Acts 4:32-35

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Sermon Text

Every year, after the Easter Season has begun, one of the first scriptures to appear in the lectionary is the one we read this morning. It tells a simple story, the disciples were doing the work of the Church and because they did what God called them to do, the Church grew by leaps and bounds. This message gives relief to us today. The secret to vitality is not something hidden away, unknowable to the average person. A Church flourishes when it follows the Spirit where it goes. If we let God teach us to speak as we have never spoken, love as we have never loved, and do as we have never done… Then we will find that life naturally flourishes within our community.

We are coming up on General Conference, the long delayed and anticipated meeting of the United Methodist Church’s legislative body to determine what the next four years of our denomination looks like. There are a lot of things on the table this year, after all we skipped 2020 due to the pandemic. This means that everything that was supposed to be renewed then is overdue now, and all the legislation that had been proposed then has been gathering dust. It will be an emotional gathering and it will be a tense one. There will be people there ready to further the work of the Church and people there who would very much like to see the whole thing burn. Yet, it will be a gathering of the Church, and we will keep it holy somehow.

As we enter into that season, we have three Sundays to address a question we should already know something about. What is Church? What does it mean that we gather together and worship? How do we serve the world? What are we doing? We will do this in part through the General Conference study we are offering across the next two weeks, but we are also exploring it through our gatherings here. Scripture has a wealth of information for us, if only we are willing to read it and understand.

The scripture we read today describes the Church immediately after Pentecost and it captures a moment where the Church functioned as it never would again. The people of God had perfected their vision of the Body of Christ. For a moment the Church gave up on anything worldly – people sold their property so that everyone had the food and clothing and shelter they needed. The word used here (ὑπάρχω, huparcho,) suggests that people were selling everything they had the ability to sell. I do not mean, everything that was left over after they took care of themselves, I mean everything they legally owned and therefore had the authority to share. The people sold everything they had, to make sure that everyone had what they needed.

The reason this was possible was not because of any specific economic reality that was present in the first century, but because the Church developed an understanding of a term I absolutely adore,  κοινός (Koinos,) which simply means “Common.” The term can be used to describe something vulgar, but it is used here in the sense of something held by everyone. It is turned into a more abstract idea elsewhere in scripture, being described as “Koinonia,” the state of being in unity, in connection, in Communion. Our celebration of the Eucharist took on the name Communion to reflect the unity it gives us together, but Communion itself is something we strive for in all we do.

Why were the disciples willing to sell everything they had and live together as one people? Because they trusted each other as they trusted themselves. The Church was willing to give all they had, because they knew if they needed something they would be able to get what they needed, because everyone was fully participating in this resurrected community. When I know that you will not take advantage of me, and I do not want to take advantage of you, then both of us are more willing to share than we ever would be before.

The purpose of the Church is to create an alternative community to the one which the world builds for itself. We do this by proclaiming the world that Christ showed us in his time among us. A world that does not bow to civil power plays or the politicking of the same. A world based upon the revelation of God to all people and the transformation of lives for the good of everyone, not just the select few. We preach a Gospel that is transformative precisely because it invites people to come together and be something different together. We cannot be a Christian on our own, we need the full people of God together to truly be our fullest selves.

As a conference we have set a discipleship goal to transform our worship spaces. Not just concerned with Sunday morning, we want to get people to live life together. I would say that we are blessed in our congregations that we already do some of this of hard work together. We are a church that likes each other and that is a blessing. The change we are striving after is to be more intentional in the way we live life together. As a parish we are working toward beginning Class Meetings again, where those who wish to grow deeper in their faith and love toward one another can do so together.

The Church does not grow by having better music or more programs. It grows by being willing to go into the world, to share all it has with one another and with those around it. The Church grows when it becomes the image of God for all the world to see. Why? Because when people see God they cannot deny they want to be a part of what God is doing. We have the ability to be that vision to the people around us, but only if we stand together. The Church must embrace its Communion fully – we are one in heart and soul, born of the same waters of baptism and worshipping the same Lord. If we wish to be all we can be, we have to be wiling to take hold of the life, the light, and the resurrection – not as individuals – but as one people living, loving, and serving together. – Amen.