“The New Journey: Community”

Acts 2:41-47

A Sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

May 8, 2005

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

 

We learn from the second chapter of Acts that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.”  There is not a whole lot about the standing in the community.  There is not a whole lot about justice and creating a good world. 

Oh, I suppose you could say that the apostle’s teaching had a lot to do with the ethics of Jesus and the hard work of welcoming the outcast and standing up to the powers and principalities. 

You could say that the fellowship extended beyond the local community. 

You could say that the prayers were for the outsiders.  And I’m sure that was a part of the focus for all of this.  And yet it all does seem to be inwardly focusing.  It seems to be a group not unlike any other group.  They learned together.  They ate together.  They prayed together.  They lived and loved together.  But then comes the real radical action:  They held all of their goods in common with one another.  They gave each person what they needed.

Yesterday, I joined 300 other people on the capital steps in the Many Voices, One Minnesota rally.  We sang and we prayed and we braved the chilly rain as we made our religious case for a more just tax policy. 

We made a religious case for not forsaking the outsider and the poor. 

We made a religious case for restoring dignity or at least Christian morality to our legislature. 

We hold so much wealth in our state, enough for everyone to have what they need.  And yet, we see that ballparks and casinos and restrictive and exclusionary constitutional amendments are more popular than our schools and the homeless and working poor, and people without health insurance.  One of the speakers said that countless studies have shown that investing in schools and childcare brings us back a 17% return on each dollar spent.  This should be a no-brainer.  It would seem that we have a revenue problem, not a spending problem. 

At UBC, we face similar issues.  Our proposed expenditures are lagging about $40,000 behind our income from pledges, renters and invested funds.  Our council needs to decide on how to address this next week.  Some would say we have a spending problem.  Others would say we have a revenue problem.  This much is true, without further revenue, the Council will slice back portions of the budget—nickel and diming our way closer to a balance.  We might need to make difficult decisions regarding staff compensation.  But even if we froze all compensation and cut out some programs, we still wouldn’t make up for the deficit.  If you haven’t filled out your pledge card yet, please do so.  If you haven’t prayed for your Council members lately, please do so.  If you have any creative solutions you can share, please do so.

The most radical thing the early church did was to hold their material goods in common.  The early church depicted by Luke in Acts said that everything belongs to the community.  There was no such thing as private ownership.  It might stand in the way of community, people feared.   Paul admonished the church in Corinth for maintaining class differences. He said that he had heard that there were some people eating first, even before the others had arrived.  The ones who ate first, we could assume were people of leisure who could arrive earlier than the laborers.  Paul said this should not be so. 

We should all hold things in common and never use money as a way to curry favor or give undue influence.

For Luke, the writer of Acts, wealth and its accumulation is a danger to the community. 

In Luke Mary sings that the hungry are filled with good things rich have been sent empty away. 

In Luke, Jesus preaches woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. 

In Luke the Good Samaritan pays money for the health and well-being a beaten stranger who has been ignored by his kin and his religion. 

In Luke, Jesus says the first shall be last and the last shall be first. 

In Luke, the rich young ruler is told to sell all he has and give to the poor before following Jesus. 

So, it is no surprise that in Luke’s description of the early church in Acts that the church models something radically different from the rest of the world.

Aristotle said, “property of friends is held in common.”  Kinship requires radical sharing, meaning that the needs of the church family, the people of God, superseded private ownership.  I know this is a hard concept for us to grasp.  And yet it could well be argued that private ownership is the root of many of our problems. 

I think the early church was on to something when they held everything in common.  They all knew about each other’s needs.  They made plans accordingly.

I have to say that we do a fine job as a church in supporting so many people with our small and committed bunch known as UBC.

While a few more pledges would be nice and would certainly do a whole lot to make our gap shrink, I think the larger issue is how we use our resources.  We hold things in common as a church family.  We hold our financial assets, sure, in the form of pledges and in the form of our shrinking invested funds.  We also hold our treasures of time and talent.  We hold our passions. 

The question to ask, then is not how we can cut something back in order to make our budget balanced.  The issue I want us to look at is, How are we doing as a community? 

Are our values being lived out in all that we do and all that we stand for? 

Are we a place of refuge, a place of comfort and challenge and nurture and growth? 

Are we a place of fine and fulfilling music? 

Are we a place where we are challenged to think outside the box and to live into the God-given passionate discipleship of which we are capable?  All of this is what we hold together in our collective pot. 

Are we doing all we can to use our skills and build each other up?

If your answer to any of that is yes, then would we want to risk not doing any of this to our fullest ability? 

I think we’re doing a fine job.

We certainly have a ways to go, but think of what we can and do do in this world of ours.

Just this past week, I got a call from Mary and Steve Hammond who serve as co-pastors of Peace Community Church in Oberlin, OH.  Their church is a lot like ours.  They are a partner congregation of the Baptist Peace Fellowship.  They are affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists.  They do a good outreach to the campus of Oberlin College.  They are also the newest members of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists.  As a result of their latest affiliation, the movement has begun to disfellowship them from the American Baptist Churches of Ohio.  We talked about what it’s like to live and work amongst people who have been de-churched.  We talked of denominational struggles.  And we also spoke about how such struggles can sometimes be the best thing that happens to the congregation.  Sure, it takes a lot of energy and time.  But at the same time, it has a galvanizing force that enlivens the church and makes our purpose quite clear.  Please pray for the Peace Community Church and the American Baotuist Chruches of Ohio.

On Friday the 13^th, I’ll be traveling to Des Moines to join about 100 of my ABC clergy colleagues in a meeting called a Jerusalem Council.  Across the denomination, Jerusalem Councils are being held in order to address the perplexing question of how we can stay together when we are so divided on issues of human sexuality.  Please pray for me and our Region this week.

As I have been reflecting on our work as a church and our critical role in this point in history, I have gotten some insight from my mother.  The insight was not direct.  It comes from a childhood memory of her on her hands and knees in the lawn at our home in Cleveland.  She would use a small trowel and dig up the dandelions. On Wednesday, I joined Shirley Roy to work on the lawn at the church.  While she was edging, I looked at all of the dandelions.  I thought of my mom, got a trowel and got to work.  Hundreds of dandelions later, most of the lawn was free of those pesky yellow flowers.  I felt good, like I had really accomplished something.  But then when I arrived back to church on Thursday, the lawn was once again covered in dandelions.  I guess the little flowers close up at night.  I reflected that our work for justice might never be done, for like dandelions, the forces of evil are persistent and resilient.  And so the temptation would be to just let the dandelions win.  And yet, I think our work as a church is to keep pulling the dandelions, like Sisyphus.  It’s the only thing that keeps them from taking over.  My mom spent many summer days pulling at the dandelions.  And to honor her, I am committing myself to pulling at and tugging at the dandelions, realizing that I may never get them all pulled.  But through the pulling of them, I remember who I am and who I seek to be.

The scripture goes on to say, “And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold all of their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.”

A community is not something that is only concerned about things like money.  A community is concerned about people. 

We are concerned about how our relationship is going with our sister or our brother. 

We are concerned that we are living the Gospel we proclaim. 

We are concerned about how we use our resources. 

And we’re not so concerned how other people perceive us. 

When a community is at its best, it empowers us to use our gifts in a helpful and healing manner.  That’s the community of the church that caused so much to be changed and improved in this world.

On this new journey depicted in this community, we have the power and ability to continue to inspire and people to ask the right questions.

To empower people to think outside the box about how to address perplexing problems.

To empower people to take a stand and join with others across denominations when our community is in peril.

We empower ourselves to be Biblically literate including the admonitions Jesus gives us regarding wealth and property.

We empower ourselves to find our voices when others would be so content to silence us.

We empower us to hold each other tight when the forces out there are raining down on us and we feel burdened by their weight.

And yet, together, somehow we pull each other up and hold each other tight and we don’t always say “it’s going to be all right.”  We say instead, “you’re not alone.  I’m here with you.  Let’s figure this out together.”

Those are the real precious gifts we hold in common.  That’s our real wealth.  Everything else is just a reflection of that.

When we commit to a community that is so life-giving, then the world looks real different.  As Margaret Mead said, “Never think that a small group of people cannot change the world.  In fact it is the only thing that ever has.”

May this church body, change the world by changing the way we view the world.

And may we all see the day when no one is in want,

or hungry,

or without healthcare,

or in an unfunded school,

or in an abusive relationship,

or in an unsafe home

or in despair. 

May we see or at least imagine the day when all will be made new.  For if we can imagine it, then we are on the way to creating it.

May it be so.