"Overhearing Gospel" Acts 16: 6-15

When I picked this text, I was thinking about Fred Craddock, a preaching professor, whose taught a story-telling style of preaching in which the listener "overheard" the Gospel in the stories that the preacher told, although the preacher might never directly connect the stories with the particular text being preached.  I am generally more direct about referencing Scripture in my preaching, but I often think about how this approach to preaching might mimic how we live our lives.  How might people "overhear" the Gospel as they listen to us or watch our actions?

Scholars assume that Lydia was a Greek (or maybe Roman) woman of some stature because she is mentioned by name and because she sells purple cloth.  It was not that unusual for Lydia to be a woman of means (there were other examples), but it was unusual that she was mentioned by her first name (The Acts of the Apostles:  A Socio-Rhetorial Commentary, Ben Witherington, 42).  Luke has a pattern of mentioning people of the upper class who converted to Christianity, in part because the audience to which he writes has upper class people in it (Witherington, 492).

Note that vs. 14 tells us that the Lord opened Lydia's heart.  Conversion is not an act of God.  We cannot compel people to believe; only God can.

Lydia's conversion leads to the gift of hospitality.  Luke often connects conversion with some type of response (witherington, 493).

Note that Luke continues the pattern of pairing stories of a man and a woman -- Lydia converts and is baptized; then the jailer converts and is baptized.

"Change Keeps Coming" Acts 15: 1-33

Another week in Acts.  I really enjoy the sermon series that follow a book of the bible sequentially.  WE get a better fell for Acts, in this case, by reading story after story, although we still miss a lot of the stories because we are only spending the summer in Acts.

One of the challenges of that approach is that sometimes the sermons seem to have themes that repeat themselves, and I struggle to distinguish between the themes.  Several weeks have focused on community and how the church operates.  And, of course, we discover a discussion of how to change in this week's text.  I wish I had spent more detailed time in laying out the series to make sure that the sermons picked up different themes and that there was some semblance of order to how the sermon theme were laid out throughout the series.

This week's sermon went better in the Sanctuary service.  Interestingly, I mentioned this to the organist, and she commented that some weeks one service sounds better than the other on the organ.  I suppose I need to work on being more consistent in both services.  Although I literally preach each sermon to an empty Sanctuary to get a feel for how it will play out, preaching with the Chapel group sitting there is different, which leads to the inevitable changes between the two services.

The text below is a little different than what I actually preached as I freelanced a bit more than normal.

“Changes Keep Coming” FPC, Troy, 8/17/14; Acts 15: 1-33; Significant Moments in Acts preaching series

Introduction: Chapter 15 of Acts is arguably the most crucial chapter in the book of Acts (439), both in its structure and theology. (The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Ben Witherington)

I might add, that it is also the last appearance of Peter – from here on out Acts will be mostly the Paul show.

At stake is what will the church look like – can the church overcome the major ethnic divide between Jew and Gentile and become one, or will it remain divided. (Wiitherington, 439).

But, I confess that my first thought as I read this text is that it feels very Presbyterian.

Imagine the scene – there is conflict brewing in the early church. We've seen glimpses of it already.

Strong arguments. Probably strong disagreements. A lot is at stake; both the shape of the church and who will have the power in the early church.

IN the midst of this ongoing argument, amazingly, leaders from both sides gather together and have a meeting! They present arguments. What we read in Acts 15 becomes known as the Jerusalem Council.

We who inhabit a church that has session meetings, committee meetings, presbytery meetings, synod meetings, General Assembly meetings, congregational meetings, and of course, the writing of a letter to announce a decision;

we ought to recognize ourselves in this gathering. I do believe that the early church was well on its way to what we know as the Presbyterian Church! But beyond our obvious Presbyterian roots, I want to notes three things – one of which is a comment on how they acted organizationally; then two comments made during the arguments.

Move 1: Shared responsibility for change.

a. As they debate and consider the need for change, they do not set up a false dichotomy between tradition and change.

1. In fact, they go to great pains to connect the outreach to the Gentiles to what the prophets were saying generations ago.


2. They do not forsake their rich tradition and history, but instead find room in their tradition and history to not only include the Gentiles, but also change the requirements for Gentiles who want to become Christians.


3. They showed a clear recognition that the strength of the early church does not reside solely in the call to the call to change, but also in the tradition out of which the change grows.


4. Not about one group winning and another group losing, but about the whole of the early church shifting together to new opportunities and potential.


b. I am also fascinated by the fact that once the decision was made, not only do Paul and Barnabbas, the identified leaders of the one side of the debate, take the decision back, but two of the other leaders go with them.

1. The symbol for all the churches is made clear – we are in this together.

2. The change is not about a new church that rids itself of the old, but the people of God shifting together in response to what God is doing.

The early church makes a powerful statement about community and change in the way they handle themselves at this critical juncture.

Move 2: Look for a moment at how Paul and Barnabbas make their argument.

a. We might expect Paul to use his time to make a theological rationale.

1. Certainly, in his letters we get lots of Paul's arguments and theological thinking.
2. Paul helps shape how we think about God.
3. But this decision in the early church is not about a theological rationale or about whoever has best argument wins the debate.


b. The decision to change is about the signs and wonders that God is doing about the Gentiles.

1. Paul and Barnabas speak to those gathered and simply tell their stories of how they have seen God at work among the Gentiles.

2. They do not invite the early church to sign on to a theological rationale; they invite them to make room for what God is doing in the world.

100. I am reminded of being the guest preacher at a church and talking to one of the older members about the church's history. It had been a new church development in the 50s and then struggled in the next few decades and had reached its point where it was a small church with an uncertain future. He proudly told me about the way he had led the resistance to any changes through the years.
     He was proud of how he had helped the church hang on to that original image of what that church should be. How he had protected it against the changes that threatened it.
     He never connected his resistance and the dying of any future for the church. He never saw the lost opportunities that come when we cling to our understanding and do not make way for the signs and wonders of what God might be calling us to do in our midst.

Our calling as the church is not to protect the God, but to follow God's spirit into the world.

Move 3: Finish with Peter's argument before the gathering: “We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

a. The bottom line – the grace of God we discover in Christ Jesus.

1. God's grace will not be bound by us.

2. God's grace is not our possession.

3. God's saving grace is there for all.

b. As we baptize Ainsley this morning, we will not baptize her in the name of First Presbyterian Church, but in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

1. In baptism, we Presbyterians lift up the role of community in a powerful way.

2. We understand baptism to be an act of God that takes place in the context of community.

3. It is not that community is unimportant; but our community of faith owes its existence to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, a grace that is sufficient for us all. Amen.

Extra material:

[I might note that the pattern of gathering together to hear speeches that make their arguments is consistent with how conflict would have been resolved in antiquity (Witherington (450)]

Witherington argues that we should interpret the prohibitions suggested in the context of Gentiles and Jews meeting at the Temple, since that is the likely place for the two groups to interact (462). I've been thinking about the difference between mandating certain behavior to be a part of a group and writing to them to ask that they abstain from certain practices.

"Change Keeps Coming" Acts 15: 1-35

We continue working our way through significant moments in Acts.

Witherington (The Acts of the Apostles: A  Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Ben Witherington) argues that Chapter 15 is the most crucial chapter in the book of Acts (439), both in its structure and theology.  This scene is the last appearance of Peter.
            a.    At stake is what "constitutes the people of God and how the major ethnic division in the church (Jew/Gentile) shall be dealt with so that both groups may be included in one" (Witheringtton, 439).
            b.  "Luke is eager to demonstrate that ethnic divisions could be and were overcome" (Witherington, 439).

There has been a lot of scholarly work done on the relationship between Galatians 2 and Acts 15.  not sure if I'm going to get into that explicitly in the sermon.

The pattern of gathering together to hear speeches that make their arguments is consistent with how conflict would have been resolved in antiquity (Witherington (450).

In vs. 12 Barnabas and Paul speak.  Their basic argument (it's not really an argument) is to tell what God has been doing through them among the Gentiles.

Witherington argues that we should interpret the prohibitions suggested in the context of Gentiles and Jews meeting at the Temple, since that is the likely place for the two groups to interact (462).   I've been thinking about the difference between mandating certain behavior to be a part of a group and writing to them to ask that they abstain from certain practices.

I am reminded of being the guest preacher at a church and talking to one of the older members about the church's history.  It had been a new church development in the 50s and then struggled in the next few decades and had reached its point where it was a small church with an uncertain future. He proudly told me about the way he had led the resistance to any changes through the years.  He never connected his resistance and the dying of any future for the church.

How much does the Jerusalem Council feel like a an annual meeting, presbytery meeting, or General
Assembly meeting?

Not sure yet what the preachable moment (Gospel) is in this text.

Reflections on "Hospitality" Acts 10: 1-33

The sermon went better in the Sanctuary service than the Chapel service.

It was a long Scripture lesson that I broke into the two Scripture lessons, and still the sermon could have used the rest of the story.  In the Sanctuary service I added a comment or two about what happens in the "rest of the story" (not included in the following sermon text because I don't remember where that was added), which probably helped the sermon.

The Time with Young Disciples in the Sanctuary service focused on Cornelius being terrified, and how Luke mentions fear when dealing with Zechariah (John the Baptist's father), Mary (Jesus' mother), and the shepherds (in the fields at night when Jesus was born).  If I had thought of that during the week (it hit me when I heard it read in the Chapel service), I probably would have done something with it in the sermon.  By discussing it during the Time with Young Disciples, I think it strengthened the sermon in the Sanctuary.

I am really liking the Witherington book and Willimon commentary noted in the sermon text.  Thanks to Prof. Donelson from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary for recommending those two books to me as aids to my study of Acts.  They almost give me too much to think about each week!

"Hospitality” August 10, 2014; FPC, Troy; Significant Moments in Acts; Acts 10: 1-33

Introduction: Sometimes the context in which we live seems particularly disconnected with the Scripture lesson. I found that particularly true as I reflected on this significant moment in Acts that we read today.

Consider the context of the story we read:

Peter is part of an off-shoot Jewish group that is trying to figure out what it means that they believe in the resurrected Christ.

In this story the big question for Peter is whether this new group is going to extend itself beyond their fellow Jews who have come to believe in the resurrection and welcome into their midst Gentiles, those other people who have no Jewish lineage.

In our time, we are part of the Christian tradition that has grown into its own over the centuries.

In our context in the United States, we are the majority faith tradition and much of our practices and beliefs grow out of our Christian faith. We do not have to worry about whether to invite the Gentiles to share our faith, because we are the Gentiles and we are in the majority.

But we also know that in other parts of our world, Christians are a minority group, who are threatened for their beliefs. IN fact, we can watch the news of hear of Christians being killed for their belief in Christ.

Even now, in our own Presbyterian world in the United States, we continue to struggle to define our relationship with Jews.

What are we to make of this formative story in Acts as we read it in our context today?

Move 1: First of all, God acts to to break down barriers and bring us together.

a. This story in Acts is not about who is right theologically.

1. Not about which group wins and which groups loses.
2. Not about what Cornelius thinks about the early church or who Peter thinks should be a part of the early church.
3. The story is about the God who acts to break down barriers.
   b. We meet Cornelius first.
   1. a God-fearing person who prays regularly (there's that prayer theme that we can't get away from in Acts) and gives alms.
   2. Cornelius does not decide on his own he wants to meet Peter, the one preaching about the resurrected Christ.
   3. An angel of God visits him in a vision and tells him to send for Peter.
4. In fact, Cornelius is terrified, but he decides to do what God wants.

c. Then there is Peter.
1. I doubt Peter is looking for more work. He is staying busy trying to get his fellow Jews to believe in the Risen Christ.
2. But he too has a dream.
3. a strange dream with animals and a voice telling him to kill and eat it, even though Peter knows that he cannot eat unclean food.
3. But three times the voice tells him that “What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.”
4. Peter seems to almost miss the men whom Cornelius has sent because he is still thinking about the dream, but the Spirit interrupts his thought and sends him down to greet Cornelius' men.
5. not only does God speak to Peter in the dream, but the Spirit makes sure that Peter and Cornelius meet.

6. God will not let this moment slip away.
c. We are put on notice that as we look back and see this story a a significant moment in the development of the early church, it is not just something that happened – God orchestrated it.

1. God considers this breaking down of barriers to be critical.
2. God wants us to expand our circles, not shrink them.
3. Unfortunately, we humans are good at creating us and them.
4. Think about the Crusades – Christians wanting to convert Muslims to the point of death.
5. Or now the stories we read of Muslims killing Christians.
6. In a less deadly example, think about our own Presbyterian Church – splitting again and again over differing opinions on whatever the hot button topic is at a particular time.
4. We humans seem to have an endless potential to divide and separate.
5. But this story in Acts reminds us that God acts to bring us together and break down barriers.
Move 2: In many ways, this story centers on redefining hospitality.

a. Hospitality is an important value in Biblical times.

1. many stories of the Israelites and in the emerging Christian church revolve around customs of hospitality.

2. We see hospitality at play with Peter staying at the home of Simon the tanner.
3. But the rules of hospitality that dictate that a Jew would stay with a Jew is challenged when Peter is invited to the home of Cornelius, a Gentile.
b. Suddenly, hospitality becomes less about whose house a person can enter and more about seeing each person as a gift from from God (Judy Hay, “Spirit of Hospitality”)
1.hospitality becomes Cornelius inviting Peter to his home and Peter accepting the invitation, despite the social norms that should have prevented both the invitation and the acceptance of the invitation.
2. God using the social practice of hospitality to bring people into relationship with others whom they never would have sought out on their own.

3. and in that space, transformation happens.

4. interestingly enough, Henri Nouwen argues that we live in a world of strangers, who are “estranged from their own past, culture, and country, from their neighbors, friends and family, from their deepest self and their God.”
   5. He suggests that we need to restore the concept of hospitality to create the space where we strangers can meet, and in the space, we can be changed.

6. Peter needed to leave his usual place and go to Cornelius' place; Cornelius needed this stranger to enter into his life so that God could be at work.

Move 3: Finally, this story is about being changed by God.

a. William Willimon in his commentary on Acts asks the question: "is this story about the conversion of a gentile or the conversion of an apostle?" (Acts from the Interpretation series, 96).

1.Is is about Cornelius taking that final step to become a follower of Christ?

2. Or is it about Peter coming to some new understanding about who is invited into the Christian faith.

3. The answer, of course, is both.

b. we tend to make our faith in Christ very personal.

1. We speak about how God cares for us in the particular,which is true.

2. we profess our faith in Jesus Christ and recognize that we must make that profession of faith for ourselves.

100. but in this story in Acts we are reminded that our faith in Christ connects us to community.

1. this story is not just about Peter going to see Cornelius to tell him about Christ so that Cornelius can profess his faith in Christ.
2. This story is about how the early church is transformed from a group that only caters to Jews to a groups that extends itself to anyone and everyone, including the Gentiles.
3. As Willimon notes, “Conversion is not for the "smug individual possession of the convert, but rather for the ongoing thrust of the gospel" (Willimon, 103)
4. We do not profess faith in Christ as our final act, but as the beginning scene in the unfolding story of God's faithful people.
   Conclusion: In our world so very different from the world of Cornelius and Peter, we still follow a God who sends us into the world to break down barriers and share the good news of Jesus Christ.
   
   

Extra comments: “Luke repeatedly focuses on the ancient practice of hospitality, the custom of welcoming travelers or strangers into one's home while committing to provide them with protection and provisions. This custom functions as an effective bridge for evangelization and unification of the early church.” Note that the hospitality is reciprocal so the Christians were called on to be hosts and guests. Requires stranger to be viewed as a valuable gift of God. Andrew Arterbury, “Entertaining Angels: Hospitality in Luke and Acts” 2007; Center for Christian Ethics at Baylor University, 24-25

"Hospitality" Acts 10: 1-33

I am already wondering why I have this sermon title!

Willimon asks the question:  "is this story about the conversion of a gentile or the conversion of an apostle?" to which he answers, "Both."  (Acts from the Interpretation series, 96).

As I work on this sermon, in the background is the ongoing discussion in Presbyterian circles and Jewish circles about whether the Presbyterian Church (USA) is being anti-Semitic in its divestment actions in Israel. Interestingly, Willimon notes that in the time that Acts was written, the question being asked was whether the Jewish off-shoot that was Christianity could opens its doors to include gentiles in the worship of the God of Israel.  Now, the question in our time is whether Christians choose to include Jews among those people with whom God has chosen to be in relationship (93)

I am reminded that the Reformers had a bad reputation among the Anabaptists because of the Reformers refusal to believe that the way in which Anabaptists worshipped and developed theologically was acceptable. in essence, as soon as the Reformers declare their right to be different from the Cahtolic church, they began to attack the Anabaptists for being different from them.

Willimon notes that Luke-Acts understands conversion as less and individualized act than entry into a community.  Conversions are always part of a larger story (Willimon, 102).

Conversion is not for the "smug individual possession of the convert, but rather for the ongoing thrust of the gospel" (Willimon, 103)

Willimon also notes that God is "chief actor in all Lukan accounts of conversion" (103).

i am reminded that in the Presbyterian Church, baptism is an act of God that is done ordinarily in the context of community.

Reflections on "time Out for Healing Acts 32-43; Luke 7: 18-2

The sermon went well.  As sometimes happens, the last point (Move 3) which came very late in the game could actually have been the focal point of the whole sermon.  I initially (as indicated by the sermon title) had been chasing the idea that the way Luke interrupts the Saul/Paul story-line to tell the Peter story set a  pattern for interruptions, which was going to lead to the idea that God interrupts our lives with healing or other acts that give us new life.  But that did not hold up as I prepared the sermon.

I have found the two books mentioned (one by Willimon and the other by Etherington) to be really helpful books for my study of Acts.

"Time Out for Healing” August 3, 2014; FPC, Troy; Significant Moments in Acts; 2014 Acts 9: 32-43

Introduction: We interrupt the Saul/Paul story-line and turn to stories about Peter.

Three things:

Move 1: Proof of God's ongoing presence is lives being restored and new life being given.

a. notice I did not say that the proof of God's presence means that everything is going smoothly.

1. Or that proof of God's presence is that everything is just like we want it.

2. Or that life is like a fairy tale is God is present.

b. No, God's presence is discovered in the midst of life as we know it.

1. In Lydda, where Peter is going “here and there”

2. In Joppa, where there is some good ministry going on among the widows.

3. and grieving in this particular moment because Tabitha has died.

c. In the normal routines of life – the good and the bad; the trivial and the exciting – new lives are being restored and new life given.

1. Aeneas is healed.

2. Tabitha is brought back to life.

3. Peter shows that he is like Jesus, who was like Elisha, who was like Elijah, who are all showing forth the presence of God by bringing the dead back to life ("First Thoughts on Year C First Reading Acts Passages from the Lectionary,"Easter 4, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia. http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CActsEaster4.htm)

c. these healing stories take us back to that moment in the Gospel of Luke when John the Baptist wants to know if Jesus is the real thing.

1. He sends his disciples to ask Jesus: "Are you the one who is to come?"

2. A simple “yes” or “No” question.

3. But Jesus responds – "Look around -- healing is taking place." New life is being given to people. Hope replaces despair.

3. We learn that the proof of who Jesus is, the proof of God's ongoing presence in our midst, is found when we look around – when life-saving, life-giving things are happening, God is in our midst.

Move 2: God's presence knows no bounds.

a. From a literary standpoint, the stories of Aeneas and Tabitha are viewed as an intentional pair.

1. There are parallels in the two stories -- Peter saying "get up;"

2. both persons are named (rather rare for healing stories);

3. and the Christians in both stories are called "saints," which is rarely done in Acts (The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Ben Witherington, III, 1998, Eerdman Publishing, 3227-328)

b. This is a pattern that is found in the Gospel of Luke and Acts, both of which were written by the same author.

1. Pattern Luke uses which seems to suggest that he is making the subtle point that God's presence and God's work can be found among men and women.

2. an inclusive concept for that time given that is was a male-dominated world.

3. In fact, Luke seems to go out of his way in this pairing to give more details to the Tabitha part of the tandem.

4. In fact, the description of Tabitha is the only place in the NT where the feminine form of the word disciples is used (Interpretation:Acts, William Willimon, 84)

c. I do not point this out to make Luke out to be a feminist.

1. I do not think that was Luke's intent.

2. but, Luke is clearly making the point that all people are called to be part of God's work in the world.

Move 3: Final thought – notice that the people expect Peter to do something.

a. IN the midst of their grief in Joppa, they send for Peter, one of the followers of Christ.

1. We do not know what they might have been expecting.

2. maybe just a word of hope;

3. maybe they were, in fact, looking for Peter to bring Tabitha back to life.

4. But we do know that in the midst of their grief, as they struggle with what is happening in their lives, they turn to God through one of Christ's disciples.

b. speak to us in two ways.

1. reminds us where we can turn in our times of need.

2. Reminds us that in our world we have people who are facing struggles, dealing with the challenges, facing the death of loved ones, and they need somewhere to turn for hope and to find new life.

3. This is the place; we are the people that God has sent into the world.

4. I shared a couple of weeks ago in the elink about my experience in FL for my uncle's memorial service. The Presbyterian Church that hosted the service was not the church he, or anyone in the family, attended. But they graciously provided wonderful support for the family. Why? Because they believe that when people face the death of loved ones they need a place to help them in their grief and give them hope. So they are that place.

Conclusion: In Lydda, in Joppa, in Tipp City, in W. Milton, in Troy, people need to discover that life-giving, life-changing hope that God has for them.

Go and share it with them.

"Time Out for Healing" Acts 9: 32-43; Luke 7: 18-23

1.  The stories of Peter healing Aeneas and Tabitha interrupt the Saul/Paul story-line (in fact, Saul has not yet become Paul when the story cuts back to Peter).  It may in fact be a collision of stories -- the Pauline story and the Peter story battling for importance in the early church.

2. within the two stories, the need for healing also seems to interrupt the flow of things:  "peter went here and there among all the believers" and suddenly he finds Aeneas who needs healing; in Joppa Tabitha has a pretty good ministry going among the poor (witness the widows showing the tunics and clothing she had made for them), when she suddenly dies.  In both instances, the need for healing interrupts the flow, and Peter responds by healing.

3. Interesting tidbit -- Tabitha is the only woman in the New Testament who is called a disciples using the feminine from of the word (Interpretation:Acts, William Willimon, 84)

4. these healing stories remind me of the word Jesus sends back to John the Baptist in reply to the question:  "Are you the one who is to come?"  Jesus basically says, "Look around -- healing is taking place."  The proof of Jesus' authority and presence is found in the way his life-saving, life-giving touch is offered to others.

5. There are parallels in the two stories -- Peter saying "get up;" both persons are named (rather rare for healing stories); and the Christians in both stories are called "saints," which is rarely done in Acts -- that suggest they are intended to be read in tandem.  This also follows a pattern taht Luke uses to pair narrative stories of a man and a woman.  this may be Luke's deliberate way of making the point that the good news is for both men and women.  In fact, Luke seems to go out of the way to make the story of Tabitha more detailed than the story of Aeneas (The Acts of the Apostles:  A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary, Ben Witherington, III1998, Eerdman Publishing, 3227-328.