Growing Our Home
Acts 1:1-14, 21-26, 2: 1-4, 42-47
Have you noticed how easy it is to praise God when things are going well? How you experienced the ease with which faith comes, when the sun is out and the chores are done and the bills are paid? Praising God, trusting in God when all is well is a piece of cake. I remember spending quite a bit of time as a kid praising God on Christmas morning when the presents were piled a mile high or when I drove out of the parking lot of the Honda dealership in Boston with my first new car. It is easy to praise God when doors just seem to open right in front of us and the carpet is rolled out as if there is not a care in the world. I have had moments and days like that and even at some points in my life, I have had seasons where I felt like I was in some kind of groove- where I had not a care in the world and I felt almost invincible. Faith in God in times like these, feels like breathing, it just comes, rolling through us like a raging river, bursting with hope and possibility.
But then, there are times, like this last year, where each day can feel like a struggle- where I have wondered how it would unfold and whether it would eventually be alright. Like many of you and many across this country, this year has been extremely difficult. There have been more occasions than I can count, where Jeremy and I have sat in prayer at the dinner table, wondering how we would make it financially or what the next months would hold. And we are certainly not alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in this country has reached 9.8 percent. And in some places this rate is much higher. And many of you have shared with me how this recession has found its way through your doors. You have neighbors, friends and children who are unemployed or underemployed. You have had to lay off employees or have seen your colleagues put on forced furloughs. Your pensions have been dramatically reduced and the value of your homes has fallen. Most of us, have in some way, been touched by this financial crisis. And it is in times like these that our faith can seem fleeting or difficult. Faith in God or faith of any kind, faith that God will provide what we need in times like these, can feel like nothing more than a whimsical idea thought up by a group of lunatics with nothing better to do.
And that might be exactly the kinds of complaints we could lobby against those who comprised the early Christian church. Based on what we know from the Bible, primarily from the Book of Acts, which is where we find the most information about the early church, this small group of people kept moving forward in faith. They moved forward in faith when they had few resources and were not taken seriously. They moved forward in faith when they had not idea what they were supposed to do. They moved forward in faith when they appeared to be nothing more than group of odd balls with a wild message of love.
Now remember, they assumed that when Jesus told them, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” they thought he meant that the world they knew would end fairly quickly and some other kind of world, a Kingdom different from the one they already knew would be born. They also thought that Jesus would return to them in the flesh and would be able to offer them guidance. Now they weren’t entirely wrong. In fact, Jesus did want another kind of world to be born and he did want to offer them guidance, but he knew he wouldn’t be around to bring what he talked about to life. It would be up to them and the work of the Spirit to continue to bring to life the Kingdom about which Jesus preached.
In the very first chapter of the Book of Acts, we read that whenever they gathered they would try to figure out when everything would go back to normal and the book includes their constant question to Jesus. We read, “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”” In other words, stop asking questions for which there are no answers and get to the work to which I have called you. You have what you need to do what I have asked, you cannot know what is ahead, so don’t even try to figure it out, trust me.
It was so much easier when Jesus was there and large crowds were gathering. It was so much easier when the wine flowed and the bread was abundant and Jesus was around to answer their questions. It is easy to praise God when doors just seem to open right in front of us and the carpet is rolled out as if there is not a care in the world. Faith in God in times like these, feels like breathing, it just comes, rolling through us like a raging river, bursting with hope and possibility.
But then things changed and life got hard. Jesus’ followers started to bicker and to worry about where the money would come for them to continue. In the first chapters of Acts we can tell that they are frustrated and sometimes even angry. They begin to flounder and if we didn’t know how the story ended, we might read this and assume that the next chapter would be the final one. But, slowly, they began to add to their group and to select some more leaders among them to share their work. We read, “21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.” And the next thing we read is the story of Pentecost. Now I know that all of us have experienced Pentecost. It is that frustrating church experience where someone is talking on and on and you are thinking to yourself, “I have no idea what the heck she is saying.” But then something changes, the Spirit arrives and another person speaks or the room goes silent and we remember that we are never alone. Jesus’ followers stop and remember what he told them. They remember that with God nothing is impossible, that with God we will have what we need, with God, there will always be a way out of no way.
And there are times in this past year where I have felt as if we are something like the early Church. There have been times when we didn’t understand each other, times when we were frustrated and confused, times when we wanted Jesus to stand right in front of us and tell us exactly how to move forward. There were times when we wanted to be scared, times when we had no idea how we would have enough. Like them, we have a vision, but not a clear road map for how to make it come alive.
But after all of the confusion and frustration and unknowns, the Book of Acts tells us, that something changed for Jesus’ followers. We read, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. We read that, “Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”
And I wonder why? What happened to them? What happened to the early followers that they moved from being frustrated and confused to being at peace with the unknown? What happened to the early followers that they were no longer afraid? What happened to them that turned their hearts to faith? What happened to them that they were willing to sell what they had, stop worrying and invest in the mission before them? They could have continued to be afraid and to wonder if there would be enough. They could have continued to doubt what Jesus said and failed to genuinely believe that they were on a mission from God. They could have left faith behind and there would be no more stories to tell, no books to follow, no message to live on, no church to be born to share the message of Jesus Christ.
Faith in God or faith of any kind, faith that God will provide what we need in times like these, can feel like nothing more than a whimsical idea thought up by a group of lunatics with nothing better to do… But then it wouldn’t be faith. Faith in God, it seems to me, grows the deepest roots and the thickest trunk and the fullest core in times like these. Faith unfolds like fireworks when we feel like we have nowhere else to turn and somehow there is enough. Faith grows like a blade of green poking through a crack in a rock because there is no way out but with God.
And if we want to grow in faith, if we want to grow this home that God is building all around us, if we want to decide like the early church that the mission we are on is literally from God, then now is the time. This is the moment, the day, the season to look deep within our hearts to ask whether we believe God will provide what we need.
In this past year, as banks have crumbled and businesses have folded and schools have closed, I have stopped on many occasions to stare at our sweet church. I have come into this quiet sanctuary or stood in the village green in awe that even as it feels that the world around us is not on solid ground, the home we have here, the home we have in God is unshakable. Like many of you, my family’s financial situation is fraught with uncertainty, but this place, this church, this home is so essential, so worth building and growing that it is worth giving to, even when fear is far easier than faith. I believe that even when it feels like everything is falling apart, I want my church to be standing. I want this home to be here, with doors open, offering a refuge for each and every person. So this year, with our arms out and our heart aiming to be grounded in this spiritual home, Jeremy and I are pledging 6.5% of my income, which is $2210. Our life is filled with uncertainties and unknowns. We have student loans and car payments. We have questions and doubts and yet these are the very times, the very moments when we are invited to let go and to let our faith grow wings.
That seems to be the thing about faith. It doesn’t come when life is easy, when it feels as simple as breathing, or as reliable as a raging river that rolls on. Faith seems to come, when there is little left to give and it feels like our world is falling down and we remember that the only real home, the only eternal home, the most worthwhile investment we can make is in the home we find in God. Amen.