Defending Our Hope

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you-- not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:13-22, NRSV)

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." (John 14:15-21, NRSV)

The 6th Sunday of Easter, Year A


“DEFENDING YOUR HOPE”


My Dad preferred hearing about things by word-of-mouth over advertisements on TV or in the papers. After all that is the purpose of advertising—to get a person to hear and to do something or buy something other than what they are used to. In fact, it is people’s jobs to do that. People make careers in advertising. He knew that TV and print ads could be very impressive but just not true. A recommendation from someone he knew and trusted carried a certain weight with him. It mattered that it was done personally. When I think about the people he did business with, it worked for him. He got meat from Leo and Buddy Grieshaber in a small store and you could see how they did things, weighing things on the scale, cutting up the meat, scraping down the old butcher wooden block each night. You could see the cooler, smell that it was fresh. He used to joke that he knew the cow personally, but it was the butchers he knew and trusted. You could see what kind of butchers they were by what they did. I largely agree with Dad. But I would add that some ideas are good ones, but still need a little help getting around. If those who knew about the great new things kept quiet about them, I might never find out what they are. There are some new ideas that appear on the scene. Word-of mouth is rather slow. So there are some things that can use a little help getting around. Sometimes we need to hear about what is new.

The First Letter of Peter is from the time when the Christian faith was spreading through Palestine and beyond. It was something new to the people around it. It was the message about Jesus, who he was and what he did. That news could affect people’s lives deeply. It could change their lives. Peter tells the church some things about suffering. If a person suffers for doing what is wrong, that is expected. But if a person suffers for doing right, they are blessed. That surprises us. He says that sometimes doing right is its own blessing. If they suffer while doing right, they are to remember that Christ suffered, too, suffered for them. Faith in Jesus could change how a person looks at things. God’s purpose in sending Jesus was to bring people to God. It was achieved through the death of Christ. And the symbol of that salvation is the ark. Noah and his family were saved from the destruction of judgment on the water. Baptism is a sign of this. That is the good news they have seen and are living in right now.

The other is that they are to always be ready to make their defense of their hope. That is, if anyone asks them about it they are to give an accounting of it. There are those who have not heard the good news and this could be their chance. It is to be done with gentleness and respect. That is an additional reason they are to conduct themselves well, so that people who might criticize them will be discredited. Their behavior and their words are to reveal to those around them the reality of faith in their lives. It is no false claim. They could see what kind of people they were by how they lived. The book began with telling them that they have been born anew into a living hope by Christ’s resurrection from the dead. They have experienced the resurrection of Christ and that, in turn, has given them hope. And they are to be ready to tell others about the hope that they see in them. To do that they need to live in hope.

What we are talking about is something that goes by many names. It can be called witnessing, sharing your faith, church growth, or evangelism. When we do it, we are living as the first disciples did. It is telling others about how God has blessed you in your life, whether it is by giving you strength in times of suffering or by other blessings. It points to God. It is telling others about the greatness of God, as the Psalmist did, when he wrote, “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.” or as John Newton, the author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace”, did in his old age. He said that there were only two important things, that he was a great sinner and Jesus was a great Savior.

There is no doubt that this is a time of great change in our society and churches. Many churches lived according to the plan that the members had children who became part of the church, and those children had children, and those children had children, and so on, the church continued. And many churches depended on the same families staying in the same place. Nowadays, people no longer live generation after generation in the same place. Many people nowadays were not raised in a church and are not familiar with the ideas of the faith. What is a church to do when the plan changes? One way of responding to the change is by returning to the way of life at the beginning of Christianity when the Christians were few and surrounded by those who did not know the faith. What did they do? They shared their faith with the world around them and it became a worldwide faith.

Churches struggle with what to do in this changed world. Some put their hope in a location, or a program, or a sign, or a personality, or an ad campaign. Studies show these things are important, but not the most important thing. The most important thing is when one person invites another. It is, strangely old-fashioned, in a modern, sophisticated age. It is by word-of mouth. It is like Leo and Buddy, people we can see and trust to help us have something good, to help us see more, help us want to be a part.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus promises to send another Advocate to be with the disciples forever. He has been alongside the disciples and will soon leave them. But they will not be alone. He will send this other One. This is the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the Paraclete, which is a way of saying what the Greek word does, ‘the one who is called to our side’. The Spirit helps us and will never leave us. This leads us, not to focus on our tradition, or history, but on the reality of God among us.

What if we changed how we looked at that scary word, evangelism, to show what it really is? It is not arguing with or misleading people. Maybe its goal should not be gaining members, not getting people to join us in order to support our church, but rather sharing what we have, with only the goal of helping others. Of offering to them what the church and faith can be in their lives, what is has been in our lives, but even more importantly, helping them to know that One, whether for the first time or more deeply, who will be with them forever, who will be with them in good times and bad times.

Maybe we need to change how we see the church, to see it not as an organization which draws people or is the center of a community, but as one which reaches out to people. Maybe we need to change the plan. Tim Williams found that plans do not always work. He went to Greensboro, Alabama, to help rebuild the Rising Star Baptist Church, recent victim of a fire. He loved his role as builder and felt that he had entered the kingdom of God. His volunteers learned their tasks and worked hard, except for a young man named Ian who would run over to any children brought on to the work site to play with them. His team was annoyed by this and he had planned on talking to Ian about it. The members of the church served the workers a huge meal at the building site. There were no questions in the time that followed about the new design and work at the church, but all afternoon, the parents thanked Ian for being so good to their kids. He concluded: “My crew and I thought we were in Greensboro to rebuild a church. None of us thought we could rebuild the broken hearts of its people. None of us, that is, except Ian.” When we change the plan, what was most important in the past becomes less so. When we rediscover the plan, we regain it. What becomes more important is how we are with the people who need us. That brings them life.

In First Peter we are told to be ready to share our hope with those who ask us. That is the first challenge, that our faith should be meaningful enough that it is shown in our words and deeds, that others would be attracted to the faith by them. And then there is the second challenge that we have an answer for those who ask us. When we meet those challenges, then the good news of the gospel goes out to those who can hear it. When we live in that new way, we can not only share our faith, but also share our hope. We not only have the help of the Spirit in our lives, but we can be help to others. When we are asked, we will have an answer. A hopeful answer. An answer for them.

It Does a Body Good

The 5th Sunday of Easter, Year A

Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation-- 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." 7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner," 8 and "A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:2-10, NRSV)

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,'Show us the Father'? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." (John 14:1-14, NRSV)


“IT DOES A BODY GOOD”


We have a greater awareness of the importance of nutrition these days. Just look at the ads all around us. They tell us of the wonderful things in good food: potassium, fiber, good bacteria in yogurt, antioxidants, vitamins. There are still those ads, though, which promote other foods—those high in fat and sugar and calories. Those are the ones with the huge sandwiches, like the triple bacon cheeseburger, without a single vegetable in sight. There is no arguing that those things don’t taste good. But our awareness of the effect of what we eat on how we feel and on how our health will be in the future is growing and we are urged to make better choices for our meals. One of those good things is calcium and it is found in great things—cheese and ice cream, and, of course, milk. We know that it is important in building bones, which provide strength and structure for the whole body. And we are learning that it is not just good for us at the start of life; it is good for us all through our lives. As they said on a TV commercial some years ago, “Milk does a body good.”

One of the Scripture readings this morning is from First Peter. He reminds them of their start. As we heard a few weeks ago, they have been born anew into a living hope through the Resurrection of Christ. By faith their lives begin anew. And he tells them to long for the pure spiritual milk, like newborns. And its purpose is the same as that of ordinary milk, to help us grow, to nourish us, to make us strong. We are to long for it. Like milk is our first food, we are to feed our faith on what is basic. We heard about that last week. What was basic to the early church was Scripture and teaching, prayer, the Lord’s supper and fellowship. Those things are basic to our lives of faith. It is easy to want the things that are not good for us. God has the goal of growing strong, not just physically, but spiritually as well. It is God’s plan that we grow. That is done as we bring the word of God into our lives. The writer of the letter talks about this as growing into salvation.

In First Peter, he continues on by describing the community. They are, together, a spiritual house with Jesus as the cornerstone. Individually, they are living stones which are put together. How they come into this community is through faith in that cornerstone. That cornerstone holds them together. It is like last week, talking about Christ as the gate of the sheepfold. The church is God’s chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. How we come into that community is by Baptism. It is the beginning of a new life in the community of faith. It is also the beginning of a life of growing in the faith. Its root is in the mercy of God.

The Gospel reading talks about what Jesus told the disciples. He wants them to have peace so he tells them that God has a place for them. He said that he would go to prepare it and come to take them to it. That confused some of the disciples who asked where Jesus was going because they wanted to know the way. Jesus’ reply is that he is the way. He is also the truth and the life. It is faith in that that is important. That is also done as we baptize, making promises on behalf of infants, whom we help grow in the faith so that they become people who live the promise we make. But beyond all this is that God makes promises to us, promises which we know and believe in and grow to trust in hearing God’s word.

We begin by tasting that the Lord is good. That might sound strange to us, but it is a metaphorical use of the word ‘taste’. We, of course, are used to the literal one. In a different sense to taste is to experience something. When we taste something then we know its worth. Sometimes we use that word to mean to have a little of something, like at the HyVee supermarket where the people give out small samples of things hoping we will buy more. Just a taste of something might make us want more. In a similar way, we are given the possibility of experiencing God in our lives just a bit, and when we find that it is wonderful and God is good, we will want more. God leads us into growth by giving us good in our lives.

Scott Walker of Waco, Texas, heard that Ed, a friend of his, died one day. Scott visited with the family in preparation for the funeral and asked what the most important lesson Ed taught them. A daughter, Helen said that her father had taught her to ride a bicycle. That took Scott by surprise until he realized that it was the symbol of their relationship, her father gently picking her up when she fell.
When we experience God’s goodness, our faith in God grows. We grow by consuming what is good for us. And just like we do not grow to our full height overnight, we grow best by growing daily.

It is also good to remember that we do not grow alone, as Linda Neukrug found when she worked at the cash register of a bookstore. A little boy wanted to pay for a book about the moon. This prompted Linda to ask him if he wanted to travel on a spaceship. The boy looked frightened and asked, “Now?” Linda replied that it would be when he grew up. But this still did not ease the boy’s mind. It was only eased when his father said that he would go with him.

In Baptism, we begin what will be a lifelong journey. We can trust that knowing that God will be with us on that journey, however many years we are blessed to be on it.

God’s plan for our lives is growth. Just as we grow from birth into adulthood by good food, so God has things, good things, that feed our lives. We have the promise of God’s presence and grace. We have the pure spiritual milk of the Word. We have the building of living stones, of which we are a part. All these things are for us all throughout our lives. But most of all, we have love.

Sharing Community

The 4th Sunday of Easter, Year A


They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45 they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47, NRSV)

"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:1-10, NRSV)



“SHARING COMMUNITY”


Sharing comes with difficulty for most of us. It starts out when we are young and first discover that word, “Mine.” Laying claim to what is our own is necessary in part, but some of us develop the skill very very well throughout life. It is particularly intense if what we want to own is a rare or valuable or desirable object. It’s not just us, by the way. I bird-sit and was watching Gabby and Gordy, two Alexandrine Ring Necked Parakeets. For a while, if you gave them a small spoon of breakfast cereal, they would pick out the almonds and throw away the flakes. Not just drop the flakes, haul their heads back and fling them across the room. I stopped giving them cereal for a while. Then I tried an experiment. I stood at the entrance to the room and said, “I have something for little birds. I have something for little birdies.” They were waiting for it and rushed over to get it and ate it all. I chuckled to myself that this was the food they used to toss away. After a while Gordy, the male, would finish his first, then go to try to take the flake of cereal away from Gabby, the female. I chuckled to myself again, that now they are struggling over what they used to toss away. Sometimes what is valuable is only in the eye of the beholder. The other week Gordy tried to take the food away from Gabby but it broke and so they split it, eating side by side. They were sharing.
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us a vision of a new kind of life. It comes after Peter has given a great speech telling the crowd who Jesus is and that he was put to death and raised from the dead. He goes on to say that the Holy Spirit was poured out over the disciples. Those who heard this message asked what they should do. Peter’s answer was that they should believe and be baptized. What they did next was to join the community. At the center of that community was the teaching of the apostles, breaking bread, and prayers. It was a spiritually-centered community. Their sharing went beyond just meeting together as they sold their possessions to provide for the needs of all. Great joy marked their lives. And God blessed the community by adding to its number daily.
The Gospel reading talks about another aspect of this community. It is that formed by those who hear the Good Shepherd’s voice and follow him and together form his flock. He is not only the shepherd but the gate. Through him the sheep enter the flock and are kept safe. Others may come, but they do not care for the sheep in the same way. This is what the sheep have in common; this is what they share, that they have the Good Shepherd who cares for them.
Many miss the sense of community in our society nowadays. Philip Gulley talks about it as he recalled the town he grew up in. He lived next door to a kid who ate dirt. Another neighbor sold shoes and when a snapping turtle ended up in his yard one day, they were invited over for turtle soup the next day. Another neighbor was a plumber, and would get his hair cut in exchange for unclogging their pipes. Mr. Bolton would show cartoons on his reel-to-reel projector in the garage to the neighborhood kids, while giving them popcorn and soda pop. But it wasn’t only these things that made them neighbors: “The Myerses and the Blaydeses resided two empty lots away. I’ll never forget how my mom and Mrs. Blaydes stood in those lots holding each other and crying the day the Myers boy got killed on his motorcycle on North Salem Road.”
He laments that those days are over. Community is in trouble in many ways nowadays. There are many changes in society. We are left with the question: What does the church have to offer a society with so many ways of getting together? It is that same vision as those first disciples had—that the church is a spiritually-centered community, that the church is a meaningful community in an increasingly superficial world. The church still has something to share. A church without any depth or purpose will be lost among the many things people seek. But a church which brings these things—knowledge of God, the presence of God, fellowship, sharing—to people will find a purpose in the world. The other vision is that there is more to the church than the people. It is the community God calls us to. The Lord brings us together. It is more than what we bring with us when we gather. It is what God gives us as we do that.
What do we share? There are a couple ways of looking at the word ‘sharing’. One is what we have in common, what we all partake of, and the passage from Acts is rich in that. We share the gospel, the good news of God’s love, the baptism by which we enter the church, the meal God has given us to strengthen our faith, our love for one another. We have been given many things. The other side of the word ‘sharing’ is what we bring or give of ourselves to others, what we take from those riches we were given and give to those around us and to those far away.
There is another side to the word ‘sharing’. It is that we give to others from what we were given. Gina Bridgman tells the story of when she was a girl and wanted to marry someone with a lot of money. Her mother said that money was not that important and besides, it didn’t matter unless he was willing to share it. There are many ways we share with others what we have. Perhaps it is extending oneself in new ways. It might be seeking forgiveness or letting go of old hurts. It might be to see beyond the walls of the church to find what more it can do for the people around it.
Phil Gulley found that, while he might have left his old neighborhood, he didn’t leave what made his old neighborhood special. There were new people in the new place, but they had what the others did. There is more to neighborhood than a place. That kindness is what made the neighbors into neighbors. He discovered in the new neighborhood those who brought cookies, hung wallpaper, gave out Juicy Fruit gum. He said, “Kindness thrives. It’s awareness that’s on the wane.” It is not where they were that mattered; it was that they shared their lives.
Community is a gift. It is from what we are given that we share, that brings us together. It is also something we make. The early church was blessed as it heard the Lord’s voice and was the Lord’s presence in the world around them. It was blessed in order to share and that sharing also became the blessing. We, too, can hear that voice that calls us not to be people who merely get together, but people who share what God has given us. To share is truly to create community.