May 2, 2021 Acts 8.26-40 “May Flowers: Philip Baptizes Royalty” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

What an exciting day this was in the book we call the Acts of the Apostles. Our passage begins with an angel, not just any angel, for there are angels of various ranks in the angelic pecking order as well as angels who serve evil and angels who serve the Lord. Verse 26 says an angel of the Lord spoke to the Apostle Phillip.

It is no surprise that Philip heard the voice of the Lord. Philip was one of the 12 disciples that Jesus called to spread the gospel of repentance, forgiveness, healing and a clean life. Philip was so excited about Jesus that he invited his friend Nathaniel to meet him, and Nathaniel became one of the 12 as well. There are many stories about Bethel members inviting family and friends to church who join and become enthusiastic workers in the church for generations.

Philip was excited. He hung on Jesus’ every word. It is no wonder that he could hear the Lord’s angel speaking to him. Philip was one of those disciples that did not miss a thing. He was on the alert so he could do whatever Jesus asked him to do. He was paying close attention to Jesus’ directions. He could hear it in Jesus’ voice when he was troubled and he cared when Jesus was concerned about something. Philip was a well-trained disciple, so when the angel told him to, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” - a wilderness road. He did exactly what he understood he was supposed to do. 

Philip listened like Abraham did went when an angel told him to leave his home and go to Canaan, like the disciples James, and John, Peter and Andrew leaving their fishing nets to fish for men, like Noah who was called to build a boat of refuge even though his neighbors were laughing at him, like Henry Ford hearing the call to build cars, the Wright brothers who flew a plane, prostitute Rahab called to hide God’s soldiers from the enemy, Ruth Ginsberg called to judge, and Nigerian singer Osinachi Kalu Okoro Egbu, whose song entitled Waymaker is off the charts because it elicits our most heartfelt praise of our God.

Philip, like many others did what the angel asked him to do and what God put it in their lives to do. Perhaps you have heard the voice of an angel directing you to a certain place for a good purpose. Psychiatrists tell us that there are all kinds of voices, some healthier than others. In this Covid season of high anxiety and depression, we do well to test the spirits as I John 4.1 tells us:  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” It is good to check our spiritual pulse for the assurance and sound judgment that the voices we hear are worth listening to. Just as there is a thin line between love and hate, there is a thin line between health and harm. 

You’ve heard the story of the man who fell off of a cliff. He landed on a branch and holding on for dear life, he cried out, “If there is anyone up there in Heaven, please tell me what to do.” He heard a still small voice saying, “Jump. Jump.” After a brief pause, the man continued to hand on and yelled up, “Is there anybody else up there.” Eventually he did jump and found that he was a mere two feet from the ground and safety.

Philip followed the angel’s direction and went to a certain wilderness road. There he saw a prestigious man, a man who had come all the way from Ethiopia to worship God in the Holy city of Jerusalem – a thousand miles away. This was a serious man of God practicing his Jewish religion. God knows, as a eunuch he was not allowed inside the temple, so it would seem that God was coming to him - through Philip.

He was reading the book of Isaiah as he rested in his royal chariot on the side of the road. How marvelous that he could read in a time when education was not widely available and every book or scroll of parchment that was made was made by hand with great sacrifice and expense. He was spiritually curious and we can tell by the way his conversation went with Philip that he was hungry for the things of God. It makes us all think about how hungry we are for Godliness.

For whatever reason, this man has remained nameless like so many others, though Luke describes him as an Ethiopian, an official in the royal cabinet of the Candace which was a title of a dynasty like the Caesars and the Herods. His boss was the Queen of Ethiopia.  Women ruling countries in the ancient world had to be as precious as it is in our day. In 1988 we saw Benazir Bhutto become prime minister of Pakistan, a predominately Muslim country, though she was assassinated December of 2007.  Working for a woman in an age of intense patriarchy, this unnamed man was not just any worker in her cabinet. He is identified as the secretary of the Treasury similar to our US secretary of the treasury Janet Yellin.

He was likely in charge of the gold, foreign trade of fine wood and fabrics, precious oils and exotic delicacies of food and fragrance, for entertainment. Perhaps he was even in charge of gleaning newest and latest ideas and intellectual property that could make life better.

Philip obediently arrived as the angel of the Lord directed. That was not all. Verse 29 says the Spirit of the Lord told him to go up to the chariot where this Secretary of the Treasurer was resting and reading the words of Isaiah. Philip not only went up to the chariot, verse 30 says he ran! Then the man invited Philip – a stranger- to join him in his chariot.

After the invitation was accepted, Luke’s story is peppered with magical things happening. Aside from Angels speaking and the spirit moving and directing Philip, and witnessing Philips trust and obedience, this unnamed Jewish worshipper invited a foreigner into his chariot. He listened to Philip’s testimony and then decided to become a Christian just like that. His conversion even led him to be baptized by Philip. If that was not extraordinary enough, verse 40 tells that Philip defied time and space and disappeared into thin air and magically reappeared in a city called Azotus.

It may be easy for some to dismiss God’s word or be mad at God for interjecting into the story things that are hard to believe. Some scripture comes to us as hyperbole – dramatic exaggerations and wise story telling that get our attention and stir up our vivid imaginations in ways that help the medicine go down. At the same time, we all know that there is much more to this world than we will ever comprehend. If Americans and Russians can craft a space suit and a space ship, travel faster than the speed of light, train and condition their bodies and minds for a space voyage, then perhaps there is room to see that Philip can disappear in one moment and reappear in another place and time, since he was spiritually equipped. Verse 40 says he left in order to preach in all the towns up to Caesarea which happened to be a harbor town rebuilt by Herod and in a harbor town there are all kinds of different people and commerce. Being Roman territory, it was well policed.

On this communion Sunday, we are once again reminded that God insists on getting the word out that there is power in love, a love that inspires obedience and enthusiasm for committing our lives to God’s good work. God insists on giving us opportunities to work together, to repent, to forgive, to unite, to love God and to love one another. God is so good and worthy of our praise and thanksgiving.

John 3.16 tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes should have everlasting life. We are here as proof that we believe. What we do tells the world what we believe. In some sense, we have also given our sons and daughters away. We have given them away tearfully in marriage – for better or worse, to college and jobs far and near - leaving our nest for a world of uncertainties. We have wept while sending them away to war, for there are battles that must be fought. Made in the image of God, we know what it is like to give our sons and daughters.

It is the love of God that is in us. It is the love of God that keeps us and keeps us together in good times and in tough times. It is love that enables us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. So we do well to remember the cost of that love. Amen.

 

April 25, 2021 “Beloved….Truth” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

April 25, 2021

“Beloved….Truth” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

I love the epistles, the letters, of John because they are so tender and loving. It could be that the gospel of John and the three pastoral letters are written by the same person. It could also be that they are written by different people who used the name “John” like we name drop a Gucci purse or a Stradivarius violin to mark quality and credibility.  Whether it was one writer or several, they clearly had the intention – to glorify God and to urge us to love one another. Verse 16 of our reading goes straight to the point that just as Jesus gave his all and laid down his life for us, we ought to lay down our lives for one another, even though giving our all is different for each of us.

We aim for love every day! There are many who have made great sacrifices for love. We have no doubts about the sacrifices that parents make, reflecting that they, like all of us, are made in the image of God. Friends sacrifice. Strangers sacrifice. In last week’s news a house mysteriously collapsed and caught on fire. A passerby named Rakym Dyer ran into the building and rescued Mike an injured 61 year old man trapped in the rubble, putting him on his back and carrying him to safety. In an interview Rakym said that when he looked back and saw what he went into he was afraid and surprised that he had done it. Sometimes we are surprised by the amazing abilities to take risks and make sacrifices that God has put in us!

 

Love is worth every effort and every sacrifice, though love is not easy to accomplish. It is not easy to be patient and kind, to not envy, be boastful, arrogant or rude. It is not easy to stop insisting on our own way, showing our resentment or being irritable…and that is just part of the list we find in what is called the love chapter I Corinthians 13. Love is not easy, but it’s worth it. A wise woman said, “If it were easy then everyone would be doing it.”

Love is not easy but God gives us strength. We need strength to love. Loving is not for the weak at heart. Verse 18 tells us “Little children let us not love in word or speech, but in truth and action.” Some families make a point of leaving every visit and every phone call with words such as, “See you later. I love you!! I love you, too.” They are very important words, but when they gather for family dinners, they put those words into action. It is when folk get together, work together, play together, and worship together that those words become true. John tells us to love one another not just with words but with truth and with action. You’ve heard the saying, “Action speaks louder than words!”

How do we know words are true? Can we always know that our true love is true? That our motives are pure? We do know that the truth sets us free. We know that the truth can hurt. We know that the truth is the light, that Jesus is the way - the truth - and the light. With all we do know, we still ask the same question that Pilot asked, “What is truth?”

We all wonder from time to time where the lies begin and where the truth ends. Who has the fake news and who is bringing alternative facts? We wonder sometime. Seeing is believing, but what we see may not always be truth. So says psychiatrist and philosopher Neel Burton.

 In his article entitled, “What Is Truth? The Art of Self-deception, Dr. Neel makes reference to truth being more a construct of our social and cultural processes and our desires and dispositions. We have so filtered, distorted and interpreted ideas and we call them truth.

We choose to believe certain truths if they fit comfortably into our system. The system may actually be a “giant fiction,” fake news, entirely detached from reality. But, as we think, reflect, investigate our own beliefs, and open ourselves to the possibility of new ideas, we are more apt to share a love that is true. The truths we live by lead to success that affirms truthfulness. Dr. Neel’s example says:  “Clearly, we could not have sent a rocket to the moon if our science had been wide off the mark… If something works, it may well be true; if it doesn’t, it most probably isn’t.”

Neel quotes atheist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)  known for the phrase “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.” He also said, “truth is power, and power truth: ‘The falseness of a judgment is not necessarily an objection to a judgment … The question is to what extent it is life-advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding …’ Nietzsche’s thoughts bring to mind the idea that lies can die out. At the same time, if truth is only for human advancement, it is a power that can corrupt and can live on for generations, bringing great harm to humanity. Truth can become any mere attitude and way of life for those who embrace it. But, attitudes and cultures are not always rooted in the truth.

I John speaks of a truth that is a holy truth that is so loving it leads to true justice and divine peace. John speaks of a love that is not afraid to have courageous conversations. It is a love that lasts forever and refuses to die in spite of the odds against it. When we crucify love, does it not always rise again in the heart of humanity?

We cannot see our future, but we know that God is there with plenty of love. We can only see what God reveals to us in a dream, in the evening news, in a vision, in the eyes and words and deeds of those who love us. We do not know just how pure love is or when it might fade away or get buried like a seed and grow into something that looks nothing like the seed at all.

Christian philosopher and theologian Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is quoted by Neel saying, Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion, while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion—and who, therefore, in the next instant (when it is evident that the minority is the stronger) assume its opinion… while truth again reverts to a new minority.

There is a reason I am not a philosopher, for weaving through these tangled concepts freezes my brain, but what I hear in Kierkegaard’s words is that truth evolves, and is rare and precious and finding it is not easy. Being truly loving is hard. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. Amen.

 

 

April 18, 2021 Luke 24.36b-48 "Jesus Said, 'Peace Be With You’” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

 

April 18, 2021 Luke 24.36b-48  

"Jesus Said, 'Peace Be With You’” - Pastor Jacqueline Hines

After the crucifixion, Jesus came to the disciples alive and well just as he said he would.  All that talk about a resurrection went right over their heads. It was inconceivable to them. They liked Jesus, so when they did not understand everything he said and did, they stuck with him. That’s what good Christian friends and family members do. We stick together through thick and thin.

It is not every day that someone we know dies and comes back to life again. We know of many persons who have had near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and close encounters of the spiritual kind. There are certainly some here today who have had one or the other. Medical practitioners describe persons whom they pronounce clinically dead whose hearts have suddenly started beating again. Some hearts stop beating for a few minutes before being revived, some for a few hours.

The Lord of Creation, maker of Heaven and Earth is also the giver and sustainer of life, all life, new life, and life after death. God is altogether wonderful, unfathomable and mysterious to us.

Three days had passed since Nicodemus and Joseph had placed Jesus’ body in the tomb. In those days, there was a pandemic of violence, so few, if any, would have come to pay their last respects, especially the guilty. I once officiated at a funeral of a man who had been murdered. Police officers were present and they explained to me that they were there in hopes of making an arrest because perpetrators would often show up secretly at a funeral because they were psychologically driven for an assurance that their victim was actually dead and not alive to get revenge.

The disciples were not expecting to see Jesus again. They went on with their lives. They still managed to get together in Jesus name like good disciples do. In the meantime, Luke tells us that a couple folks on the road to Emmaus ran into Jesus, but they did not know that it was Jesus. They were so intrigued while talking with Rabbi Jesus that they invited him to supper. Over supper, they saw something familiar in the way he broke the bread. Then they realized it was Jesus and that he had indeed risen from the dead. They immediately went to Jerusalem and told the 11 disciples what happened. Verse 36 says while they were talking and testifying about Jesus, Jesus himself stood among them. The disciples “were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.”

What a wonderful thing to be with Jesus, especially when we are terrified! …when we wonder if we have seen a ghost or perhaps when a painting unexpectedly falls of the wall - we wonder if it is the sign of assurance from a deceased loved one. At the same time, being with Jesus can be part of the reason we feel terror. In either case, God with us is a good thing.

We have all known a moment in life that was terrible and terrifying. Personally or corporately, someone somewhere is having a terrible time. Jesus healed a demon possessed man from a place called Gerasene. He was so out of control and ferocious he had to be chained up. This man lived on the streets, wandering with no clothes on. People were afraid of him. He was a desperate and scary man who, no doubt, counted his demons every night instead of his blessings. Number one blasphemy, number two chemical addictions, number three acting and speaking violently, and so on and so on. Jesus talked to his demons and sent the demons into a herd of pigs (aside making a great supper, pork is a symbol of social slime, immorality and filth). The pigs drove over a cliff, taking the demons with them. The man was now free. He got dressed and was able to talk calmly. He was overwhelmed with gratitude and wanted to stay with Jesus forever.

You would think that healing of this man’s mind was cause for celebration and thanksgiving, instead, the bible says the people were terrified. They were terrified looking at the financial loss of the ruined pork they would not be able to sell. Even today, on every street corner, in every country and every community, we can find billions of dollars of some kind of filth for sale. It is frightening for many to lose the profits of filthy lucre.

When people gathered around Jesus to hear the truth and be set free and to hear of the love of God it was in stark opposition to the Chief Priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees who were more invested in their political positions and profits. They were afraid because they knew that the power they had claimed for themselves was not rightfully theirs. Now they would have to accept the fact that power belongs to God. The kingdom they had built, and were now afraid they would lose, was self-righteous and self-serving. Perhaps they felt a “Holy Terror.” Good things are terrifying when they uproot and expose any bad things we’ve built up in our lives. Unholy things grow wild until they are carefully weeded out by their roots.

 Jesus was good, and sometimes good disrupts our lives. It reminds me of some people who win a lot of money in the lottery or receive a great inheritance. Money is good and a lot of good can be accomplished with money, but in a year or so, some soon become broke because the weeds in their life – perhaps lack of knowledge, discipline or self-control – suck the life out of beautiful possibilities.

I had a neighbor who suffered greatly in her relationships with her emotionally detached husband, her incarcerated heroin addicted son, and a teenaged grandson who exhibited symptoms of pyromania and other distressing and dangerous behaviors. We prayed together often so she would have the direction and comfort to endure. She had also suffered from a growth on her neck. When she went to the beauty parlor, they could not even put a towel around her because the pain from the lump on her neck was so intense. Soon after we prayed for healing, the lump went away. However, the pain in her neck was the reason she was eligible for the disability checks which she was receiving regularly from the government. Her healing was a good thing, but it was a disruption at the same time. Her healing could leave her without that income and challenge her to find a job. That was a bit terrifying.

We don’t have to go far in this world to see something terrifying.  In these days, God help the person who is living without the peace of Christ! Family counselors are telling us that the pandemic is threatening our inner peace. Americans are drinking more, hurting more, scamming more, eating more, hating more, and suffering more depression and anxiety.

Just like the disciples, we may find ourselves huddled in a room terrified by what could possibly go wrong next. Jesus knew that the disciples were anxious about many things. The first thing he said to them was “Peace be with you.”

Whatever it is that is bothering you, Jesus is standing beside you, too, saying “Peace be with you.” Whatever is upsetting you, irritating you, unraveling you, scaring you, assaulting you, troubling you, or hindering you, Jesus is standing beside you with the power of the resurrection saying, “Peace be with you.”

During this pandemic, professionals encourage us to stay positive, to

keep our heads up, above the troubled waters. We are reminded to take deep breaths to keep calm, keep a routine, to exercise, eat more vegetables and fruit, to be kind to each other and to stay connected to one another. All these ideas are infused with the resurrection power of Jesus.  They enable us to keep the peace of Jesus in our hearts. We need peace desperately. Without it, we would fall apart.

By the grace of God, we can handle all the trouble that comes our way because we have the resurrection power of peace inside of us. We sing about peace, we experience peace in our families and communities, we see the results of our peace keeping efforts unfolding before us. Peace is the atmosphere we need to build something great and support the Body of Christ in fulfilling its present and future missions. 

We are witnesses to the great things that can happen when the peace of God is in our lives. Peace is good, though occasionally peace disturbs the peace, like the calm before a storm or the strained stillness of complacency, nonchalance, and indifference.

 

We have shared Jesus’ peace among our family, friends, strangers, and neighbors far and near. Our whole lifestyle and being resonate with the good news of the kingdom of God which is peace, joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. Like the John and Peter running to see Jesus, there is running in our feet to proclaim that He’s alive, the kingdom of God is a real place in time. And when times are at their worst, verse 47 gives us the best news of all. We Christians have this good news to tell, not only that Jesus is alive and stands among us granting us peace, but we are the evidence. We have given and received repentance and forgiveness of sins to prove it. That raises our lives from the grave every time. 

As Jesus stood among them ⁴⁴  he said to them, … “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things.”

Jesus has a witness in you and in me.  Yes, there is a witness in the house of God. We are here and we know the peace that repentance and forgiveness brings because we practice it prayerfully. Yes, by the grace of God, we are all witnesses, we are the peace makers and the peace keepers of a powerful resurrection peace and in these days, we are running and passing it on everywhere we go. Amen.

 

 

April 11, 2021 “Lamb of God Who Takes Away Our Needs” Pastor Hines

 

April 11, 2021

“Lamb of God Who Takes Away Our Needs”

Pastor Hines

 

Here in the book of Acts, we hear from Luke the physician, a personal friend and perhaps convert of the Apostle Paul. Luke is understood to be the author of the Gospel of Luke as well as the author of the book of Acts. Of all the gospel writers, Luke is said to be the only non-Jew. Luke was a gentile, and like us Gentiles two thousand years later, he declares that this Jewish Jesus has risen from the dead. We are beginning to understand that culture does not count more than community. Today, we find ourselves in the twilight of Easter and naturally among many cultures and contexts that differ from ours.

We remember the first Easter as if it were yesterday. Despite the pandemic, our Easters are filled with gorgeous tulips, weather warm enough to wear a new spring outfit, and happy children enjoying festivals organized just for them. The first Easter celebration, no doubt,  had its good times. The book of Acts tells us of the very first Christians and gives us a very dramatic picture of the early church.  There were troubling and even tragic moments, but every generation has them. We often think the first century church differs from us in that it had more power. You may remember hearing stories about their power to heal the sick, raise the dead and drive out demons.

The gospels tell us that when the resurrection was happening, supernatural things happened. A foreboding darkness filled the sky. Most considered it an important spiritual sign that God was watching and God was not pleased. There was a big earthquake that came from Heaven to shake things up. There is even telling of Saints who were raised from the dead, proving once again that it is God who has the last word.  We were not there but, we have probably experienced firsthand some situation that was undeniably mysterious, something that makes us think that there is more to this life than we know. We may not be able to prove or even understand the resurrection, but if we have had a relationship with Jesus at all, if we have seen anything in this world that has shocked or surprised us, we probably have no doubt that with God, anything is possible!

More and more we are understanding that there are things that exist that we cannot see with a naked eye such as radio waves and cyberspace. The things we cannot see are more lasting than the things we can see. Our bodies and our buildings deteriorate day by day, but spiritual things last generation after generation. Smart phones, robots who do surgery, and ships that travel light-years away into space have super intelligence will decay, but God’s love is forever.

Throughout history, Christians have read about the miraculous and powerful things that happened in the New Testament and we thought that God intended the exact same things to happen for real Christians for all times and in the same detail. It has not worked that way. Hope-filled Christians have died picking up poisonous snakes after reading about them in the bible. People have prayed for healing and when it did not happen instantly, they were tormented with guilt after being told the prayers did not work because they lack faith, or worse, God wanted them to suffer because they are not good enough, worthy, or too sinful.

Christians have set up tent meeting services, faking deliverances from demons and pushing and prompting people in prayer lines in order to encourage them to fall out in the spirit. Some do fall, not because of the move of God, but because they have grown weary of loud, repetitive prayers of insistence. And, of course, some do fall under the power of the Holy Spirit.

Church history has shown that we are driven by the desire to have power to take away our misery and the sooner the better. Some folks show up on Sunday morning, saying to themselves, “I am going there because they’ve got the glitz and the glamor of power.” More often than not we fail to realize that power belongs to God. Psalm 62 says ¹¹ One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God,¹² and with you, Lord, is unfailing love.” We need to show up for the love of God, with our love for God and be ready to give thanks for WHATEVER power or anything else God has for us.

In the first chapter of Acts, Luke retells a dinner time conversation with Jesus when he says they will receive power, they will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and they will be witnesses. In other words, their words and their lives were soon to reflect the love and power that Jesus showed when he was living on earth, because it was now going to be alive in them. 

Just like humans look for love in all the wrong places, humans look for power in all the wrong places. We wonder if God wants today’s miracles to look the same as they did 2000 years ago. It seems to me that God has given us modern medicine which has brought us miraculous healings of our bodies and greater cures than we have ever known before. We have new hearts, limbs, and lungs. Vision is corrected and surgically restored. Medicines relieve pain, therapeutic counselors get minds back on track and psychiatrists restore brains with prescriptions. It is unfathomable and hardly believable what God has enabled the fields of medical research and science to accomplish for us. We are first hand witnesses of the power of God to bring new life and wellbeing for Americans, and we have cooperated and collaborated and shared that power with the whole world.

Power belongs to God and before we go to the doctor to whom God has given some wonder working power, we do well to go to God with our praise and thanksgiving. Power belongs to God, so before we go to the politician to whom God has given some political power, we do well to go to God with our praise and thanksgiving. Power belongs to God, and if before we go to the bank in hopes of prospering, we go to God with our praise and thanksgiving, we do well. Power belongs to God and before we go to any relationship, it is good to go to God with gratitude for the one who can lead us in the path that we should go and who loves us with an everlasting love. Power belongs to God. 

The book of Acts tells (11.26) us that the first church was founded in Antioch and it was there that they were first called Christians. Antioch was in ancient Syria. With border changes, the city is now said to be in Turkey, where there might be a museum of ancient Roman and, remotely possible, even artifacts and references to Christianity.

Early Christians met in house churches like so many do today around the world. Even Bethel began as a house church beginning as a Sunday school class before the civil war. Through divine intervention, we are here today. 

The early Christians met in homes, most likely in secret. They met to pray and seek the peace and protection of God from those who crucified Jesus and would likely persecute them because they were his followers. Luke describes these amazing early Christians in verse 32 as having the power of God. It reads, “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” If having one heart and soul and sharing possessions is not a miracle, I don’t know what is! Unity is a miracle. Togetherness is a product of Divine intervention. Harmony does a body of Christ good. Oneness is a wonderful thing. Cooperation creates community.  The power of God helps us to be good and to do good. Years ago, I was a social worker in South Philadelphia for United Methodist Neighborhood services. The City paid for 20 teenage counselors to work in my summer camps. Most kids lived in nearby Passyunk Homes Housing Projects.   When the application of one my young men was rejected, I was convinced and convicted to do something. The City caseworker assigned to us was a military veteran known for his stern and sour demeanor. Nevertheless, not totally conscious that God was doing something supernatural, I called the caseworker, let him know I was on my way to his office to complete this young man’s application. I arrived at his desk with my
student. Ever so gently, I instructed him to complete the application while listening to his now soft voice fussing and resisting as if he had no idea what hit him. However, he did exactly what I asked him to do and exactly what he had said he was not going to do. It was as if the Holy Spirit was moving with a special purpose and plan. The task was done and it occurred to me that God had a plan that was bigger than me, bigger than the young man for whom I was advocating and bigger than a hard-nosed military worker. It was a miracle. By the power of God, we were made one heart and one mind in spite of ourselves.

Verse 33 tells us that with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Any story of Jesus is powerful. Telling a story of Jesus is powerful and it stirs up the power of God in our lives. Telling what we have experienced when we have walked with Jesus, primes the pump for the Holy Spirit to flow and come gushing out and fulfilling whatever purpose God has in mind. The power of God makes us good and makes us do good.

The early church was united. The early church had a powerful witness of the Holy Spirit working in their lives. They even sold what they had and shared it with others. As a result, verse 34 says “There was not a needy person among them.”  How awesome is it that!! God met the needs of the people through the church and God is still doing so today.

Gospel musician Richard Smallwood wrote a song that is perfect for every Christian Community anytime, especially for communion. It says, ‘Everything you need is at the table where the feast of the Lord is spread. Peace, and love, and healing, salvation, and joy are all at the table prepared for us. Everything we need is at the table.’

All across the globe, the church can be found. We are called to a common table and invited as children of the living God to feast together as one family. At the table we are full and satisfied. When we leave the table, we are able to help and provide for others wherever God leads us. I believe as we go into the world with one heart and a powerful testimony, needs are constantly met until there will not be a needy one among us, I if only for one day. For we are following the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Surely he has had mercy on us and we can open our hearts to one another. Where he leads us, we find our daily bread, enough to satisfy as well as to share, and by the power of the Holiest Spirit, we do the same the next day, too. Amen.