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.

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

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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”