The Story We Tell

The Story we Share in Common

I don’t want to focus too much on the last 6+ months of discernment, but I do want to discuss our church. During our small groups, the first question asked was to describe this community. The overwhelming descriptions of over 15 small group meetings, with around 300 people total, said that this church was a family. Over and over the words loved, family, home, welcomed, outreach, solid scripture, teachings, and generosity were mentioned to describe our church. We are a church, called to be the body of Christ together, to share our story, to share our heritage, to encourage each other on how to be the community of believers together. When Darrell and I first came to this church, in 2001, we were searching for community, for a way to strengthen our faith and a place to raise our children. We found that here. This church has embodied the descriptions given in the small group meetings. As we look at this sermon series, the story we tell, we have an opportunity to look at this church and see how this church fits into the story we tell about our faith.

Last week Ralph preached about the early church in Acts. How the Holy Spirit was given to us and is with us today. This Holy Spirit guides us, encourages us, convicts us, and is present with us. As a result of this gift, the early church came together after Jesus had ascended, and was instructed to repent and to be baptized. We have these same instructions, to repent and to be baptized, as we have already seen this morning! Now we look at a picture of how the early church actually was a church - how they did life together. Our scripture continues on in Acts 2:42-47 after over 3000 had been added to the first converts. Now,

Acts 2:42–47 NRSVue

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through 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.

Here is our glimpse of the early church! The New Testament gives us continued teachings and descriptions all throughout. But this first glimpse in Acts is such a beautiful representation of the church. The first verse, 42, gives us four activities which make up the community of believers.

Gospel Proclamation

Fellowship/Koinonia

Meals shared

Prayers

This scripture shows us how the early church was structured and how they did life together. Let’s look closely at the 4 mainstays.

Gospel Proclamation - they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teachings. The expressions of early Christianity were united by a common faith in Jesus and a common core of apostolic teachings. They held to the teachings from Peter and from James and John - the focus was on one Lord, Jesus Christ, one faith, one baptism. Our Apostle’s Creed spells this out in our faith proclamations from the early church and still today. This version was written around 340 AD and is similar to the one we may be more familiar with which was edited in the 8th century.

I believe in God the Father almighty; and in Christ Jesus His only Son, our Lord, Who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, Who under Pontius Pilate was crucified and buried, on the third day rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, whence he will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the remission of sins, the resurrection of the flesh, [life everlasting].

So the first hallmark of the early church was devoting themselves to the apostle’s teachings - the Gospel as we now know it. How do we do that here? Do you share scripture with others? Has the Gospel been proclaimed throughout this church's history? This church had it’s first service on Nov. 6, 1977 at the Singing Hills chapel which was at 281/46…we now have a Walmart there! In 1978, on Easter morning, the first service was preached here on this property. Since then, this church has built houses with Habitat for Humanity, raised up multiple preachers and sent them to the world! This church has been on mission trips to the city, surrounding areas, other states and other countries. We have discipled thousands of children through SS and VBS, through youth programs, adults engaging in studies to deepen their faith - outreach to our area, to flooding in Wimberly or providing aid for hurricane victims, Kairos prison ministry, Walk to Emmaus…the list goes on and on and I am not even touching on the entirety of it! The Gospel is proclaimed when you all minister to others, serve others, speak about your faith - it’s absolutely overwhelmingly beautiful how this body of believers, both here and in the church triumphant have shared the Gospel. Friends, you are part of that legacy.

The second hallmark of the early church was fellowship also known as koinonia in Greek. The followers of Jesus Christ came together as often as they could. Jesus was their commonality. They spent time together in the temple and at home - at church and at home - fellowship matters! Fellowship can be by serving together, hanging out together, staying after church to talk, small groups at each others houses, however it happens it’s about doing life with each other. One of the reasons I am so excited about our 5th Sundays together is that we have fellowship of the whole body of this church - all 3 services in one! You see people you don’t always get to see - and then with our men’s bbq and auction afterwards we have time to just be with each other and to share a meal (which is the next hallmark). How do you fellowship with other believers? Whether they are at this church or another, fellowshipping with believers matters. We live in a great community, and as we have raised our girls here, fellowship has mattered to us - it takes a village to raise a family, and for our family, we had the blessing of other believers pouring into our girls. This fellowship is what keeps us connected - we have Jesus as our connection. If you are searching for this fellowship, this connection, talk to any of our staff or ministry leaders about how you can plug in somewhere - there are so many places to be the church together and that connection does matter. God gave the new believers each other. True fellowship is more than having coffee and cookies together; (which are great!) but it is life together, even at personal sacrifice. The first believers gave their time, their possessions, their money—themselves, their fellowship—to each other.

Now we go to the next description of the early church - sharing a meal together. Communion is a meal which we get to share together - our 8:30 service has this weekly - the other two services have it on the first Sunday of the month. This is our invitation to step into the mystery of Christ and share a meal with each other. This meal matters! We also have those that serve homebound communion to those that aren’t able to attend church. Let’s not take this for granted that we are invited by Jesus to share in this meal with each other. Besides communion, we Methodists are usually pretty good at having pot lucks as well! Today our men’s group is cooking a special bbq which will help them fund-raise for the year. We also have a meal coming up on June 4th to celebrate Pastor SaraJane as she retires - sharing meals with each other is also a way to join in fellowship with each other. The early church broke bread at home with other believers - and ate their food with glad and generous hearts - they enjoyed this time together - this is a way of life for us as well - community is formed by this fellowship and meal sharing - and we have a lot of great cooks around here!

The last description of the early church is about prayer. Prayers for each other, prayers praising God and having the goodwill of the people - praying for others, wonders and signs being done - sharing all they had to meet others needs - prayer matters. It is something we are told to do without ceasing - start your day by telling Jesus good morning - ask Him to guide your day, to give you opportunities to show Him to others - all throughout the day go to God, with joys and concerns, with worries and victories, just go to Him! That’s prayer - seeking God, building a relationship, trusting Him in all things. At night, review your day, thank God for how He worked, where you saw Him, acknowledge the blessings you have been given. This is a praying church - we pray for our members, you all pray for us, we pray for our community and our world, we pray for discernment, we pray to know God more deeply. We are blessed to have monthly prayer meetings here as well - Joy and Jason lead a women’s and men’s group and it is a powerful time of being in the presence of God. Our next time is May 13th at 10am - you will be blessed.

Last week the last line of scripture Ralph read said that about three thousand persons were added on one day of preaching and baptizing. As this was read, I heard someone respond in the pews by saying “wow”. I love this reaction. 3,000 people is a big deal! It was huge - and as God’s Word reveals the happenings on that day we are right to still be awed by God’s goodness. The last verse of today’s passage says that “day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” I read that verse and see salvation, but more importantly I see that the Lord added. God does the work. It is not dependent on anyone else, but God does it. The Lord adds, we are to listen to the Holy Spirit and live accordingly. Do we trust God to do what He says He can do? We can plant the seeds of faith, but only God can water them. We can plant the seeds of the Gospel, God makes it come alive for others. We can be a community of believers, but our unity is in Christ - that is our faith - Jesus Christ! His birth, death and resurrection give us a way of living, of being the church, of trusting in His promises.

We can see how the Lord worked in the early church by bringing the church together and sharing the story. We are a church, Bulverde Methodist, called to be together, to share our story, to encourage others on how to be the church. So how do we be the church today? The answer is the same - we proclaim the Gospel, we have fellowship with each other, share meals with each other and we pray together. This is our church - our example from the words of Luke in Acts - the legacy we carry on to all we meet - the faith we share.

Sarajane shared this litany for our church:

Let us dream of our church...

Where all members know simply and surely God’s great love,

Where Jesus is very WORD, our window into God’s heart,

The sign of God’s hope and design for everyone,

Where the Spirit is not symbol only, but wind and fire in us all;

Gracing our church with a kaleidoscope of gifts and constant renewal.

A church in which...

Worship is lively and fun as well as reverent and holy;

Where people know how to pray and enjoy it - frequently and regularly,

Privately and corporately, in silence and in word;

Where people break bread, then break down walls, challenged by faith.

A church...

Without all the answers, but asking the right questions,

So deeply rooted in Gospel and tradition that, like a living tree,

It can swing in the wind and continually surprise us with new blossoms.

Let us dream of our church...

As a ministering community rather than a community gathered around a minister...

A church so salty and yeasty that it would be missed if no longer around;

Where there is wild sowing of seeds and much rejoicing when they take root,

But little concern for comparisons to others, or even survival.

And finally, let us dream of our people called peacemakers - who are open, caring, sharing the household of faith and discipling others as lives are transformed. Amen.