The New Testament  Lesson                                          Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, “Brothers and sisters, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus, for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.                  

Sermon Text

When I read the scripture that we have before us today, I am made to wonder. What would have happened if Judas had turned back to God? What would it look like for the murderer of all murderers to chase after God’s forgiveness? If God’s mercy truly is infinite then the option to return was there for Judas and yet, as our scripture tells us, “[he] went his own way.” The ministry of Judas ended, but the mission of the church was not going to end, it could not end.

When the disciples gathered after Christ’s ascension, they did so with the desire to fill the ranks of the disciples once again. They saw a need to keep twelve leaders in those early days, an echo of the twelve tribes that once defined God’s people. They found someone who had been with the Church from the beginning. Finally settling on Matthias as a replacement for Judas. The title of apostle was passed on, the authority of the twelve rested on him, and, for my part, I believe even Judas’s coin purse – the funds that were given to those in need – passed to rest in his hands. The mission of the Church goes on, no matter who is present to do it.

There was a sad reality that set in at General Conference last week. The realization that, because we had not gathered in eight years, many of the faces that were present at these meetings for decades were no longer there. Time had taken its toll: delegates, agency members, and church people from all lands and positions had left the General Conference to join that Holy Conference in glory. There were people who could not be visibly present with the people called Methodists, and yet… the mission of the Church goes on.

Church, as it appears in scripture as ἐκκλησία (ecclesia,) means “those who are called out.” Called out from the world as it is into the world as it could be. From slavery to Sin and Death into abundant lives defined by joyful obedience. Called out, to go forward, and to transform this world with the Spirit ahead of us and the Cross as our banner.

The Church cannot be separated from the work it does and so today I put forward the idea that Church is really a verb. Sure, those of you who grew up diagraming sentences will proudly tell me that we aren’t even dealing with an adverb when we look at “Church,” but trust me when I say, you cannot rightly call anything “Church,” unless it is doing the work of a Church. The Church is a place that transforms, that builds up, that sends out!  We are always active in the Church because… the mission of the Church goes on.

Amidst the many calls of spectators throughout General Conference was the hope that God would be with the people who were there. I believe God was. In the midst of deep troubles and conflicts, the Church was able to gather together and praise God, do the hard work of budgeting and legislating and we managed throughout it all to mostly behave ourselves. Mostly. While the work was being done in the sessions, there were people who went to keyboards and cameras to cast all manner of dispersions on the work of the Conference. God, however, was present in the room. For those who were willing to follow the Spirit, there was a wellspring that bubbled up from the deep parts of our souls, a wellspring for eternal life.

It is hard to describe unless you were there. I do not know how much you heard last week about Conference, but let me tell you what happened this year. For the first time in living memory, people were gathered together and laughing and singing and praying throughout the conference. For the first time in living memory, people were sharing their hopes for what God was going to do with the Church, not worrying about whether or not people were going to rip it to pieces. For the first time in a long time, the worries of the present age and the struggles we face as a Church in a world that is so deeply broken, all seemed to melt away. We were the people of God, gathered to chart a way forward for the work of God. We knew we had to do this work, because with or without us… The mission of the Church goes on.

During General Conference, Bishop L. Jonathan Holston gave an episcopal address that covered a great deal of the anxiety of the Church. In just a few years we have seen wars and rumors of wars, a global pandemic, insurrections, growing radicalism, and division upon division – within and without the body of Christ. In the midst of all that, the Church never ceased to work! Globally, churches worked to provide housing for refugees fleeing war, educated people in places where education once was impossible, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and met people in the midst of tragedy with love and open arms. Local churches and global institutions worked hard to do the work of God, even in the midst of hardships that seemed impossible. Why? Because the mission of the Church goes on.

We also saw in this General Conference big changes to how the Denomination talks about human sexuality. We no longer, as Methodists, mandate one view on matters of same sex relationships. The General Conference voted to remove all language condemning it, leaving the Discipline as a neutral document that allows for every Christian, every minister, every Church, to live as their conscience dictates. Like Paul long ago speaking to Corinthians about differences in opinion, the United Methodist Church has embraced allowing latitude on non-essential matters. About 720 people gathered from the four corners of the Earth – conservative, progressive, African, Asian, European, and American – all voted with an average approval rating of over 90% for these changes. Because it is time to move on from fighting toward the work of the Gospel.

It is naïve to think this change does no hit people differently. Some see it as capitulation to culture or betrayal of tradition, while others see it as a letting go of centuries of prejudice and an opening up of God’s grace. I should be honest and say that from the moment the first set of restrictive rules were voted out, I wept for joy, to see the Church I have always loved embracing what it could truly be, a place where all people have a home.

Yet, beyond my view or anyone else’s – both extremes and all people in-between, believe what they do while using the same book to justify their idea – our shared Holy Scripture. All are led by the same Spirit – the Holy Spirit. All are saved by the same Lord – Jesus Christ. Somehow in the midst of these extreme differences in this matter and all others, God is not divided or mocked. We alone are the ones who cast separation after separation between ourselves.

The episcopal address, having reviewed the various challenges we have all seen and the work the Church has to do at all times and in all places, put a question to the body that rocked our souls. “When was the last time you led someone to Christ? When was the last time you made a witness with your words and your life that led someone into relationship to Christ? Friends, if we are not doing this, then we are not being the Church. That is God’s purpose.” John Wesley made a similar point referring specifically to ministers. “The roads of Hell,” Wesley said, “are paved with the skulls, of ministers such as these.” If we as the Church are not able to bring people into a place where they know Christ, then we have been left behind – because the mission of the Church goes on…

When is the last time we saw fruit? Can you think of an example of someone finding faith because of what you have done? I struggle to think of one myself, in my six years of Pastoral Ministry, in my twenty-eight years of life, I can think of plenty of people I have been a part of bringing closer to God. I can think of people of God I have helped revive faith within. Yet I struggle to see how God has used me to be the spark that lit the fire of faith where it had never been before. I imagine many of us are in similar places. Maybe we raised some faithful children, maybe we have encouraged our faithful friends, but what have we done to bring those outside the faith, into the faith? We can sing “Rescue the Perishing,” we can talk about God’s “Amazing Grace,” but have we done anything to bring anyone to know what it feels like to be saved, really and truly?

I preached recently about how distracted we as the Church have been – obsessed with culture wars and petty differences. What have we lost in the mean time? Biblical Literacy is at an all time low. Even in this room, we have work to do. If we talk about Mephibosheth and King Asa do we have any idea who we’re talking about? What about the difference between our Spiritual existence and our Physical one – as Paul describes life before and after Christ? Doctrine is in an even dimmer place. Do we know why we see God as a trinity? Why we proclaim a God who gives us a choice to be saved? Why we believe that grace overcomes all evil and is found uniquely in the waters of baptism and the elements of the eucharist?

Our ministries have lost depth. We can feed and we can clothe, but what are we doing to embrace and to lift up? Do we know the names of the people who come through our doors? What about the people who walk up and down our street? Can we name our neighbors, and do we pray for their needs? For their hearts? For their souls? Are we comfortable telling people about Christ or are we only doing our best to trick them into sitting down on a Sunday, hoping that will do the trick? We are missing something vital in our work, the Spirit is here among us, but we must not be listening, because we are not doing the work of the Church in the irreplaceable way we ought to. We sit and wonder why the Church does not grow, but I sometimes think our desire to see it grow has a lot less to do with Christ and a lot more to do with our own pride.

We want the pews full, we want the choir loud, and we want the people singing all the songs we know and love. We want this for our own edification – for the pride of having a large and vibrant church. I would rather us seek this for the good of those we bring in and for the Kingdom which we are growing. If we had been focusing on that sort of ministry, that sort of development of self, that sort of willingness to do what God was calling us to… What wonders might we have achieved? It would have paid off a lot more than what we have been doing.

The United Methodist Church was founded in 1968 with the merger of the Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church. This merger was a long time coming, after all the only reason that the Brethren was separate was because they originally spoke German. The theology and the Discipline the two shared was nearly identical. This family reunion was celebrated as a new beginning for our ministries. Yet, we immediately began to fight with one another. 1972 we added a clause to our Social Principles to make clear that while we believed all people deserved rights, “Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian Teaching.” In the 80s, as the AIDs Crisis raged – rather than extending more love and care – we doubled down. We added line after line to the discipline to make something clear – God may love gays, but the UMC did not.

This year we got rid of that language. We have not mandated any changes beyond a willingness to acknowledge that there are gay Christians and straight and that both are valid. Pastors do not have to marry anyone they do not want to, and if a Church really does not want a gay minister or to host gay weddings, then they are allowed that decision just like they always have been. In the next few years, plenty of churches will invest plenty of time into shutting up their doors in the face of a new era of the Church. Trustees will write building contracts to keep weddings out, ministers may be traded around to find ones that the congregation completely agrees with, and in the meantime the world will still keep spinning its old broken routines. We will hide ourselves away as good and holy Christians, we will create fortresses to keep the past locked up in our walls, and we will slowly atrophy and fade in the meantime. Because while we shut our eyes and clench our fists and lock our doors… The mission of the Church goes on.

In a moment we are going to take bread and juice in hand. We will drink God’s grace. The hands that took a cup before you did are the hands of people with different views. They may be the hands of people of another sexuality than you. They may be the hands of someone who will vote differently than you. They may be the hands of anyone and they will receive the same grace you do. Why? Because the hands that take the bread and give the cup are not important… The hands that matter are the ones that bore scars to cleanse us of our sins, the hands that hung on a cross and gave us hope for a resurrection.

I could go on and on, my mind is ablaze with how we might do more and better, but that is not the energy we should leave this moment on. Our scripture shows the Church dealing with replacing one of the most central positions it held, one of the twelve disciples. They did so following a period of worry, of fear, but that nonetheless ended with joy and resurrection. People of God, fear will be with us always, but God is greater than that fear. God is greater than our differences. God is greater than the squabbling we have taken part in over the past 52 years and beyond. God is greater than anything we can imagine, and God’s mission is marching forward toward the realization of God’s kingdom. Are we willing to take part in that? Or will we go on circling the same drain of conflicts, of hot takes, of controversy.

“When was the last time you brought someone to Christ?” Let that question motivate you more than any other, and you might find yourself taking steps toward that goal. We will be holier and kinder and more open and loving and Christ like, when our goal is demonstrating Christ’s love. I look at this room and I see the love that each of you holds. Let us work to perfect that love, let us put the past behind us, and let us charge forward – as Christians and as United Methodists – to do God’s will. – Amen.