Larry E. Lenow
FUMC
4-13-08
Easter 4A
“Viva la Revolucion!”
Text: Acts 2:42-47
You want to watch out for revolutions. Amy and I spent our first few years of ministry in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. If you’re at all familiar with the geography of that part of the world you that it is the southern end of the state. And right at the southmost tip is Brownsville. In truth it is two cities. This one urban area bisected by the Rio Grande. One side of the river is the city of Brownsville, Texas. The other side is the city is Matamoros, Mexico. Traffic passes freely in both directions despite the fact that in those days Mexico was in a constant state of political turmoil. One day we were enjoying dinner at a lovely restaurant just over the border in Matamoros; in fact you could see the border crossing from our table. After a lovely meal the waitress came up and asked us if we were interested in dessert. “Oh no”, I answered, “It was great, but I could not possibly eat another…” and in mid-sentence I saw from the corner of my eye a political demonstration suddenly erupting, chanting protesters with signs blocking the international bridge, “Could we have some coffee, and on second thought, yes, we would like to see the dessert menu.”
You see, that’s the thing about revolutions. They catch you by surprise. And when they begin, no one notices because nothing seems out of the ordinary. Here in Fredericksburg we have a Revolutionary War roundtable. You do know when the American Revolution began? No, not with the first shots at Lexington and Concord. No, not even with the fiery speeches in the House of Burgesses. The American Revolution began in taverns in Williamsburg and Boston, and right here in Fredericksburg when Farmers and Merchants, in their cups no doubt, began grumbling together about the injustices visited upon them.
Revolution can work for good or evil. In the mid-nineteen a meeting of the so-called German Worker’s Party was laughable. It literally consisted of a dozen men who were arguing over what should be the amount of their dues. When Adolph Hitler walked in on the meeting no one then knew what was happening, that evil had taken root and was rising.
In the nineteen eighties, Mikhail Gorbachev suggested in a speech glasnost, more openness in the airtight closed Soviet society and bureaucracy. It was like a crack in the dam.
A black seamstress whose tired feet hurt refuses to give up her seat on a bus and a movement is born. Revolutions catch you surprise, they start out with little things, that’s what makes them so, well, revolutionary. You think that you’re doing something perfectly normal, absolutely routine, not at all important and then – bang. You’re in the middle of something bigger, more sweeping, more dramatic, and more far-reaching than you’d ever planned.
They devote themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayer. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 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. 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 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.
Now yes, I know, at first reading it sure doesn’t sound like much. This isn’t the kind of drama and mystery we are used to. It rather lacks the dazzle and pizzazz of encountering the Risen Christ at Emmaus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost or Paul vision on the Damascus road. Teaching, fellowship, breaking bread and prayer, it’s a bit mundane. It all sounds very churchy; in fact it sounds a lot like us. But be not deceived my friends, the revolution had begun. Caesar, you say that we are divided: citizens versus subjects, Roman versus barbarian but we say we that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free. World, you say that we are defined and have worth according to riches and property and wealth, but we refuse, we will sell our possessions and share and give to those in need. Empire, you proclaim glory and power through the strength of your legions of Rome, but we will listen to the teachings of the Apostles, our power will come through prayer. Yes, I know it doesn’t sound like much, teaching and fellowship, table and prayer. But the revolution had begun, it would turn the world upside down; the empire was doomed.
Wow. That early church must have really been something. The power of the Holy Spirit must really have led them. Living in Christ’s love, boldly proclaiming the gospel, changing the world. For them to make such a difference, to have such an impact, I would like to be pat of a church like that! Wouldn’t you? You are. You are part of a church like that.
Is that so hard to believe? It might be a hard sell but remember friends that it is the nature of revolutions to sneak up on you. And I know this sounds counter-intuitive but what you are doing, what we are doing right now is counter-cultural. You are swimming against the stream. Right now, this morning less than half of the population of this society will be in worship. No, more than half are sleeping in and think of Sunday morning as a time to lazily read the paper with coffee. Gathering for worship makes us different. We are a profoundly individualistic culture but you have come not to focus on yourself but on something bigger than yourself. Countercultural.
Ours is a consumer culture, materialistic, hedonistic. And whether it’s spending excess on luxuries and possessions or whether it’s worrying about balances and mortgages it’s all about that which is your own and your bottom line. Those of us who give, freely, voluntarily, joyfully particularly those of us who tithe giving a tenth of our income. That’s not only countercultural, that’s revolutionary.
We live in a world that is urban and anonymous. The people with whom we work, study, live among, we do not know each other. Right now, what do you know about your neighbors families, do you even know your neighbors names? But when we gather here we strive to form community, support, we share our lives with each other. We love each other. It goes against the grain.
Friends, I will be the first to confess to you that far too often the church of Jesus Christ seems co-opted and compromised, consumed by pettiness, conformed to the world. The time we spend may seem unimportant. But profound spiritual revolutions are not all about rallies and revivals, events, signs and wonders. It’s also in the way we live together, walk together, pray together.
As Carlo Carretta puts it this way, “How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you! How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity. I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful. How often I have to shut the doors of my soul in your face, and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms. No, I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely. And where should I go?”
Yes, sometimes it feels that surely we have missed the mark. But in a strange way, in a way we cannot fully fathom our life together, from the services to the potluck dinners, from the classes to the covenant groups, from the food pantry to the special offerings it’s all about God’s movement. So here’s something to think about: Would it matter to this community if this church, Fredericksburg UMC wasn’t here. Would it make a difference in your life if this church wasn’t here? Would it make a difference if you hadn’t come today?
You are part of God’s movement. Watch out, revolutions sneak up on you.