SPIRITUAL, NOT RELIGIOUS

May 25, 2014

Easter 6

John 14:15-21

Acts 17:22-31

(prayer)

There is a
story in chapter 13 of the gospel of Mark where Jesus and his disciples are in
Jerusalem.  Remember that (for the most
part) Jesus gathered his followers from the towns and villages around Lake
Capernaum.  These were rural peasants
from Galilee; being in the southern capital was a big deal.  Forgive the subtle pun, but Peter, James and
John were like fish out of water.

Mark 13:1 As Jesus came out of the temple,
one of his disciples said to him, 'Look, Teacher, what large stones and what
large buildings!'

Try to think
back to one of your first experiences being in the downtown core of a big
city.  Your own definition of a 'big
city' may vary depending on where you grew up.
Even those of you who grew up in a city must know what it is like to
gawk at the 'big buildings'.  It can make
you feel small - physically, for sure; but also in relation to the monumental
skill it requires to engineer and build and maintain those towers of human
achievement.

We can read in
Mark 13 that Jesus' disciples had that kind of reaction as they wandered the
city streets of Jerusalem. 

The context is
very similar for the Apostle Paul and his companions as they visit Athens, as
we heard from Acts 17 this morning.

//

Paul was from
the outlying Roman city of Tarsus: it was capital of the province of Cilicia
(si-li'-see-a).  On a modern map it would
be in south central Turkey, a few kilometres inland from the Mediterranean
Sea.  Although its historical claims to
fame are that it is the birthplace of the Apostle Paul and where Mark Antony
and Cleopatra first met, it wasn't a very important or exciting place.  As a minister friend said to me the other day
it was the 'back-water' 'armpit' of the Empire.

//

So, here is
this kid from Tarsus in the great city of Athens: perhaps the greatest of the
Greek city states; the birthplace of philosophy and higher learning -
eventhough the Roman Empire was the dominant military and political power of
the day - greek language and culture was still very prominent.

Athens was a
centre for culture, philosophy, education and spirituality.  We heard this morning that when Paul arrived
in Athens, he spent time walking around the city: whether it was his intention
or not, he familiarized himself with his surroundings.  At the very least, he did some sightseeing. 

//

In the passage
we heard from Acts 17, Paul says that as he went through the city, he looked carefully at the objects of the
Athenian's worship.  No doubt, this
included alters and temples to the various Greek gods and lesser deities. 

And because Athens
was very much a world city, we can assume that there may even have been sites
that were holy to some non-Athenians, particularly Roman gods.

We can imagine
that Paul may have been a little bit overwhelmed by the variety and
diversity.  He must have wondered if his
own spiritual message had any chance to be heard in amidst all of the
ecclesiastical chatter. 

He may have
wondered whether his proclamation was too small for a place like Athens.

//

Then Paul came
across a rather curious holy site.  The inscription
may have been similar to one discovered by archaeologists in 1820 on Palatine
Hill in Rome that read: "whether to a god or goddess". 

There are
several historical references throughout the greco-roman world to 'alters to an
unknown god'.  It seems that Paul found
one such alter on his tour of Athenian objects of worship.

//

And with that,
Paul had discovered an idea for how to start his sermon.

//

//

I recently
attended a play that took a vary sarcastic (and certainly irreverent) view of a
traditional approach to church missionary work - you know, the kind where
people of faith travel to a foreign land that is viewed as 'lacking religion'
(or at least lacking the right religion).  Once there, the missionaries try to
transplant their faith into that new context.
Let's just say that the missionaries (in the play I saw) were in for
several humourously-presented culture shocks.

Christianity has
discovered over the centuries that this 'superioristic, imperialist' approach
to mission too often has disastrous impacts on indigenous cultures and
traditions, including spiritual traditions that were cast aside as 'wrong',
without ever even trying to appreciate whatever beauty and truth they might be
able to reveal.

//

In our day,
many parts of Christianity are increasingly open to re-tracing our steps and
appreciating what other cultures and traditions can teach us about our own
spiritual journey.

//

A careful
reading of Acts shows us that Paul did not chastise the Athenians for being
'pagans' or creating 'heathen idols' or worshiping 'false gods' (as far too
many Christians in the centuries that followed were prone to do on their
mission trips).

No, Paul
appreciates the obvious spiritual nature of Athenian culture.  He meets them where they are.  And, in that context, he introduces who he
is.

The
conversation starts with a recognition of holy mystery.  He appreciates that the Athenians are open to
new (or as yet unknown) expressions of spirit.
Into that willing void, Paul shares what he knows about God.  He tells the about the good news he has found
in Jesus.  And Paul continues to respect
his audience... he quotes the words of the greek poets, Epimenides (in him we live and move and have our being)
and Aratus (for we too are his offspring).

Paul preaches
that we may not know God, but we can trust (in faith) that God knows us.

This
conversation all began because Paul recognized and accepted the Athenians were
thirsty for Spirit.  Paul could have
expressed a frustration that they were practicing religion differently than him
- but he focused on spirituality, not religion.

//

//

"I am
spiritual, but not religious."

When I end up
in a conversation with someone I have never met, and somehow it comes up with
what I do for a living - nine times out of ten I will hear those words.

"I'm
spiritual, but not religious."

The other time
I commonly hear that phrase is when I am invited by a funeral home to officiate
at a memorial service for a family with little or no church connection.

"[Our
loved one] never really went to church.
S/he was more spiritual than
religious."

//

What do you
think of when you hear those words: "I'm spiritual, but not
religious"?

[react to
people's answers]

·       
When people find out that I am a minister, I think
they assume that I will judge them harshly, if they don't go to church.  Sometimes, I hear spiritual not religious as
an apology for people's lack of a church connection - it's like they feel the
need to relieve me of the burden of worrying about their soul:  "yeah, I haven't been to church lately,
but I am very spiritual in my own way."

- or -

They are
afraid that I will kick into uber-evangelist-mode: "hello, I would like to
share with you the most amazing book."
Sometimes, I think spiritual not
religious is intended to be a conversation stopper - a polite way of saying
"I'm not interested, preacher boy."

·       
Yet, I think that most of the time that people use
words like 'spiritual, not religious', they are not just saying something they
think "I" want to here; they are expressing something profound about
their own experiences with mystery and wonder.

//

Faith in this
day and age is more complicated than it has ever been.  For most of religious history, the only way
to learn of the diversity of the world's religious expressions was to travel to
different places, because (for the most part) communities and regions were
relatively homogeneous, religiously.  If
you were spiritually inclined, there wasn't a lot of choices.

And until the
past 100+ years, travel to far reaches of the globe was incredibly expensive
and time consuming.

With the
advent of the printing press and increased literary rates, this began to
change... slowly. 

Add to the
equation steam ships, and rail lines and airplanes and the earth became
smaller.

Now, we have
cyberspace.

//

I know that
sometimes, we might be prone to nostalgia and long for the simpler time, where
our choices were limited.  But the
sooner, we accept the reality of our context, the more able we will be to find
the right paths for us in this time.

//

//

I admit that
there have been prone to responding (at least in my head) to the phrase spiritual, not religious by saying
'what's wrong with being religious?'

But I have
concluded that often what people mean is:

that spiritual
refers to faith as a movement; and

that religious
refers to faith as an institution.

Being religious has the connotation that one
accepts the judgmentalism and abuses of religious institutions and religious
officials - historic and modern.

Being spiritual allows one to sit apart from
the mess of the institution - that is church.

"I like God,

I just not too fond of the church."

"I'm cool with Jesus,

but I don't like the Body of Christ."

//

Now, as a
church-insider, I will be the first to admit that we have earned this rap,
overall.

//

I believe that
the future of church lies more in its ability to regain its soul as a movement and not be so hung up by the institutional aspects of who we have
become.

It's not to
say that churches like this one have no future, but it lies in a focus on being
an adaptive community of spirit, not a place of rigid religiosity.  We will embrace the spiritual hunger to known
the unknown God in ways that make sense in a 21st century context.

//

Ironically, we
can do this by reclaiming some of our 1st century heritage.

The gospel of
John reminded the early church of the late first century that God creates
community through the gift of spirit and the exercise of love. 

The early
church drew strength from the words of Jesus a love for God and each other was
the spirit of all the religious laws (cf Mark 12:28-31).

I believe that
is our path as well - the embrace the invitation to be spiritual and not
religious - by which I mean we love God (we humbly honour the gift that this
life is) and we actively live out a love for God's world.  And we love Spirit more than we love our
buildings and our altars - live as part of a movement more than a religious
institution.

//

As Carolyn and
Regine told us last week as they updated us on the last Yellowhead Presbytery
meeting, the United Church of Canada is contemplating big changes in the way we
structure ourselves.  The idea of
de-institutionalizing much of the institution and putting the emphasis on being
vibrant communities of faith is a bit scary for some - but I think it is an
inevitable reality for any congregation that wants to continue to be relevant
to a spiritually hungry world.

The future I
imagine that is before us is less worried about top-down control and
religious  uniformity, but a unity that
comes from being communities where the Spirit of God is taken seriously - where
we love what and who Jesus loves.

//

It may not be
a very certain future, but it deeply authentic to the best of who we can be.

//

Thanks be to
God for the gift of Spirit.

Let us pray:

Holy God, we
are grateful for the many ways you fed our spiritual hungers.  Help us to see beyond the distractions of
institution so that the love of Jesus can truely move the world.  Amen.

#79MV   “Spirit, Open My Heart”

STORIES OF LIFE AND DEATH

May 18, 2014

Easter 5

1^st Peter 2:1-10

Acts 2:55-60

(prayer)

The story goes
like this: sometime during the 40 year period of Hebrew history called the
Exodus, the people were camped at the foot of a mountain called Horeb (aka Sinai):
on which (years earlier) Moses had spoken with God, who appeared to him as a
burning (yet not burned) bush.  That
conversation motivated Moses to return to Egypt and seek the liberation of the
Hebrews from their lives of slavery.  Now
back on that mountain, Moses has another conversation with God - a discussion
of how the people can live in all faith and peace when they reach their
promised land.  Moses came down from the
mountain with ten rules for living (commandments, if you will) etched into tablets
of stone.  These stones symbolized life
and faith.

As the people
traveled through the wilderness and after the settled on the land of Canaan,
they protected these fragile stones in an ornate box (called the Ark of the
Covenant) and housed it in a special tent of meeting and worship, the called
The Tabernacle.  Years later, a Hebrew
King, David, proposed replacing the nomadic tent tabernacle with a fixed
structure built with the finest imported cedar wood.  That idea never materialized, but the next
king, David's son, Solomon, took it one step further and built a massive Temple
of Stone to be the place meeting and worship for the Hebrew people.  And a special holy place within this grand
stone building would house the Ark - containing the remnants of the stones that
contained the ten commandments.  New
stones for life today containing old stones of the hope for good living.

//

Fast forward a
few centuries more: the Hebrew nation has divided north and south.  Solomon's Temple remained central to the
southern Judeans.  So much so that their
theology had evolved to believe that the physical presence of Almighty God
actually lived in the Holy of Holies chamber where the Ark of the Covenant
rested.  So, imagine the crisis of faith
when an encroaching empire overran the city, ransacked the Temple (presumably
including the Ark) and knocked down mighty stone walls.  Where was God now that God's house laid in
ruin?  There was no longer any life in
those stones.

//

//

I have been
incredibly fortunate to be able to visit New York City five times in recent
years.  On each trip to Manhattan,  I have gone downtown to the World Trade
Centre site where the Twin Towers stood before September 11th, 2001.  On my first visit in 2009, that place that
had dominated the skyline for 30 years all was still largely a whole in the
ground.  All of the debris had been
cleaned up but there was little obvious new construction except the concrete
for the first few floors of the new 1776ft building that was being built
there.  On my next visit, the ground work
for the eventual memorial site had begun, the Freedom Tower was about 30 floors
high and other buildings were begin to be constructed in the area.  One trip number three, the 9/11 Memorial was
open and my oldest son and I spent time at those falling water pool built
exactly where the Twin Towers surrounded by the names of all the victims of
those terrorist acts. It was strange mix of the sad and the somber combined
with a 'joy' that there was so much life there: people memorializing, people
building, newly planted trees, rushing waters.
That day the Freedom Tower (aka WTC1) was more than half its eventual
hight and WTC4 was also starting to become a fixture in south Manhattan.

A bit more
than a year ago, Patti and I had an overnight layover in NY, so we spent the
day just wandered around the historic neighbourhoods of Chelsea and Greenwich
Village.  Although we never got down to ground zero, a look south told us that
the Freedom Tower was as tall as it was going to get.  In fact, while we were there, they were
attaching the communication spire that brought it up to 1776ft.

Two weeks ago,
I took my second oldest son and my mother to NY as a years worth of Christmas,
Birthday and Mother's Day gifts.  Eight
days ago, I was back at the 9/11 Memorial pools - as powerful of an experience
as it was the first time.  Except for a
construction elevator, the outside of the Freedom Tower looks finished; the
artistically designed transportation hub, with its reminiscent vertical steel
columns is taking shape.  The 9/11 Museum
(which is a relatively small building) looked done but hasn't opened yet.  We peered through the windows but there
wasn't much to see other than a lobby and a set of escalators.  // 
That makes sense because, as you may have seen, although it is not open
to the public yet, the 9/11 Museum was officially dedicated this past
Thursday.  The reason why it looked small
and all I saw was escalators is because it is an underground museum - built
around parts of the bedrock and the actual concrete and steel foundations of
the Twin Towers.  It looks
incredible.  As President Obama said at
the dedication: "[this museum is a place] to remember and reflect but
above all to reaffirm the [spirits of] love, compassion and sacrifice, and to
enshrine [them] forever."  In the
rubble of fallen stones, emerges new life and purpose.

//

//

The Judean
exiles who returned from Babylon built a new temple - no doubt using some of
the foundation stones of Solomon's Temple.
Then 500 years later when the empire of the day saw fit to fall those
stones again, death and destruction was not the final word.  Today, some of those ancient stones
remain.  The wailing wall in Jerusalem is
one of the holiest site in orthodox Judaism.

//

The author of
the 1st Peter letter, writing to a post 70AD church where there no more Temple
in which to meet, has given us a marvelous metaphor for people of faith.  We are to be Living Stones.  1st Peter reminds us of how the early church
read the part of Isaiah 28 and Psalm 118 - Jesus was the rejected stone that
was, in fact, precious: becoming  the
cornerstone, the source of all stability. For the Christians reading 1st Peter,
they did not meet in avtemple of stone.
Jesus Christ is the foundation of the being.  The church is built on Jesus.  Metaphorically, he is the cornerstone.  Extending the metaphor, we are the stones
supported by Jesus: living stones alive with hope and good news.

//

//

If you were in
church last week, you may remember that we read about the earliest days of the
early Christian church - how they shared
everything in common and cared for all who had need; and day by day they spent
time together in the Temple (this is before 70AD when it was destroyed by
the Roman army) and they ate their meals
at home 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.

The euphoria
of of this idyllic period of early church life quickly changes as the 'real'
world emerges for them.  Day by day, the
Lord was adding to their number - great they were growing.  Isn't that a goal of every church?  I have done a lot of work at the Presbytery
level of the church and and in all of the Pastoral Charges have consulted with,
I have never heard a congregation say, we
hope that no one new starts coming to our church.

The early
Christian Church quickly realized that it was growing so much that the 12
Apostles could not manage everything on their own - particularly the work of
making sure that the widows and others in need had enough to eat.  The church had its first leadership
crisis.  Some even accused the Apostles
of showing favoritism toward the aramaic speaking widows over and against the
greek-speaking people in need.  To
alleviate both the problems of a lack of leaders and the cultural needs, seven
new greek-speaking deacons were appointed to work alongside James, Peter, John
and the others.

When the
church was relatively small, it just blended into wider society.  They had some internal problems, but they did
their best to solve them.  As the church
grew the internal issues became more challenging and as its message spread,
more of the 'real' world emerged in the form of external opposition.  The church and its people were getting
noticed. 

Stephen, one
of the new leaders, found himself challenged to a debate.  He holds his own but this only emboldens his
detractors to stir up complaints against him.
In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is called before the Sanhedrin Council.  We didn't start reading until verse 55, this
morning.  Most of the first fifty verse
in Acts 7 is Stephen's profound exhortation about God's involvement in
history.  He ends by accusing his
accusers of being the ones who don't keep the law.  As you can imagine, that did not go over
well.  The verse immediately before our
reading today says: "When they heard
these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen."
(Acts 7:54)

You heard what
happened next: "They dragged him out
of the city and began to stone him." (Acts 7:58a)  You also heard that (in a very Jesus-like
way) with his dying breath, Stephen prays for the forgiveness of his
executioners.

We might
picture this scene to simply be people hurling stones at Stephen, impeding his
escape, until his injuries dropped him to ground and then they continue stoning
him to death.  In fact, in many cases,
even in areas of the the world today, the technique is to dig a hole and bury
the victim up past the waist and the throw the stones.  There is no escape for the condemned once the
rocks start flying.

So, this
activity takes some preparation and planning.
One of the things I noticed in the story is that they took Stephen outside
of the city to kill him.  You don't want
to be digging a hole in the middle of the street and certainly no one wants to
have to walk by bloodstained dirt on the way to the market.  It is almost as if, although stoning was
culturally accepted people didn't want to have to be reminded of its brutality
- so it happened 'out of the city'.

The next thing
I noticed is that the men who would be digging the hole and throwing the stones
took off their coats - maybe because they wanted a full range of motion in
their throwing arms or perhaps just because executing someone by stoning is a
hot and sweaty task.

Did you notice
who was in the crowd?  "[They] laid
their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul."  The one charged with looking after the coats
that day, was the same person who would get permission from the Sanhedrin to
travel to various towns and villages and arrest members of the Jesus'
movement.  Saul approved of Stephen's
stoning and he would soon be actively trying to bring down (so to speak) the foundation
of the early church.

Stones of
death.

//

As we can read
further on in Acts, on one of his arresting roadtrips, Saul has a strange
experience, where he is knocked off his horse, goes blind and hears the Risen
Jesus talking to him.  This event winds
up with Saul in the Demascus home of a member of the church, where he hears the
gospel story and converts, becoming a new member of the very church he
persecuted.  Because he went on to be a
traveling evangelist and letter writer to the non-jewish, greek-speaking world,
we know him better by the greek version of his name, Paul.

With
Saul/Paul, out of the stones of death come generations of living stones.

//

//

Although the
vernal equinox was almost two months ago, we all know that the May long weekend
is the unofficial start of spring.  Lawns
are being mowed for the first time this year, flower beds are being prepped,
gardens are being planted.  We are
beginning to see new green on trees.  The
world around us is coming back to life. 

This can
remind us that, the lives we are living right now is founded on all that has
come before us.  We are part of a web of
a foundational history that includes Moses, Peter, Stephen and Paul. 

And that is
also true of the others who have blazed this way of faith before us, and (as
significantly) those we have journeyed with, in our time.

//

I feel very
grateful that I have been able to be in a relatively long pastoral relationship
with you (almost14 years, so far).  One
of the only downsides of this for me is that I have been around long enough
that I am beginning to celebrate the funerals of people who were vibrant,
active parts of the church in my early years in Leduc.  Just in the past couple of weeks and months,
with you, I have grieved at the death of Bill Peters, Sherrill Brown, Emilie
Storeshaw, Marg Taylor and Ewen McDonald.
And yet, on the foundations that their living stones helped build, we
continue to be a people - alive to the mission and message of our God.

//

//

We have Jesus
Christ as our cornerstone. 

We have a sure
foundation.

We can truly
be living stones in the world.

//

Let us pray...

(prayer)

#614VU
"In Suffering Love"

DAY BY DAY

May 11, 2014

Easter 4

Acts 2:42-47

(prayer)

It is not unusual for there to be a number of Bible themed movies on TV around Easter.  Three weeks ago (it was on Easter Monday), the Encore Avenue #2 TV station gave me a
treat with its movie choices.  They had Jesus Christ Superstar followed directly by Godspell.

I am a just bit too young to truly appreciate what these contemporary-plays-turned-movies truly meant to a late 1960s early 1970s audience (I was ten when the movie, Godpsell, was released), but I have acquired my own appreciation for the mix of the modern and traditional that both musicals have.

Three weeks ago, I made a comment on my facebook page that thanks to the TV programming, I was getting my ‘hippie gospel on’.  It was neat to see my friends comment back about their own experiences with these movies or various live productions - even
people’s experiences of being in one of the plays themselves.

//

So, when I read the Acts passage for this morning “day by day the Lord added to their number”, I had to start singing...

//

//

It is a modern proverb that we are to take life “one day at a time”. A famous 12-step support group has used that as one of its key inspirational mottos for years.

To live one day at a time, is to live in the moment and to focus our attention on making “this time” as good of a time as possible.  We may have goals that stretch out in to the near or distant future, but the only way they best way for them to be achieved is if each day is lived well - in a manner consistent with that goal.

We may want to make some lifestyle change (lose weight, give up cigars, cut down on the crystal meth or rum).  Big changes take time.  But the change can become more real day-by-day.  And… if we have a not-so-good day, we move on to the next day and leave that other day behind.

//

I absolutely love that this was the model followed by the early followers of Jesus’ Way.  They were on a new kind of faith journey - new and amazing things were happening all of the time, but they appreciated the experiences day-by-day. 

//

When I was a camper at summer camp, I remember singing:

Every day’s a new day:

Better than the day before.

Every day’s a new day

when you’re walking with the Lord.

I tried to find it on the internet this week but couldn’t.  But it still exists in my mind.  I imagine it was the message that the people of the early church shared with others:

So come with us.

We’re walking free.

So, come with us and you’ll see what we mean.

[Whoa, whoa, whoa]

Every day’s a new day:

Gonna be a brand new start.

Every day’s a new day

when you give away your heart:

[your heart (pop)];

when your give away your heart.

//

The early church community that we read about in Acts 2 was made up of those people who responded to Peter’s sermon on Pentecost, where he tried to explain the ecstatic experience
of spirit that occurred that day (we’ll read about that in detail in four weeks - on June 8^th):  This is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:  “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,  and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams… Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

People were excited that day - and day-after-day after that, lives were changed; choices about how life was going to be lived were made.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Part of this was because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.  But I am sure that it was more than that.  They enjoyed the company - they chose community.  The bible says that 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 devoted themselves to teaching and fellowship.  They looked after each other.  Now, before you start to imagine a cult-like commune, the text suggests that people still had their own places to live (verse 46: they broke bread at home), but they chose to come together in common places like the Temple. 

Choosing this kind of fellowship and community had an effect on the people’s lives that reached beyond their church.  The last part of verse 46 and the first part of verse 47 says that they ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.  Their faith experiences changed the way they looked at the rest of their world.  They looked positively on the people around them - in and out of this new group.  They had the goodwill of ALL the people in mind.

//

What a wonderfully idyllic time for the people of Jesus.  This was before the followers of Jesus knew any persecution.  It was before the internal conflicts over leadership and spiritual gifts.  It was before the raging debates on whether to include gentiles into the fold (and if so, how to do that).  Before the church began to splinter - people chose to be a community of learning and fellowship - a caring group: where none were in need because a non-reluctant sharing was a natural part of this experience.

//

A certain amount of greed and skepticism did creep into the church. There is an interesting story in Acts chapter five about a couple named Ananias and Sapphria who decided to hide some of their resources and try to keep them from being used in the common purse (they held back a bit).  Let’s just say that their plan backfired on them.

The group was becoming larger and larger all of the time.  I wonder if the resources dried up at some point; or if some people took advantage of the generosity.  We do know that at some point the Apostles became overwhelmed by the number of people they had to care for.  They were even accused of showing favoritism toward the Judean and Galilean members-in-need of the church at the expense of the people from the more dispersed communities.  In Acts, chapter six, seven new leaders were chosen to assist the Apostles in caring for all in need: chosen from among the diaspora members - people like Stephen and Philip who are highlighted later in Acts.

Even so, this communal, social safety net system did not seem to survive as a central characteristic of the emerging early church by the time the book of Acts was penned.  The text speaks of this practice in the past tense.  Even so, the care for those in need was part of the Hebrew culture that gave birth to the early Christian movement and it has been maintained (by at least some parts of the Church) in all of the centuries since.

We see hints of that today - in response especially to natural disasters or wars or epidemics.  Many, many folk still have in their hearts, the goodwill of all the people.  But there are some ministries (like the United Church’s Bissell Centre in Edmonton) that are based on this ideal that no one is to be allowed to follow below our responsibility to off care and
support.

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Here is the thing:  Easter changes us.  The confidence of a holy eternal presence - even in the context of suffering and grief - is uplifting.  And it changes us.

The first followers of Jesus moved through those resurrection experiences and allowed the Spirit to blow through them and with them in their day to day lives.  And they were changed.

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If we do not let Easter change our manner of living, one might wonder: was it worth it?  If we are not willing to change who we are in the day-to-day lives we lead, why would we bother to proclaim Jesus as Christ: sharing the lessons of his life, his death, his resurrection?

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The goal for us in our lives in found in today’s passage from Acts:

ÿ   the people found value in gathering together (they met for study and worship);

ÿ   as a group, they lived out a care for more than themselves as individuals (they served those in need); and

ÿ   they carried a joy into the non-church parts of their lives - their simple daily activities, like eating a meal at home, was done with newly glad and generous hearts.

That is a valid and honourable goal for a 21^st century person to faith: to be part of a community of learning, worship and service and to be a glad and generous people apart from that community.

For some of you that goal may have already become real for you. Well done, good and faithful servants. Keep calm and carry on.

For others, it is a struggle to see yourself as part of something greater than yourself and/or it may not yet have taken hold of your life to the point that you know that hoped-for joy and generosity.

I guess the good news within this is that we are invited to work towards these kinds of things…day-by-day.

Each day, we are invited to make the spirit of Christ a bit more of a practical part of our lives.  It will not likely be a guaranteed steady progression - there will be set-backs or distractions, or even good reasons why the community and the call to glad and generous hearts becomes a real challenge.  But… we are invited in a-new day by day.

Personally, I find strength and comfort in grammar of Acts 2:47: notice the text uses the passive voice to describe the people becoming part of the community - day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.  Who were ‘being’ saved: not were saved.  This new way of understanding our connection to The Holy, to Almighty God, was a process of being - not a switch that clicks on and off instantly.

That is certainly what I have seen and experienced in my own and other people’s faith live - we ebb and flow - we have ups and downs - we are have our moments of authenticity and hypocrisy. 

And yet part of what I see in this idyllic passage from Acts 2 is that this bumpy journey is expected. 

We can take things day by day.

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The good days and the bad days can still add up to something wonderful.

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Let us pray:

Caring God, we are grateful for the gift of community - for fellow travellers on the road of Jesus’ Way.  Give us courage and guidance to keep moving forward.  Amen.

#603VU “In Loving Partnership”