Shouldn’t the Spirit move? A sermon of Acts
What’s more ridiculous:
Getting up here in the middle of the service,
Participating in silly dancing,
Expressing how awesome celebrating baptism,
And what that means for us
Actively living out our faith
Or
Claiming a moniker about faith,
And never doing anything to celebrate,
The bond that the Creator freely gives to us
And Christ died, challenging death for us
Thinking that Jesus Christ is our individualistic Savior,
Instead a Savior
Who loved,
Healed
And
Embraced
All!
(pause)
Grace and peace to you,
My sisters and brothers in Christ
Christ has transformed the cross
So we could have abundant life!
So that we wouldn’t have to be fearful
So what are we waiting for?
CHRIST HAS RISEN!
LET’S GO!
Amen.
(pause)
Throughout the week,
As I am sermonizing,
I routinely blast music
Inviting in the Holy Spirit,
And so, this Mary Mary’s song,
Is one of my favorites.
But I feel,
In these days and times
It is a battle cry.
Because we are the only thing
Physically,
Keeping the community of faith together.
We,
The Body of Christ
Need to truly be present and visible
For the rest of this broken world
(pause)
These verses
Here in Acts this morning,
Are the reactions
That these long-suffering people
Felt within their very being
Because of the baptism
The immersion of the Holy Spirit
That happened
In that room.
Remember the beginning of Acts 2?
These people,
From all different expressions of culture
And
Of language
Gathered in one place,
Lamenting
Praying
Just as we
Gather in this place
Lamenting
Praying
Hoping
For SOMETHING
And suddenly,
This spark,
This FIRE
“All were amazed and perplexed,
saying to one another,
What does this mean?”
(pause)
What does it mean,
That Jesus Christ
Has been
Resurrected?
What happens,
When this resurrection,
Weaves into our lives
Our communities
And has the power
To make
A tangible impact?
(pause)
We are continuing to celebrate Easter,
Not only this realization
Of the Resurrection
In our lives,
But this reshaping of our communal life together
Renewal of our strength
Our witness
So then,
As I repeatedly say all the time,
Because of our Baptism,
Through Water and Word
Through Holy Spirit FIRE
We can’t help but,
Go out
Get up
Live our FAITH!
(pause)
Maybe Jesus meant what He said
(pause)
Shane Claiborne,
Has been leading the Simple Way movement
In Philly,
For a number of years now.
Shane, and others
Have been dedicated
To teaching,
Community,
Sharing of bread
And of prayer
In Shane’s own words it’s described as
We have prayer each morning (at 8am). Then we dive into days that are filled with things like hanging with friends in the neighborhood or folks living on the streets, helping kids with homework, and helping folks get to appointments. We’ve got some lovely gardens and a little neighborhood thrift store. Most of us work jobs part-time and that frees us up to do other stuff we don’t get paid to do, but love. Activities and programs change from time to time, but we share food with lots of families, and try to be good neighbors. We have dinners together each week, and we have a Sabbath one day each week where everything rests.
(pause)
Teaching, community, sharing of bread, prayer.
Embedded in these words of Acts,
Should be rooted in our lives.
(pause)
And this community too,
Is dedicated to the injustices that seemingly refuse to go away,
Because of unfortunately
Human greed, apathy, ignorance, unbelief.
I share this example of intentional community,
Because we as people of faith,
Must re-think
Our commitment
And our connection
To the wider definition
Of Church!
What memories in your faith,
Connect you,
Move you,
To want to teach,
Be a part of community
Share of your food,
Pray for others?
(pause)
What connects me,
To my call and purpose
Are the places that I have served
The communities that have enveloped me
And the roots that have been planted
What connects me
To my responsibilities of stewardship.
Of my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ
Is remembering my Baptism
With the community of my Seminary
Walking through that Baptismal pool
Equipping, Sending people out,
To live abundant, grace filled lives
If Christ says to us
That He comes so that they,
And us beloved
Can have ABUNDANT LIFE
Why are we not MOVED TO DO SO?
Why is this not the focus for the wider Church today?
(pause)
I say all this because,
We, as people of faith
Must live into this reality of intentional community,
This Acts passage is not a metaphor
Or an abstract historical example,
We claim to be followers of Christ,
And Christ has left us work to do-
Which is clearly spelled out right here!
Our lives today are at stake,
Our health and well-being is in danger
Access to health and wellness care is being stripped from us
The ability of living that abundant live is being stripped from us
We, who are the least of these
Those who struggle economically
Those who struggle with illnesses
Those who struggle with age
If we come to Church,
Week after week
And experience the Table
And remember our Baptism
And we leave this place
And don’t feel anything,
Except that we fulfilled a duty?
Then we are NOT FOLLOWING CHRIST.
Church,
Is not about the brick and mortar
Church,
Is the physical body of Christ
Baptism,
Should move you
To live out Faith
Because it is not just
Water
Word
It is an ACT OF LOVE
The Holy Spirit,
Is not as gentle as a dove
SHE
Has no chill
Will set you on fire
Push you off the nearest proverbial cliff
Shaking you to your bones,
Telling you
YOU ARE LOVED!
So SHARE THAT LOVE
With someone else.
If Christ comes,
To give us life,
And live it abundantly
What are we waiting for?!
Why aren’t we?
And that doesn’t mean
Wealth, riches and prestige
Living an abundant life means,
Not separating this,
Our relationship with God
With the relationships, we should be committed to each other.
That is the Good News.
The Good news that
The Creator wants us, as people of God
To have this gift of abundant life
So the Creator gave us Jesus
And it is Jesus that gives us this purpose
Wrapped in a love that surpasses all understanding
Which moves our spirit
To teach others about God’s Love
To build community with whomever comes through our doors
To share of our resources, so no one is left behind
And to Pray without ceasing,
Pray that the Holy Spirit will indeed, push us out of our comfort zones
And we GET UP!
Thanks Be to God.
l
