Faith with Unity = Community
June 3 , 2007
Acts 3:1-16
Last week we left the community in a love feast. They were all hanging out at the temple: eating together, praying together, drinking together, celebrating together, they were united in heart and mind. It was an enormous love fest. And then today we crash right into a healing story.
I have tried many times to wrap my mind around the healing stories. I have tried many times to use them as metaphor for what they are really talking about. But, I must admit, when you hear those words read, he was healed and the man who had been lame from birth entered the temple leaping and jumping and praising God. When you hear those words it’s really hard to hear it as a metaphor. And, it is compounded for me, with the stories of Jesus. Because Jesus healed many times. He healed people from all sorts of afflictions. After his death, this gift was passed to the 11, enabled by the Holy Spirit to heal and cast out all that ailed a person. And, beyond that, we heard last week that the apostles now commissioned 70 more disciples to go out healing and casting out ailments. That means at that time 82 people were filled with the power to miraculously heal. How can that be? How can it be that God believed in healing when Jesus was around. God believed in healing after the death of Jesus, but we have no one, 2000 years later, who has the power to heal?
My UCC colleague Tony Robinson reminds that the healing wonders in Acts are signs that disrupt, disturb, disorient. And, each time that disorientation happens something new can take place. We see things differently, we are open to other possibilities. However, he also reminds that faith built on miracles is never enough. Faith built on miracles quickly falls apart, because you always need another miracle to believe. He invites us to see these not as healings but as disorientations. These healings disoriented people because it changed everything we knew about a person to change their economic capability. What would that look like today? This is where the story seems worth digging into for me. Where is it that we need to disorient today. And, how might our faith be more visible if we could create that kind of disorientation.
Jesus made a call. And, the disciples they responded. After Jesus died, the disciples went from being students to teachers, disciples to apostles. They made a call and more disciples responded. We are a community of faith with a long history of call and response. We are a community of faith that believes that God calls and we respond. Where is it that our world might need a little disorientation in order to respond to God’s call?
We left Acts two all cozy in our clubhouse, getting along, being supportive, having a great time. But, Peter and John go up to the temple to pray, the good and devout Jews that they were—when they were confronted by the man at the beautiful gate. It seems a message doesn’t it…Prayer is not a way around suffering or misery or the truth of how our world exists. Prayer forces us to walk right into the midst of the suffering and misery of the world. It takes disorientation from our own worldly status to see the suffering of another. It takes disorientation from our own worldly status to acknowledge those who suffer in ways that honor who they are. It takes disorientation from our worldly status to see the possibility of hope in the midst of suffering and misery.
There were plenty of people in the days of Acts that were willing to blame the lame man’s condition on his sin or on the sin of his parents. In our own day, the conventional explanation for such physical infirmity lies more along the lines of certain biological or physiological causes. In the eyes of the faithful community, both the heart ache and the healing of the world’s misery are read differently. We as a people of faith hear the cries of those who are suffering. WE as a people of faith understand the misery of living. We as a people of faith proclaim, our God is calling to us to disorient this stratified living. Our God is calling to us to resist this kind of misery. Our God is calling to us to respond in disorienting ways. What if we cared what the suffering had to say. What if we listened to what those pulled under by misery had to say? What if we reacted to what our neighbors, sisters and brothers, community members had to say with the passion and witness of Jesus. What kind of disorienting turn around would be made possible if we just stopped and didn’t pass by those who were in need.
The history of the Christian community has many examples of short lived communities that defined the church as a rather closed, cozy club of the elect. Our history is full of communities that feel so secure, warm and supported by each member of the community it seems too worrisome, to disturbing, too disorienting to venture out into the cold, cruel world. But, Peter and John were cast right out into the world the moment they left their club. Peter and John find themselves right in the middle of the conundrum of faith and suffering the moment they step outside.
So, you get it now, huh? We are the disciples and apostles. How is it you will disorient yourselves from our cozy club this week? How is it that we will choose to create energy in the midst of suffering this week? We have been called, how will we respond? Will we choose to honor those suffering with HIV and AIDS and participate in National HIV testing day? Will we choose to acknowledge the problem of hunger and food security in our city by attending the Community Food Bank Breakfast? Will we choose to take time to pray for those who suffer during silent prayer time? Will we visit with the dying? How is it we will disorient our comfortableness? How is it we will bring such joy to the suffering that they will want to leap with joy for the ways in which the Spirit is working within them. You’ve been called. What will your response be?
Let us pray. Help us to see this story as the Beautiful Gate. The gate that we choose to open because of your call. Help us to make an impact on suffering in ourselves, in our relationships and our world. Guide us to bring great joy in your name to all we encounter. We are ready dear God for this world to become disoriented, for the way business is being done has created enough suffering and misery for all time. Help us be a new kind of presence and light in unity with you and in the witness of Jesus. Amen.