In The Beginning
Sermon
Some years ago, a church decided to reach out to families by offering a Sunday morning service in the local primary school instead of in the church. The service would still be part of the church, but would offer slightly different worship in that the songs and hymns would all be modern and the prayers couched in simple language, easily understood by the children present. Instead of a sermon, the children would be divided into age groups, with some activity or handwork aimed at that particular age group, while the adults would conduct their own Bible study.
The venture was a great success. Lots of new families came to worship and most of them stayed. Under skilled leadership by trained lay people, the adults began to relate the bible reading of the day to their own lives and there was noticeable spiritual growth. The atmosphere was welcoming and non-threatening and real friendships were made.
There was just one problem. Because all the families were now meeting in the school, the service in church was bereft of the few children who had attended with their parents. And although plenty of adults had complained about the noise the children made during services, when there weren't any children the remaining adults suddenly discovered that they missed the youngsters. Something intangible had disappeared from their service, which subsequently began to diminish in size.
Meanwhile the service in the school grew and flourished, until roles became reversed and the service in the school gradually became the biggest service of the day. That produced a whole new set of problems for the church, problems which they had not foreseen.
In the end, when the leader of the new service moved on to pastures new, the Rector closed the service in the school and tried to reopen it in a modified way in the church. But it couldn't work in the same way as part of a traditional Sunday service and the new families soon drifted away.
When we look back now at the earliest days of Christianity, we see an idyllic scene which is spelt out for us by Luke in today's reading from Acts. "Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles," says Luke. "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."
Many Christians may look back at those exciting and spirit-filled days and wonder what has gone wrong with the Church since then. We don't know how long the idyll lasted, but actually, even in those first days the seeds of discontent and trouble were already present. A little later in Acts we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who in accordance with the teachings of the early church, sold a piece of land in order to give the proceeds to help the poor in the congregation. But Ananias and Sapphira kept back some of the proceeds for themselves whilst pretending that they had given everything, with disastrous results (Acts 5:1-11).
So even at the very beginning of the Church, things may not have been quite as perfect as they seemed. At this stage, Christianity was still a part of Judaism. There was no thought of any division into separate religions, although there may have been the beginnings of a separation into a different sect of Judaism. The real split came later, when gentiles were freely admitted to the church and there was a huge row over whether or not a demand for these gentiles to be circumcised would be upheld by the Jewish community. It was not upheld, with the result that the Christian church separated from Judaism and grew enormously amongst gentiles outside Israel, but the Jewish Christians gradually faded and eventually disappeared. Christianity became a gentile religion based on the Old Testament and Judaism.
In the beginning new things are often hugely successful and exciting, but after a while when the excitement and the novelty fade, discord and arguments tend to surface and the venture either swings into a new phase or collapses.
When God is involved through God's Holy Spirit, the venture continues to be a success and is able to grow and to adapt to changing circumstances, just as happened in the early church. But if the Holy Spirit is stifled through those who cannot adapt to changing circumstances, then the venture is likely to die. If those who wanted circumcision for all new converts in the early Church had won the day, it's very unlikely that we would have Christianity today.
In that parish church which started the new outreach service in the school, the outreach died because the church was unable to look creatively beyond the tradition it had always known. As soon as the new service returned fully to the old tradition, it was effectively smothered and the outreach died.
Tradition is good and is our backbone. Tradition is tried and tested and it works, for God formed our tradition through his Spirit. But tradition which is unwavering in the face of a rapidly changing world, perhaps dooms the Church to petrification and museum status.
If we want to regain the excitement and wonders of the early days of Christianity, we need to allow God's Spirit room to manoeuvre. We cannot keep trying to pour new wine into old bottles or trying to sew new, unshrunk cloth onto an old garment. We need to have the courage to follow God's new initiatives in new ways, so that we too can enjoy new beginnings and perhaps witness a new Christian understanding in our nation and in our world.
Then we too, will experience the idyll of eternal life here on earth.
The venture was a great success. Lots of new families came to worship and most of them stayed. Under skilled leadership by trained lay people, the adults began to relate the bible reading of the day to their own lives and there was noticeable spiritual growth. The atmosphere was welcoming and non-threatening and real friendships were made.
There was just one problem. Because all the families were now meeting in the school, the service in church was bereft of the few children who had attended with their parents. And although plenty of adults had complained about the noise the children made during services, when there weren't any children the remaining adults suddenly discovered that they missed the youngsters. Something intangible had disappeared from their service, which subsequently began to diminish in size.
Meanwhile the service in the school grew and flourished, until roles became reversed and the service in the school gradually became the biggest service of the day. That produced a whole new set of problems for the church, problems which they had not foreseen.
In the end, when the leader of the new service moved on to pastures new, the Rector closed the service in the school and tried to reopen it in a modified way in the church. But it couldn't work in the same way as part of a traditional Sunday service and the new families soon drifted away.
When we look back now at the earliest days of Christianity, we see an idyllic scene which is spelt out for us by Luke in today's reading from Acts. "Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles," says Luke. "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."
Many Christians may look back at those exciting and spirit-filled days and wonder what has gone wrong with the Church since then. We don't know how long the idyll lasted, but actually, even in those first days the seeds of discontent and trouble were already present. A little later in Acts we read the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who in accordance with the teachings of the early church, sold a piece of land in order to give the proceeds to help the poor in the congregation. But Ananias and Sapphira kept back some of the proceeds for themselves whilst pretending that they had given everything, with disastrous results (Acts 5:1-11).
So even at the very beginning of the Church, things may not have been quite as perfect as they seemed. At this stage, Christianity was still a part of Judaism. There was no thought of any division into separate religions, although there may have been the beginnings of a separation into a different sect of Judaism. The real split came later, when gentiles were freely admitted to the church and there was a huge row over whether or not a demand for these gentiles to be circumcised would be upheld by the Jewish community. It was not upheld, with the result that the Christian church separated from Judaism and grew enormously amongst gentiles outside Israel, but the Jewish Christians gradually faded and eventually disappeared. Christianity became a gentile religion based on the Old Testament and Judaism.
In the beginning new things are often hugely successful and exciting, but after a while when the excitement and the novelty fade, discord and arguments tend to surface and the venture either swings into a new phase or collapses.
When God is involved through God's Holy Spirit, the venture continues to be a success and is able to grow and to adapt to changing circumstances, just as happened in the early church. But if the Holy Spirit is stifled through those who cannot adapt to changing circumstances, then the venture is likely to die. If those who wanted circumcision for all new converts in the early Church had won the day, it's very unlikely that we would have Christianity today.
In that parish church which started the new outreach service in the school, the outreach died because the church was unable to look creatively beyond the tradition it had always known. As soon as the new service returned fully to the old tradition, it was effectively smothered and the outreach died.
Tradition is good and is our backbone. Tradition is tried and tested and it works, for God formed our tradition through his Spirit. But tradition which is unwavering in the face of a rapidly changing world, perhaps dooms the Church to petrification and museum status.
If we want to regain the excitement and wonders of the early days of Christianity, we need to allow God's Spirit room to manoeuvre. We cannot keep trying to pour new wine into old bottles or trying to sew new, unshrunk cloth onto an old garment. We need to have the courage to follow God's new initiatives in new ways, so that we too can enjoy new beginnings and perhaps witness a new Christian understanding in our nation and in our world.
Then we too, will experience the idyll of eternal life here on earth.
