Something to United About

Second Sunday of Easter April 8, 2018 Year B Acts 4:32-5:5 Something to United about Acts 4:32-35 One Heart and Soul By Lois Parker Edstrom Objects suggested: Various vegetables and, if situation permits, a finished pot of vegetable soup. If you like to cook with your mom or dad, soup is a fun thing to make. First you will need a big pot. Next you choose the ingredients you would like in your soup. Vegetable soup is a favorite because you can just look in the refrigerator, see what you have – almost anything works. How about starting with carrots? Peel them, cut them into small pieces, and throw them into the pot. (You always need to work with an adult when you are near a stove and chopping things.) Then you may want to wash some potatoes and add them to the pot. Onions give good flavor. If you’ve worked with them before, you may know they cause tears. How about celery, cabbage, mushrooms, tomatoes, squash, beans, turnips, peas? Can you think of other things you may want in your soup? Yes, you will need some water, broth or tomato juice. You will also want some seasonings like salt, pepper, and perhaps some herbs. The wonderful thing about soup is that it begins as several individual things, but as it cooks the flavors blend and it becomes one thing – soup! Delicious and so healthy! In the Bible, where we learn about the early Christians, we find this verse: “The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul” (4:32). The idea of how soup is made will help us understand today’s lesson and it applies to Christians today as well. We are all individuals and we are each as different from one another as a carrot is from a cabbage, yet when we work together, doing God’s work, we blend and become of “one heart and soul.” We become Christians. Scripture quotations from the World English Bible Copyright 2009, Richard Niell Donovan • • • • Acts 4:32-5:5 Common English Bible (CEB) Sharing among the believers 32 The community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them would say, “This is mine!” about any of their possessions, but held everything in common. 33 The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of grace was at work among them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, 35 and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need. 36 Joseph, whom the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (that is, “one who encourages”), was a Levite from Cyprus. 37 He owned a field, sold it, brought the money, and placed it in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Pretenders of sharing 5 However, a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s knowledge, he withheld some of the proceeds from the sale. He brought the rest and placed it in the care and under the authority of the apostles. 3 Peter asked, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has influenced you to lie to the Holy Spirit by withholding some of the proceeds from the sale of your land? 4 Wasn’t that property yours to keep? After you sold it, wasn’t the money yours to do with whatever you wanted? What made you think of such a thing? You haven’t lied to other people but to God!” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he dropped dead. Everyone who heard this conversation was terrified. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible There are several different themes for the second Sunday of Easter. Some people call this low Sunday – after the high of Easter things return back to normal. Attendance and offerings are low. Some call this holy humor Sunday, where you bring jokes to church and we laugh, because resurrection is the biggest joke that God played in the devil. For those who were here for the Ash Wednesday service, we watched a movie about lent. At the end of the movie, the church held a big carnival for the whole community. In many European villages, Easter Monday is a holiday, where people gather in the church yard for a huge carnival. For us, we do have something special planned for most of the Sundays of Easter. The point is that after the resurrection, once spring has arrived the whole word has shifted, things have changed, we start to witness things coming back to life – the church becomes a witness to the power of resurrection over all of life. As we begin our Easter transformation in this church, I thought that it would be a good idea for us to look at the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of how the church was born and how it grew to a worldwide movement. The book of acts was written by Luke as a companion book to his gospel. The Christian movement was not started by Christ, but by his 12 disciples. Remember we have been reading the book of Mark this year, and in Mark whenever Jesus performs a miracle he tells the disciples to tell no one about it. At the time, that made no sense to them. But after witnessing his death and resurrection, it all clicked. They understood the good news, and they understood how important it was to spread that message to the world. All 12 of them were so inspired, that they each took a section of the world to spread the news to. And they each were publically executed for their efforts – John is the only one of the disciples who died as a young man. When the romans hung Peter on a cross, he insisted that they hang him upside down, so that he would not be crucified in the same way Jesus was. What message could have been so important that you dedicate your whole life to spreading it to the world, and then you are even willing to die for that message. The good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. More impressive than the fact that they were so dedicated to it is the fact that today. 2018 years later, Christianity is the most popular religion on the planet. 1/3 of all people in the world consider themselves to be Christian. There is no other movement, that has gone that viral. Acts is the story that documents the beginnings of that movement. Acts demonstrates that the disciples made the effort, but the holy spirit expanded those efforts and made a difference. Recently in a finance committee meeting, I was telling them that it is a well known fact, that money and people follow energy, and that energy follows vision. Luke documents how that energy expanded the church to start from a small teaching group of 12 to become a worldwide movement. Jesus’ mission was to take care of the widows and orphans of Jerusalem. They had no other means of being taken care of. When Paul went throughout Europe – he was collecting money for this cause. As the disciples went throughout the world, they too were collecting money for this cause. When they first started out, the roman authorities fought them and stopped them from talking to the public. They just went to their own friends and started to preach the good news and collect for mission. This is where our scripture starts out – as a response to being censored, the communities came together and decided that they would do everything that they could to help others. As they worked together, they were able to fulfill their mission. Barnabas is listed as a person, who sold his property and gave it to the church and was blessed. Ananias and Sapphira are listed as persons who kept money aside from the church and died as a result. The lectionary ends the story in the middle abruptly, but both examples are important. The lesson that I want to point out from this lesson is that community is a gift from God. Christianity started out as a religion that would only make sense to a Hebrew culture. As the disciples spread the message, they, or rather the Holy spirit through them had to find ways to speak to people with different languages and different values. As they heard the good news, the disciples quickly encouraged them to put differences aside and to be united in Christ mission to help others. An invitation to join the work of the church was an invitation to come together in spite of differences. It was an invitation to work alongside someone who you may not normally talk to or even understand. Being able to be community was the first gift of the resurrection. Luke says that the community of believers was one in heart and mind. None of them said this is mine. They were able to put their differences aside and work together. Not only did they work together, but they were able to put all of their money together into one pot, and it was distributed uniformly from the same place, in order to fulfill the mission of the community. Hmmmm. Imagine that……all the money in one pot, distributed together for mission. Why would they do that. Acts 4 says that in this way the needs of everyone were met, they were able to help everyone. But the point was that community, a community that can work together for a common mission is the foundation of the Christian movement. You cant be a Christian in isolation. The Rev. Brian Bill tells about a friend of his named Ray who is originally from the South, but is now living in Chicago. Being a southerner, Ray says that one of the most challenging things about living in the Windy City is that it’s difficult to find a restaurant that serves grits. Rev. Bill asked Ray once what a “grit” is? Ray informed Rev. Bill that there’s no such thing as a “grit.” They don’t come by themselves. ¬They come in a community of other grits. You can’t just order one grit. Rev. Bill says, “You know, we’re a lot like grits.¬ Some of us are ‘grittier’ than others,” he continues. “We’re not here on our own.¬ We’ve been created to be in community with others.” (1) He’s right particularly as followers of Jesus. I could go as far as to say that there is no such thing as a solitary Christian. There is no such thing as a Christian who separates himself or herself from the community of faith. (4) Sharing with one another was how these early Christians testified to the resurrection of the Lord. What is interesting, that this living together with all possessions in one pot did not last long, today we call it communism. But it is an ideal of what it means to be the church and to work together in mission. This is still an important mission. And in 2018, as people talk about the church dying, I think that is is critical for us to go back to the basics in the beginning and look at when it means to be the church. What lessons can we learn for the church today? The greatest lesson was that the first gift of the resurrection is community, unity, common mission. But the greatest gift of the resurrection is that we are united by love. My favorite resurrection story is a story of a Christian community that had been imprisoned together. In prison, they has no money, and no freedom, but they still chose to worship together. When they were having church the other prisoners would make noise so that the guards would not get suspicious. One first Sunday, they had communion, but no bread or wine. It was called the communion of the empty hands. The pastor would say the words and they would hold hands while giving communion, which was just the love of God. When the service was over, one of the nonchristian prisoners came up to the pastor and said, that was so moving, you people have something so special, now I see what it means to have faith. That something special is a community that is united around the mission of Jesus Christ. I love that story, because I think that it shows that being the church is not about possessions, or finances, or how money is distributed, or even who is in charge of the mission committee. But underneath all of that, it is how we love one another. How we love Christ, how we are committed to the mission of Christ to help others, and the love we have for the church. It is that love underneath that determines how we handle our finances, our mission and our respect for other people. The book of acts is so important, because it shows that community was the first witness to the power of resurrection. How will we experience the power of the resurrection in the coming days? More importantly how do we put the love of God in action in our lives? Let us pray….. The community life which the apostles and other disciples of Jesus led was marked by four basic elements. First, Luke tells us that the members were in unity of mind and heart. This element was most basic; it was the ideal from which all the others flowed. Next, the community members shared all their possessions. This does not mean that people did not have personal property, but rather that members of the new way shared the things they had with others. Third, the fledgling community was marked by its powerful witness of the gospel. This was the group's common ministry; it was the way people demonstrated their belief and proclaimed the message of Christ to the world. Lastly, the community was special in that the grace of God rested upon its members. God was with this group of men and women in a special way. It was to this group that the Holy Spirit was originally sent. The community life of these first followers of Jesus was not imposed upon them, but rather, was voluntarily accepted. This was the way these men and women chose to live their lives of discipleship. Mask?" In my bedroom drawer, neatly tucked away What mask to church, will I wear today? There are four from which I have to choose But today, I'll wear the one that hides the "Blues." The "Smiley" mask, I've nearly worn out It hides so well, my fears and doubts. The "Spiritual" mask, works like a jewel It hides me when I've been mean and cruel. The mask I call my "Ace in the Hole" Hides me when my heart is cold. Sometimes, I wish others could see Right past the mask and into me. And help me find my way back home To God's dear arms, from whence I've roamed. But others seem to do so well My failures I wouldn't dare to tell. The question to myself I ask I wonder if they too, wear a "mask?" (4) The community model embedded in Acts 4 stood on the two pillars of proclamation and loving one another. There is a small congregation in eastern Arizona in a mining town that saw its glory days pass about a half-century ago. The parish has about 125 members and there are usually at least 125 people at Sunday services. When the pastor announces that the choir will sing, about half of the congregation stands up and approaches the altar. When the offering looks a little meager, the president of the congregation stands up and tells the ushers to pass the plate again. Closing prayers are long and detailed and cover those facing surgery to those who are worried about the kids to those who are about to go on a trip. The "refreshments" after the service include cakes, sandwiches, hot dishes, meatballs, gelatin dishes, and several kinds of beverages. In other words, it's a Sunday lunch and it's time to visit with one another and catch up on the latest happenings within the community. If someone should mention that they resemble the community described in Acts 4, they would be embarrassed. What if a stranger would confront the people? "What is the meaning of this city? Do you huddle close together because you love each other? Or do you dwell together to make money from each other?" The people in that community would say, "There's not much money to make from each other. We just enjoy each other's company. We share our mutual woes and joys. And by the way ... we meet up there on the ridge at 5 a.m. to greet the Son on Easter morning." What makes unity possible? The grace of Jesus Christ! “And much grace was upon them all" (Verse 33). Where grace abounds, it's no longer about me. Where grace abounds, nobody has to be perfect. Where grace abounds, position is eliminated. Where grace abounds, differences are accepted. Where grace abounds, God is glorified. Where grace abounds, unity is possible.