Acts 4:1-31
September 6, 2009
Adam J. CopelandHow Can I Keep From Singing?
In the story from Acts this morning, Peter and John told the authorities: "Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard." (4:19-20)
There are many gifts of the spirit: wisdom, creativity, intellect, joy, humility, empathy -- but what Peter and John display in Acts 4 is plain stubbornness. There’s no other way around it. Peter and John healed a man who had been crippled for life, and they got caught making a ruckus about it. So the authorities dragged them in, they spent a night in jail, and at their arraignment the next morning they refused to do things quietly. If anything, Peter and John were even more stubborn. In the face of the authorities they said: Do what you like, say what you like, you be your own person, but we, we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.
It’s not too often that stubbornness is a trait worthy of praise--just ask Megan--so we must be careful here. In fact, as the story progresses Peter, John, and their friends meet together and pray for boldness, asking God, "Really, is this what you had in mind?" After all, they say, did not the authorities in this very city just kill Jesus for stubbornly following God’s commands? Looking at it one way, Jesus was crucified, in large part, for his stubbornness. So they wondered, how far must they go? How stubborn must they be?
Well, God answered--as God does--with an earthquake, and Peter and John got the message loud and clear. Stubbornness for the gospel was their holy task.
But let’s be careful, this gift of stubbornness -- the words that cannot be kept quiet, the people that cannot be kept from singing -- is not just about stubbornness of any sort (sorry Megan). Peter and John are clear: "we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard." And what they had seen and heard was Jesus Christ.
Now that’s gospel talk. If we weren’t straight-laced Presbyterians we might even call it testimony. Peter and John surely had seen and heard many things in their lives, but what they couldn’t keep bottled-up was what they had seen of God, what they had heard of Jesus’ work in the world, where they had seen the Spirit moving in their midst.
So what have you seen, what have you heard?
[ The choir sings the first verse of the anthem:
My life flows on in endless song:
Above earth's lamentation,
I catch the sweet, tho' far-off hymn
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing;
It finds an echo in my soul--
How can I keep from singing? ]So what have you seen, what have you heard?
Through a mission trip with this congregation I saw Piedras Negras, Mexico, a border town a group of us visited with Korey a few years back. In Piedras Negras I saw extreme poverty, I saw Presbyterians at odds with Roman Catholics, I saw a Mexican father planning another perilous border crossing because it was the only way he could figure to feed his family. I saw youth and adults from this congregation working for and playing with sisters and brothers in Christ born a few miles south of the border that threatens to define their lives and ours. I saw relationships formed. I saw a shelter built. I saw Christ in the stranger’s guise. I saw the Spirit moving in that place.
So what have you seen, what have you heard?
• I’ve seen a Cold Night Shelter in a church basement turn into a year-round city homeless shelter.
• I’ve heard the Carol Choir and Choristers sing to God with joy and gladness.
• I’ve seen character built on the preschool playground.
• I’ve heard creation sing "alleluia" when solar panels began to responsibly use our resources and God’s.
• I’ve seen the font full and the table spread for countless people to taste and see that the Lord is good.
• I’ve heard a Taylor and Boody organ lead God’s people in their heart song.
• I’ve seen marriages and funerals and this congregation, in countless ways, seek to discern what God is doing in this place.
But, what else have you seen, what else have you heard?
I ask because I’ve also seen death and disease, hardship and struggles. I’ve seen a denomination continue to shut out our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. I’ve seen the church function more as a bureaucracy than as Christ’s body in the world. I’ve seen the richest nation on earth refuse to care for the least of these. I’ve seen state budgets cut funding for the poor and the vulnerable while cutting taxes for the rich and the mighty. I’ve seen Christians take a nation to war by bearing false witness, then advocating torture with secret memos. I’ve seen a deep financial crises, crises of faith, and mothers crying to feed their children even two meals a day. I’ve seen the powers and principalities pushing, always pushing us away from our better selves and I’ve gone right along with them.
So, I’m almost scared to ask, what else have you seen and heard?
[ The choir sings the next verse of the anthem:
]What tho' my joys and comfort die?
The Lord my Saviour liveth;
What tho' the darkness gather round?
Songs in the night he giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
When the storms gather round it surely is easier to grasp something else than cling to God.
When what we see and hear seems almost antithetical to God’s good purposes, it’s easy to stop singing the song at all.
When our spirits grow dim and Christ’s passion seems far away, it’s simple to give up living in response to God’s grace.
But there is hope in this old story from Acts, for Peter and John were not super heroes, but simple followers of Jesus like you and me. The text says they were "uneducated and ordinary" guys, but companions of Jesus, companions who stubbornly spoke about what they had seen and heard.
And when we look at this story, actually, it’s relatively basic. Peter and John just opened their mouths and told people what they knew about Jesus -- what he taught, what he did, how he died, about the resurrection. These may not have been educated guys -- they sure as heck didn’t go to seminary -- they certainly might have been thought of as ordinary in their time for their task was not saving the world -- Jesus had already done that -- or even really doing anything more complicated then stubbornly telling the people around them about what they had witnessed in the world.
And, thank goodness, that’s a good enough place for us to start as well. Telling the old old story. Singing the song. Testifying to what God is up to in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
Sometimes we can get caught up in the overwhelming needs of the world and forget that serving God all starts by just being aware of our surroundings, looking and listening and perceiving what God is up to in the world. Sometimes that realization comes to us in the quiet of personal devotions. Sometimes we see need community in which to see God--fellow seekers keeping watch for God’s activity in the world.
But when you see it, when you hear it--then, simply, pass the news around. Spread the word. Don’t let the authorities keep you quiet, but be a stubborn Christian for the gospel. And if you don’t see it today, that’s ok. Keep putting yourself in places where God and God’s people gather. And wait, with an open mind and heart. But when you get a glimpse, and you will, follow the lead of those uneducated ordinary Christians before us and do not stop speaking about what you have seen and heard.
[ The choir sings the final verse of the anthem:
]The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
A fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am His!
How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm,
While to that refuge clinging;
Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
Note: Adam Copeland, the preacher of this sermon, was ordained to the ministry of the Word and Sacraments later on the same Lord's Day. He now serves the First Presbyterian Church of Hallock, MN.
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