Yes that made things a little odd as the Fourth Sunday in Easter is Good Shepherd Sunday and therefore 2 out of the 3 hymns were about sheep and shepherds and I did not mention sheep once during my sermon but oh well.
This reading from Acts is probably an idealized version on the early church but it is also one that our modern churches have much in common with and can learn from that I just felt compelled to preach on it instead of the gospel. Plus this year's Good Shepherd Sunday gospel text wasn't on the shepherd but on the door so it really should be Good Door Sunday.
Enjoy!
Normally I preach on the gospel text but this week I want to put our focus instead on the first lesson, that reading from Acts. See there was something that struck me about this description of the early church and how it compares to our congregation, to Bethlehem
Now not everyone has experienced awe in this community. Maybe you have lost your awe. Maybe you have never had it. Maybe you don’t realize that is it missing.
Previously the early church did not have awe. It was not until they committed themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers that awe came upon them.
And that is exactly what we are doing here in worship and in this congregation. Each week we dedicate our worship to gathering together (fellowship), hearing the scripture (the teachings), breaking bread together in communion and praying for each other and the all the people of the world. And that is what we do in just about everything we do. Bible study, Worship Together and Sunday School are all ways of learning the teachings of the apostles. Coffee hour, tag sales and laser tag are all ways of building relationships and sharing in fellowship. We try to begin and end all meetings in prayer (though to be honest occasionally we forget).
Yes we can get better about concentrating on these four area, and spend less time worry about money or discussing which liturgical setting to use for the season but I’m pretty sure that this vision of Acts is probably an idealized version of the early church because you know even then people were discussing money or which prayers should be said or if someone needs to bow or stand or kneel or be prostrate while hearing scripture or entering the room.
And yet when they focused on teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer, awe cam upon them.
When we focus on these four areas, teaching, fellowship, communion and prayer we too receive the same awe that came upon everyone in the early church. I personally have experienced awe here in this congregation and I hope that you have too. I have experienced awe when I hear people share how they have seen God. I have experienced awe when kids run up to the communion rail, excited to receive Christ’s body and blood. I have experienced awe when I see guest warmly invited to join senior lunch or stick around for coffee hour. I have experienced awe when leaders in this congregation came together to organize a wonderful tag sale and all I did for it was paint the sign.
I’m not alone here I hope. Have some of you experienced awe when you have gathered with this community?
And when you are in awe, you want to share it. When you are awe, there is something about you that makes other curious and want to have what you have.
This is why the Lord added to the early church’s number day by day – they were not just coming to worship together and leaving the building unchanged. Instead they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. They took God with them, their awe with them, out into their daily lives. They shared their awe with others in the fields while they worked, in the market place while they shopped, in their homes with their families.
And we too are bringing awe into the world to others. It is hard not to. Didn’t you want to tell others, family, co-workers, friends, strangers at the grocery store, about the joy that was in this place on Easter, about how the children lead us in worship on Palm Sunday, about how you see God?
Yes it is scary, yes it makes you vulnerable to say these things, don’t you think the people of the early church thought the exact same thing? But when awe has come upon you, you have been changed by the Holy Spirit and it becomes contagious.
When we have received awe, we are receiving the Holy Spirit, God is opening our eyes to how and where Christ is in this world.
When we have received awe, we see Christ in each other, in our neighbors, and in strangers and we fell compelled to care for the poor, the sick, the homeless, the elderly, the immigrant and the disenfranchised.
And so as we gather here to focus on the teachings, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer, I ask God, I pray, that awe may come upon everyone in this place.
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