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"The Life Together"
Acts 2:37-47
A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
April 14, 2002
University Baptist Church
Minneapolis, MN
I have enjoyed reading these past few months from Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible called The Message. His translation of Acts 2 is especially poignant. After 3000 people joined the church, they committed themselves to the apostle’s teachings, the life together, a common meal, and the prayers. This is similar to many translations with one major difference. Most translations use the word, "fellowship". Peterson changes that to "the life together". When I think of fellowship, I think of schmoozing at coffee hour and doing all of that social club stuff that the church is so good at. But when I think of "the life together", then I think of something different. Something more powerful. Something more beneficial. Something deeper. Something that defines the church much better than fellowship. We are , are we not, more than a social club. It’s all about what we can do together better than we can do on our own.
Rabbi Michael Lerner in his book The Politics of Meaning said that the marketplace mentality of today’s world produces alienation. When this happens, people pull together into communities in order to find a foothold in the world. The problem is if the community falls apart or fails them or becomes repressive, they retreat to the known—the marketplace. Rabbi Lerner advocates that we should see our communities as a starting point and not the marketplace. Our communities ought to model how things ought to be: that the meaning we give to our communities, our values of mutuality and respect need to take precedence. We should commit ourselves to the life together in such a way that others might have life and have it abundantly.
After graduating from Denison University, I worked in the Student Life office of my alma mater for three years. They always hire one recent graduate as a way to keep a pulse on the life of the campus. That’s a nice way of saying I was a spy. I was in the awkward position of having one foot in the student body and one foot in the dreaded administration. I don't know of any college where the student body does not pillory the administration often with good reason. It's no accident that after those three years, I went to Seminary seeking God.
One day, as a member of the administration, I was personally attacked in an underground campus publication. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say it wasn’t flattering. I didn't even see the publication, it came out on a Friday. When I got to the First Baptist Church of Granville that Sunday morning, the word was out. People had seen it. Members came up to me expressing their grief, their outrage, their anger at how I had been abused. I didn’t know things were so bad, but apparently other people did. They offered their support and their availability if I needed to talk to them about my feelings in the wake of the publication. I eventually saw the publication and depended upon their support. I was amazed by the support of that church community—seeing something before I had even seen it. Being there for me even before I knew I needed them. I look at that experience as one example of how the church ought to be. They went out of their way to support me.
About ten days ago, a member of the Sacred Harp singing community logged onto the computer, found our web site with the things I say from the pulpit there for all to see. He didn’t agree with them. And he sent an e-mail to the Sacred Harp community saying in essence "Watch out if you come and worship on April 7th at University Baptist Church because there are "disastrous teachings" coming from that pulpit." There were probably going to be a half dozen or so Sacred Harp singers here with us last Sunday. But they all got this e-mail. And people started to say, "wait a minute." A bunch of them logged onto our web page and read what he was talking about. And whether they agreed with what I said from the pulpit or not, they knew that it was not okay to say "watch out" for our host church. They assumed that I was feeling hurt by this, but of course I put my sermons out on the Internet, so what do I expect. But they were here in droves last Sunday in many ways to support me and to support this church in the prophetic stand we take. They were being church, recognizing that the life they share together, and that we share together, is something that is very important for us to support.
When we hold our lives together, then we see beyond the coffee hour facades. The life together implies that we are to be involved in each other’s lives—in a healthy way, not an overbearing way. Because living a life of faith is a challenging thing, especially in this day and age. We need each other for support. We need each other for strength. We need each other to hear our stories. Thank you Howard, for yours. We need each other so that living just might be more profound, more hopeful, deeper, and hopefully more joyful because we have tapped into an ultimate power that we know as God. Many aspects of God are experienced in the life together.
How did the early church manifest that life together? Today's scripture says that the early church was communal in nature. They held all of their worldly goods in common, because their goods didn’t come from anywhere but God. They made sure that everyone was treated fairly and equally. They were people who did not want to let things like wealth and worldly power get in the way of their life together. Their life together, their churches grew numerically and spiritually as they spent time together in the temple but also at each other's homes breaking bread and gaining sustenance for their journeys. I bet they did their share of eating, sharing, listening, dreaming, praying, confessing, arguing, persuading, encouraging, and responding as they grew closer and closer together. The scripture says that as a result of this their hearts were glad and generous. The scripture also makes a clear connection with this kind of community and salvation. In this context, salvation is part and parcel with being part of this transformative community. For what is the church if it does not bring a kind of salvation for this sin-sick world.
That is our life together.
All of this starts by holding things in common. Using our resources for the common good and therefore modeling a new and different kind of community.
We have tremendous resources at this church and I have been amazed at what we have done in the year plus that we have been sharing ministry together. It echoes the ministry shared by this church community for over 151 years. This is our life together.
We have served meals at loaves and fishes.
We have delivered meals for meals on wheels.
We have hosted homeless families in families moving forward.
We have educated our children and adults in class and out of class.
We have worshipped, laughed and cried together.
We have completed a successful capital campaign and now that the weather is finally cooperating, we’ll begin to see some new windows.
We have broken bread in each other’s homes, trying to find peace in the world.
We have opened our building to arts groups, schools, non-profit organizations and churches.
We have led the way in mission giving amongst American Baptists in this region. I got a letter from our regional office this past week thanking our church for the leadership we take in mission giving to our American Baptist region. Of the 157 ABC churches in Minnesota and Iowa, we rank 22nd in United Mission giving, 13th for the America for Christ offering, 10th for the one Great Hour of Sharing offering, 8th for the retired ministers and missionaries offering, 23rd in American Baptist Missionary support, and 7th in mission giving per capita. That shows how high a priority mission is for us.
We have restructured ourselves so that we can do those things that we are passionate about as we fill out these ministry commitment forms and we don’t have to do the things we don’t feel called to do.
We have supported our youth and next Sunday we get to hear what they have to say as we celebrate the first youth Sunday in many many years.
But more than all of that, we have supported each other. We have been there for each other where there has been a death in the family. We have been there for each other when we have not known how to address the traumas of this world. We’ve been there for each other to celebrate the joys. We have been there for each other when there have been no words to express what needs to be expressed and yet we offer ourselves in prayerful support for each other.
All of this takes resources to pull off and pull of well. And I know we have the resources here in this room to do it all. Commitment Sunday is more than about filling out pledge cards and commitment forms so that we can staff our committees and meet our budget. Commitment Sunday is the time when we commit ourselves once again to the life together. The time when we share our gifts and remember that we are in this together. It is the time when we remember what is most important in our lives, what drives our passion.
We have the resources in our congregation. If we all took tithing seriously we could easily double the meager budget we have put forth. The tithe plus that Kim and I joyfully give to God’s work in this community is our favorite check to write each month not only because we know where it goes, but because it represents one way that we can remain faithful to what is most important in our lives: the life together—the church.
Doing big projects, and raising budgets, that is in many ways the easy stuff.
The hard part is being with each other on the journey. The hard part is accompanying hurting people—being present even when we are not the most fun people to be around.
That is the life together.
It takes a lot of talking and praying and centering. Yes, there are times when we argue with each other. There are times when we cry amidst the laughter. There are times when we challenge each other and are challenged by God to go even deeper into the abyss of a crisis in order to see the hurting people and try to address their pain. But that is precisely the kind of Church that God wants.
The early church was like that.
The early church depended upon each other for their strength and their hope. We do too.
So I hope and pray as you fill out these forms that you remember not only your commitment of time and talent and treasure. I hope that you will also think about your commitment to our life together.
Remember all of the things you cannot do on your own.
Remember those places where we prop each other up—
where we celebrate and mourn together,
when we gather for strength, perspective and encouragement,
where we do our part to make peace in the world.
All of this can happen because of our life together.
When we all commit to that life together, then we might be even more a place of joy, of hope, of love, of prophetic courage, of nurture and through it all channels of God’s grace.
That’s the life we share together. That’s what makes it all worthwhile.
The scripture says, "everyone around them was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met."
May it be so in our fragile and joyful community.
Amen.