Community Acts 2:42-47
"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope...With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be ale to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, and to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring...When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
( selected excerpts from the Martin Luther King Jr. speech delivered on August 28th, 1963 on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.)
I think one of mans strengths can be defined by the word community. You might ask what I mean by that. Man, when left alone, is frail, his mood is often shifting as if with the tides. Our values become compromised, blended, and distorted over time. Through the benefits of community we are strong and able to function in society. The definition of the word "community" according to the Gage Canadian Dictionary is as follows:
"a group of people having common ties or interests and living in the same locality or district and subject to the same laws."
From today’s passage found in Acts, we have undoubtedly heard many sermons with somewhat different messages, I promise that today may not be an exception. I think that perhaps one of their greatest assets in the early Church was their great sense of community, doing everything in one accord. They had everything in common. Sounds today like that would be hard to imagine.
Keep this way of life in mind as we take a jump now in a new direction.
As far as trees go, the huge redwood trees in California are amazing. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them reach to be 200 - 275 feet high, their trunks may be 8 - 12 feet in diameter and may be over 2500 years old. The largest of its kind in Northern California stands at 368 feet tall. You would think that something that large would need a massive root system reaching far into the ground to keep them standing tall and proud but, they don’t. Redwoods have a rather shallow root system especially when compared to that of the Mighty Oak. Instead, the roots are intertwined with others, each tree helping to hold the others erect and in place. If one of them was off by itself, it would quite likely fall. They need the others for survival.
From the simple definition of community, we see that people live in this same state, depending on others through their interests, common ties etc. Like the redwoods we need others for survival. It is difficult to remain living as a strong Christian in this society of ours even when we have the benefit of other Christians living beside us. In Acts 2:42-47, (NIV) we have such a Christian community. Luke says that believers were bound together in the same way through the teaching of God’s Word, through fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer; the believers had everything in common and were selling their goods to give to the poor as needed. They met together with glad and sincere hearts praising God and enjoying the favor all the people. It sounds somewhat like a fairytale lifestyle; even too good to be true. Today we tend to get drawn into the cycle of materialism, doubts, worry, even jealousy of what others have and enjoy. We have common sayings to reflect that very idea. When is the last time you heard someone say "well, they are just trying to keep up with the Jones’s." Isn’t that what life is about today for a good part of society? –one big expensive competition? He who has the most toys win! In this Christian community they had quite a different attitude; life wasn’t about a few people having all the toys; it wasn’t about race or gender. These deceptions, I think, are nothing more than arrows that Satan pulls from his quiver knowing that they will effectively cause us to stumble by the wayside. We have the saying which talks about "happiness being like a child in a candy store." We have to careful as adults today that Satan doesn’t run the candy store. Our temptations lure us away from the lifestyle that we so badly need to follow. It is certain that these arrows of Satan will persist and will try to destroy the foundational fabric that unites us in our relationships with God. Satan’s desire is to destroy what God has ordained, what He has brought into being, what he has joined together. I’m sure that there is nothing that Satan would any rather see than for us to fall from our relationship with Jesus; perhaps if nothing more, he will at least put a few speed bumps in our path to slow down our maturity in Christ giving more time for deception and temptations. . . .But. . . God has given us one another to rely on, to give and receive encouragement in times of despair; to be a helping hand, an understanding friend in difficult times, a mentor, an accountability partner. We need each other in order to remain strong in this corrupt society. Take the time, help others around us.
Throughout the Old Testament, people would stray from God and neglect His teachings, then, they would call out for help and God would deliver them and lead them once again to safety. As I say this my mind goes back to the Period of the Judges. This cycle of drawing close to God then straying from God was repeated many, many times. In each case, tragedy, disaster or war would take place making their deliverance even more great, helping them to realize where their true strength lies. As we look back to Sept. 11th (2001) we see just such an example. An event that has changed the way we think and look at others. It is something that has left a huge scar on the hearts of many people. As with anything we need to search for some possible silver lining. Could it be that something positive could come out of such a tragedy? Sometimes in the face of danger and tragedy we are drawn closer together; our faith becomes more deeply rooted. We draw closer to God. We repeat the same trends today of drawing close to God and then falling away once again; in New York, it has been said many times since the Terrorist attack, that people have been drawn together in a common bond such as they have never seen before. Churches were to the point of overflowing their pews for the next few weeks and still show an increase in attendance yet today. What is sad is the fact that it takes such an event before we see people for who they really are. Does it really matter if they are rich or poor, English or French, male or female, American or Arabic? We are all part of the same global community. Only through the huge loss of life do we respect those around us; or reach out to lend a helping hand, show love and support. Because of this tragic event, they have been encouraged, strengthened by people they don’t even know, and they now have what it takes to carry on and to re-build their lives with or without their loved ones. During this act of reaching out, the true love that they show goes beyond the borders of race, gender and status, and it is focused on the real issues at hand; life, death, suffering, recovery and hope. When a community is in need, we are reminded that "Love" becomes an action, it is something that we share and demonstrate with others around us. Perhaps it is one of the few times that we can really demonstrate the Christlike ‘agape love’ and expect nothing in return other than the feeling of warmth and satisfaction.
God has given us the Church, the body of believers, as a resource of His love in which we can draw from like a well of endless flowing water. It is a love that never runs dry. If we were to look at the area that we live in, there is a wonderful network of Churches ministering to the people. Of course there are still individuals who do not worship God, but I’m sure that most everyone recognizes the influence of each congregation represented. They see us, they watch us from a distance, we simply need the opportunity to invite them to come closer, to become partakers in God’s Love, His Mercy and Grace; recipients of His forgiveness. We need the boldness to reach out to strangers, to family members, to the lost. Like the mighty Redwoods, the Church has delicately woven its roots which is the fabric of God’s message. Like the mighty Oaks, the people, and all believers as a whole, are to be deeply rooted in the Word of God, un-moved by the tests of time, un-penetrated by the arrows of Satan. The Church and her people will hold society together and is what enables us to make sense of what is going on in the world around us.
Small community, . . . large city, . . . a province or a nation, we all have the same obligation to those who live around us. In the words of C.S. Lewis, "Friendship is necessary, like philosophy, like art. . . It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." Friendship–community, the strengths of man. In uncertain times, friendship is a great asset, an untold wealth worth nothing in financial terms, yet remove it from the hearts of man and try to measure what is left. Who would we be without it?
In closing, I pray that we will continue to be a loving and close-nit community of believers; one that does not hesitate to reach out to others, one that would continue to gather for the teaching of God’s Word, for fellowship, for the breaking of bread and for prayer; that like the mighty oaks we are firmly rooted in the Word of God, while like the redwoods we have woven our own tapestry of God’s love within our fellow man.
In today’s text, we see a community with a dream,... in 1963 Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream,... today,... I have a dream! In the face of persecution, ridicule and hardships we must live the dream of those in Acts chapter 2, we must live the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. Each of us can carry this dream to our own community, our own village, hamlet,....to our own home! The changing of hearts, the re-shaping of the world begins with You! With each opportunity that we are given in the year ahead, may we do our best to share God’s message and His blessings with others. May we remove the tensions that our young people are growing up under, giving them a chance for freedom, for peace, for the best that humanity can offer and salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This sermon is written by: Giles M. Mullen, 503 University Ave., Charlottetown PEI., C1A 7Z4
email address: mullen_giles@hotmail.com
