Essential Church: Intro

Acts 2:42-47 Essential Church (Intro) Introduction: Good Morning Church! We miss you dearly. Though we are separated by distance this morning we are so thankful that our bond is stronger and deeper than any distance or situation. Our’s is a bond of the Holy Spirit, through the shed blood and broken body of Christ. We are the family of God, whether gathered or scattered. For some weeks now we’ve been talking about transition -going from orientation to disorientation to reorientation. The thing about transition is it implies going forward. We’re going forward to something new. A re-orientation, a renewal. But what that will be is still uncertain. Last week I mentioned how each of us need to be seeking God in this moment for our lives personally - asking that question - God where are you taking me, what is the deeper work in my life that you are wanting to do in this pruning season? In this season of disorientation where God is purging, sifting, and pruning all of us - We need to be seeking God for what is next. But it also goes without saying that there is a deeper work that God wants to do in his Church globally and in our own church family. We have not been able to carry on our normal rhythms at Refuge for the last six weeks, and we have no idea when exactly we will be able to do so again. As we lament the loss of many of the normal rhythms of our church and the Church at large, habits that we have cultivated or ruts that we have fallen into - We have been gifted this powerful redefining moment in order to ask - What is the Church? - Community of the Spirit of God What is essential to the church? Acts 2:42 - Jesus story; Jesus Life; Jesus meal; Jesus prayer (For the last season we have been focusing on what is essential to the follower of Jesus? Be with Jesus, Become like Jesus; Do what Jesus did.) It has been pointed out by many scholars and pastors that the early church was able to adapt so well to the many changes and challenges it faced and even historically that the church has re-emerged over and over again in different places all around the world because it has not held or been tied to a central location, or place. Jerusalem was not it’s center, Antioch was not it’s center, Rome was not/is not it’s center. America is not it’s center. When you read through Acts you see that the church dynamics radically changed from gathering of 120 to 5,000 in a day. From attending the temple and gathering from house to house regularly to being scattered abroad after the murder of Stephen. At times the church dynamics changed in a single day. Not only that but there were many times they had to adapt because of the direction that the Spirit was leading them whether in mission endeavors or the inclusion of the Gentiles. The church had to be adaptable and flexible to what the Spirit of God was doing, and yet it had to maintain its center of Jesus, the Gospel and the Kingdom of God. Looking at our own situation we can be tempted to hold on to a certain location, rhythm, or habit, but if we do that we might miss out on the deep work that God wants to do. In this season I keep coming back to Moses’ Psalm (Psalm 90) “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations." I want to be someone who is always after the presence, God I want to be where you are, and in the middle of what you are doing - even though it might be a journey through the valley of the shadow of death… The church also should be about that presence of God but in order to have that we need to be flexible in a time of uncertainty, able to adapt to and even bear fruit in seasons of drought - all the while staying on center. How do we do that? Liturgy. The early church used the word liturgy to describe its various acts and forms of worship. For those of us today the word carries connotations of high church traditions like, Anglican, Presbyterian or Catholic worship structures. Mark Buchanan in his book, The A Rest of God, says, “Liturgy originally meant a public work. Something accomplished by a community for the community. A town bridge, for instance, or a village well, or city wall: it was something built by the people and for the people. The oddness and awkwardness of the churches decision to import this word is even greater when we realize that they had a word for worship close at hand, a word in wide circulation within a religious context: orgy. Orgy now carries all sorts of sorted undertones and overtones. But in the days of the early church, it didn’t, or at least it was still in the background. Orgy described a public event that produced a private, usually ecstatic, experience. It was the word pagan religions used for their worship, regardless of how many people were involved, the emphasis was always squarely on the emotional experience of the individual. It was all about me. Not so with Liturgy. Liturgy is done by me – I am invited, perhaps required, to play a role - but it’s not about me. It’s about us. It is about the other. It’s purpose is to benefit the entire community to provide protection or access to all. One of the more common ways to use the word liturgy was in reference to bridge building. Liturgy then is to construct something that spans separate worlds and provides an efficient means of crossing from one to the other.” In a season of transition what we need is the bridge building work of Liturgy so we can transition well into the next season. The early church had a liturgy. And I believe it was their liturgy that helped them adapt and still remain on center through whatever life threw at them. It says in Acts 2 they devoted themselves to the Apostles doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. And throughout the ages this has been a constant liturgy of the church though the manifestation of it may take different shape or forms. It may seem random and off subject to talk about liturgy right now, but I don’t think so. In a season of such uncertainty of what our future gatherings will look like, and even how long that will last until the next thing happens - There is a need for each individual to think and act Liturgically - We need this bridge building. The Church after all is the community of the Spirit of God. A community. And the work that this community is called to is a work that is done by us, for us. For quite some time the Elders of Refuge have been talking about and praying through how we do community and mission outside of our Sunday gatherings and how we can better support our whole church in living out our discipleship to Jesus in our local community. Covid -19 and the Shelter in Place order has only helped solidify for us how necessary it is for us to move in that direction immediately. We will be organizing Refuge into geographical groups for fellowship and accountability, for prayer and for mission - giving us a context for practicing this Liturgy of the early church (More details on this to come). Doing so is not only healthy but will become necessary with the uncertainty of when we will be able to gather as a collective whole again. Through these groups we can follow the local and state requirements of gatherings of 10 or less for Phase 2 of the Governors plan, and potentially 50 or less for Phase 3. We like the early church want to be flexible and obedient to the call of God, so that whatever is next we are able to adapt by still holding on to and cultivating the essentials of the church, whether in large or small groups, whether gathered or scattered. So for the next weeks we will be looking at the essential Church as seen in Acts 2:42-47 really pulling back to see what the church is really to be about and how our habits, liturgies, and rhythms set the tone for our life as a community and followers of Jesus. For the next 4 weeks we will look at the liturgy of the early church: The Apostles Doctrine, The Fellowship, The Breaking of Bread, and the Prayers; focusing on how Jesus was and is central to the church and each essential element found in Acts 2:42-47. We hope through these studies we will collectively and individually be brought back to a beautiful simplicity that will produce a renewed vibrancy and potency for our lives as followers of Jesus and our call as witnesses to spread the Gospel and make known the kingdom of God.