Acts 4:32-35br...
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Acts 4:32-35
Today's reading in Acts sounds like a wonderful dream, and at the same time it sounds like what was once America's worst fear: communism. Living in harmony, none poor or rich, all in equality -- living in communion with one another. We share communion with one another Sunday mornings. Why wouldn't it work to live in communion, as well? It's a beautiful dream, but not all dreams translate well in reality. We could begin a commune together, but would that further God's plan for us? We can shut ourselves away from the world to live in harmony, but the rest of the world doesn't go away. We should be out there, in the chaos, working to bring harmony to those around us. Our church is our commune, and we reside in the love and equality there for a few hours each week to recharge for another week of making harmony with those around us in our chaotic world.
Acts 4:32-35
The senior high youth group was at its beach retreat. So far the study on the book of Acts had been flat. The staff attempted not only to study the book but to help the students experience the shared faith and communal life of the early church.
The stickler had been private property. The youth thought of their possessions as their own. If someone else were to get something of theirs, it was because the owner would give it in friendship or charity. They were confused by Acts and they didn't know of communal movements in Christian groups around the world. They also suffered from the illusion of the young that they were immortal. A crack in their thinking, exploited later in the evening by their pastor, occurred when they saw a seagull flopping and using all its strength to carry away a styrofoam cup. "There," the pastor said, "is what we humans look like when we cling to our possessions."
Acts 4:32-35
In ancient times extended families shared what few earthly goods they owned in order to survive. Possessions held in common within extended families was practiced all over the known world at that time. The followers of Jesus found themselves without blood kin, but became the family of God now, continuing to share in common within this new family as they always had at home in earlier times.
This arrangement threatens our middle-class, individualistic, capitalist lifestyles, but we must remember that this early church believed that Christ would return in glory during their lifetimes. There was no need for them to plan for a future on earth, with property and possessions.
This new family of God shared a common cause and a common devotion to Jesus as Messiah. They ate together and supported each other in various occupations, mostly as day laborers. The more we learn about ancient cultures and world views, the better we can understand the enormous gap that exists between us and the earliest followers of Jesus.
1 John 1:1--2:2
In 1862, Julia Ward Howe wrote the words of the beloved "Battle Hymn Of The Republic." She wrote them in the darkest days of the Civil War, when it seemed that all hope for our nation's unity was sputtering out like a spent candle.
Julia Howe looked out one evening over an encampment of Union soldiers. As the grim and gritty life of the army camp was swallowed by the gathering night, she thought of what the war meant. For the soldiers, it was an unremitting struggle of mud-slogging persistence -- of trench warfare, of short rations, of shocking injuries from artillery shells. More men died in the Civil War of disease and of gangrenous wounds than ever died on a battlefield.
Yet, Howe was an ardent abolitionist. She thought also of the meaning of the war for the African slaves. For them, this struggle meant freedom. For them, the sacrifices of the battlefield were not in vain. Suddenly, as the campfires flickered into life, Howe saw the camp transformed into a starry firmament, the lesser lights of the campfires pointing the way to a greater light.
For her, that greater light was Jesus Christ: "I have seen him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps."
1 John 1:1--2:2
Theresa Logan is a comedian who travels and performs all across the United States. She says she loves to make people laugh. Theresa also discovered opportunities to talk with others and develop friendships while on the road. She never announced that she was a Christian, people nonetheless are drawn to her, they will wait until they are alone and then ask Theresa to pray for them. "I am going through a really hard time would you pray for me?" they ask. Her friends will not tell anyone else about their struggles and problems but open up to Theresa. Theresa welcomes the opportunity to pray with her friends and talk about Jesus Christ.
The apostle John penned these words, "We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ."
1 John 1:1--2:2
Jason was spending his first night outside of the city. He accompanied his friend, Francis, to their cabin in northern Minnesota. The boys would sleep in the tent behind the cabin. At first everything was fine; the porch light was on which provided light through the thin nylon tent. But when Francis' parents went to bed, they turned off the light. For the first time in his life, Jason experienced total darkness, and he didn't like it one bit. He nudged Francis. "It's dark."
"Yes, I know," was Francis' reply as he rolled over to go back to sleep.
"Aren't you afraid of no light?" Jason persisted.
"There is light," Francis said. He sat up and unzipped the little window in the side of the tent. "Look." There were flashes of light all over the yard, lightning bugs.
The boys laid on their stomachs watching the lightning bugs until they fell asleep.
God is light. Not little lights like lightning bugs, but light in which there is no darkness at all. It is really hard to imagine.
John 20:19-31
We always draw a solid lesson from Thomas' doubt: Believe even if you haven't seen. But there's something a bit bothersome about this passage. When Jesus appears to Thomas, we tend to imagine all the other apostles standing around and looking smug. "Silly Thomas," we imagine their thought bubbles. "Don't you know better than to doubt Jesus?" But hold the phone! The other apostles believed because they had seen Jesus. Everyone except Thomas got to see their risen Lord. None of the other apostles were proclaiming Christ alive based on blind faith; they had all seen him. What would have happened if Jesus had appeared only to Thomas and left it to him to spread the news? Would the others have believed?
John 20:19-31
On this first Easter evening the doors aren't just shut. They're locked. Yet, "Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' " That's how Jesus deals with locked doors. Perhaps this is why Jesus, who tried many ways during his earthly ministry to explain who he was, called himself "the door."
In the Middle Ages the Carpenters' Guild chose as its motto "I am the door." They then turned a construction necessity into a religious virtue. They fashioned doors whose upper and lower panels created crosses on the doors they built.
Look in your home at your doors. Many still follow this pattern. You can think of Jesus' cross every time you open a door. Think of Jesus' cross as an open door. No matter your difficult circumstances, remember: Jesus even arrives through closed doors.
John 20:19-31
Anxiety is prevalent in our world today, and the church is certainly not immune to worldly concerns. The disciples were not strangers to fear and anxiety either. They are huddled behind shuttered windows and barred doors, wondering what will happen to them next. Worry and confusion during the last three days have taken their toll.
Then Jesus calmly appears to the disciples. He speaks words of assurance: "Peace be with you." He then repeats himself to be sure they understand. God is full of surprises, coming to us when we least expect it. God has a way of meeting us where we are.
A week later the disciples gather again. Thomas, previously absent, has joined them and demands proof. Unless he can see and touch the nail prints and wound, he will not believe. Jesus comes to Thomas where he is with his doubts and makes a believer out of him. The story of Thomas encourages us to be honest with God and with ourselves when we have doubts. God's peace will sustain us through it all.
