a sermon on Acts 4: 32-35
Acts is generally a story of early heroes of the Christian Church: Peter, of course, and Paul. Stephen in his martyrdom, Barnabbas and Silas in their assistance, Dorcas in her charity, Lydia in her belief and her sponsorship. But before we get to the superheroes, we get a glimpse of the everyday people: “and great grace was on them all.”
Matt Skinner describes it as such: “We have to acknowledge the spiritual vitality shown by a multitude of unnamed and unremembered saints. We have to feel their shared heartbeat of generosity and linger with their willingness to risk. For the community itself, in its unity of purpose and its commitment to protect the well-being of all, especially its most vulnerable members, bears witness to the new life God makes possible through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. There’s always a community, whether you notice it or not.”
The rich, the poor, and everyone in between, where I suppose most of us fall – all are formed in the common identity of Jesus Christ. All find belonging there, not in the structures of a fractured world, but in the glory of a unified, living God.
I don’t know exactly what WPC will be doing in the next few years – I’m lately thinking I don’t know exactly what we’ll be doing next week. But I’m not so worried about the doing as I am about the being: who are we being because the Lord, Jesus Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. With our lives, are we showing that a world of love and belonging, grace and forgiveness, healing and wholeness, dignity and power are possible – as improbable as it seems – these things are possible, because Jesus lives? Does the way we are together in the congregation, beyond the walls in our towns and neighborhoods, in our relationship with the world and the earth that sustains us – do all these things give testimony to the goodness and power and grace, the love of our God?
If so, then the specifics don’t matter quite as much as we think. The fear that might hold us back can be lifted. For we are a people who proclaim what is possible because of Christ’s resurrection. It is for this I pray again and again.
To hear the whole sermon, click here.
