4-15-2012
Jerusalem
Now the whole group of those who
believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of
any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. 33With
great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34There was not a needy
person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought
the proceeds of what was sold. 35They laid it at the apostles’ feet,
and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36There was a
Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas
(which means “son of encouragement”). 37He sold a field that
belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
It can be hard to believe Luke’s
recording in the book of Acts about the early church. They were of one heart and soul, and no one
claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was
held in common. Really? Is that really how it was? We couldn’t really say that about us today, I
mean there are quite a few branches of just us Lutherans out there, continuing
breaking apart from one another over issues, some trivial some not so
trivial. Justoff the Top of my head I
can think of ELCA, LCMS, WELS, NALC, and LCMC, and I know there are more out
there. That’s not even getting into the
Methodists and Presbyterians and Church of Christ, and Baptists, and AME, and
all the other denominations and their own variations. And forget about all that, we can’t honestly
say that even within our own congregation we always agree. And looking back at the ancient church, Peter
and Paul were constantly arguing with each other, with Peter not even wanting
to recognize the gentile congregations that Paul established. We can tend to view ourselves as a faith that
is constantly at war with ourselves.
The same is true within
congregations. How often do arguments
create strong divides in a congregation.
I have heard the stories of families lost to the loss of the ball-field
and the building of the new parsonage. I
know that within any congregation there will always be disagreements, whether
about what the ministry of the congregation is doing, the way that the pastor
is using their hours, or the style of worship, about what defines “the
traditions of the church” and so many other topics. It can appear at times as though all hope is
lost, because of disagreement. It can be
difficult to go through disagreements as a community of faith, because it can
begin to feel personal, as though we are at war with one another. Yet, Luke writes in the book of Acts, “Now
the whole group who believed were of one heart and soul.” And I believe that this is true today as
well. Yes, we can appear divided at
times, but we are all still united in our hearts and souls. What is it that all believers have in common,
that which unifies all of us. It’s not
the sacraments. After all, we and many
protestants have 2, but the Catholics have 7 and some groups even have
none. It’s not our understanding of who
is saved, for some it is predetermined, for others it is determined by faith,
and others by works. No, what unifies
all of us is that we are all of the same heart and soul. We are all doing what we can to serve God and
our neighbor. That is our unified
mission and we seek out the ways that we believe that we are best able to do
so.
Conflict will naturally arise out of
this. There will be times when we
disagree over what is the best course of action. Not only is this natural, it is
necessary. Peter and Paul argued over
everything and it helped to form who we are as Christians today. When we debate, when we respectfully disagree
we are about to dig deeper into what we believe and we are able to move on from
a conflict. If we sit around, mumbling
to ourselves that things are not going the way that we want, we not only
disrespect our fellow brothers and sisters by not going to them and trying to
heal any divide that may be starting, but we are also widening that divide,
turning others into our enemies without even realizing what we are doing. And when we have these conversations, we are
also able to see more options and we are able to grow together as a community. Each of us experiences our life as a
congregation in a different way, an each of us has different insights and
different needs. We come together as one
community, as one family, as one body, and we seek to be the best that we
possibly can be through our conversations and then acting, using the gifts that
the Spirit has given to each of us.
We are unified, we are unified in
our hearts and our souls to love God and our neighbor. We need to remember that connection when we
talk with one another, we need to remember that each of us is doing our best in
order to benefit the whole and we need to respect one another and this
community when decisions are reached.
None of us will always get “our way,” and none of us should. But the point is that we don’t need to get
our way, what we need to do is strive to love God and our neighbors, both those
close and those far away. When we love,
we are unified together in heart and soul.
When we are open to one another and speak honestly, we grow and we are
able to do ministry better. So conflict
is not something to be avoided at all costs, and nor do we strive to create
chaos with constant conflict, but open, honest discussion about our mission and
our ministry is needed if we are to grow spiritually and in our ministry here
in Columbiana.
We do not exist in a monarchy, or
even in a caste system. Each of us here
is a member of one body and each of us needs the help and prayers and support
of one another. I as the pastor and our very capable members of council all need
the help of each person in this congregation.
We need your prayers, that our decisions may be guided by the Spirit, we
need your input on the ministry of this congregation, that we may see the ways
in which we may grow, and I know that I need your help to know when and where I
may be needed or wanted, whether it be someone in the hospital or someone needs
some support. None of us can function
without this community of faith, without our family in Christ.
Together, unified, we share the
gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who came into the world to free us
from our Sin, to show us the will of God, and to promise us life eternal. That is our purpose, to spread his message of
love and mercy. Not to have winners and
losers, not to make ourselves the most profitable in town, not to gain glory by
being the big fish in a small pond, but to spread the love and mercy of God, to
not only experience God for ourselves but to help one another experience God as
well, and to show those who have never seen God active in their lives how much
God has cared for them before they were even born. We are unified in love and mission, those are
the things that guide our hearts and souls.
Through the Spirit we are granted great power, in order that we may
glorify God in our words and our actions.
We are to honor God each day of our lives, through our ability to
respectfully communicate with one another, and to strive together to serve God to
the best of our abilities, allowing our conflicts to help us grow and learn
instead of destroying the bonds with which God has tied us together as a
community and family of faith. Thanks be
given to God, for empowering us and giving us the gift of one another.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment