You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.

There has been an awful lot of talk about greatness lately. We get into arguments about who is the greatest _____ of all time (musician, athlete, etc). Some have been talking lately about being great again. What does it mean to be great? When were we great before? Who was it great for?

Some want to define greatness by one's achievements. Some want to define greatness by one's prowess. Some want to define greatness by one's ability to dominate others. Being great is to be a winner, to be on top.

Or is it?

Stephen Gets Stoned (and not in a good way)

Looking at today's various texts, stones and rocks come up several times. In the Psalm, God is a rock of refuge and a mighty fortress. In 1 Peter, Jesus is the cornerstone, the very foundation on which our faith is built. This can leave us feeling pretty good. Stones are strong and firm. They can hold us up and protect us. But 1 Peter points out that rocks can also make us trip and stumble. And there there is the Acts text.

Following the last couple of weeks where we have focused on the post-Resurrection community. We have seen these people of faith accept that Christ has risen. We have seen them join together into communities, communities that helped one another and shared all they had with each other. Communities that grew out of the faith exhibited in the stories and lives of those that started them.

In the last few chapters of Acts, Stephen has been selected as one of the servant leaders of one of these communities. He, along with a handful  of others, is initially set apart to care for the widows in the Greek-speaking portion of the community, he becomes known for his teaching and testimony in the Hellenistic synagogues.

Christian Communism

I had not planned to do a second post for this week. However, the Acts passage this week just kept tugging at me.

Here in the season of Easter, we look not only at the post-Resurrection stories of Jesus, we also begin to look at the earliest community of believers after the Ascension. In the Acts passage today, we catch one such glimpse of this early community.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Acts 2:42, NRSV)

This first verse gives us a sketch of what this earliest community looked like. And in some ways it does not look that different from our church communities today. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching (which have become our scriptures), to fellowship, to the breaking of bread (Eucharist), and the prayers (the prayers of the people). So far I bet we are all still feeling pretty comfortable with ourselves. We are following the Christian tradition, maintaining much the same pattern in our worship life together as the earliest Christian communities. Surely we are all doing something right.

But before we pat ourselves too hard on the back, let us not forget that the text does not end there.

"All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." (Acts 2:44-45, NRSV)

The model of this first Christian community doesn't simply end with them hearing the apostles' stories, sharing some bread, and praying. (Maybe today we would throw in a couple of hymns as well.)  Worship was not the end of their time together, not the end of what it means for them to be a Christian community.

Their faith was enacted in community. It was not an individualistic faith. It wasn't about any single person's relationship with God. This faith was about growing in relationship with each other.

This is something I feel we tend to forget in our present culture. We often forget what it means to be "we," to be connected to others. In our contemporary world, we focus on personal conversion as the sign of salvation. "Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?"

But when asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus replies that we must love God with our entire being and love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus teaches us that the entirety of the law and prophets hang on these two things (see Matthew 22:36-40).

This is exactly what we see embodied here in this passage from Acts. Through their sharing of the stories of the apostles, breaking bread together, and praying, the earliest Christians expressed directly their love of God. And in their communal sharing and making sure everyone's needs were met, they continue to express their love of God by loving one another.

This is a far cry from too many Christian communities today. It seems that too often, those who would claim Christ see this only from their own individual point of view. It is difficult to reconcile the actions of many of those who claim to be Christian's today with the model set by this earliest community.

They distributed to all as they had need.

Notice it doesn't list any other criteria other than having need.

The community of believers cared for each other. They cared for each others' needs. Those with greater resources provided for the needs of those with less.

Sadly, this is a far cry from too many of us that claim to be Christian today. Today, those claiming to be Christian celebrate the exclusion of people from our communities. Today, those claiming to be Christians celebrate denying health care coverage to those in need. Today, those claiming to be Christian preach a "gospel" that claims if you are individually right with God, God will make you prosper.

Jesus said that others would know us by our love for one another.

But do our communities today look anything like this earliest community?

Clear-cut pastures and oil-choked waters

Perhaps one of the most recognized scriptures, Psalm 23 is one that many know by heart. Read at funerals and other times of distress, it is a passage that brings comfort to many.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

It's not difficult to see why this Psalm offers a sense of comfort to many. From the beginning we recognize God's care for us. God is our shepherd. The shepherd cares for the flock, guiding them, providing for their needs, nourishing them. With God as our shepherd, our needs are cared for. We have no need of anything beyond that which is provided.

"He makes me lie down in green pastures;"

Continuing the metaphor of sheep and shepherd, we must consider the idea that for sheep, which eat grass, a verdant pasture must be appealing. What better place than a field of plenty in which to lounge?