Easter 4-A, 2020
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10
Reverend Becki Dean
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers”
The Acts of the Apostles’ is our most comprehensive history of the spiritual and political movement that gave birth to the early Christian church. Today’s passage has become the symbol of the early Christian community. It is a peek into how the faith of the early church was built. Today’s reading from Acts gives us a set of guidelines on what we need to do to live our lives as Jesus lived his. These few verses are like a little book of directions. They help us answer the question; as Easter people, how do live?
In Chapter 6, Stephen, along with six other disciples, were selected by the 12 apostles to be responsible for the early church’s feeding ministry. The apostles were spending all their time preaching, teaching, and praying. The church was growing so rapidly that the Greek widows and orphans were being neglected in the daily food distribution. So, we are told, the apostles laid hands on seven men of good standing and “ordained” them as the church’s first “deacons.” From the Greek, diakonia deacon means literally one who serves and their job was to serv e the widows and orphans.
Stephen is described as a man “full of grace and power.” Eventually the religious authorities became so threatened by Stephen that they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. In Stephen we see that to believe in Jesus requires not just believing certain things about Jesus, but living as Jesus lived. It was living this life that cost Stephen his life.
In the first verse from today’s reading, we learn that the first Christians had a set of four practices that nurtured their lives and helped them not only to believe certain things about Jesus, but to live as Jesus lived. This is the earliest listing of what came to be known as the “marks” of the church; characteristics that identified the church as the church beyond confessing Jesus as Lord. It is God’s grace that causes growth, but these were ways of nourishing the early Christians’ spiritual life in Christ. These marks have not changed in over 2000 years.
First, they “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings.” Maybe something like Bible study. A mark of authenticity and health in a church is what it does with the writings of those early Christian leaders. We are all called to explore the texts, to dwell in scripture, a practice that has been passed down to us from our ancient brothers and sisters.
We Episcopalians’ take this very seriously. In worship we read an Old Testament lesson, a Psalm, a lesson from the New Testament and the Gospel every week. We spend more time dwelling in the Word than most traditions on Sunday morning.
But we are also to spend time exploring scripture throughout the week. That idea can be intimidating for some of us. Maybe we don’t grasp the many different styles of literature and poetic language much less comprehend the numerous depths of its meaning; we can’t remember what we read much less memorize and quote scripture chapter and verse. What’s important to understand is that it’s not about total scripture recall or even complete comprehension. It’s about putting forth an active effort. We might be surprised how much we do remember once we decide to devote ourselves the apostles’ teaching on a regular basis.
The second thing the early Christians did was to “devote themselves to fellowship.” A mark of authenticity and vitality in a congregation is the quality of our relationships and our efforts to include others in those relationships. Devotion to fellowship translates to radical hospitality. This kind of hospitality takes work. It’s part of St. Michael’s mission statement: “Celebrating God’s beauty; Loving God’s people; Serving God’s world.” We serve God’s world every time we introduce ourselves to someone, every time we invite someone to coffer hour and adult forum, when we invite our wider community to join us for our annual Fall Fest, when we participate in our outreach feeding programs, when we pray for others, or join together for the spaghetti dinner or the pie auction, and in so many other ways.
Radical hospitality means paying attention to the newcomers in our midst helping them find their way. On more than one occasion I have introduced myself to someone thinking they were new only to be told they’ve been a member for 15 years! However, I console the egg on my face by telling myself it is always better to ask and be wrong than to leave someone feeling unknown and unloved. When we are devoted to fellowship people are made to feel they are part of our community. They leave feeling encouraged and supported. Listen to some of the words of inclusivity in the Bible: Love one another, encourage one another, be kind to one another, comfort one another, inform one another, fellowship with one another, confess your faults to one another, forgive one another, pray for one another, minister to one another, bear one another’s burdens, and the list goes on. This is the radical hospitality that Jesus taught the disciples and was carried forward and held on to by the early Christians. Male or female, Christian or Jew, Black or white, physically limited or athlete. Everyone is welcome. Radical hospitality is inclusive.
Third, they devoted themselves to “the breaking of bread.” Is this a reference to a pot-luck dinner or to the Eucharist? I think the answer is yes. Certainly “breaking of bread” alludes to the Lord’s Supper; as community of faith we are spiritually fed by the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. The promise of Jesus through the breaking of the bread transcends words. The Eucharist avails itself to all of our senses. But we will miss it if we are not devoted to it. As we heard from Jeunee last week, Jesus made himself known to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus when he broke bread with them. In Acts this action recalls the significance of centering these meals on Jesus in some meaningful way, whether it is a formal Eucharistic meal or an informal spaghetti dinner.
Fourth, the early church “devoted themselves to prayers.” More than a part of worship, prayer is for each one of us. It gives us the opportunity for personal communion with God. Notice that it is prayers plural and not prayer singular that the early community is devoted to. It seems that the earliest Christians may have been learning some form of set prayers – The Lord’s Prayer, The Psalms, and probably others. We know that there are so many ways to pray and not any wrong way. To be devoted to prayers, individually and as a community we must pursue prayer intentionally.
The early Christians worshiped daily and ate their food together with glad and generous hearts. Their numbers grew, almost exponentially, because people saw in how they lived a way of living that made them say, “This is the way God wants life to be.”
The manifestation of the early church is found in these four marks of the church; the teaching of the apostles, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. These marks were the early church’s response to the voice of the Good Shepherd. They knew his voice and they followed.
My 12-year-old granddaughter has a sheep. She named Mimi. Mimi is what is known as a bummer lamb. Her mother rejected her and so she came to live at the farm. She immediately attached herself to Darby and Darby to her. To this day Mimi will come only to Darby’s voice. I can stand and call her all day long and she won’t even look at me. But Darby calls Mimi and Mimi knows her voice.
The early church knew the voice of the Good Shepherd. And they knew what God was calling them to do. As a church community 2000 years later it is humbling to know that we are still called by the Good Shepherd to devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Amen!