so I’m inviting you to join me in this fight

to go down to the river, and come up all three times

A reading from Acts 2

It’s one of those questions that cuts through it all. One that lays our humanity, our brokenness bare. “Brothers,” the crowd asked after Peter’s sermon, “what should we do?”

…What should we do?

And who among us here hasn’t wondered that?

When you’re cut to the heart. When you’re overwhelmed by it all and the words just come tumbling out, “What should I do.”

We’ve all been there. 

Life has a way of doing that. Of pressing us up against it. Of making it all too plain, we don’t know what to do. We’re lost. The circumstances of life have left us helpless…

“What should we do?”

And, who hasn’t been on the other side of it, either?

Sitting across the table from a friend, a child, a brother or sister who’s in trouble. Listening as they lay it all out. What they’re up against. What’s happened to them. The news they got from an unexpected call. 

They lay it all out to you and after looking down for a second or two, they look back up at you and ask, “What do you think should I do.” 

And of course we never know. There are no words.

“What should we do?” It’s a question that lays bare the helplessness we felt. The lostness we’ve known. 

It’s a simple question, that’s not simple at all. “What should we do.” 

It’s a few words that rob us of all our easy answers. “What should we do?”

…And that’s how it was for the crowd in today’s scripture, you know.

They had just been attracted by the commotion of these Galileans speaking a bunch of different languages. 

But before they could make heads or tails of any of it, Peter starts preaching. 

And his sermon is blunt; “Listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know- this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law…”

Hearing this, the crowd finds all their enthusiasm has left them. Now all there is, is this question that lays their soul bare; “Brothers, what should we do.”

…And when you hear their question in these circumstances, you realize why this seemingly simple question, never is. 

Because it speaks a hard truth about ourselves. A truth we’ve avoided. 

The truth that we’re complicit in all our messes. That we have more guilt on our hands than we care to admit. That the darn reason we don’t know what to do is, because our relentless doing is what got us into the mess in the first place!

“What should we do,” we ask. Because nothing has worked so far.

“What should we do,” the crowd asks.

And with that question hanging in the air, wonder of wonders, Peter of all people, answers! That last person you’d expect to speak up, Peter, has an answer!

Peter, who the last time we heard him, was in the courtyard as Jesus was being tried by Pilate. Peter, who during it all, was cowed down by a little servant girl. 

Peter who know isn’t silenced anymore. Peter who has a word for this question that leaves us speechless. 

And what’s more, the answer he gives, is one we’ve never come up with. At least, not on our own…

Cut to the heart, the crowd asks, “What should we do.”

And Peter, looks them down and says, in effect; ‘nothing(!)’

With the crowd looking to him, Peter speaks up, “Do nothing,” he says! “Here’s repentance. Here’s baptism. Here’s forgiveness of sins. Here’s the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do nothing,” Peter says. “Let yourselves be saved!”

Don’t do anything. Let yourselves be saved…

Okay, so by now you all know I didn’t grow up Lutheran. 

And I’m pretty sure you also know that, through (what seemed like) a twist of fate, I had actually been baptized in the Lutheran church all along. 

Let me tell you how I found out.

It was during my third year of college. 

That whole year the witness of my professors, campus pastors and classmates in campus ministry, made me want to be a Lutheran, too. In fact, I had even begun to admit I felt nudged toward ministry. 

And when I admitted that, I was told if I wanted to be a Lutheran pastor, I needed to be an actual Lutheran! And the way you become an actual Lutheran is, you become a member of an actual Lutheran Church. And the way adults do that, is through confirmation. 

So we decided the class I was taking, “Life and Thought of Luther,”  was for more than a passing grade.

After that class, meetings with the pastors and few others things, it was determined I would be confirmed in the Lutheran church the Sunday before I went home for summer. My sponsor that day was the Greek professor. 

While we were going over the details, Pastor Jack said, “I can’t believe I haven’t asked before! Have you been baptized?”
I told him I had, that I could even kind of remember that day. 

So he had me get the records. I called my mom, and asked her to send them. 

And it was only then, when I opened that envelope and looked over the certificate for the first time, that I realized I had been baptized in a Lutheran church for heaven’s sake! 

All the while I thought I was joining the church, but it turned out, I was just coming back!

And that, that is how baptism works, sisters and brothers! 

You can’t get away from these waters!

…And I know. It doesn’t always feel that way. I know it didn’t for me. 

While I was going through those steps to join the Lutheran church, I couldn’t see I was actually just coming home! I certainly had no idea how the whole time I was just returning to the band of grace-shaped people who nurtured me in the first place!

To me, in the moment, it felt like random twists and turns. 

Transferring to Grand View because I liked their journalism program. Getting there and hating it! Lost in the very place I thought I knew why I had gone there.

Wondering, “what should I do.”

This thing I had built my life on, being a good writer, cultivating an eye for design, and how it all crumbled. Being at this new school, with no friends. And wondering, “what should I do.”

And since that day I was confirmed. During those last two years of college, I found myself wondering, “what should I do,” in really hard moments. And since then, too. 

You know, maybe you’re sitting here this morning, feeling lost. You can’t see where all this is leading. You’re wondering, “what should I do.”

But even now, your Lord and savior is brining you back to himself. 

You’re not lost. You have a savior who is the great shepherd of the lost sheep.

In the moment, we never know it. We never see it. 

It’s only in hindsight, when we look back. As St. Paul says, “For now we see through a glass dimly.” 

Or maybe you’re here wondering where your children are. If they have any faith. What you should do about them. I wonder that about my brother who was baptized that day with me. Why am I here, and he isn’t.

But this promise is not just for you, it also for those who are far away.

“What should I do,” we all find ourselves there. 

But the answer to that question, is answered pretty well by what Peter said that day long ago, nothing. 

The reason that question, “what should I do,” silences us, is because f there’s no answer. There's literally nothing for us to do anymore!

In baptism, your Lord and Savior answered that question once and for all. The one who refused to do anything for himself, has done everything for you. 

And now there’s nothing left for you to do! 

One day we will see this for ourselves. That these waters are stronger than we think, than we know. That they’re more powerful than the twists and turns of our lives. That they’re mightier than all our sin and infidelity.

You who wonder sit there wondering, what you should I do. Hear this: Nothing!

All there is now is repentance. The waters you were first washed in. The forgiveness of sins. And the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t do anything. Let yourself be saved.

This promise is for you, and for all who are far away.