Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sermon for April 24



The Readings
 
Acts18:1-4
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.  There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,  and, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they worked together—by trade they were tentmakers.  Every sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince Jews and Greeks.'

1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God

 The message

We are starting an exploration of Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians that will take us through the next 6 or 7 weeks here at St Jacobus.  Our readings today report the starting of the church communities there from the book of Acts and introduce us to the first Letter that Paul writes to the church there.   I want to start with some information about the city of Corinth. It was an interesting place and the Christian Community there was an interesting group of people. Corinth was completely destroyed by Rome about 150 years before Jesus Birth   The city was rebuilt about 100 years later.  At that time, it was a place for Rome to basically dump unwanted people (mainly freed slaves and homeless peasants).  Over time it developed into a major urban area with importance for trade between the Eastern and Western parts of the empire. It also grew to become the center of Roman culture in Greece.  Paul arrives in Corinth after preaching and teaching in Athens, where he converts a few people but it basically laughed at:  In Acts 17, we learn  “When the people of Athens heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”  At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them”.

When Paul arrives in Corinth, he connects with Aquila, a fellow tentmaker.  Aquila, his wife  and many other Jews were expelled from Rome sometime around the year 50. This is the group that Pauls’ letter to the Romans talks a great deal about welcoming back to Rome and the church there a few years later.   The Church in Corinth, which Paul, Pricilla and others built over 18 months of visiting, teaching and preaching consisted of several small house churches that would all meet together from time to time to share communion.  The church here survives despite an extremely divided society between the rich and poor, powerful and weak and a constant flow of itinerant preachers who pass through and add or take away from the message Paul and others first shared.  These issues do impact the beliefs and actions in the church though.

The First Letter Paul writes to them is occasioned by 2 events, 1:their writing to him for help dealing with some questions of faith and how to live and 2: reports from “Chole’s people of serious conflicts and quarrels amongst them”.  This letter is actually not very effective in addressing the issues and causing change (many of the same exact issues on being united in faith and work, are confronted again in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians). 1 Corinthians contains Paul’s only discussion on Glossisia (speaking in tounges) as well as a strong emphasis on the cross of Christ, Holy Communion and the death and resurrection of Christ.   Historically, some sections in the book have been used to justify slavery and the subordination of women. 

I am going to talk about 2 parts of today’s readings. First a little reflection on Paul’s conversation about Baptism and then some notes on this issues of the foolishness of the cross.  Personally, I always had a hard time making sense of Paul’s discussion on Baptism.  He says I thank God that I baptized none of you and then lists a bunch of people he did baptize and then admits, he is not even sure if those are all he baptized.   He also goes on to say “Christ did not send me to Baptize”,  a statement  some people have used to say Paul didn’t really think baptism was important. The people in Corinth were divided by all sorts of factors like wealth and status. This issue comes up when Paul talks about the Lord’s supper there, where the rich members ate fests while the poor at the same table had nothing. In the church, they naturally started to divide themselves based on the prominence of who Baptized them.  Being baptized by Paul would have certainly been the most prominent so he is glad to have very few people who could make that claim. The few who could understood the Gospel and would not.  Paul rejects this way of thinking, encouraging them to see the world in a new way, to see everyone as equal brothers and sisters in Christ. Who baptized you didn’t matter, that you were baptized did though.  Baptism was also the start of a relationship with God and God’s people.  As a traveling preacher constantly going from place to place, Paul would have a great difficulty in helping people live their Baptism on a daily basis (they didn’t have cell phones, text messages, emails, or any way to communicate over a distance in less than a few weeks or months back then). 

I also want to talk about this verse “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing”.   This week I read the book “no more shacks” by Millard Fuller, which tells the story of Habitiat for Humanity’s founding out of a Christian community and early years.  One passage led me to think about today’s reading  There is a report about an incident in Portland on one of their first projects. Overnight there, someone grafittied “Habitat for Insanity”.   The group actually embraced the insult saying “if insanity means doing things in ways that are unexpected, unusual, even unacceptable to large segments of society, then we cheerfully accept the description”.  After all, they felt it must look insane to people for a group to announce they want to end the crisis of poor housing around the world.  How could anyone be so foolish as to think they could possibly address such a major and ever present issue.  The group commits themselves to moving forward with their insane idea, that the world housing crisis could be fixed by faith, prayer and hard work.  They knew it would require them to “stay crazy, be nuts, act abnormal, look out of place, think off the wall, try the unacceptable, as the world sees it, until we change the perspective of the world”.   

Paul tells the church at Corinth similar advice.  After all Paul has announced that we are saved by the cross, by Jesus death and resurrection, He converted and convinced many people. He was also laughed at, dismissed, accused of crimes or ignored. It was foolishness to those who did not see or understand what God was doing in the world.  It was insane to think everyone was equal  before God in a world terribly divided by almost everything, it was crazy to think that God would forgive our sins freely again and again out of grace, that a Jew with no wealth, no army and no worldly victories could be the way to salvation, the completion of God’s plan for our restoration.

Today, we are invited to be foolish and insane.  It is nice that we run a food pantry for a local community in need a few times a month.  It is foolish to think we can create a world where no one is hungry, where everyone has access to the basic necessities of life.  It is nice that our little, written off church, in a community people claimed wanted nothing to do with us, is still open.  It is foolish to think we can keep going, that our model can change communities of faith around the world.  It is nice to get some rent checks from other churches. It is foolish to think we could build relationships, work together and share the space with all these different people.  We are invited to think big, crazy, foolish, even insane dreams.  We are invited to pray, trust and work to make them happen.  


Sunday, April 17, 2016

sermon for April 17



The readings

Acts 17 1- 9

After Paul and Silas had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three sabbath days argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This is the Messiah, Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you.” Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.  But the Jews became jealous, and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house.  When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”  The people and the city officials were disturbed when they heard this, and after they had taken bail from Jason and the others, they let them go.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.


Sermon for April 17

Today, we experience the beginning, encouragement and hope of a new church.  We just heard the story of Paul and his fellow missionaries founding the church in the city of Thessalonica as reported in the book of Acts. We also heard the first chapter of the letter Paul writes to that new church and community a few years after its start.  

I want to begin with some information about the ancient city of Thessalonica and the outline of Paul’s first letter to them.  Thessalonica was the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia.  The city was located in a strategically important area for trade and travel since it was easily accessible by several land and water routes.  Most scholars believe that this letter is the first one that Paul writes to communicate with, encourage, guide and instruct a church community.   The letter is relatively friendly (some of Paul’s letters are actually not so friendly; there were significant issues with faith, actions and beliefs that he confronted in some of his letters). In his words to the church at Thessalonica, Paul praises their steadfast hope despite opposition and consistently faithful behavior. The letter also instructs them to continue following the models of the faithful and remember the right teachings they were taught.

Paul and Silas’ arrival in Thessalonica happened immediately after a very successful but complicated and rough experience in Phillipi. Things start off well but once Paul and Silas convert a slave girl things go bad quickly.  The young girl created a great deal of wealth for her owner through fortune telling.  After her conversion, she walks the city with Paul and Silas for days yelling out “these men are slaves of the most high God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation”.  This actually gets to the level where it interferes with their work and annoys Paul to the point that he performs an exorcism on the woman, commanding whatever spirit had possessed her to leave in the name of Jesus.  The slave girl’s owner becomes even more annoyed since her conversion meant a large financial loss for him.  With the owner’s encouragement, Paul and Silas are seized, beaten, arrested, accused of disturbing the city and teaching illegal religious ideas.  They are thrown in jail. There, God intervenes and the prison cells are unlocked.  After this, they stay in the prison anyway, convert the guard, baptize him along with his family and stay as guests in the guard’s home. In the morning, they are released anyway.  Paul and Silas were both Roman citizens by birth. This status meant that provincial authorities could do virtually nothing to them. After all this, Paul and Silas go to visit, pray with and encourage Lydia, a wealthy merchant they converted previously and leave for Thessalonica.  

That trip to Thessalonica is where our reading from Acts begins. It is the start of a repeated series of events where Paul and Silas preach and teach in the synagogues, convert a noticeable number of Jewish and non-Jewish  people, get in trouble and move on to another place.  This new faith angers Jewish authorities (after all, who wouldn’t be annoyed when people come in, teach something new and take away your faithful members).  The Jewish leaders were also enraged since the connection with Judaism was actually protecting the new Christians. (The Roman empire did not tolerate new or different religions but there was a special exemption for Judiasm since that faith predated the Roman religions.  Judaism enjoyed a certain amount of tolerance and acceptance that a new faith would not.  This stops being the case a few years later with a rebellion and the destruction of the second temple in the year 70).

This is how the early church grew and the message of God’s love revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Christ was shared.  Paul, Silas and others would go to new cities and talk with people about what they saw, heard, and experienced. In Jewish communities, they would go to the synagogue or by water (if there was no synagogue, Jewish people often gathered near water for worship).  In non-Jewish areas, they would go to wherever people gathered.  In each place, the new converts learn all they can from Jesus followers and then use their resources, homes and local connections to help their new brothers and sisters in Christ escape from city to city.  As the missionaries move on, the new converts are entrusted with the responsibilities of caring for the church, maintaining right teachings and sharing the story of God’s love revealed by Easter, through the death and resurrection of Christ.  Over the years, Paul and others come to back to visit or write to them to check in, correct, seek help, encourage and celebrate.

In many ways, I am not totally sure what this process means for us, almost 2000 years later in an absolutely different world. Our ways of communication, access to resources, populations, tolerance, transportation, scientific knowledge, laws and social organization are completely different.  Some things do remain the same and offer the same obstacles to communicating the story of God’s love. Systemic inequality and separation of people by race, class, appearance, citizenship, wealth or gender still shape and control much of our modern world.  We are also still in constant competition with other stories, other world views, other joys, and other belief systems.        

There are two lessons we can draw from the start of the church at Thessalonica. First the Christian missionaries used every resource, skill and piece of information they had available to spread the Gospel.  Paul, for instance, practices his trade as a tentmaker to support himself during the work, he freely uses his status as a Roman citizen to get out of mission ending trouble, he asks for and relies on the help and generosity of others, he uses his knowledge of rhetoric, religion and formal styles of argument in Greek areas and his knowledge of the Jewish scriptures and traditions in Jewish areas, he stresses the connection to Judiasm when it added safety and clarity to the message and ignores it when it would be an obstacle, he turns to prayer for guidance and support and he trusts new converts like Lydia and the prison guard to teach, help and maintain the church.  We are asked to do the same, to be creative, innovative, compassionate, prayerful, and intelligent in how we understand our resources and share the good news.
   
The second lesson we can draw from this story centers on speaking with others. For the early church, there were legal restrictions on sharing their faith. They faced them by being connected to Judaism, meeting in secret, quickly going from place to place, developing coded language and symbols and speaking anyway, despite very real threats of loss and death.  We live in a time and nation where there are no legal or illegal religion, where we are allowed to go up to anyone, anywhere and tell them about Jesus. There are very few official or formal restrictions on this work yet we are quiet.  There is a certain shyness that keeps us quiet, a sense of private faith, a value on respecting other beliefs and a deep desire to not be associated or confused with interpretations of the gospel we find hateful, embarrassing or inauthentic.  There is also a sense of not knowing what to say or when to say it. Those are the real obstacles we face and while they are not as dramatic as the threat of a painful death, they stop us from telling Jesus story.  I don’t really have a great, fail proof solution to these challenges.  I do know, we need to go out and speak to others, to listen (often to bad stories of exclusion, fraud, and horrible experiences and arguments on why what we believe is stupid), to learn, know, experience and tell the story of God’s love and to boldly care.          


        

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Sermon for April 10, 2016



The Reading 

Acts 3:1-10

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And a man lame from birth was being carried in. People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked them for alms. Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, ‘Look at us.’ And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,* stand up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

The message

As we start our journey through the experiences of the early church as told by the book of Acts and Paul’s letters, we have to talk a lot about prayer.  To understand the actions and work of the early church, we must understand that, first and foremost, they were a community that prayed together.  Last Sunday during my sermon, I talked about the role of prayer in the days after Jesus ascension, the event when he was taken up into heaven 40 days after Easter.  After witnessing Jesus death, resurrection, appearances, teachings, and ascension the disciples gather with Mary and other followers of Jesus.  They gather to support, care for and encourage one another and they find themselves in constant prayer.  Before doing anything else, they spent most of their time in prayer, in communication and relationship with God.  In response to last week’s  reading, I committed myself to praying 3 times a day this past week, I invited everyone to try it as well and I promised I would ask if anyone did. So, did anyone?  (We had 7 or 8  people who raised their hands) 

I wanted to start off with some conversation about how my week went. (We will also have a bible study after church about prayer and more opportunities to talk about our experiences).  First a few people seemed surprised that I didn’t naturally pray 15 times a day to begin with. The truth is that the spiritual and prayer life of many pastors and religious leaders is not exactly strong.  Most research on clergy show spiritual health and prayer life to be an area of struggle for many people called to serve churches.  Just how bad the prayer lives of clergy are is a matter of debate with a range from pathetic or pitiful to non-existent.  People blame all sorts of things for this sad statistic, including distractions, anxiety, lack of support, stress and an ever growing list of responsibilities clergy are not prepared for, not good at or just plain do not want to do (but won’t admit it). 

During my week of prayer, I often found myself distracted, jumping from thought to thought, worrying about what I had to do next and being unable to sit still. It took a lot of effort to fight through this but it’s something I sort of expected since I am generally like that.  The most frightening experience was a sense of being sinful.  Prayer begins with glorifying and giving thanks to God. You cannot pray without understanding God’s promises of forgiveness and undeserved grace. You also need to change.  To clean up the aspects of life that are not centered on love and to stop doing things that are harmful to others (great and small).  Prayer comes with action.  You cannot just start praying and stay the same.  This prayer stuff is not as simple as take 30 minutes a day, it is not that easy.  It takes over your life. 

The positive experience for me was that I found myself praying at different times, for a group after a religious debate, for people I spoke with, for churches that were struggling. I found myself getting back into praying when I heard sirens or saw emergency response vehicles zip by.  This week led me to remember our visitors from Minnesota who came here 2 summers ago for a mission trip.  As we waited for a train in the city, there was some graffiti that said “pray”, so their pastor led them all in a moment of prayer. (I have seen this graffiti many times but never thought of doing that).  There is always an opportunity to pray, to give thanks to God, to remind ourselves of this relationship we have with the almighty, to inspire, to ask for help and intercede for those in need.       

As we begin this post Easter journey through the acts of the Apostles and Paul’s letters, prayer is at the heart of what the early church did.  Today, we have the simple healing of a man born lame (a condition meaning someone unable to walk or having improperly developed arms or legs, in this case it seems like there was something wrong with his feet and ankles). This healing is an act that Jesus did many times and that his disciples did on their own a few times.  First, Peter and John were not searching out this man or looking to do a good deed for the day. They were going to the temple for one of the daily hours of public prayer. 

As Peter and John approached the gate, the lame man asks them for money. Even today, many of our churches and religious spaces around the world have people in need outside. In Italy, every single church had at least 2 or 3 beggars sitting in the way by the front door, camped out there all day and asking everyone for money, Its shocking at first but after a few you sort of become numb, look away and go right around them.  Instead of throwing a few coins at him as they run by, Peter and John stop. They look at the lame man that so many others looked away from and pretended not to see. They recognize him as a person, as a human being in need (not an obstacle or minor annoyance or something to jump over and try to not feel guilty about).  That is the first part of this healing and the first lesson about God,  the recognition of this man as a child of God. 

The second part of the healing is the invitation, “look at us” (growing up, my dad always taught us to look at people when they were talking to you, it seemed minor but he was always adamant about it).  It was a statement of respect, recognition and equality.  That was the second part of the healing, an invitation into real, equal and loving relationship with God and with God’s all different people.  

The third part of the healing, “I have no silver or gold but what I have I give you” is a disappointment to the lame man, that’s what everyone says. The lame man had no idea what they would offer him but it wasn’t gold or silver, so probably not useful.  Church and people of faith are different, responding to needs in faith is different from help. What Peter and John offer  is the restoration of life, of joy, of ability and welcome.   
This brings us to the 4th part of the healing, the part we would actually think of healing: Peter and John declare, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk” and then from what it sounds like they yank him up from the ground and pull this confused and frightened man into new life. The scene ends with the prayer of praise and thanksgiving of the man who was healed,  He makes as big a public scene as he can going through the center of the temple and shouting praise for God.  (it appears that at certain times, the lame were not allowed in the temple at all, so this might be the first time he has entered the actual temple, where he was welcomed into relationship with God’s people)

Personally, I am not sure if I have ever healed anyone. There are lots of people I have prayed with and for who have gotten better, even when the odds were seriously against them.  There are others that have not. I have never had an experience like Peter and John though, of instantly watching God make someone well.   
At the same time, I am sure that we can do the first three parts of this healing any time we want.  We can recognize the ignored as children of God in love and care, we can invite and welcome the neglected or struggling into an equal, joyful and life giving relationship with God, and we can make the offer “what I have I give to you” with prayer and help.   

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Sermon for Apirl 3, 2016



Sunday, April 3 

the reading
 
Acts 1:1-14
In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a , sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers

 The message

We are now starting the third section of our Sunday readings.  From today until Pentecost, 6 weeks from now, we will go through the stories of the apostles and other disciples in the first years after Jesus resurrection and ascension.  That’s the same group of people who feel asleep, who could not stay awake and pray with Jesus in the moments before his arrest, who all deny him, publically, boldly telling the other “I do not know that Jesus guy” and who hide in rooms due to fear. They are now awake and ready to confess their faith, boldly telling the others Christ is Risen from the dead, reporting what they witnessed and sharing the lessons Jesus taught.       

Today, we hear the first words of the book of Acts. The full title is the Acts of the Apostles and that is exactly what this book is, a report of what the Apostles saw, what they did and experienced and where they went in the years after Jesus resurrection. Acts starts with a reference to the first book (which is the Gospel of Luke, both have the same author) and is addressed to Theophilis which is either the name of Luke’s patron / supporter or a word meaning “people of God”.   Acts starts with what was missing from Mark’s Easter story (if you remember last week, Mark originally ends with the women running from the tomb, in terror and amazement, saying nothing to anyone, because they were afraid).  Here, Jesus appears to his followers, with many convincing proofs that he is really risen from the dead.  During this time, Jesus is speaking of the kingdom of God. (which is the topic Jesus talked more about than any other in the Gospels).  The Kingdom of God is a complicated term but generally refers to the time when God retakes control of history and shapes the world as God intended.   In their conversations on the Kingdom,  Jesus tells them that it is not complete yet, his resurrection was not the end of the story, he would return, at an unknown time, to fully usher in the kingdom.  Jesus also tells them what to do while they wait.  First, there is the promise of Pentecost, instructions to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes. After that, they should go all over the world and tell the others what they witnessed and learned.

After this time of Jesus appearances and instructions, we have the ascension. 40 days after Easter Jesus is taken up into heaven. After Jesus disappears into the clouds and sky, the disciples are just sort of standing there, staring into space.  Like Easter morning, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”.  In plain English, these mysterious figures tell the disciples “you heard the promises of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus return, you received the instructions to go and tell the others, don’t just stand here and glare at the sky, get out of here, go and be the people of God”.  Perhaps that is the lesson for all of us too, we have received the promised Holy Spirit, we have the hope for Jesus return, we have received the instructions to tell the others the Christ is risen, that God is in the world, to care for others and work for peace, it’s time for us to get out of here , to stop staring at the brown paneling and go be the people of God.  

We are not going too far, not yet at least.   From time to time, I find myself starting or advertising a project without doing the back ground work, without analyzing the needs, getting commitments, doing sufficient planning or talking to the community, they are great ideas and they usually fail before they even begin. Jesus disciples wisely do the background work first.  In the case of being the people of God, that work means prayer. After all they had seen, heard and talked about, the disciples did not find themselves running all over Jerusalem doing stuff,  they were constantly devoting themselves to prayer,   After all this, they turn to prayer (just like Jesus showed them in his last hours).  I expect they prayed to give thanks, to seek guidance, strength and vision.  They also prayed to remind themselves that God was listening, that God was in the world and cared about the world.  Before running to do anything, they stop to pray.  
 
We are not a meeting hall, a social club, a rental site, a school, an emergency aid center, a food pantry or a study hall,  we might do all those things and fill those roles, but we are a praying place, a community that might work, advocate and play together but above all, we pray together. It’s easy to lose track to of that to focus on work and service, on budgets and buildings, on attendance and statistics 

There is a long history of constant prayer in our faiths and other faiths.  In Isalm, their faith requires highly ritualized and organized prayer 5 times a day, with various prayers, reading, poses and body movements. In Judaism, after the destruction of the temple, daily hours for regular prayer were scheduled throughout the day.  It was known as the sacrifice of praise (as a replacement for the sacrifice of animals). In many Christian traditions, especially in monastaries there is a practice of praying the hours. The whole day is scheduled around 8 times of prayer (including the always popular  midnight, 3 and 6 am). Each prayer time involves a series of readings, prayers and hymns.  In most traditions, these times all begin with a verse from psalm 70: God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me.  All of these practices can help people keep God’s love in the center of their lives, to face the day with courage and wisdom.  

Almost 500 years ago, Matin Luther, the founder of our faith tradition, told believers "I have so much to do today that I'm going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done”.  Now, prayer is not just something other people do.  Our brothers and sisters at Trinity Lutheran in LIC have committed to pray for their church every day at 10:11 am or pm.  I often need a reminder to pray to pray as much as anyone else.  At least a few times a month, someone reminds me, shouldn’t we say grace, or wait you forgot to pray before we start.   That makes it hard for me to stand up here and say “hey everyone, you should pray more, it will bring joy to your lives”.  Instead, I’d like to commit to stopping for prayer 3 times a day this week and invite you to do the same.  I’ll let everyone know how it goes next Sunday.  (I know, you actually show up the Sunday after Easter and you actually get homework).