May 15 - Easter 4, Year A (RCL)
I wonder if you have ever thoughtabout what life was like
for the early Christians.
It was only a matter of weeks
since Jesus had died.
People had seen him risen;
at least that was the gossip. though the apostles, the ones who had been closest to him,
weren’t talking much about it.
And then one day, when those same apostles were gathered together -
trying to work out what was next,
go back to their homes and get on with their lives, or stay in Jerusalem? For what? -
they were gathered together
when a rushing wind seemed to fill the house,
and something like fire appeared,
and they all began to speak in different languages.
And the people outside the house,
people who were just passing by,
heading to or from the temple,
people from all over the Mediterranean,
people began to listen,
and what they heard
was stories about
the power of God.
And they began to ask questions, shouting over one another,
each trying to be heard,
until Peter stood up
and began to preach.
And he told the story of Jesus,
about his life, and his death, and his resurrection,
and the people listening
began to ask,
“So what should we do?”
And Peter told them to repent
and be baptized
and they followed his advice,
and three thousand, three thousand
became what we now
call Christians.
But that wasn’t
the end of it.
Because next we know,
according to our reading today from Acts, next we know
they’ve decided
that having been baptized, they should live differently.
So they spent their days
hanging out with the apostles,
listening, praying, sharing meals,
and to support themselves
they took their lifes’ savings
and they sold whatever they owned,
houses, land, jewelry,
and they put it all in
to a common account,
and lived off that.
It was a new way
of living.
And to our ears, it all seems almost impossibly unrealistic.
What were they thinking?
What would happen
when the money ran out?
Where would they live?
And on what?
Of course, in many ways what they were doing
was simply imitating the example
that Jesus and his disciples had provided for them.
Remember how it all started? Jesus walking by the lake,
and sees some men fishing
and tells them to leave their nets
and follow him?
And soon there are twelve of them, plus a bunch of hangers on,
and they spend three years wandering around the countryside, totally dependent on the hospitality and generosity of others.
The new disciples after the day of Pentecost
were really just doing
what the first disciples had done.
Giving up everything
and depending on God - and the generosity of others - to survive.
And it was remarkably successful.
Because we read on in the epistles, the letters written
to the early churches
and we discover that it didn’t just happen in Jerusalem.
Everywhere they established churches,
the new-born Christians came together
not just to worship, but to live.
Sometimes they kept their own homes, but opened them as places of worship, or allowed their Christian brothers and sisters to live with them.
They continued working, but gave what they made to support the community.
They donated money to help their brothers and sisters in other places.
Of course there were problems. The people who sold everything and said they’d contributed all the proceeds
but had really squirreled some away
for a rainy day.
The ones who saw this as kind of like moving back home with your parents, where everything would be provided and nothing demanded,
and refused to pull their weight.
But they seem to be relatively few and far between.
For the most part, in those early years,
living as a community
was what you did when you became a Christian.
It was just part and parcel of the whole deal.
become a Christian, get baptized,
and join a community of faith,
a community that was not just Sundays
but the whole of their lives.
It sounds great. For someone else. Preferably someone
who lived a couple thousand years ago.
Not today.
It’s communism.
It’s unrealistic.
It’s a cult.
That day
is over.
But I’m not so sure that that day
is over.
I’m not sure that God has called us to anything less
than that sort
of whole of life
commitment.
And of course, that makes us uncomfortable.
Because it means risking everything
we value,
it means going against
what our culture brands acceptable.
It means giving up things
that make our life comfortable;
it means change.
But it’s what Jesus calls us to.
To follow him.
To deny ourselves.
To be willing to give up everything
for the sake of the gospel.
And so, maybe we have to ask ourselves the difficult question.
Do we really want to follow Jesus?
Are we willing
for that to make a difference
in our lives?
It’s scary stuff.
So let’s begin small.
Today, I want to challenge you, as followers of Jesus. To challenge you, to take
just that first sentence of the description of those early disciples, and begin to make it a priority in your lives.
Remember what it is?
“Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
It might sound
familiar to you,
Remember the first promise after the creed in the baptismal covenant?
“Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?”
It’s taken right from here.
And we have all answered,
“I will, with God’s help.”
I’m not asking you to sell everything you have,
or move into a community,
but just to take that one promise seriously,
to devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.
And what would it mean?
Devote yourself to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship.
In the book of Acts, that meant gathering together to listen to the apostles themselves preaching and teaching.
If you translate it into our day, it means gathering together to read the bible, because that’s the best record we have of the apostles teaching. And the primary place we do that
is in church.
Every Sunday, we read from scripture, and we hear the word of God preached.
So make it a priority, this summer, whether you’re here in St James or traveling, go to church. Be intentional
about it, focus on hearing what God has to say to us.
And if church isn’t enough for you, join a bible study. We’ve got four running now - Tuesday mornings and evenings and Wednesday evenings for adults, and Wednesday evenings for families. Come and spend some time with your brothers and sisters in Christ, reading, listening, sharing
what God is doing.
And then there’s the breaking of bread. There’s two layers of meaning to that. One is simply just eating together. All throughout the gospels, we hear stories of Jesus having meals with people, whether it’s tax collectors, or important leaders, or five thousand hungry people in Galilee. Share a meal together with some other people from the parish. Get to know them better. Share what God is doing in your lives.
And then of course, there is that special meal, the Eucharist.
Make time for it. Follow the example of the early church, and join with the people of God to receive Christ's body and blood every Sunday, the day when we celebrate
his resurrection
and our new life.
And join with us on Tuesday mornings, as we celebrate the Eucharist in a more informal way.
And finally the prayers. Join one another in praying. You can do that on Sunday mornings in our service or in a bible study group. you could join the prayer chain. You could simply make sure you take the bulletin home with you each week, and pray for everyone and everything on the prayer list.
Of course, the easy way to do this
is to come to church every week - to listen, pray, receive the Eucharist and go to coffee hour. All in one.
It’s the easy way, but of course, it’s not that easy. It means real decisions, to get up in time,
to postpone our beach trips for an hour,
to hunt for a church when we’re on vacation.
Just try it, from now through the summer.
Because God doesn’t go
on vacation,
and you might be surprised,
where you discover God at work
in your life.
“Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the
prayers?”
“I will, with God’s help.”
© Raewynne J. Whiteley 2010