Sermons In Time

Gathered - In My Name

Acts 2: 43-47

During the past few weeks all of us have witnessed Community in some startling ways. Just a few weeks ago, two young men, who saw themselves as "outsiders" took their vengeance out on fellow students, killing 15 persons, including themselves. On the other hand, in the midst of the most harrowing tornado of this decade, people ravished by the carnage of the wind came together to give support and care, literally feeding those with out food, clothing those who were naked, and providing housing and medical support in the time of tragedy.

Both are stories of community: one the almost total absence of communion with others, and the other giving witness to the strength of the human spirit to "Come through" when times are tough.

In the early chapters of Acts we have the story of the birth of the Community of Faith. Fifty days following the resurrection, not knowing what else to do in the face of the startling loss of their Lord, and the soul stirring command to "wait" for the outpouring of the Spirit, it happened: These few persons who had denied, lied, puzzled, wondered, abandoned, and finally, in total frustration went back to doing what they had always done, now emerged a new people. They were gathered as one in an upper room, seeking whatever gift God had in store for them. And the gift was given: They were filled with power. It was the power of a new life within. It was the power of unity with one another. It was a bearing of witness to the most life transforming reality the world has ever known.

It was the birth of the Christian Community. And today, we still commune with that Spirit among us.

Compare for a moment another time "in history:" In the earliest stories of the Old Testament, those which in their own way explain the phenomenons of life around them, there is one which tells the story of the differences in language.

There were a people (in Babylon? ) who would be "as Gods," and they built a tower so high it was going to reach the throne of the Gods, and they would then receive "God power," and each one wanted to be "King of the Mountain." (Remember when you played the game?)

The story goes that God looked down from His throne in the Sky and admonished the presumption and the idolatry of such action. God placed a curse on those who built such a tower for themselves, and made it impossible for those who gathered to understand anything each other was saying. They literally were "babbling" to one another, and the term has stuck.. Those who cannot communicate merely "babel" without understanding.

Not so, Pentecost! Here the opposite takes place. Those who gathered "Of one accord" waited, listened, and finally received that Spirit which made it possible for them to understand and be understood by not only one another, but also by all those who were so gathered, regardless of where they may have come from to be there.

It is a marvelous story of community. Let us examine it more fully.

1. First, they all understood in their own language. That is no small feat. However, there was a song I once heard which applies: "You don't have to know the language with a girl in your arms." The implication is self evident. But it does not end there. Today, in our world of unhappy differences, there is a crying need for people to hear and understand.

I was reading a Newscope communique the other day, and it said the average age of some places in Africa (Zimbabwe) is 15 years. Aids has decimated an entire generation of adults, and the children are now in jeopardy. Their appeal to us was to hear their cry of despair. So also people in the Balkans, but perhaps, so also the people of NATO, who remember WW2, and the fact it began in this very area.

Hearing more than babbling is listening with the mind and heart, and with the whole being. It is almost a truism today, but often, when the interaction is most appropriate, and there is community, persons whose language may be quite different from each other are included in fellowship. They, hear, and are heard,"in their own language." Last week one of our friends from the 1950's died of cancer. In 1954 she began a program in Burns, Kansas, where students from Kansas University who were from other countries were invited to homes in Burns for Thanksgiving. New friendships, new understandings of American life, and a glorious fellowship in Christian homes became a community tradition. Students "heard" about America in a new way. The Burns community "heard" persons from another place - often "far away places with strange sounding names - and understood the dreams, hopes, abilities, these persons had. Not only appreciation, but lasting friendship was the result of the "hearing one another."

2. Second, there was a sharing of all they had with one another. I never read this passage without remembering the hundreds of "pot - luck dinners" I have attended through the years of ministry. It always amazes me how people can gather, and there is more than enough, with a rich variety of menu for all. (We had one exception to the variety once. A group of elderly ladies gathered, and every one of them brought a home made pie. Not a variety, but delicious!)

Interestingly, for us, today, "having enough" is an interesting issue. Perhaps our world is caught with a Midas Touch. It is so easy to assume there might not be enough. Yet, when we consider those who have just gone through the tornado, or have just been expulsed from Kosova, who now literally have nothing, (and the way it is going, the same may soon be true for Yugoslavia) having nothing is also true for many in places like Africa, India, etc. It becomes a world issue of sharing that which we do have.

One aspect of this story from Pentecost is the healing of the lame man. Peter speaks for the group when he says to the man, "Silver and Gold have I none, but what I have I give you." Sharing the spirit they had with the lame, lets him also have the spirit within and makes him whole.

"Having" has an interesting perspective. Those whose homes survived, just next door to those who lost theirs may have felt very fortunate, even spared. But there was undoubtedly the awareness that to have been spared had serious consequences. It was not enough to feel fortunate. It also became important to share what one did have with those who lost. "Pitching in and helping" was for those who lost. It was also for those who still had. Those of us who have - skills, resources, survivings, have a great need to share for our own soul's sake.

Years ago I saw "The Pawnbroker" with Rod Steiger. The pawnbroker had survived the holocaust in Germany and come to America. His business was small, but successful, but there was a continuing pain throughout the story. The pain was the guilt he felt within himself for having survived when so many did not. In the "window" where he dealt with customers, there was a spindle for notes. Finally, the pain within became so unbearable the pawnbroker literally drove his hand through the spindle in order to shift the pain from his soul to his body. We may think we can be OK, even rejoicing, or smug, about a favored place, but the need to share "what we have" will not go away. And the true rejoicing is in the forgiveness, the renewal which we all have in such an experience of sharing.

I remember so well living in the 1930's when we had "so little" - actually, never enough. But we never "felt poor" because everyone else was in the same boat.

3. Which brings us to a third reality in the story. They were bound together in a fellowship of Christian love. Those in the storms, those in Macedonia, those from Kosova, now have nothing, but what they have, they have in common. It may well be there is more than a lesson in sharing involved. Those two who killed in Littleton "had" - that is, were middle class - yet, they did not have. They were two who had no fellowship around a table. They did not share the food of the spirit.

Remember Paducah? The young man who shot the praying group was outside the circle. Could he have been included? He was one who did not have - but it was this other kind of having. Where are the friends, those who understood differences, and were not put off by those differences.

How sad there was not "room" in the prayer circle for the outsider. In Colorado, where I will be this summer, at the close of the service the congregation gathers in a closing circle for prayer. There is always a break in the circle. It is to signify those who are not there today. It is also for those who may yet be made a part of the circle. The prayer is for inclusiveness, openness, and acceptance of all. How important that is!

Fellowship is never complete when it is a narrow clique. Christian Love is never wholesome love when it is able to say, "Lord, I thank you I am not like these other people." Our society is no longer a homogeneous society. We probably never were. America has been a melting pot, but there have always been those who were "different." That difference is no longer appropriate when it puts people in groups as "outsiders."

Bishop Tutu, from South Africa, speaking to the college of Bishops, said "I don't think we realize the dynamite in this God who sides with the powerless. This is the God we are meant to be like. We are to care about God's people ..those pushed to the edge, not in the center of life, the voiceless, those without power and without clout." He reminded the group that Joseph didn't have enough clout to get a room in the Inn! Jesus sat at table with prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners. That is where Jesus would be today In the family of God there are no boundries.

One of my favorite bits of doggerel is "He drew a circle which cut me out, Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout, But love and I had the wit to win, We drew a circle which took him in." Ours is a time of cultural cosmopolitism. The lack of melting in the pot is making it more and more a reality that it is not a "White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, Mecca." Nor should it be! The day of Pentecost was a day of rejoicing in a common humanity. Is it any wonder the Church spread like wild-fire? It was an inclusive, caring, accepting, rejoicing fellowship of like minded and like spirited persons. All of whom understood that drawing close to God made the circle wider, more inclusive, and fellowship richer for all

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