The Gospel: Flip the Script

 

I arrived at my first parish in the summertime. Churches in the area, including the one I was called to, hired summer students to mow their cemeteries, paint, and do other odd jobs. I enjoyed talking with the summer student and learning about the community through her eyes.

That summer there was a revivalist preacher who set up a big white tent on the main road, in front of parent’s her house. People from all around the province would come to the tent to hear the preacher. The student saw the people coming and going and could hear the extensive and robust singing at their evening gatherings. The student asked if I would go with her to satisfy a curiosity of ‘the show’ inside the tent. So, we went together. Her in leisure pants and a tank top with long hair in a ponytail. Me in pants and a full clergy collar.

The ushers directed us to chairs in the front row. The women around us had their hair pinned up in buns, some with netted hair covers; all had skirts and long-sleeved blouses. Needless to say, we stood out.

We enjoyed the singing, the clapping, and wished there was dancing.

As the preacher spoke, his message went from the general audience, to being directed at the two of us. It went on, and on, in the hope that we would have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment.’

A large presentation board was brought out on stage. The top corner was painted in a bright glossy-white, the light being heaven. There was a tiny footbridge in the shape of cross to get to the light. The rest - 90% of the board- was black and grey, filled with grotesque figures, scary faces, and flames across the bottom. This section of the board was clearly for people like the summer student and myself – it represented sin, death, agony – hell; which was for everyone who was on the outside of this group of revivalists.

After a few hours of trying to save us, the service ended, and we went on our merry way. Over the rest of the summer, we talked from time to time about the tent meeting. We acknowledged that our experience of faith and our theological understanding was far different from the presentation board meant to save us.

 

There is a problem if the focus is sin. Have you noticed the past few weeks, in our reading through the book of Romans, that Paul’s speeches are never just about sin and never end on the theme of sin? Sin is the precursor for Paul to preach the good news. Paul’s words this morning: Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. You having been set free from sin. If sin is preached without the good news, it is not the gospel. That night in the tent there was no gospel.

 

You may or may not realize that we have a liturgy for individual confession printed in our hymnbooks. Many do not know this because as a denomination we have placed a higher emphasis on corporate confession.  Together we confess our brokenness. Sin does not happen in isolation. It is relational. We live in the reality that sin is bigger than anyone of us and our individual indiscretions. In someways it is like the presentation board representing the distance of humanity from God, and thus the brokenness of the world. As a community we make confession of the reality in which we live our lives, and together, we receive forgiveness. Confession moves us as a group, a community, from a focus on sin to embracing good news and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is extremely important because to flip the presentation board, we live out the gospel through good news, not sin.

Paul states, When you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. The trouble is that being a slave to sin, focuses on sin – yours and that of others. You spend your time watching for mistakes, judging righteousness, and concerned about lawbreaking and rules. This inhibits one from directing one’s energy towards participating in reconciliation and wholeness. Sin binds one, leaving one to feel guilty, shame-filled, worthless and subservient to the drudgery and wickedness of not being good enough. Although technically free to act faithfully, righteously, and godly – to live God’s kindom - one focused on sin is so encumbered by sin that they are unable to see beyond sin, to imagine wholeness, to receive forgiveness, to feel absolution – God’s unconditional love, and then to share that good news with others.

 

The presentation board from the tent was backwards. Paul preaching to the Roman community encourages listeners to be focused on and about the fruit you have. Paul is saying to us to flip the script.

Imagine the presentation board with the majority of the space (90%) being bright, glossy, and white – where it looks like light. A beautifully pictured community reflecting inclusion and welcome, courage and strength that is born from the good news. A place where hope and love abound. A place where people have the courage to be intimate in their relationships. Where Jesus’ community extends peace, washes feet, eats with the outcast and marginalized, turns water to wine, multiples loaves and fish, shares bread, heals the sick, and welcomes the stranger.

The thing about this place – this presentation board – is that it is not about a future day; well it is as Paul wrote, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Bu living from freedom and gospel, the picture on the board is a future lived into the present – being focused on living whatever eternity looks and feels like, through an actual human lifetime. Giving and serving from the fruit we have benefits everyone around us and brings God’s wholeness to the world and all creation. The kindom of God is brought near in the creating, sustaining, and encouraging a living of grace that exists now in the essence of all that is good, and kind, and beautiful.

 

The biggest problem with the tent meeting presentation board was that the terror of the images and the mass chaos of sin, overpowered the central core of Christian belief. One could look at the poster and never see the cross; be pulled into fear and never hear Jesus’ peace be with you. One had to navigate through the smokescreen to get to Christ.

We live in structures that promote and operate in the realms of power, exclusion, judgement, fear, and hate.

By grace, as a community of faith, we live in freedom. Confessing sin corporately and receiving forgiveness as a whole, we are a community made whole. We experience the good news in the absolution. The script is flipped. Through the rest of the liturgy the smoke is lifted so that we rest and absorb good news, the gospel.

Christ comes in the cross, in scripture, in music to heal the sin-sick soul, in water, in the breaking of bread, in sharing Christ’s peace, in praying for each other and the world, in community, in coffee.

 

Thanks be to God we are not of the world projected in media, sold by corporations, structured by governments, manipulated by markets. We are free through the cross. The cross is a story of brightness and redemption that shines beyond who the world told Jesus he should be, and beyond who the world tells us that we should be. We do not start or stop in sin.  We start with the cross, telling the good news we share the gospel.

We flip the script to that which we hear and feel from the world -

Our presentation board  - our lives- are filled and overflowing with life, grace, love, welcome, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness and so on. All relational. All community. This is the fruit with which we bring wholeness to the brokenness of world.

 

As Paul draws towards the end of Romans, he writes this blessing – receive these words:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Lazy Harvester

 

 

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. (Mt. 9: 37-38)

 

The end of chapter 9 is a turning point in the book of Matthew. Up to this point Jesus is the preacher, teacher, and healer, the sole missionary if you will. In chapter 10, the disciples are summoned and sent out to preach and share the gospel. The note in my study Bible suggests that the verses are directed to the Matthean community because they are not engaged in mission or sharing the good news, and they should be. Here they receive a how-to manual.

 

Before the how-to manual we have verse 37-38 of Chapter 9. It teaches us three important things:

 

Abundance – the harvest is plentiful

How often do we go into the world with a perception that the world is out to get us? That there are scammers and thieves lying in wait? We go out suspicious of groups or those who are other? Are we not clouded in fear or anxiety, convinced the world is falling apart – with gangs, narcissism, apathy, drugs, violence?

 

For the non-farmers among us, harvest is the product of much work. Someone cleared the land, prepared the soil, planted seeds, tended the plants, weeded, picked bugs, worried that the plants would bear produce. And now after all that hard work, it is harvest time. And it was a good growing season - the right amount of sun and rain – worries can be set aside as there is an abundance of produce. Plentiful!

Before Jesus, before the disciples, before Matthew’s community the farming was done.

 

There is now a plentiful harvest. How often do we go into the world with a perception that God is already there? That there are people waiting to hear that they are loved and welcomed and belong? That someone cares? That there is freedom from bondage, redemption, and wholeness? Do we go with confidence, passion, and faith that people will gladly follow if asked, if invited, if given a ride.

Living from a perception of abundance, this passage makes me think about the harvesting of strawberries in a bumper crop year. Those are the summers where there are so many berries, you start picking a row and remain in the same row. No matter how many berries you pick, and others pick, there are berries that rot on the vine because the harvest can not be picked fast enough. This kind of harvesting is not onerous. It is a lazy person’s dream come true – sit in one spot and pick.

 

The second, important thing to note, there is an invitation to prayer.  – ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers

 

Pray.

The words of Mother Teresa sum up the reason so well. She wrote: “I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I’m supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.”

We do that, we regularly ask in the ‘Prayers of the People’ for courage to serve. We pray in the communion liturgy that we may ‘give ourselves away as bread for the hungry.’  I wonder if we approach these prayers with the belief that the prayer will change us. Are we courageous enough to keep praying? And do we dare to pray for God to send labourers into the harvest – when we know that means us?

 

The third point to note is that labourers go into his harvest. – God’s harvest.

Labourers are not working for themselves, not working for their own gain or wealth, not working to fill their church. Labourers are working in God’s abundance in the currency of love, compassion, mercy, gospel-good-news. The magnitude of the work is as big as creation– God’s garden flourishes in the proclaiming of the good news of the kindom and curing every disease and every sickness, along with compassion for the harassed and helpless.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his Advent reflection, “God Is in the Manger,” wrote,

In total reality, he comes in the form of the beggar, of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, asking for help. He confronts you in every person that you meet. As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbour, as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you, makes demands on you.

God, in Christ, is already in the abundance of the harvest. The Matthean community – we- are being invited into that harvest.

 

And get this, the harvest is so abundant, labourers are so needed –

You can sign up as a lazy picker and still cause change in your part of the berry patch.

You can pick one spot. You can sit on your butt. And you can participate in the harvest.

 

I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to see fruits or vegetables of any kind go to waste.  I am saddened when berries rot in the field. This passage is talking about God’s harvest. I don’t want to see people rot in the field, - succumbing to hopelessness, loneliness, worry, anger, marginalization, guilt - because I am walking in the world thinking it is out to get me, rather than living by grace through faith and sharing good news.

 

So here is a challenge for this faith community – if we each were ‘lazy pickers,’ this part of God’s harvest would get underway:

So here it is -

Choose a few hours each week – or a day or two- through the summer to be at the church. Open the doors so people can peek in or perhaps stop and pray for a moment or two. Talk with those who come in and welcome them. As they leave share a “Peace be with you.”

Sit on the church steps or at the picnic table - say ‘hello’ to the passersby. Welcome and be open to conversation.  

Have some sidewalk chalk and colour the street with words and pictures of welcome and wholeness. Blow bubbles with those interested. Bring cookies and share.

Whatever you do be present in the harvest.

 

And in this harvest you and the neighbourhood will be abundantly blessed.

 

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.

Giving Life to the Dead

 

Paul’s letter to the Romans invites us to ponder who God is and how God is.

 And what that means for who we are and how we are.

Paul asserts that God gives life to the dead and calls things into being that do not exist.

These creed-like statements are, using Abraham’s faith and life as illustration, commended to the Christ-following community receiving the letter. Note that the characteristics of who God is and how God is are in the present tense – active.

 

Let us explore this morning’s gospel from Matthew (9:9-13, 18-26) through the lens of Romans 4: 17, which reads: Also, to those who share the faith of Abraham… in the presence of the God in whom Abraham believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

The Gospel according to Matthew:

 

Jesus walked along.

Jesus saw a man.

            Not just with his eyes, did Jesus see a man. Jesus saw the man – as in “I see you.” The modern phrase of acknowledgment, recognition, understanding, and validation. I see the true you, the one hidden behind the masks you wear. The you, that is under the hate spewed at you by your own people; the you, lost in the conniving and cheating the job requires of you; the you, at a distance from others, alone.

And there was God –

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus called Matthew the tax collector. Follow me.

            An invitation is given to a despised, toll-charging, booth attendant named Matthew. Charging – at his own discretion the amount of coin required to pass by. Paying to walk their traditional lands and unceded territory, this collector was a traitor in the eyes of the people.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus sat down and had dinner with tax collectors and sinners.

            Matthew having felt seen, invites his friends to meet Jesus over a meal. Against social etiquette and religious rules, Jesus said yes – to eat with a group despised for collecting taxes from their own people to pay an occupying force. The franchised tax system was one where tax collectors often charger far more than what was fair, received bribes from the wealthy, and distributed the burden of the Roman tax quota to the poor. The collectors became rich on the backs of others. And the sinners? Bankers, those lending money, others, whose professions violated the Torah.

Jesus stood up for the tax collectors and sinners and remained sitting with them.

            Sitting with them in a demeanor of forgiveness without expectation of repentance or confessions.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus told the religious types to go and learn what mercy means.

            The religious leaders were not any better. The religious were judgers of righteousness in others, following a heavy-handed, hard-line interpretation of covenant laws, and extra laws. Religious nit-pickers, who were comfortable and liked to assume power and wield their authority.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus taught John’s disciples.

            We didn’t read this section of text, but in it is a debate on the practice of fasting, and judgement of those who do not; including Jesus’ disciples who are in a time of celebration for God is near. Jesus alludes to being more than a teacher -

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus was interrupted by a leader kneeling at his feet.

            This leader was a Ruler of the Synagogue in Capernum. He had general oversight of the synagogue with the power to invite visitors to address the congregation or not. The leader was a gatekeeper who turned not to the priests or others in the religious structure of the day. He came to Jesus and was not ignored.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus went to raise the leader’s daughter.

             The leader came for his daughter, one considered the least of a family – being both child and female.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus felt power flow through him.

            Unexpected, immediate, uncontrolled.

And there was God-

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus turned and saw a woman suffering with a flow of blood.

            Once again Jesus saw. Jesus saw her. The fear and hope, her despair and shame. Ostracized from society, community gatherings, and religious rituals because of illness. Jesus saw her faith not the simple-mindedness attributed to women of the day.  She was not rebuked but given dignity and respect.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus spoke to the woman.

             In an open conversation with a stranger in public, one unnamed, considered unclean; a woman - so even when marked clean, relegated to the back of synagogue, and with the responsibility to stay a decent distance from men.  

Jesus called her daughter.

 Validating her worth.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

Jesus healed the woman.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus arrived at the leader’s house.

            That would be a rich leader for he owned property. Because his child had died there would be talk. He must have done something wrong to have received disfavour from God.

Jesus sent the mourning crowd away.

Jesus spoke and was laughed at.

            Jesus’ words were incomprehensible, deluded, and irrational. The girl was dead.  And to send to the mourners away was to prevent them receiving their wage as mourners at the house of wealth.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus took the girl’s hand.

            A girl – not as special as a son. A child with no status of their own. Jesus showed mercy and touched a dead body.

Jesus raised the girl.

And there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

Jesus’ actions were reported through all the district.

 

The reports were both miracle story and controversy narrative, sharing a theme of opposition.

The scandalous headlines:

Jesus - Counteracts the dehumanization of occupation

Jesus – Courageously challenges religious structure

Jesus – Blatantly disregards social expectations

Jesus – Non-discriminately offers tangible acts of restoration

Jesus -  Recklessly administers mercy

 

And in Jesus’ opposition to the powers and authorities of the world, the systems, the judgement, the negative, the pervasive evil, and even death, in Jesus’ presence and actions, there was God -

who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

The Greek verb to call in this text also means to invite. As followers of Jesus, Paul reminds us of the covenant and our invitation by the grace of God to the messianic banquet. A banquet where Jesus sits with tax collectors, sinners, the least, the forgotten, the ostracized, the sick, the poor, the landowner, others’ disciples, the dead --- and gives to each the bread of life.  Jesus’ brings into existence that which didn’t exist – belonging, kindness, mercy, wholeness, redemption, restoration, relationship. Matthew’s gospel highlights the relinquishing of old habits and embracing new responses to God’s grace, responses that are kindom work, God’s kindom. With a little help from Paul, we see that kindom comes about through faith, trusting in who God is and how God is. Jesus manifested in his ministry both Who and How God is.

 

In our everyday lives… walking along…

Because of who God is and how God is, who and how are we?

May we be of the same courage as Abraham, Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become… what God promised. Hoping against hope, may we believe in the coming of God’s kindom and in opposition to the world,

bring into existence – in each moment of our day -  mercy, kindness, belonging – giving life to the dead.

The Holy Spirit Pushes Our Buttons

 I have a confession to make.

A few weeks ago, I attended a meeting of the Synod’s Deans and Ministry Directors, and I acted outside of my usual demeanor. Don’t worry I did nothing embarrassing or illegal. Typically, I participate with a mostly-sunny demeanor, active in the conversation, moving ideas forward, and arranging information into actional items. This did not change, however, there were agenda items that spiraled away from the item at hand, ventured outside of traditional operating procedures, were confused with inaccurate and unknown information, and challenged core values. Needless to say, throughout the three days, most of my buttons were pushed.

And yes, uncharacteristically, I forcefully interrupted, articulating my frustration and redirecting the group to the focus of the work. Included in the rant, was institutional information, a call back to Synod’s mission and vision, a reminder of important values of a Lutheran way of living, and a good dose of leadership acumen.

 

My buttons were pushed.

You would think that it was the topics or my colleagues who were pushing my buttons… while true, something else was happening.

My buttons – the times where I acted outside of ‘my regular’ – were moments that revealed passion; specifically my passion. The passions are those that have grown around character, personality, skills, talents, and God-given gifts in me. It wasn’t the topics or my colleagues pushing my buttons – it was the Holy Spirit.

It was the fire and wind of Pentecost, sparking and poking.

It was a reminder and a prodding to be about the tasks -the vocation- the specific items that continue the list from Corinthians, that the Holy Spirit has empowered me to articulate in action in the community of faith and beyond.

 

What pushes your buttons? What causes a strong reaction or emotion in you?

That is passion. And somehow that passion is connected to the specific gifts you have been given by God. Passion is a compass to help you direct, focus, and articulate the gospel.  Acting on your passion is living the good news. Moments of feeling passionate – is the Holy Spirit pushing your buttons – directing you to action.  

Passion is the fire and wind of the Holy Spirit present in your life and anxious to be put to work in the community of faith and beyond.

 

On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came in a sound like the rush of a violent wind. At the sound  - and the spoken word in other languages – a crowd gathered. The crowds, according to the story in Acts, bewildered asked: How is it that we hear in our own languages?

 

Notice that the text uses the verb “hear.” How is it that we hear…

The biblical readings in the Easter season spoke of the telling of the gospel – the story of Jesus’, Jesus’ death and resurrection. The women run from the tomb to tell the disciples. The couple on the road to Emmaus run back to Jerusalem to tell the others, who in turn tell of their encounter with the risen Jesus. Stephen testifies by witnessing via speech to those accusing him. Peter and the other Apostles, tell about Jesus, preaching in the streets, and teaching in people’s homes. The story of Jesus is told. It is shared with words.

50 days with a focus on telling, now changes to a focus on hearing.

 

I hear

I have heard the biblical Jesus’ stories my whole life. I can retell them from memory. I have heard other Jesus’ stories through my time as pastor; and can retell them. I hear … and in the same breath I will confess that I don’t hear. I am sure that some of you have had the experience of not feeling heard, and it may even have been me who didn’t fully hear you.

What I mean is that one can listen and physically hear, being empathetic or sympathetic, and hold the confidence – pray for a person, be pastoral, and then rest there. Listening is presence. Listening is a gift each has the capacity to do.

Hearing is more. Hearing is attuned to the unique gifts and passions given to each person. The Holy Spirit weaves her way through ordinary life, pushing peoples’ buttons – arousing passion. Hearing is an activation of the specific qualities and characteristics that have been entrusted to you to give back into the world.

 

We pray on most Sundays, Hear us O God, or Lord hear our prayer. There is an expectation when we pray that God, in hearing our prayers, will act. That our prayer will activate God’s passion for humankind. There is something in the hearing that is active and Spirit-filled. If we have this expectation of God hearing and responding, does the same not apply to us? As we corporately pray the prayers of the people, the Lord’s prayer, the liturgy, we pray (telling or asking), and we also hear via the praying aloud by those around us.

It could be a prayer, or a reading, a line from a Psalm, a question from the sermon, an antidote in the kid’s corner, a troubling hymn – that pushes one of your buttons – that is the Holy Spirit at work activating passion. Passion is the stirring up of your particular God-given gifts.

 

Tanzania Lutheran pastor and educator, Wilson Niwagila, wrote the hymn Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading. We are singing the hymn as our hymn of the day. I draw your attention to the words of the last two verses. We sing for the Spirit to come and ask specifically for: Not mere knowledge, but discernment…

Keep us fervent in our witness, unswayed by earth’s allure / Ever grant us zealous fitness, which you alone assure.

 

Discernment is difficult. Discernment is the ability to choose and determine a course of action, when the answer is unclear or there are a variety of options. Discernment is difficult because options can all be very good options. How does one choose? As a faith community we pray for direction and guidance. As individuals in a congregation, we have barriers to hearing the Spirit among us – barriers of the fear of making the wrong choice, being paralyzed by ‘what ifs,’ holding onto control, and avoiding risk.

In discernment processes – the Spirit weaves through the gathered community – pushing peoples’ buttons. It is in the bursts of passion that direction is given. It is in expressions of passion that we hear the Spirit’s direction.  

The hymn ends with an ask for God to ever grant us zealous fitness. Zealous fitness speaks to me of following and living out our passions. Passions are intense, deep, and driving forces filled with emotions, grown from knowledge, beliefs, faith, and values.  Passion keeps faith communities fit – active - living out God’s grace and unconditional love.

 

I shared my confession with you at the beginning of the sermon because some of the buttons that the Spirit pushed, I had not identified as anything but very loud pet-peeves. Upon reflection I realized that each reaction and rant was connected to a passion. And yes, with each passion, I have the acumen, knowledge, skills, and gifts to tell, hear, and act the good news of Jesus Christ into God’s world. And further to that, at this time, in the wider church, I am uniquely gifted for those specific tasks. You too are uniquely gifted and have the responsibility of passionately contributing to God’s kindom. Hear the prodding of the Holy Spirit and act.

 

Keep us fervent in our witness, unswayed by earth’s allure. Ever grant us zealous fitness, which you alone assure. Amen.

Vocation (Not Jobs) Is Working Community

 

Have you met your Walmart greeter? I know the greeter at the Walmart I go to: what she looks like, her smile, her kind actions. For years she has been a consistent and calm presence. One of the recognizable hallmarks of Walmart was the greeter, who welcomed shoppers to the store. CEO and founder Sam Walton implemented the role to show customers that they are persons who are valued. The role helped shape the identity and culture of the company. You can google ‘Walmart greeter’ and meet a host of exceptional greeters who have special relationships with the community who comes through the store’s doors.

According to American reports, effective April 2026 the role of greeter has come to an end. Greeters are being replaced with what the company is calling a “customer host” whose job now includes the requirement of being able to lift 25lbs, climb ladders, and stand for long periods of time. Their job will involve much more – for example carrying and packing bags into cars. The job’s sole purpose is no longer forming relationship with customers and making everyone feel seen and welcomed upon arrival.  

 This corporate move means that seniors and those with disabilities who often fill the roll of greeter are systematically being removed from work that is meaningful and life-giving to them, and life-giving to the world receiving their gifts.

 

Today’s reading from Acts highlights how the early church worked together to bring the kindom of God. Today it would be called a model of leadership. It would be considered an organizational structure that lives out the values of the community.

From the early days of the Protestant church, a model of leadership was articulate in theology that eventually had the church use the tagline “priesthood of all believers.”

 

Luther in, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, wrote: In fact, we are all consecrated priests through Baptism, as St. Peter in 1 Peter 2 says, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a priestly kingdom.” In this way we are all priests, as many of us as are Christians, there are indeed priests whom we call ministers. They are chosen from among us, and who do everything in our name. That is a priesthood which is nothing else than the Ministry. Thus 1 Corinthians 4:1: “No one should regard us as anything else than ministers of Christ and dispensers of the mysteries of God.”

 

Letters written in and to the early church often contained lists of gifts and talents of members in a Christian community. Gifts included: service, knowledge, wisdom, preaching, teaching, healing, faith, prophecy, miracles, speaking in tongues. The Letters indicate that communities have a host of individuals with varying skills and talents, all to be used for wholeness of community and the spread of the Gospel. Every person does not have every gift. Each person does have a gift to contribute, and each gift is vital for the health of that community.

 

The early followers of Jesus, as described in the book of Acts, were a community that was out in the community, bringing the kindom of God. Each one’s skills and passions were being used to live resurrection and to share Jesus’ mission in the world. Christ was being proclaimed in word and deed!

 

The example given to us this morning is of Stephen. Stephen along with six other men were chosen by the Apostles to the ministry of service. The men were responsible for feeding people and the distribution of goods to those in need. The Apostles continued their call to preach and teach. This does not mean that the Apostles didn’t participate in the ministry of service, or that Stephen and team didn’t preach. It simply means that their calling – their skills – their vocation, was to a specific role; one that used their gifts to the fullest.

Lutherans have two streams of rostered ministers. There are some ordained to the ministry of Word and Service -  our deacons; and others ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament- our pastors. Each order of ministry has specific skills and purposes. Through baptism we are all welcomed into God’s family and into a community of faith. The Holy Spirit calls us to lives that benefit the whole community. Living among God’s faithful people, we are empowered to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, and to serve all people, following the example of Jesus. This is what we promise and what we pray for at baptisms and in affirmations of faith.

 

In our society, youth are directed and pressured to think about their futures. Often this simply means careers, jobs; the purpose to make money. They think about: part-time jobs, summer employment, school to gather skills for jobs, climbing-the-ladder jobs, good-paying jobs, jobs with benefits. Faith community understands ‘job’, ‘work’, in a different way. Rather than jobs, faith community is about encouraging the community to focus on vocation.

Vocation - is a calling or strong inclination of the heart, toward a particular course of action, way of life, and purpose. I don’t have a job – I have a vocation. You have met people in all walks of life that have a vocation – nurses, teachers, accountants, plumbers, librarians, baristas, musicians, Walmart greeters, long-term care workers - you can tell it is not just a job by the way the person’s heart is in their work. They love their work and the people they serve. Their work creates energy, good feeling, and benefits everyone around them. There is authenticity that shines their true self and passion in their role in the community. The community is blessed because of their contribution.

 

Unfortunately, society has skewed our understanding of jobs, and debased work to only be about money.

I appreciate the Acts story of Stephen because something powerful came from his working from his heart.

Prior to the snippet we read, Stephen’s purposeful work and passion for the gospel had Stephen brought before the Sanhedrin court. Acts 7 records the longest speech in Acts – and it is not Peter’s or Paul’s - it is Stephen’s defense – where Stephen speaks truth to power. The speech includes the history of God’s relationship with God’s people and God’s continued faithfulness to the covenant despite the people turning away. The powers that be are angry? Ashamed? Scared? – that a community was living the sacred texts, the covenant promises, bringing God’s kindom into their midst without the authority’s permission, assistance, power, resources, status, institution. The marginalized, the widow, the forgotten, the foreigner, the poor, the sick, the unhoused, the hungry, the landless, the slave, the elderly, the orphaned, the disheartened, the day labourer are welcomed into the community and become a community.

 

Stephen was so committed to the ministry of service and the Word proclaimed through deed, that he passionately expressed the core of the work, his vocation, in proclamation to the court. Stephen’s vocation lead to a martyr’s death which demonstrates the costly nature of serving Christ and the reality of God’s presence amid suffering and injustice.

Stephen was called to service. Called to share the gospel in word and deed. He fed people and distributed goods to those who had need. Vocation that today might be – kitchen workers at care facilities, homecare assistants, dishwashers, hospital porters, delivery drivers, crop pickers, waitresses, non-profit outreach workers  … the Walmart greeter

 

Resurrected One, In all we do – work, volunteering, jobs, interactions, buying or selling services – help us apply a sense of vocation, where we act from our hearts, passionately proclaim Christ in word and deed, and purposefully share our God-given gifts for the wholeness of the community. Amen.

Possible! All in Common

 

The biggest bruise I ever had was the size of a small dinner plate. I was the extra set of hands needed to make an outside shelter. My main job was to simultaneously hold the ladder and pick up metal roofing nails that were dropped. This was very important as the sheep, for whom the shelter was being built, like to eat shiny things. Holding the ladder – well more like protecting the ladder- was important because sheep like to throw their weight around and would purposefully take the ladder down. Most of the time I was able to get my steel toed boot up to meet the alpha male’s head butt. His name was Simon.

I slipped while picking up a nail, Simon took a run for it, and his head rammed my lower thigh. Thus the story of the biggest bruise I have ever had.

I have had experience shepherding real sheep. Since then, Good Shepherd Sunday has changed for me. I no longer hear an idyllic image that has a shepherd who is warm and fuzzy tending cute little sheep; all standing serenely in a field with the shepherd cuddling one in their arms.

 

Sheep are trouble. They are enticed by shiny things. They take and eat shiny things even though it is bad for them. They wander off to what looks like greener pastures than the one they are in. They are easily distracted and go to investigate. They escape and get into serious situations. They do runaway. They are stubborn. They head butt those trying to help them. They can be brought back home with a pail of oats; their tummies do the talking.

Jesus being considered the Good Shepherd has Jesus’ followers in the role of sheep. This is not a compliment!

Rather it is a pithy comment on human behaviour.

 

Keep this in your mind as we turn our attention to the post-resurrection story from Acts. The resurrection of Jesus, and the proclamation of the story, so enthralls listeners that the story is embodied. People are changed by the hearing of the story.  There is no sign of people being like sheep. Jesus’ followers have gathered in a ‘Fellowship of the Believers,’ as one Bible titles the text.

A reminder of the behaviour of the fellowship of believers:

 

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.

 

For me, this is one of the most beautiful and encouraging passages in the whole Bible. I believe that the resurrection of Jesus Christ when proclaimed and embodied has the power to change human beings. It certainly changed the large groups of listeners we hear of in Acts. I am encouraged and have hope that this kind of fellowship and community is 100% possible. Today.

But… we have to be willing to drop our sheepskins.

That is dropping our proclivity to acquire shiny things – voraciously consuming natural resources and material goods; to drop the need to continually search for something better; to let go of stubbornness and that which distracts us; to loss the blinders and notice those helping and supporting; to stop running away;

 to drop being controlled by our stomachs and appetites to lean into living from our hearts.

 

This passage from Acts, is one that illustrates how much we are like sheep. If I had a loonie for every time someone has told me that it is impossible to live the way the text describes, I would be a millionaire. It is absolutely possible! We just don’t want to do it.

We don’t have the will – the heart- to do it.

 

I think it is helpful to take the points presented in the text from Acts and change their order around to get fuller understanding of how hearts lived into the embodiment of Christ’s resurrection. With each point we can assess how our hearts lean into the embodiment of resurrection.

 

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple – this is dedicating time to pray together, worship, sing, study, preach, teach, learn, converse, fellowship, in their holy place, like church is to us. How much time does your heart lean into being present and participating in togetherness in this holy place? Like a distracted sheep do you wander off after Sunday worship, get lost, spend the week chasing shiny things?

they broke bread at home – remembering in the night Jesus was betrayed. Our hearts lean into communion here, but do we take it home? Do we share the story of Jesus’ breaking bread with those who share our dining room tables?

and [they] ate their food with glad and generous hearts, - does your heart lean into saying a table blessing, being glad for the food, having a generous heart to share your table? Or are you sheeplike, eating to eat, overindulging, eating your emotions, eating because you have to, eating what you know you should not?

praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. – does your heart proclaim praise or does it sheepishly grumble and complain? Does your way of living return to you the goodwill and blessing of others? Or like sheep do you forget those around you, hurting those who are in your space?

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. – because of the fellowship of believers – their time in the temple, breaking bread at home, eating with glad and generous hearts, praising God, having the good will of the people – this part of the passage is possible. The sharing of all in common, the selling of possessions, and distributing to any as they have need. This is possible because all the other points directly speak of how to embody that resurrection and in community become Christ resurrected.

 

For the sceptical, the adamant, please don’t come and tell me it is impossible, until you have sincerely put into practised and lived the first four points. They will change your life and your heart.

 

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. – I have always wondered why this sentence was not at the end. When hearts change, when resurrection is embodied, when fellowship and community abound … it is a state of awe. It is in this state that signs and wonders are manifest, embraced, and spill out into community.

 

The Apostles were a fellowship that lived Christ’s resurrection. In their living the resurrection additional fellowships of believers sprang up, from them additional fellowships of believers sprang up. Down to this very day.  And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Acts 2 - Basic Equation to Be Church

 

This morning we are presented with the basic equation for a growing and vibrant church.

It is repeated many times in the book of Acts and the other letters that follow in our Bibles.

What, stands out from the reading in Acts chapter 2? Let’s review:

vs 14: Peter, standing with the eleven… addressed THEM, “MEN of Judea and ALL who live in Jerusalem”;

vs. 36-37: Let the ENTIRE house of Israel know … when THEY heard this THEY were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other Apostles;

vs 39: For the promise is for you, for your children, and for ALL who are far away, EVERYONE whom the Lord our God calls;

vs 41: we hear That day 3000 persons were added, baptized into the body of Christ.

If we continue with vs. 42, we read:

THEY devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers. (v.42)

 

The basic equation has – Peter and the Apostles (more than one person), + add,

Preaching and proclaiming the gospel, + add, in a public setting, x multiplied by more than one listener = equals the body of Christ. The body of Christ are the baptized, a community who joins immediately in

 fellowship and the breaking of bread and the prayers.

 

Notice that the teachers and preachers are a group.

Notice that the language is plural – they, the entire, men, all, everyone.

We will notice in coming weeks that the collection of post-resurrection writings, have the body of Christ working as community. We will notice the sharing of resources and holding all in common.

There is no I. There is no my.

There is no building. There is no restriction on who can belong.

The church is the body of Christ - a living community working to manifest God’s kindom; resurrection now.

 

Baptist Pastor James Bell speaks about American Christianity, reflecting on how the culture of consumerism, the ideal of the American dream, and individualism, has skewed Christian values and been a detriment to the witness of the body of Christ. He writes:

We have millions of ‘saved’ individuals and no body. We have customers and no church. We have consumers and no community. We have people who love Jesus and cannot stand each other.

Because we made self the centre. And when self is the centre, the church becomes optional, community becomes inconvenient, and discipleship becomes shallow. The New Testament vision is far bigger than “me and Jesus.”

 

The 40^th Anniversary of the creation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada recognizes that the Canadian Lutheran church has structured itself and its weekly operations in congregations, like this one, to be heavily invested in the “me and Jesus” movement. We have practiced 40 years of this and are very good at it. Worship is for us. Programming is for us. It is what we want. It is saving what we own. It is controlling our space and our resources. It is deciding who belongs. We say all are welcome, as long as they venture in the door on their own and subscribe to the way we operate.

The 40^th Anniversary of the ELCIC is inviting the whole church, across the whole country, to reset –

to resurrect as the body of Christ. The idea of May 31^st as a Day of Action focuses on the basic equation for a growing and vibrant church. More than one person (a congregation), preaches and proclaims the gospel in a public setting – that is outside the building on the streets and in the neighbourhood. It is a return to a vision where church is bigger than “me and Jesus;” It is a return to living as a body – the body of Christ - in action in the world.

 

This week there has been a lot of action in this neighbourhood. Long-term-care workers from St. Vincent’s, the nursing home next door, are on strike. The church has been their rest stop. Picketers come in to use the bathroom, help themselves to food and drink, make signs, rest their feet and warm up and dry out.

Neighbours and organizations have been in and out supplying coffee and treats. Neighbours have stood on the picket line with them, encouraged them with honks and waves, and signed petitions.

Regardless of what one thinks of unions – as a group, a community, they have lived gospel outside of these doors. They stand together for all their members. They are in the community preaching their truth. They are working as one unit, one body in solidarity.

 

Offering hospitality has meant that the Tuesday Loneliness Café met surrounded by the hubbub of union work and people coming-and-going. There was a flourish of listening and conversation. For Pastor Kimber it has been the ministry of being present: listening, offering hugs, being calm, answering questions; gifts of time and hospitality. For church council -being the body of Christ- was sharing space; two meetings were held in the sanctuary this week so the larger community could keep on doing their work.

Regular groups who use the hall have graciously accepted the bigger vision – setting up their meetings in different configurations than their norm, to accommodate the extra items in the kitchen and hall.

There is energy in the building, on the corner, in the neighbourhood.

 This week living as community – symbiotic with another expression of community – together we have been manifesting God’s kindom.

 

Consider for a moment – that the union’s request to use the hall was denied.

We would have a nice quiet space, to do our regular programming, where we could meet where we wanted.

We would be comfortable and able to control the resources used. When entering the building everything would be where we left it and how we like it. As customers we would be satisfied.

 

The union – the actual human beings on the picket line – would see a church building with closed doors. The closest space to their need, not offering comfort of bathroom, a cup of water, or shelter; a congregation living for itself, oblivious to the world around them. The neighbours would have nowhere to bring coffee and treats; seeing the closed door they would wonder, “Of what use is the Church?” Not opening the door, would signal to this part of HRM that we do not live what Christians preach and profess: to love your neighbour, feed the hungry, do justice, show mercy, live kindness, welcome the stranger, do unto others as you would have them do to you.

 

This is but one immediate example of applying what we read in the Bible to every day living. The post-resurrection followers of Jesus and those baptized into the body of Christ were figuring out how to be the church -faith community, in community, as community.  

Returning to the words of Pastor James Bell:

The New Testament vision is far bigger than “me and Jesus.”

It is a people. A body. A family. A living witness to the world that Christ is real.

Until we get back to that, we will keep filling rooms while emptying the Church.

We will keep producing consumers who know how to attend church but do not know how to be church.