EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 2.5 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Feb. 14, 2018.
If you read our February newsletter, you already know that we are trying something a little different during our Lenten services this year.
The Lenten season seems a good time to be embarking on such a project, because just as Faith Lutheran is in a period of preparation, the season of Lent is a symbolic time of preparation for millions in our wider church.
And, Lent, of course, officially begins today, on Ash Wednesday, as I’m sure you know.
If you read that article, you know that one aspect of our experimental Lenten services this year will be what we’re calling “talking circles.” … I’ve explained in more detail what these “talking circles” will be in the newsletter, so I won’t repeat that again. … But what I didn’t cover in the newsletter was what else would take place. … For instance, we will still have a message each service designed to complement the “talking circles,” albeit it will be a short message, so that we can spend the majority of our time in conversation.
So when I contemplated what we could do with these five weeks of Lent that follow Ash Wednesday, I thought it might be interesting to tackle a series of messages all built on the same premise, the same foundation. … And to me the “Book of Acts” seemed a natural choice.
After all, the timing is interesting, being that it is Lent, and we are called as Christians to prepare for Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the subsequent birth of the church here on earth.
And in the book of Acts, we read about all of that. … At the very beginning of the book, you see Jesus’ ascension completed in front of his followers. … One minute Jesus is standing there talking amidst his disciples, telling them that the Holy Spirit will soon be visiting them, and the Holy Spirit will commission them to go tell the Good News to all the people of Jerusalem and all of the people of Judea and the people of Samaria. … And finally, Jesus tells his disciples to go even farther to spread the message … all the way to the ends of the earth, as a matter of fact!
After the ascension, the disciples do as Jesus says: They await in Jerusalem the coming of the Holy Spirit and they become his witnesses right there among the Jews.
Well, first, they have to replace Judas, as you may remember, he was the one who betrayed Jesus and let’s just say that he ends up meeting a rather unfortunate end. … And if you want more on that, you can check out Acts 1:18.
So Judas is now gone, and Matthias is chosen to become the 12th disciple. And then the whole group gets busy teaching and preaching to the synagogues in Jerusalem’s communities of believers. … In other words, they did as they were told.
A short while later, God does not disappoint. … He sends the Holy Spirit on a day where all of the believers are gathered in one place ... and poof ... in the most divine way possible, this heavenly infused gust of wind gives birth to the church here on earth. The believers have their church! … Just as Jesus said would happen!
What follows are several chapters that recount the disciples’ efforts to tell the story and spread Jesus’ message. But there’s a very specific group of people you’ll see mentioned throughout the course of those chapters, and that group is called the “believers.” … You can’t miss it; that stands out prominently.
But then as the chapters continue, something profound happens. … Eventually, it dawns on the disciples that Jesus said they weren’t just supposed to stay there in the fairly comfortable confines of Jerusalem, but indeed they were to spread the word far and wide. … Even to the ends of the earth.
And now if you are a first century disciple, that is a pretty frightening thought. After all, you can just look at the treatment the disciples received in Jerusalem, and you can about imagine the reception they were going to get in places such as Samaria … or even beyond.
Setting aside that there weren’t exactly luxury travel accommodations available in those days, the message the disciples had to spread wasn’t exactly always a welcome one in many parts of the world. … In fact, much of the world was downright hostile to the followers of this new, burgeoning faith.
Just look at the reception Stephen received when he went to speak to the council. His truths earn him the reward of being stoned to death ... and strangely enough he was speaking to a community of believers!
In the same vein, shortly after we see what happens to Stephen for preaching about Jesus, we run into Saul, who’s working his way through the ancient Middle East to root out and punish and torture Christians. … So, it’s understandable that some of the disciples may have been a little leery regarding Jesus’ commissioning of them to go tell the story throughout the world … and to the ends of the earth.
And this is where I see the Book of Acts so applicable to our daily lives now. … You see, it wasn’t just Christ’s disciples of the first century that he was commanding to be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” … This was Christ’s commandment to all of his followers … then and now!
This might sound a tad strange to us. After all, there are no longer places known as Samaria or Judea. ... Sure, the lands are still there, but they’re known by different names. … But there certainly is an “ends to the earth,” whether we’re talking 2,000 years ago … or today. And as Christ’s disciples, we to are called into action. … To go to the ends of the earth and tell his story.
For many of us, we will never get to the ends of the earth. … Few of us are international missionaries, and while some of us might do a bit of international travelling in our time, it’s probably nothing like what the disciples of the first century were doing.
But … each of us does on a daily basis run into other Christians who are in various stages of their walks with Christ. … We also run into non-Christians … and people of other faiths, and people with no faiths, or people with just a little faith. … In fact, each and every day brings new and unfamiliar people into our lives. ... And, some of those folks in their faith journey are as symbolically close to the ends of the earth to us, as the first century gentiles who lived thousands of miles away from Jerusalem were to the disciples.
And in our present context, it may seem as frightening for us to share our faiths, as it was in the first century. … Now, it’s not likely you or I will get stoned to death for sharing with others our love and faith in Jesus Christ or by proclaiming him our one and only savior. … But in some parts of the world today, that’s not untrue. In some places, it is a very dangerous -- even deadly -- proposition to be a Christian, much less evangelize.
So, while most of us won’t face likely death for sharing our faith, I do know that even the idea of public shame or humiliation is enough to quiet us down. ... To dull that light that shines in each of us Christians. And I’m not here to condemn you for that. … I’m no different. Even after several years in seminary and taking on my role here at Faith Lutheran, there are times that I will let an opportunity to be like Christ pass without my ever saying a word. …
Sometimes I do it because it’s a silly fear. … You know, what will that person think if I speak up about Christ here? … Or will they think I’m off my rocker if I offer to pray for them? … Heaven forbid, they might think that I’m … WEIRD. … Or one of those Jesus freaks!
Other times, I like to think my fears are more justifiable. I’ll tell you a little story to illustrate my point. … Prior to my appointment as the interim here at Faith, there were only a few people in my immediate sphere that knew about my going to seminary. … My immediate family knew, and a handful of close friends, too. … But outside of that, the only other people who knew were the folks of Christ the King, our home church.
Prior to ours and Faith Lutheran’s journey joining, Shelley and I had decided not to go public with my call to attend Luther and proceed down the ministerial track. After all, we rationalized, I had worked two and a half decades to achieve the position I had with Forum Communications. And it was a good job, with good benefits. And ultimately, it was helping to pay for seminary. … We reasoned -- and I don’t think it was unwarranted -- that if the executives at my company found out that I was going to seminary, that I’d be out. … Well, maybe not completely out of a job -- although that wasn’t out of the question considering in recent years our company had gone through layoffs -- but we thought that at the bare minimum, it would mean the end of any upward movement, any raises, any taking on of the special projects that I’ve been lucky enough to do over the years. The end of my newspaper career as I knew it.
So, yes, we decided that our new journey was better left secret. And we did that for just over two years. How it stayed a secret at work that long is beyond me. But it did, and then came last October when I started discussions with the Faith Lutheran council. … After talking first with the synod, and then with Bob, and later the entire council, both Shelley and I felt this was real and we were certain that God was bringing our future together with you here at Faith.
And as things became more real, a gnawing feeling grew in the pit of my stomach.
Eventually, I realized that I couldn’t accept an invitation into this journey here with you without coming clean at work. My intuition told me it would never work in secret, and frankly, I became ashamed that I had already lived that way for two years. And so one day, at work, the opening came and I knew God was telling me to come clean. … So I spilled the story, and my boss of several years, looked at me and said, “That doesn’t surprise me a bit.” … That’s it. That’s all she said. … All that worry and fear for nothing. … That night, I rushed home to tell Shelley that we didn’t have to hide this journey any longer, and she looked at me, and she said, “You did what????” … Thankfully she has recovered from the shock!
That was five months ago, and I can honestly tell you that coming clean hasn’t harmed me in the least. In fact, I’ve even had people from all over The Forum building come to specifically congratulate me and offer us support on my journey. … And there hasn’t been a negative reaction yet.
I tell this story because I think we all might find that many of our fears over showing our true identity, showing ourselves as believers, are unfounded … or at the very least exaggerated. I know I’m guilty.
And so this year, during Lent, we’re going to study the Book of Acts and learn a little bit about these early church leaders, and how they did indeed let their light shine. And in doing so, how this relatively small group of disciples helped to grow the number of Jesus’ followers from a few in the Judean region to many worldwide in just a handful of generations. …
Because, after all, that is the purpose of the Book of Acts: To detail the travels and trials and the challenges of the first century disciples.
And hopefully this short study in Acts gives us inspiration. … Hopefully, after studying their work, we can learn a little bit of something about being a disciple of Christ. … Amen.
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