. And we do still struggle to get it right because there still are false teachers and there still are plenty of folks hiding their selfishness behind the guise of pious Christianity. And there still are plenty of us who search our own souls and continue to speak out and serve Christ as best we can, even when the rest of the world seems frighteningly against all we believe in.
Those earliest faithful Jesus-followers could stand in the face of the opposition all around them because they devoted much time, as the reading tells us. They didn’t just plug in for an hour a week – they worked together and prayed together, whether they were physically in one place or not. And they stood firm in prayer – praying together always strengthens the unity of any community – it may be the most important thing we do – to pray with and for each other. The early ones did it and because they did they were able to stand strong in the face of brutal adversity. And, as they held firm they saw wonders around them – in themselves and in their fellow Christians and even in strangers who came in contact with them.
They continued doing the right things – the things Jesus himself, or the first apostles teaching in his name, had shown them they should do: feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the cold and weary -- sharing. And they continued in their faith and their commitment because the teachings of Jesus – the life of Jesus had been presented to them with such love and such compassion that their own hearts were filled with love in return and a sense of overwhelming awe that the Creator of all things actually cared about them. They mattered.
I believe that when we discover that we matter, it becomes so much easier for us to believe that others matter, as well. And when we all start to matter to each other, we become the beautiful community -- the body of Christ – here and now – and always. It’s hard work sometimes – really hard work, but we are not in it alone. Paul tells us – and I believe it – that the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion.
So, let us stand together, supporting each other in the face of adversity, and breaking bread together, as the reading tells us, with glad and generous hearts, praising God.
Thanks be to God.
And the gloating faces and the celebrations of those who pushed this heartless bill through have been the hardest thing to bear. My heart and my soul recoil from accepting that there can possibly be so many heartless people – people who so clearly value dollars and power over fellow humans -- people who seem to have no care about others at all. Evil is at work among us and we cannot just “pooh-pooh” that idea because it makes us uncomfortable. Some things truly are evil.
I tried praying about it all, I really did. I tried praying for those politicians in their awfulness – but my prayers kept coming out sounding more like calling down curses on them than prayers for the healing of their brokenness, and I'm pretty sure that's not where God wanted me to go. So I just gave up for a while. I stopped talking to anyone about it – including God, by the way. I took the day off from being part of any greater community.
I needed to step away from the news and the chatter and give God time to remind me that the road is often rough, but that charity and grace and basic goodness will always – eventually – prevail. The road may be, not only rough, but ugly -- but in the end God's love will win – eventually. I was allowed my brief rest from responsibility and then it was time to get back up and into the world again.
And while all this was going on, I was preparing for this week’s message – and, yes – the irony is thick here. I was working with this week’s story of how the earliest Jesus-followers came together; how they met together and shared life together – held all things in common – all with glad and generous hearts -- all while our current story of selfishness and exclusion was playing out all around us. The scripture sounds so lovely – with all that sharing, while we today appear to be growing more and more crass and greedy. Yes, the scripture sounds lovely -- and I’m certain that in many ways, it was this lovely.
But even then, people were a mixed lot, just as we are today. We’re going to be shifting into Summer Sermon Series time shortly and so we won’t be following the lectionary and we’ll be getting some of the early church stories that would normally show up in the coming weeks a little later as we read through Paul’s letters, so it might help us to be reminded today that in those first weeks and months and years the new communities had their share of cheating and more than their share of greed. Remember Ananias and Sapphira, who publicly claimed to share their wealth with the community but in reality kept half of it back for themselves – and then lied about it? It didn’t go well for them.
And there were the trouble-makers who kept insisting that everyone had to convert to Judaism – be circumcised - in order to be a Christian. The folks who followed along behind Paul and countermanded everything he had taught the new churches. And generally just a lot of folks who wanted to be boss and were willing to do terrible things in pursuit of what they wanted – and, quite literally – to hell with anyone who disagreed with them.
It was no more all sunshine and light 2000 years ago than it is today. But Christianity hung in there and is still going strong -- different, maybe, but still strong. Even though Jesus' message is so often warped and distorted as it is today by those who shout "Jesus" the loudest.
Jesus’ message of hope and grace is still being preached, and his followers do still gather in communities all over the world. And we do still struggle to get it right because there still are false teachers and there still are plenty of folks hiding their selfishness behind the guise of pious Christianity. And there still are plenty of us who search our own souls and continue to speak out and serve Christ as best we can, even when the rest of the world seems frighteningly against all we believe in.
Those earliest faithful Jesus-followers could stand in the face of the opposition all around them because they devoted much time, as the reading tells us. They didn’t just plug in for an hour a week – they worked together and prayed together, whether they were physically in one place or not. And they stood firm in prayer – praying together always strengthens the unity of any community – it may be the most important thing we do – to pray with and for each other. The early ones did it and because they did they were able to stand strong in the face of brutal adversity. And, as they held firm they saw wonders around them – in themselves and in their fellow Christians and even in strangers who came in contact with them.
They continued doing the right things – the things Jesus himself, or the first apostles teaching in his name, had shown them they should do: feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, clothing the cold and weary -- sharing. And they continued in their faith and their commitment because the teachings of Jesus – the life of Jesus had been presented to them with such love and such compassion that their own hearts were filled with love in return and a sense of overwhelming awe that the Creator of all things actually cared about them. They mattered.
I believe that when we discover that we matter, it becomes so much easier for us to believe that others matter, as well. And when we all start to matter to each other, we become the beautiful community -- the body of Christ – here and now – and always. It’s hard work sometimes – really hard work, but we are not in it alone. Paul tells us – and I believe it – that the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion.
So, let us stand together, supporting each other in the face of adversity, and breaking bread together, as the reading tells us, with glad and generous hearts, praising God.
Thanks be to God.
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