Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Book of acts

Gervase Phinn tells

of studying the Yorkshire’ press’ situations vacant columns

and come up with

three little crackers.

 

First was an advert

to join a

n expanding contracting firm; another asked

where are going in tin foil

and the best was a notice

about a career in street lighting and saying

there were two posts vacant.

 

Well as you know

over lent

we too have been studying  – but this time

it was the gospel of Luke.

 

And indeed we found out

that while it was written

nearly two thousand years ago it is still hugely relevant today; the reason being that

Luke talks about

human problems

that we also experience

every day.

 

Not only that

but he showed

how the earthly Jesus

solved these problems

for those who he encountered.

 

As a result, their lives

were irrevocably changed.

 

Now I would like to start

a new series of studies.

 

And what better

could we study

than Luke’s gospel’s sequel which is, of course,

the Acts of the Apostles;

the story

of the early encounters

with the risen Christ

and the Holy Spirit.

 

And the reason I suggest that

is that Acts

has been claimed to be

the most important book

in bible.

 

To explain, I need to point out that without this key document there would be no history

of the early church.

 

No account also of how

a few disciples

with feet of clay

became the soaring apostles

of two millennia.

 

How in fact

a few disparate followers moved out

of the back waters

and into the big time

of being a world religion.

 

However, before

I go any further,

I need to make one point clear.

 

And it is that

there are two ways

of doing history.

 

One is the day by day chronicling of dates,

events and personalities.

 

Another is less fact filled

but definitely more interesting, more inspiring

and more exciting.

 

That way is

the sweeping narrative focussing on drama

and progress.  

 

The sort of historical reconstruction

that gets big audiences

on TV whether

they relate to Elizabethan times or contemporary events.

 

And the story of acts

is definitely

a gripping one

in the latter style.  

 

Indeed it is by captivating

the reader’s imagination

that it achieves its aims;

the aim of showing

Christianity is open to all;

the aim of showing

that the risen Christ

is the new dimension

in world affairs

and personal lives

and the aim of demonstrating that an encounter

with the God

can happen anywhere

and at anytime;

 its greater aim,

in truth,

of illustrating that

any encounter with the Spirit will change a life forever.

 

No wonder then

this second book of Luke

has been called

the acts of the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 

However, time prevents us from going through Acts

line by line.

 

Instead we must focus

on the key events.

 

And I would like to start

with the conversion of Paul.

 

The reason being that

it was at this point in history we see the followers of Jesus transiting

from individual experience

of Christ

to a communal experience.

 

In other words,

the start of the network

that would not only

be the formative force

upon European culture

but would also

influence

for the better

the whole of global morality, spirituality

and sense of humanity.

 

Before we hear something

of that turning point

, let us sing

HYMN

 

First reader

 

On this Communion Sunday

it is germane to note

that Leonardo Da Vinci

by his famous painting

has forever

impressed upon on our minds the last supper of our Lord.

The scene that he depicts

is that moment

when Jesus announces

his impending betrayal.

 

The disciples look

at one another

with great shock,

all, that is,

except Judas,

who refuses to give in

and look Jesus

in the face.

 

 

Now on first appearance

Saul seems

to have had

a sudden conversion

to Christ’s cause.

 

But in actual fact

it was more

a final collapse in resistance

to the Lord’s

constant onslaught.

 

Or if I can put it like this –

he stopped looking away

from Jesus

and gazed on him –

full in the face.

 

For it is some 150 miles

from Jerusalem to Damascus; long miles

to think about

the carpenter preacher

who you were expending

a huge effort to refute;

long miles

that were

indeed

literally in Jesus’ footsteps

as you walk

the same countryside theologically

as well as physically.

 

And it was somewhere

along that byway

the warm air of the valley

met that cool draught

of the mountains

and a ferocious thunderstorm resulted –

one that struck Saul

as the last straw.

 

It was then

resistance ultimately failed

and he heard

the authentic voice of God

and saw the features of Christ.

 

But what was Christ requiring

of him?

 

It was little less

than to give into his network,

to lead his community

and to be a founder

of his divine body

upon the earth.

 

And here it was rather apt

for us to note

that Saul was on the way

to clear out

the Galilean heresy

from the Damascus Synagogues;

for he had always been

a synagogue man.

 

Not surprising then

after seeing the light,

he would try

to use the same synagogue network

across the Mediterranean

to spread the new Gospel.  

 

Often these attempts failed

and he would receive

the abuse

he once enthusiastically

met out to others.

 

Nevertheless

the synagogue model

of community

was always right for Paul.

 

And that is why

the network of Christ

he helped found

in Asia Minor and

South-Eastern Europe

would be so different

from the pagan temples

and sects

of the Roman Empire

but very familiar

to scattered

and often embattled Jewry.

 

That why then

the network of followers

that emerged ever after

would offer

its members tangible support

in a hostile world.

 

It would provide,

through the centuries,

places of learning

and mutual encounter of God.

 

Above even these,

the early Christian house groups

would spawn follower families always ready

to give mutual companionship in times of personal trouble;  when there are bumps

on the road of Christian living and when

the Lord’s call seems

just all too much.

 

And may be that why

that venerable network

has so many names.

 

In ancient times,

its now familiar title

grew out of

the Greek word ecclesia

for assembly.

 

But other names too

sum up its early purpose

like the Salvation Army’s

Citadel

or the architectural term sanctuary

and the Quakers meeting house of friends.  

But whatever we call it,

the Network

that Paul surrendered himself to lead that day

was undoubtedly

provided

for the good of humanity;

for the furtherance of Christ and the enjoyment of God.

 

That’s why

we must never flinch

from telling others

that they cannot

be full Christians

nor really enjoy

Christianity gifts

out with the church

 

Because by staying outside

the assembly,

the sanctuary

and the citadel

they do not have a place

of refuge

when life’s storms blow;

they do not have a place

of trustworthy encounter

and they do not have a place

of calling, commissioning

and accounting.

 

 

In truth they have very little - yet stand on the door way

of so much.

 

Edith Cavell

was an accomplished woman who was an artist,

linguist and teacher.

 

But it was only when

her father was ill

that she discovered

her true vocation of nursing.

 

However, when she ran

a training school for nurses

in the first world war

in occupied Belgium

she was sentenced

to death

for aiding

allied prisoners of war

to escape.

 

 

But she did not regret

her impulse

to help her fellow humans.

 

For she said –

just before she was executed – patriotism is not enough.

I have no hatred

or bitterness towards anyone;

a saint then indeed.

 

But let me ask you –

when was the last time

you met a saint?

 

Well, it possible

you have met many of them.

 

Indeed, I am sure

there are saints

in this room at the moment.

 

For saints are those

who sacrifice

when there is no compulsion

to do so;

those who surrender

to God’s call

when every fibre of their being shouts otherwise

and those who risk

for another human

when any more worldly person would run a mile.

 

And certainly Ananias

was by that account

a saint.

 

For who in their right senses would go near Saul

the firebrand heretic sniffer

let alone admit

to whom you followed

and then take him home.

 

Yet that is what Ananias did.

 

Moreover, he also called

this persecutor – brother.  

 

Nevertheless, that was also

the first object lesson

to the newly converted Paul.

 

For the Christian network

has always thrived

where there is risk and pain.

 

Paul would build it

often by

his hazarding beatings,

illnesses and imprisonment.  

 

And so it went on.

 

In fact, a century later,

did not the early church Father Tertullian say

during the worst

of the Romans persecutions – Christian blood

in is the seed

of the Church’s new Recruits?  

 

And here is the lesson

as well to us.

 

For when we are without

our Christian community

then we are indeed

in solitary confinement

and we dare not risk.  

 

And the events in the gulf

over the last weeks alone

gives proof of that.

 

But when we have

the support

of our fellow believers

then we can be saints –

no matter the threat.

 

For it is only within

the Lord’s network

we can each be inviting

even if it invites pain;

we can each do the right

even if it is dangerous

and we can even be at home

to the most threatening figure.

 

For only then can

we welcome all

who stand at our doorway;

for it is only then

dare we risk calling him brother and her sister;

for it is only then

we chance asking them

to suffer too.

 

Yet there was

an even more

compelling characteristic

of the network

Paul willingly

became part of that day;

a quality that the risen Christ has invoked

in the world ever since.

 

And that attribute was and is reconciliation.  

 

To illustrate that - here is a story.

 

Bryan Green tells that

after one of his crusades

in the America,

he asked at the last meeting what Christianity had done

for his audience.

 

A black girl rose and said

in all simplicity –

Through this campaign

I have found Christ

and he has made me able

to forgive the man

who murdered my father.

 

There indeed is the forgiveness that this week

has once again

called all Americans

in particular

o show.

 

And it was this forgiveness,

this quality of reconciliation, that was also

to permeate Paul vision

during his time

when leading

the growing network of Christ.  

 

Because he told

the Roman Christians –

For there no difference between Jew and gentile –

the same lord is lord of all

and richly blesses

all who call upon him.

 

This then is

the greatest practical quality that the network

we serve and build and lead

can have today.

 

And that is to preach reconciliation;

to practice reconciliation

and to demand reconciliation.

 

In other words

not just calling

our global neighbour

our brother or sister;

but meaning it as well;

meaning it with all

the loving tolerance

that being family entails.

 

 For in the end

we know that makes sense.  

 

Sense in a world faced

with severe environmental challenges;

faced with global mass movements a

nd rapidly changing employment patterns;

faced in fact

with such bewitching fanaticism that we may not

have seen

even in the horrors

of the last century.

 

Because in reconciliation

we blend

the entire range

of human abilities

into our network

for increased endeavour

and capability

and achievement.

 

Through reconciliation

across all of Christianity,

we will wield

such powers

as to appear wondrous.

 

Through reconciliation

with all peoples of good will,

we shall offer

such harmonious solutions

to the world’s woes

that they will appear

nothing less

than miraculous.

 

In a recent IBM Study

upon global innovation, Francisco Medina

of the Science and technology council of Mexico said-

in Latin America,

information is power.

 

And the more you share information,

the more power you get

and the more you can

empower other people.

 

Well, we have come

to the end of our first study

into the book of acts.

 

The book that speaks

of the encounter

with the risen Christ

more than any other;

the book that lauds

the power of the holy spirit more than any other

and the book that speaks

more practically

of God’s plan

for humanity

more than any other.

 

And each of this work's aspects is brought increasingly

into focus

hrough the work of Paul

who got information

in a thunderstorm.

 

The information

that Jesus’ body

needs to be rebuilt

as a community

upon the whole earth’s face; the information

of a network

that would empower,

affirm and challenge;

the information

of a network

that includes and seeks out; that reconciles and loves

that embraces

and makes all who encounter it – its own.

 

But above that,

the risen lord

we encounter now

in the information of scripture ever asks for our surrender;

the surrender

to leading others

back into his network;

the surrender to witness

and to encourage others

to find their place in the network

and the surrender

to leading

that enlarged network

through a risky, hostile

and alien empire

and into the light of the son.

 

For these are always

the demands

of the church

year on year–

the demand

to be a citadel

of friends and foes;

the demand

to be sanctuary

for family and strangers

and the demand

to be the meeting house

of godly and the less so.  

 

For that is ever

the net work

for those called to be

fishers of men

saints alive

and martyrs in Christ.

 

Amen

 

Our offering will be received as we sing seated

HYMN………………………..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conversion of Paul