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“The New Journey: Discipleship”
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
Today is Commitment Sunday. The Sunday where we will bring our pledge
cards forward. It’s where we bring
forward our Ministry Commitment forms where we spell out the kinds of
ministries we are interested in during the coming year. This is when we indicate what our time,
talent and treasure are going to be used for God’s purposes in this
church. We do this once a year. Now, I know it’s a turn-off for some
people. I remember a few years ago, a
visitor commented to me what a wonderful Good Friday service we had. She mentioned the music, the readings the
increasing darkness. But the best part
about it, she said, there was no offering!!
We don’t like to talk about
money. It’s a tough thing to do. It automatically causes us to compare
ourselves. It feels too much like a worldly
kind of concern. It conjures up images
of TV preachers guilting
folk into forking over their hard-earned cash.
It feels kinda icky.
And yet, it is reality. The church, like any movement, needs to seek
funding to do its work. So once a year,
we do this—conveniently right after tax day, in fact. I actually look forward to it. It’s when we get to make our dreams
realities. It’s when we get to consider
and commit to the new thing God is going to do among and through us in the
coming year. It is when we get to define
pieces of our roles as disciples of Jesus in these troubling times. It’s when our new journey takes shape.
In the legislature, we hear about
the revenue problem verses the spending problem. We can solve all of our problems if we just
stop spending money, so goes the rhetoric.
Well, we might solve some problems, but we would create some others,
won’t we. I think of churches that have
spending problems. And I don’t think we
are one of them. Please indulge me as I
sing our congregation’s praises.
We do more ministry in our church
per capita than most churches in the country.
The fact that a church our size can boast not only a high caliber vocal
choir but also a bell choir, an occasional brass ensemble, acoustic ensemble
and children’s choir let alone the number of individuals amongst us who dazzle
and surprise us with their music, their readings, their testimonies and their
worship leadership week after week speaks volumes at how much we own our
program. It’s part of our life blood.
We are life-long learners here,
whether it be through classes like the
This past week, volunteers from UBC
have delivered meals for homebound people throughout this neighborhood in the
Meals on Wheels program.
Just today, we are embarking on our Families
Moving Forward week when at least half of us are going to be involved in
helping four homeless families have a loving and safe place to stay for a week.
A week from Friday, we will serve at
loaves and fishes like we do every fifth Friday, serving somewhere between 200
and 450 people a great meal of chicken and all the fixins.
Last Sunday, we celebrated another birthday in
the family of seven that we helped sponsor from
All this month, we are collecting
money to send down to our sister church, Second Baptist Church of Leon,
Nicaragua. We sponsor dozens of children
in their primary school in our Godparent program. Through our gifts this month, church hopes to
purchase a bus to transport people from all around
When people come to the church
during the week and look at the long list of causes that we support through our
building, our giving, our time and our talent, people tell me how inspired they
are. This is truly a great place to be
and to do ministry.
Our role in the city as a voice of
hope, inclusion, justice and mercy is vital and persistent.
You know what,
it’s really not about the money. It’s
not about the budget or the program or the relative health of our church. It’s about our role as disciples. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. And if we are to truly be a follower of
Jesus, then we had better get our priorities aligned. Commitment Sunday is when we align our
priorities.
In today’s scripture, Peter is
making an address to the newly-forming church at Pentecost. He is telling them what has happened to Jesus
and how God raised him from the dead and that he lives in each of those who
follow in his footsteps. The people
asked Peter and the other apostles, “what shall we do?”
Peter responded, “repent, be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit.” And all of that is easily understood. We are to repent, which means turn away from
our past actions and inactions which have failed to make our corner of the
world a better place. We are to repent
of our propensity toward violence of not only the fist, but also of the tongue
and the heart. We are to repent of the
belief that we don’t have the capacity to love, to experience grace, freedom,
to be the givers and receivers of respect, to be the humble and grateful people
that we are. We are to repent of all of this.
We are to be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ. Luke had Peter say that
this baptism was one that was in defiance of the world. Make a confession of Jesus Christ as Lord
instead of Caesar is Lord. Be baptized
and come out of the water dripping wet, but beginning a new life where you are
washed clean and ready to take the plunge into a life of commitment and purpose. Now us Baptists are used to talking about
Baptism as being something that a believer does as an outward sign of an inward
conversion. It says nothing about the age
of the baptized in this scripture, but we do know that 3000 people were
baptized that day. That’s quite a
movement.
Those who heard Jim Wallis speak
last week will tell you that the old fashioned altar call was originated by
social Gospel evangelist Charles Finney.
People came forward to become enrolled in the work of social justice. They came forward to worship at that altar
instead of an altar of individual piety.
There’s something in this that we need to reclaim. As it is, I think we do a pretty darn good
job of equipping ourselves to do the work of justice. We are enrolled as we take our vows and
commitments seriously.
We are to receive the Holy Spirit
after we have repented and have been baptized. The Holy Spirit is the part of
the nature of God that is available to all of us. It is our inspiration. It is our conscience. It is the part of us that tells us to do good even in the face of the odds. It is the part of us that somehow speaks the
right words when all hell is breaking loose somewhere else. It is the Spirit that sustains us and
continues to work in all of us as we try to live lives worthy of our calling as
disciples.
So, we are to repent, be baptized
and receive the Holy Spirit.
But then there is this odd little
phrase that Luke has Peter throw in for good
measure: “Save yourselves from this
corrupt generation.” What can that mean? Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Deliver yourselves from all that is corrupt
in this world. Think of it.
The materialism.
The warmaking.
The prejudice.
The arrogance.
The look out for number one-ism.
The tribalism.
The bigotry.
The multiple phobias.
The media control.
The sense that there is no use in doing
anything because we’re all going to hell in a hand basket anyway.
Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation. Because if you succumb to
those kinds of corruption, then we really are doomed, aren’t we? Those with ears to hear, listen to what the
spirit is saying to the churches.
I said last week that the church is
an outpost of truth, and outpost of comfort and an outpost of community when
all hell is breaking loose. It is the one
place where we witness to the truth of a higher power that restores us all to
sanity. That same
power of God is alive and well here at UBC. It’s why I’m glad to fill out my pledge card
and have myself counted. My kids even
asked to fill out pledge cards this year.
Save yourselves
from this corrupt generation is a lofty goal for the church. It is what a healing community does. It is what a loving and healthy community
does. But I think our church goes one
step further. I think we don’t only save
ourselves from this corrupt generation.
We seek to save others from this corrupt
generation.
Vicki Wilson mentioned last Sunday that she
was thankful for the bulbs that were blooming in our Portico garden. It turns out that those very bulbs were
planted by her step father over thirty years ago. As you know bulbs have a way of expanding and
multiplying. Over the years those bulbs
have served as a reminder of the newness of spring. They have been a source of
connection with a loved one. They have
been signs of hope and sustaining faithfulness.
Would that all of our gifts could have as much impact as those small
bulbs planted in a garden thirty years ago.
We seek to plant a seed and make it grow
somewhere else.
We seek to plant a seed of hope and watch it
grow someplace where we don’t know.
We plant a seed of integrity and watch it
grow across our denomination.
We plant a seed of justice and watch it grow
in places like our legislature.
We plant seeds of peacemaking and we watch
them grow in the ways we interact with our families.
We plant seeds of hopefulness and we
watch them grow in the lives of the people who seem to have lost hope.
We plant seeds of compassion in our
children and they grow up being compassionate to others even when the whole
world tells them to do the exact opposite.
Sisters and brothers, the apostle
Peter told us how to be good disciples.
He didn’t say anything about pledge cards or offerings or time and
talent sheets. He did say that we are to
repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit and save ourselves from this
corrupt generation. The people responded
by having 3000 people join the movement.
The
very first thing they did was to take all of their goods and hold them all in
common so that they could do the work and save even more people.
How will we respond? Think about this. Where do you get your inspiration for the
week? Where do you get your community? Where do you find your solid and honest
people who are committed to making a difference in the world? It gives me great joy to write my tithe check
every month to the work of UBC. Because
UBC is a place I love. You are a people
I love. You represent a movement I love
and that gives me hope. And together we
find in ourselves the capacity to save not only us but others from the
seductive powers of this corrupt generation.
In a few moments, like Charles
Finney’s people of old, we will come forward to enroll ourselves in this
ministry we share here at UBC. Through
it all, may we truly envision a new generation where we can proclaim the vision
of the prophets where the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the fatling with
the calf together.
Where nation shall not raise
up sword against nation and neither shall they learn war anymore.
Where deceptive moneychangers are thrown from
the places of power and all live with grace under their own vine and fig
tree.
Where we are not conformed to this world but
are transformed by the renewing of our minds.
Where we shall know the truth and the truth
shall make us free.
Where we shall love our enemies and pray for
those who persecute us.
Where we might sing free at last, free at
last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.
Sisters and brothers, may we save
ourselves from this corrupt generation and live lives of disciples.
May our new journey bear great fruit and may
it set us all free.
Amen.