wait like the dawn

how it aches to meet the day

I can remember one of the first moments I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to be a pastor.’ 

It was during the summer, after I had decided to minor in religion to discern whether I was being called to the ministry.

I spent that summer working at a Lutheran newspaper in the Twin Cities, the Metro-Lutheran. As an intern, I had the distinct privilege of being assigned the stories no one else wanted to write. As it turned out, most of the stories were about congregations that were either growing or closing. 

I learned a lot.

The particular moment I am thinking of, happened during an interview with a council that was starting a feeding ministry. 

The curious thing about this decision, however, was that this congregation’s budget had been cut to the bone as their attendance had shrunk to an unsustainable core. 

Closing was a real possibility for this congregation.

In fact, it was at the very-same meeting the treasurer reported that the endowment would last them two more months, tops; that the congregation decided to begin this feeding ministry. 

Now, I don’t suppose I need to tell you I was a little confused. When I asked why, at this moment of eminent closure the congregation decided, not to hoard their resources, but to use them to feed others; the pastor looked me in the eyes and said, “we had to decide if we wanted to close our doors just trying to pay the light-bill or if we wanted to risk closing our doors knowing we were doing ministry, knowing we were following Jesus.”

Obviously that congregation decided to stake their fate on Jesus.

For as well as I remember that witness, I don’t know what became of that congregation. I can’t even remember the congregation’s name. I still remember their uncompromising witness, though. 

And I remember taking the bus back to the office thinking, ‘if this is what ministry is all about, I want to be a part of that.’

That congregation’s uncompromising commitment to the very end, made such an impression. It was probably one of the most important moments of my pastoral formation. In fact, I try to keep their witness as my center of gravity when we contemplate difficult decisions.

The sad truth about their witness, though, is that it’s far too uncommon. 

For every congregation like that; there’s many more that will compromise Jesus’ mission only to keep their door’s open for another week. 

After I met with that congregation, when I’d interviewed other congregations that were closing, I always made a point to ask them what their ministry was in those final days. And all too often their answer was, ‘we’re busy just trying to keep the lights on.’ 

No wonder those congregations closed their doors…

And that unlikelihood of a congregation staking everything on following is precisely why Acts is so important.

As we’ve noted, the story of Acts is the perfect corrective to our own worst inclinations. The image of church that Acts holds up doesn’t compromise, it’s radically committed to following Jesus’ mission to the very end.

In fact, the reading we heard today is a paramount example of this uncompromising discipleship; with the commitment to Bible-study, prayer and Holy Communion, the miracles that occurred amongst them, the way everyone sold their possessions so no one would be in need, the glad and generous hearts everyone had. 

With such a description of The Church, is it any wonder that today’s reading is one of the most infamous in the Bible? 

And is it any wonder this description makes us particularly uncomfortable ourselves?

Just like last week’s reading, the way we let our discomfort get the better of us, employing scholars to claim Luke was exaggerating when he notes three-thousand were added; so too at this moment we find realistic authorities to insist Luke was exaggerating yet again when he described this community in Acts.

As Luke describes Jesus’ first followers selling everything and then sharing everything, we get uncomfortable. We get uncomfortable and clutch our purse a little closer, adjust our weight to make sure our wallet is securely in our back pocket…

Yes, this uncompromising description of The Church is just a little too discomforting for us...

‘That’s not realistic,’ we say; pretending to be pragmatic. ‘That never really happened anyway,’ we squirm; trying to get ourselves off the hook.

These pathetic attempts, however, are just that; pathetic. 

Anyone can see through these flimsy excuses, anyone can tell we’re just trying to get distance between ourselves and Jesus, that we’re trying to make ourselves the exception - even though the story of Acts makes clear God doesn’t intend for any to be an exception…

And it is probably this same disbelief by so-called believers, that the world witnesses and subsequently figures they don’t need The Church...

When we, Jesus ‘ followers, hear how the first church organized itself; we decide we’d rather have something more pragmatic, more realistic, more manageable; so we compromise…

But the whole point of the story of Acts is that the Church is NOT something we manage. The Church is a miracle. The Church operates at the discretion of the Holy Spirit. The Church is a work of God!

A work of the God who does not compromise…

It is this same unwillingness to compromise that makes us so uncomfortable, sisters and brothers, that we really need, that we should trust regardless of how it makes sinners like us uncomfortable...

After all, it is Good News that when Jesus met Sin and Death, Jesus didn’t say, ‘let’s make a deal.’ It is pure Gospel that when Jesus went to the tomb he didn’t compromise.

It’s Jesus’ unwillingness to settle that, three days later, the tomb was found to be empty.  And it’s Jesus’ same refusal to compromise that compels us, at every funeral, to insist the sister or brother we lay to rest will be raised at the sound of the Shepherd calling their name.

What the story of Jesus makes clear is that God will not compromise with Sin or Death. God has determined to have the last Word; no matter what.

So when Luke tells the story of the first Church, Acts; Luke  doesn’t stop telling the story of this God who won’t compromise, only start telling some other story of an organization that was really good at recruiting. 

No, Luke tells the story of Acts to insist the uncompromising mission of Jesus will not stop, that it’s fulfilled amongst faithful followers. 

The Story of Acts, finally, is a story that is just as theological as Jesus.’

What the story of Acts makes clear, and what can make us so uncomfortable, is that Jesus has decided to so closely identify with The Church, that the life of the Church mirrors that of Jesus.’

In a world that is tainted by too many compromises with Sin and Death, God refuses to make a deal with these sinister negotiators. And as followers bearing the marks of The Church, we find ourselves in exactly the same position...

In other words, The Church - THE CHURCH - isn’t simply one hour once a week, it isn’t a physical infrastructure to fund and it isn’t a social gathering either; The Church, as Acts insists, is followers who know so deeply in their bones that since God hasn’t compromised, we don’t have to either.

When Sin and Death come, and they will; bringing the number-crunchers and realists with them, and they will; they insists we have to make a deal with them, that we have to compromise.

But we know better. 

The empty tomb is our promise that Sin or Death doesn’t get the last word. Our risen shepherd whispers the story of Acts is just at our finger-tips, he has freed us from Sin and Death, so they don’t have a thing on us.

Amen