At Grace, we are in a series of sermons looking at the covenant we make with one another as the church. Together we promise to share our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. Just a little bit ago, we made that promise with one another as we welcomed Eden as a member of the church – now we have to bring that promise to life.
It is good to be with you all this week because last week I couldn’t be here. My wife, Irene, and I were both sick late last week and her symptoms ended up taking us to urgent care for a COVID test. Thankfully, COVID and flu tests came back negative, but unfortunately, we don’t know what kind of bug we had.
As Alanis Morissette might say, “Isn’t it ironic…” that on a Sunday when we’re talking about service and AMOS speakers are lined up to share a bit about what Grace has been a part of through the work of AMOS in our community, I get sick and can’t be here.
For a Sunday sick day, being gone last weekend worked out pretty well but rewriting a sermon, let alone trying to write out everything that needs to be said and remembered for the service, while trying to imagine how someone else is going to read it on your behalf, and with their inflection, wasn’t my favorite thing to do while I was sick and I hope that doesn’t happen again any time soon.
In our covenant, we promise our service to one another, and if you were with us last week, you saw that with AMOS and with the worship going on without me, so thank you to everyone that stepped up and helped to make that happen.
Today at Grace, we’re going to be talking about what it means to share our witness with one another. Of all the parts of our promise to one another and the church, when it comes to prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, witness is probably the one that we talk about the least. In some church traditions it’s not uncommon for the pastor to say, “Can I get a witness”, can I get someone to share and affirm the goodness, the comfort, the victory, that we have by the grace of God.
In other church traditions, witness is another name for evangelism. Evangelism is as simple, or as scary, as sharing your faith with someone. For a lot of good reasons, evangelism has a bad name. It’s spooky season and Halloween is right around the corner. A couple times in my childhood when I was out trick or treating, people gave me little comic books, called Chick Tracts. As a kid, at first, I was excited because I love comic books, but these little comic books told me that I was a sinner for trick or treating and that God was going to send me to hell.
The weirdest form of evangelism that ever happened to me when I was growing up was at a baseball game. I had to go to the bathroom, and on the floor was what looked like a $20 bill. I was a kid at a baseball game that wanted more peanuts and cracker jacks, so I did what kids do and reached under the ice-filled troff that is somehow a men’s bathroom at a little league baseball game and picked up what I thought was a $20 bill.
It wasn’t money. It was a card that said, “Disappointed? You wouldn’t be if you knew Jesus.”
I know Jesus, I was still disappointed, only now my hand was filthy and as I tossed the counterfeit $20 back on the floor I knew the next person would be as angry as I was.
The thought of witnessing to our faith or evangelizing can make us uncomfortable because a lot of evangelism in the world today is based in shame and fear instead of grace and peace.
So what can it mean for us to be a witness? How can we share our lives with one another while inviting others to be a part of the life of the church in ways that don’t make us feel as dirty as a fake $20 on the bathroom floor?
Our reading today comes from the Book of Acts and Acts is kind of like the sequel to the Gospel of Luke. The author of Luke is the same author as the book of Acts. Luke is about the life and ministry of Jesus and Acts is about the early life and ministry of the church.
As the book of Acts starts, the resurrected Jesus is hanging out with the disciples and someone asks him, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” Essentially they ask, Jesus, when is all this Roman oppression going to stop? God, when will our suffering come to an end? Jesus, when will war stop, when will the hunger cease, when will justice be realized?
Jesus says, more or less, don’t worry about it, which I don’t think is that helpful of an answer, but it’s the honest answer. Jesus says to the disciples, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that [God] has set…” How God’s kingdom comes, when God’s will is done, on earth as it is in heaven, that how and when isn’t ours to know. Sometimes all we can do is live with the question and hope that we’ll understand it better by and by.
But Jesus doesn’t just say to the disciples, don’t worry about. Jesus has more to say because Jesus isn’t just answer the disciples question, Jesus is answering the question behind the question.
When the disciples ask, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” they’re really asking, Lord, are you going to free us from responsibility? When are you going to take care of justice so we don’t have to? Lord, when are you going to end oppression so we can stop worrying about it. Jesus, when are you going to feed all the folks with cardboard signs on the side of the road because I feel guilty every time I drive by them?
Jesus is asked, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” and he responds by saying, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The disciples ask Jesus when he is going to take care of everything and Jesus responds to the disciples telling them that they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit and will be Jesus’ witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. It is as if Jesus is saying to the disciples, alone I won’t, by yourselves, you can’t, but together by the grace of God, we can.
Jesus has his job to do and we have our own. Alone, Jesus won’t, by ourselves, we can’t, but together, by the grace of God, we can.
This is our work and witness, to be a part of restoring the kingdom of God by seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly, by praying for one another, by praying and working for justice, by praying and working for the end of poverty, by praying and working for a clean creation.
This is our witness – we pray and work by the grace of God.
When Jesus says that we will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, the Greek word for power that Jesus uses is δύναμιν (dynamin) and it’s where we get the English word dynamite and it’s one of the more common words used in the New Testament.
When did we stop thinking we had dynamic energy, the power that could be compared to dynamite? One of the academic greek definitions of δύναμιν (dynamin) is, “universally, ‘inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth.”
This dynamic power is so common in Biblical Greek it’s mentioned 120 times in the New Testament, maybe it’s so universal, so inherent, that we have forgotten that it’s always with us and always ours.
It’s like our breath. How often do you think about your breathing?
In the past two years, we’ve all thought about our breathing a bit more than usual, and it’s allergy and cold season so maybe you are stuffed up and can’t help but be mindful of your congested breathing, but how often do we find ourselves forgetting that we are breathing?
Some of you have heard me say this before, but the Greek word for spirit is also the same word for breath. Breath and spirit, in Greek, is πνεῦμα (nooma). Breath and spirit are also the same word in Biblical Hebrew and that word is וְר֣וּחַ (ruach). In most ancient languages, the word for breath and the word for spirit were the same, it’s as if there has always been this wisdom and promise that we are never without the spirit of God.
There is a paradox at the heart of our humanity, because we all, universally and inherently, have this inherent, dynamic, dynamite-like power, and yet we feel helpless. There is a paradox at the heart of our humanity because we’re fragile and vulnerable, we are made from dust and to dust we will return, and yet, at the very same time, we have been breathed into by the creator of the universe and this holy breath is in every single human being.
You are a sacred creation of God, filled with the spirit. Divine breath is flowing through you and with every inhale and exhale, this breath moves to the next person, and the next person, and the next person.
Alone, God does not make things on earth as they are in heaven, on our own, we can’t, but together, with the breath of God, with the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus tells the disciples that they will be witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
When Jesus says this, he and the disciples are in Jerusalem. It’s like Jesus is saying, if things on earth going to be as they are in heaven, we’ve got to start at home first. But then the vision gets a little bigger, Jesus says the disciples are going to be witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but in all of Judea, but not only Judea by Samaria too. Judea and Samaria were once one nation, but a civil war separated them and the nations never came back together – the cultures and traditions and religious started to shift apart from one another and by the time of Christ, Judea and Samaria got along like dogs and cats, democrats and republicans, people that drink coffee and the monsters that can somehow wake up on their own every day.
Jesus tells us that if we start where we are, the witness, the grace, the power of the spirit that is within us can’t help but be shared, from our home, to our community, even to the people that we think we have nothing in common with, because they too are blessed with the spirit and the breath of God. But before you get to them, before you think about being a witness to the ends of the earth, think about where you are, not where you want to be, not where you think you’re headed, but right now, where are you?
Even though we are blessed with the breath of God, even though inherently have the dynamite-like power of God with us, my guess is that a lot of us are caught somewhere between disillusionment and coming to terms with our grief.
In any disaster, let alone a pandemic, there are moments that give us hope, that bring us an emotional high, and there are moments that take us lower than we could ever imagine.
Think about when the pandemic started. There was grief, there was fear, but there was also the hope that we would find a way though this, and people started to help one another in heroic ways. We came together as a community to support one another. We still had strong feelings of grief and loss, but this sense of people responding to uncertainty with the best of themselves reminded us to not only look for the helpers, but to be the helpers as best as we could be.
But then we get a bit of compassion fatigue, we know that we can’t do everything for everyone and we start to wonder if we can do anything for anyone. As pandemic safety measures started to become political we started to wonder if we could trust one another. Over time, the news cycle shifts, our worries and concerns are no longer headlines and our unfulfilled hopes and promises of aid went unanswered. Our feelings of disillusionment can seem bottomless, but eventually there comes a moment where we realize that we’ve got to take responsibility for our future. We come to a point in our lives where we know that alone, God won’t, by ourselves, we can’t, but together, by the grace of God, we can and we will.
My hunch is that most of us are caught somewhere between disillusionment and reconstruction. Maybe you’re not sure what you believe anymore, because faith today feels different than faith did in March of last year. Maybe you feel like the world is moving too fast, that we’re all forgetting we’re still in a pandemic, and you’re going to be left behind and forgotten. Maybe you’re anxious and afraid to spend your time with a group of people. Maybe you are looking froward to finally not worrying about wearing a mask every again. Maybe you have no idea if you can trust your neighbor to take care of you in the simplest of ways. Maybe you have no idea where you are and maybe you feel all of this at once just like I do.
Wherever you are, Jesus is with you there, because just as Jesus said to the disciples in Jerusalem, you will receive power from the Holy Spirit and be witnesses here.
We can only start where we are.
Bishop Michael Curry writes, “It is easy enough for us to be so overwhelmed by the enormity of the needs and the problems that we simply give up. But we are not condemned to a perpetual purgatory of the way things always are or have been. If I may borrow from the words of the late Archbishop Oscar Romero, we can’t do everything, but we can do something. And if we do something, God will do something and something will happen. We can make a difference!”
We can make a difference, and we will, when we live into the fullness of the covenant that we’ve made with one another. You are a sacred and holy creation of God filled with the divine breath and we need you to witness to that. I need you to trust that within you there is the dynamic and dynamite-like power of God. I need you to know that with every breath God is with you. As a church, we need to start where we are. You need to start where you are, and only then can we keep going.
We need your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, because alone, God won’t, by ourselves, we can’t, but together, by the grace of God, we will.
If we can get a witness here at Grace, if you will be a witness, here are a few things we need to know. Since we’ve come back together in person, we’ve been a lot like the disciples asking Jesus when the kingdom is going to be restored, we’ve assumed that things can just go back to how they used to be, that church will just happen regardless of how we share or withhold our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
We’ve hoped that things will just happen, that people will come back to church and the sanctuary will be full, that new folks will want to join our current small groups and Sunday school classes and because we all know one another, they’ll get to know us instead of us seeking to know them.
As a church, just like the disciples, we stumble when we ask God to do the work that we have been blessed to be a part of.
You want to be a witness – pray for the church, for our community, for your friends and family and start living your prayer so it doesn’t end when you say Amen. You are the answer to someone’s prayer and I need you to be a witness by living like it.
You want to be a witness – be present. If that you’re worshiping from home, that’s great. If that means you’re with us in the sanctuary, that’s great too. But remember, when it comes to the faithful presence of the church, being present in worship means a lot more than listening to me talk at you. There are people in your life that God needs you to be present with. There is a community that needs the grace and peace that you have to offer. There is a presence that you need and a presence that you can provide, so be a witness with your presence.
You want to be a witness – be in service. You can be in service with our preschool trunk or treat, you can be of service with the blankets we will be making for Bidwell, you can be of service helping with the free clinic, community meal, monthly shelter meal, or you can be of service being an usher, being a greeter, you can be of service by taking the extra five minutes after church to get to know someone just by saying, “I’m not sure we’ve met…” You can be of service with AMOS too. Here’s the thing, we don’t need everyone at Grace to go to the AMOS meetings, we don’t need all of you to volunteer to help with their work in the community, but it would make a huge difference for AMOS and for our church if 3 to 5 people were willing be of service like that. If you want to be a witness, get involved in service.
And if you want to be a witness as a member of Grace, take the time this month to prayerfully consider your pledge to the church. For the last few years as we’ve set the budget and talked about our financial needs around the church, we’ve talked about maintaining our current expenses and haven’t had the time to dream about where God is leading us in the future. If we can increase our budget by 5%, our program budget would have more resources to provide. If we can increase our budget by 12%, Grace could pay 100% of our apportionments. If you don’t know, apportionments is the pledge that Grace makes to the worldwide Methodist Church and our mission and ministry. In the United Methodist Church, just as we expect our members to support the church, we expect our churches to support one another. If our budget can go up by 12%, we can fully meet our pledge to global church. If our budget can increase by 20%, we would be able to pay our apportionments in full and we would be able to hire an associate pastor.
When I started at Grace in 2019, the plan was for Grace to welcome an associate pastor at that time, but we quickly realized that we weren’t quite ready for one. We’re almost ready for one, but we’re still not there yet. At the very same time, we still have the needs and the dreams that an associate pastor could help with. There are connections in the community and with Drake that we want to reclaim. There are people that need congregational care and visits on a regular basis. There are new groups and activities that we need to offer and provide so that you and other folks can get more connected with Grace. We have all of those needs for an associate pastor to help with, we just can’t afford one yet.
You want to be a witness, prayerfully consider your pledge to Grace and by the end of October, complete a pledge card and leave it at the office, fill out the pledge card online, or even call us at the church and tell us what your pledge will be for next year.
We need your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, because alone, God won’t, by ourselves, we can’t, but together, by the grace of God, we will.