Striving Towards the Ideal

 

Rev. Moira Finley

Trinity United Church of Christ and St. John’s United Church of Christ

17 April 2005

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Acts 2.42-47

 

If you look around the world at churches and try to make a diagram of how the church should be organized you’ll soon be more than a little confused.  Some churches have deacons, presbyters, elders, bishops, cardinals, and the Roman Catholic church even appoints one person as supreme pontiff, or pope.  Other traditions have no one leadership structure and allow each church to find the way to organize themselves that fits their context best.  Some, like the U.C.C., find a balance in-between.  We have some structure within the denomination at large with association and conference ministers and staff at our headquarters in Cleveland, but we allow each local congregation to create their own organization.

 

For all that confusion, you would think that turning to the scriptures would be a good way to decide, once and for all, how the church should be organized.  But in all of the New Testament there are amazingly few details about what life was like in the early church.  There are a few references in the letters, 1^st and 2^nd Timothy and Titus, those we often called the “pastoral epistles.”  They give us a few ideas and include the recommendation that churches should call bishops and elders to help with their life and ministry.  If we scour the rest of the letters we can get a few details, but there aren’t any clear instructions about the “right” way to organize a church.

 

What we do have, instead, is a few pictures about what life was like in the early church, what they did, how they spent their time together.  In the weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, the early church gathered filled with the awe and wonder what they had seen and experienced.  They lived as Easter people, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit.

 

This morning’s scripture from Acts tells us some of the things that they early church did when they got together.  Reading the scripture is kind of like opening the pages of a family photo album, looking back at the people who shaped us.  We get to see what they were like, what they spent their time doing, how they lived their lives.  Acts tells us that the gathered faithful dedicated themselves to studying the apostles’ teaching, to sharing together in fellowship and the breaking of bread.  They spent time in worship and prayer, they pooled their resources to help anyone in need, and everything that they did they did with glad and generous hearts.

 

They lived in community with one another, sharing not just in worship once a week, but every day, eating together, living and working side by side.  They shared their resources and gave whatever they could to those around them who were struggling.  It sounds very simple.  The scriptures record no conflict, at least in the very earliest of days, among the believers.  There were no squabbles over carpet colors, hymnal choices, or any of the other things that so often divide our churches today.  It seems so simple.  If we do those things – worship study, pray, share in fellowship, dispense charity and celebrate – then our church will be the way Christ first envisioned it.

 

Alas, it isn’t so simple.  The vision of the Acts is just that, a vision.  It’s an ideal we strive for, something we hope that we can grow towards.  The church of Acts is a goal, but it is one that we will likely never achieve.  We live on this side of the kingdom of God.  We are each of us created in God’s image, full of beauty and God’s glory, and at the same time full of flaws, challenges and difficulties.  Even with God’s incredible grace and mercy we will never be able to live into the fullness of the vision, to live completely the way the scripture describes the church.

 

Even the early church didn’t manage that vision for very long.  A few months after our reading they will begin to argue and eventually will divide their ministries and resources because they simply can’t agree.  We’re all human and we will never achieve the perfection of that very first early church.  But, even if we can’t achieve it completely, we should still keep it in front of us as our goal, the way we want our church to be.  This morning I want us to explore that vision.  How are we already doing the things that the early church did?  How can our church grow and challenge itself to more fully embrace the ideal?

 

First the early church engaged in regular worship, study and prayer.  They got together a lot to remind themselves that God is at the center of everything they do.  Most likely they went to worship everyday, singing songs and reading scripture.  They spent time remembering all the things God had done for them, the many blessings God had showered on them, the miracles that God had done in their lives.

 

They studied the scriptures, the stories of God’s presence in people’s lives, the times when God saw the faithful through great difficulties.  They studied the stories of Jesus’ life and ministry, the things he taught, the way he lived, the parables he told about how a faithful person should live.  They searched the scriptures to find ways to change their lives, to more closely conform themselves to the way Jesus asked them to live.

 

And they prayed.  They lifted up the concerns they saw around them, in their own lives, in their neighborhood, and in the life of the world around them.  They prayed for their growing community of faith, for strength and perseverance.  And they prayed in celebration, bringing to God all the good things that were happening, the hope they had in their hearts because of all Jesus had done, the people who were joining them and believing in the truth of Jesus’ message.

 

We are wonderful at doing all those things.  Our worship attendance is growing, but more importantly than that, more important than numbers, is that the people who are here – that’s all of you – are bringing yourselves fully and enthusiastically to worship.  Sunday morning we might not fill the pews completely, but the folks that are here are interested and excited about being in church, about worshiping together, about praising God.  And we study together.  Some of us gather for Bible study each week.  I know that lots of you read the scriptures every day.

 

Many people take the devotional booklets home and read them faithfully.  We learn together in worship, exploring new ideas and ways to understand our faith.  And we pray together.  When someone is in need, has a health concern, has a difficulty in their lives, we join our hearts and minds and lift up their concerns to God.  We pray for those we know as a community, those we know as individuals, and people whose names we will never know because they live on the other side of the world.

 

But we could be doing more.  We could all be inviting a friend to join us for worship.  We could offer a ride to church to someone who has trouble getting out.  We could all be reading the scriptures for Sunday in advance, thinking about what they say to us, how they influence our life and faith.  We could grow our Bible study, coming on Tuesday evening or Thursday morning, to talk together about the scriptures and what they mean for us.  We can grow into a church overcome with the enthusiasm and power of the Holy Spirit.  We can grow our prayer lives as well.  We’re very good at lifting up the concerns of our hearts, but we can lift up the joys as well, the events and moments when we knew God was with us, the good things that happen, no matter how small.  We will grow even closer to the model of the church by strengthening our worship, study and prayer life.

 

Then the early church shared in the breaking of bread and in fellowship together.  They followed Jesus’ instructions to break bread and share cup together in remembrance of all the things he had done during his life.  They took communion together, emulating the actions Jesus took on that last night of his life, sharing a common cup and eating from a common loaf of bread.  They regularly gathered together for other meals, eating together, sharing the news and events of their lives as they passed dishes to one another.  They shared time together by sharing meals, gathering for breakfast while they planned their day, for lunch as they worked together, or dinner as they looked back over day’s events.  At every opportunity they ate together, building community at the table.

 

We also do this very well.  We gather together at Christ’s table, sharing in bread and cup, remembering all that Jesus taught and did, celebrating his life, death and resurrection.  And we share together in other meals too.  Many of you have invited me into your homes for meals, and I suspect you have each other over as well.

 

But we could do better.  There are those in our community of faith who have difficulty getting to church on the first Sunday of the month.  Their work or personal schedules don’t allow them to be present with us then.  We could add to our communion schedule, making the sacrament available more often so that more of our members can share together at Christ’s table.  We could have more meals together as a church.  We could each call up someone from the church and take them out to coffee just because it’s Tuesday and we’re part of the church community.  We could take a meal to someone’s house, or invite them into our house, to share our lives and break bread together.

 

Finally, the early church committed themselves to dispensing charity.  They pooled their resources, combining all they had, and giving to anyone who had need.  They gave to the widows and orphans in their community.  They gave to people who were having trouble making ends meet.  They gave to people who had lost their jobs, or had an accident, or who had a new baby in the family.  Anyone who came to the early church and asked for help received.  They didn’t judge the need based on what the person looked like, how they were dressed, where they lived, what color their skin was, or who they were living with.  They simply gave, generously and enthusiastically.

 

We do that as well.  We give to the food pantry, providing for those whose cupboards are bare.  We give generously to the UCC’s special offerings – to Neighbors in Need, One Great Hour of Sharing, Strengthen the Church, and the Christmas Fund – so that we can support the work of our denomination in the US and around the world.  We’re collecting pennies to support programs that bring peace, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas we provide for programs that help those who would otherwise not be able to celebrate.  And individually we each give to other charities, trying to make the world a better place and improve the quality of life for all of God’s children.

 

But we could do better.  We could give to the food pantry every week, not just on the first Sunday of the month.  Every time we go to the grocery we could buy something that the pantry could use.  We could go and work at the food pantry, or the domestic abuse shelter, or even the animal humane, helping out with our time as well as our resources.  We could set a goal of helping the Heifer Project with an ark full of animals to send around the world to build people develop sustainable farms.  We could explore ways to support peacemaking efforts here in our own towns, and throughout the world, so that all God’s people might know what it’s like to live in safety and peace.

 

The New Testament sets before us an ideal, a way of being together as Christ’s disciples.  It invites us to gather in worship, prayer and study.  It asks us to share in communion and table fellowship.  And it challenges us to give generously to all in need.  It is the goal we aim for every time we gather together.  Until the fullness of the kingdom comes, we will never be able to meet that goal completely.  But we must try.  We must work together to strengthen our worship, prayer and study lives, constantly asking ourselves if we’re inviting everyone we can to share with us, if we’re committing as individuals and as a community to learning about our faith, and if we’re lifting up the concerns and joys of our hearts to God at all times.  We must share together at Christ’s table, celebrating communion as often as we can, remembering in that meal the boundless grace that God offers us all.  We must take part in other meals together, sharing with one another the events of our lives, building relationships of mutual support and encouragement.  And we must give from our time, our resources and our talents to those who are in need, giving generously to all who are in need, both here and at home.  When we keep the vision of Acts in front of us, when we strive for that goal, we come closer every day to being the church that Christ envisioned, and in that we can all rejoice.  Amen.