Fourth Sunday of Easter
The reading from Acts today has been the justification of many things in the history of the church — from the monastic vow of poverty to the selling of all to give to the cult leaders in some repellant christian sects. Although it has been well interpreted in the case of some, it has been distorted by others for their own ends. And that is the issue to which I would like to speak this morning.
The distortion of the account from Acts arises, I think from the distortion of one’s own faith. This deformity of purpose happens even within the Church. And too often we say that the world outside the Church can do nothing but distort the way of life and create a way of desperation.
“They devoted themselves to the disciples’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.” This is the foundation of the common life for all the newly-baptised, for each one of us here today. We normally read this verse as suggesting four different elements of devotion: the disciples’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the prayers. This is a sturdy foundation for the life in the church, isn’t it? There is nothing that can distort the common life when all four elements are present. There is difficulty only when there is an absence of one element, or a great emphasis on one element. I would say these four corners of the building-up of the church are eternal, for they flow from the life Jesus led with his disciples. They all shared the teaching of the Rabbi, the man whom all addressed as “Rabboni” just as Mary did on that first Easter morning. Who else would we call our teacher? Only our Lord can claim that epithet, we confess that only Jesus can be the true teacher of the way of life.
Jesus also shared a fellowship with his disciples. What exactly is that fellowship? Is it the rather prickly “joining in” (which we too often see) with the rest of the community? I would say obviously not, because everyone joined in with Jesus, even Judas, the betrayer. In fact, one must say, especially Judas, the betrayer, for without that Kiss in the garden no one would know the messiah who had come.
Jesus shared himself with everyone, not just those who would found the church later . The fellowship of the disciples is a demanding and testing thing. We must be bonded with saints and sinners, but, who they are, only God knows. We must treat all with great courtesy, as though each other person were one of the greatest saints, for that is how Jesus must have treated his disciples. That is the way Jesus treated Judas and Peter, without prejudice even though he knew the pain which would come from each of them in the time around Good Friday. Judas betrayed him to the cross, Peter betrayed him to loneliness.
Everyone shared in the breaking of bread. Everyone who knew Jesus on those first mornings after the resurrection knew Christ in the breaking of the bread, as we are told elsewhere in the gospels. The Eucharist is THE christian celebration, for it was remembered from the very first that this is what Jesus did for us, and is doing with us, day by day in the sharing of the bread and wine of communion.
Eucharist means giving thanks. It is a prayer of thanks. When we celebrate the Eucharist together, we share in the mystery of our salvation. At that moment we should be full of joy, we should be full of awe. Eucharist is giving thanks for life, the life we know through our faith in Jesus Christ and the life we have been given through our birth and the rebirth of baptism. Eucharist is that mysterious renewal of our consciences, when we say “Thank, God” – for whatever it may be at that moment. We open ourselves up becoming something other than our usual, everyday selves. In giving thanks we become something new and alive. That liveliness must pour out of us in gushes, like the thankfulness when we realise that we have the opportunity to share a life with any who would care to accept the gift we offer, we need only think of our husbands and wives, those whom we call “beloved.” It is the liveliness which pours out when we overcome some hardship and want to tell others about our successful struggle. Like when you have been struggling with a particularly hard puzzle and when you solve it you are so happy . It affects how you behave for some time, doesn’t it? Don’t you beam (if only inwardly – though outwardly if only you realised it) when you have the answer. And if you are like that over a simple everyday puzzle, how much more do you beam when you have the answer to “life, the universe and everything,” that answer we proclaim in Christ. And certainly you proclaim the Eucharist – you must give a prayer of thanks for that answer, which Arthur Dent knew as “42”, but we proclaim as “Jesus Christ.”
Finally from our reading, there are the prayers which all said in common, the prayers which the service book tells us are to be said more importantly when we meet and gather together, prayers for everyone for the sake of body and soul. What more need be said about this than is said in the preface to our worship this morning. Prayers in common define what we are, who we are, and how we are. These prayers define us to the world and to ourselves. These prayers define our relation to the world and for the world; they define our relations to ourselves and for ourselves as well. These prayers centre ourselves in our world of meaning, focussing us on our Lord.
So, the four defining moments, the sharing of the teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread and the common or communal prayer act as the foundation of our true lives which we share with one another and offer up to the world in general with the joy of Christ in us. It may not be a broad grin, but there is something about us that overcomes all despondency and provokes us to love others just as we love ourselves.
The life of Christ is not something we keep to ourselves, it invigorates us to do more and more for the strangers ’round about us and ourselves. The life of Christ is the communal life of being-with the other in a positive and salvatory way, for we share life and salvation with everyone we meet day by day, in our smile, or even in our haggard look. Let us go forth with confidence to promote the four corners of the church throughout the world so that all will find themselves in a place where there is only the positive sharing of everything, our joys and our sorrows, our thrills and out pains. Let us never hold anything in because it is only through the sharing of fellowship, the giving thanks and remembering Christ as we break bread day by day that we can teach the way of life as future saints and disciples of Christ.