A Lighter Love is All We Lift

 

A Lighter Love is All We Lift

 

Acts 4:32-35
4:32 Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.

4:33 With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

4:34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

4:35 They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

 

Too bad it didn’t last. After the resurrection of Jesus, the witness had much power, causing those early believers to be of “one heart and soul,” even to the point of surrendering their hold on their personal possessions. NO, it wasn’t “Communism,” or even socialism. They just, in the early moments of this miracle, took notice of those around them who were hurting because they didn’t even have the basics, while others had more than enough. “GREAT GRACE was upon them all,” which caused them to pool their resources—both well-to-do and even those LESS than well-to-do—so they could share them among all. The result? Everyone with need had enough, and even those who had enough, continued to have enough. Apparently, this lasted about a week.

 

Only a week beyond the miracle of Easter, here we are facing a sad fact about “the church.” Only a week beyond God’s offering of the Only Son to take away the sins of the world, shower us in “great grace,” and make possible the unity of all humanity, and we’re back to the status quo. Throngs rolled into our churches (in most cases) last week, and this week, they will declare a “worship holiday,” as attendance swoons downwardly to what is most likely the low week for the year. The enthusiasm for God has waned to the amount of chocolate left in your kid’s Easter basket. We have not only “left the building” (the church), but we’ve left behind much in the way of benevolence toward our fellow “man” (human community). Generosity leading to unity has already given way to selfishness leading to division and social stratification. We’re immediately back to some “having” and many “having not.” Love may have lifted us for a Sunday, but human reality and the self-centered guardianship of our financial and personal resources has returned to its seducing power. Donald Trump and his “God Bless the USA” Bible is back on the throne, for many people—why? Because Donald Trump will protect our personal worth like he does his own. What’s wrong with that, other than being selfish to the point that God MUST look the other way? Why is it so easy to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ when we think he is protecting our rights and our bank accounts, but so HARD, when the Real Bible suggests that he is NOT focused on this agenda with us? Our “love” is just not up to the heavy lifting Christ asks of us as followers.

 

As an older, retired person, I find it so tempting to eschew anything that wants me to sacrifice something. I was a denominational pastor, and really got paid much less than those in other professions and possessing three degrees including a doctorate. My life partner—due mostly to our offering ourselves to an itinerant clergy system—worked mostly part-time in her career, and acquired scant pension funds. Even with careful saving and the best strategies we could muster to get our two children through college with a minimum of debt, we retired to a comfortable, yet very “humble” existence. Compared to most of the world, we are probably quite wealthy. Held up against most of the people we served alongside, we’re probably not. And while I can attest to our satisfaction that our “plans” for retirement have gone well, and that we feel very blessed with being able to generally “maintain” our lifestyle, I am still haunted by this passage in Acts. Our “comfort” may very well mean that many others of God’s people are not “making it.” While this “aging” journey helps me understand why so many “old people” turn conservative, when it comes to their money, it doesn’t discharge us from the call of Christ to BE sacrificial with it, and sharing our resources to help others and further the mission of the Kingdom of God.

 

Seminary turned me into a Democrat. I was a small-town guy, raised in a Republican family. We were not money and “rights” crazy, but my family would generally balk at any suggestion from the pulpit that we were inarguably to be “our brother’s keeper.” After all, WE had to work for what we had, shouldn’t THEY? Of course, this patently overly simplistic “we” vs. “they” scenario overlooks the social dynamics of age, class, race, and the struggle that so many face in WORKING for what they have, too, but then finding that their work doesn’t seem to yield the same privilege that it does for me and my family. Why is that? Seminary introduced me to the idea that things like this cannot be answered by quoting a scripture verse or two, or by simple answers to very, VERY complex social and economic problems. Why hell, even the THEOLOGY behind why some struggle even after “working hard,” while others don’t was MUCH more complex than I had ever believed. Frankly, I came to understand that political parties had very few answers because power was still more their aim than prosperity for all. My social and theological “awakening” wrought by a seminary education AND the interaction with my peers sent me to the Democratic party as the “lesser of evils,” at least in these United States. 

 

I am still convinced that Democrats generally believe that America should be a land where no one has to be unsheltered, starving, or without healthcare. I also think they value education for all, including researching ways to make possible whatever “higher” education a person may need, be it a university degree or specialized training in one of the trades. Generally—GENERALLY—Republicans promote individual rights, “opportunity” for all (but with little recognition WAY too often for what “for all” may mean), and with an increasingly limited role for “government” (unless it is dictating what “rights” women and minorities may have). OBVIOUSLY, my summary is a gross simplification of “real world” politics, but I now vote mostly for Democratic candidates because they seem to be “for” more of what I read here in Acts 4. I believe there IS a “benevolent” role for government, and believe that “government” should be improved to do a better job of caring for the “least of these,” rather than eschewed.

 

I get really tired of those who say that government should not be worried about “the poor” because the CHURCH should take care of them. Fact is, the economies of scale say this is an impossible solution. A look at economic reality shows us that if EVERY dollar of EVERY offering plate from EVERY church, synagogue, or mosque in the United States were to be directed to caring for “the poor,” the total sum could barely cover the cost of the SNAP program (food stamps), which is little more than a “drop in the bucket” in lifting up those hurting souls largely “left behind” in our “greatest country in the world.” Only universal taxation, coupled with better ideas as to how to “redistribute” these funds through programs and training to help those who are not making it on their own, can assure that America is a “land of opportunity,” let alone the kind of “In God We Trust” nation we so often THINK we are. And even this pales alongside what happened in the early church in Acts 4.

 

Of course, THAT did not last long, as we know. Why? Because we are inherently selfish creatures. We do not easily part with what we think we have “earned” with little to no help of others. America is overpopulated with “self-made men” who believe this fantasy. My late father had an expression he would apply any time I or one of my brothers was bragging about something we had accomplished on our own: “Where are you getting this LINDBERGH stuff?” It was his way of saying something former President Barak Obama was saying, years later—if you are successful in doing ANYTHING in this country, you have built your success on the backs of those who went before you, on the backs of those who FOUGHT for our freedoms, and on the infrastructure that we all shared in creating, throughout our history. Of course, Charles Lindbergh KNEW his success was based on the work of many, including the Ryan Aircraft Company, his financiers, and all of the support people who backed his historic flight across the Atlantic. WAY too many of our successful “entrepreneurs” today DON’T understand this. 

 

As a United Methodist pastor, I was once asked by a local church leader, “Why do we have to pay these Conference apportionments? What do we GET for that?” My answer was simple—this is our “franchise fee.” It allows us to participate in all of the mission and ministry—worldwide—that is the United Methodist Church. It covers the “overhead” for much of our mission and relief work, so that when we raise funds to further a new mission field or cover cleanup from a natural disaster somewhere, every dime can go to the cause. Nothing gets “siphoned off” to cover “administration.” Our “franchise fee” provides the system and leadership that keeps our “business” alive, and our local “branch office” a healthy part of it all. Given that our logo—the Cross and Flame—is the most recognized religious symbol among Christian denominations, something we have done “together” must be working! It’s certainly not fully “Acts 4,” but it’s a start. This is also what saddens me about our recent “disaffiliation” chapter over grossly oversimplified theological issues. We “bombed the whole building” when just the plumbing needed fixed.

 

We’re never going to see an Acts 4 church again. Ever. We have sold out to our human selfishness, I’m afraid. Will God fry us for this? Probably not, because it is quite clear that God is LOVE, not flames. Even God doesn’t believe in this kind of coercion. Maybe THIS is the real lesson of Acts 4 for our time? If we could only convince ourselves as Christians that love is meant to LIFT ALL BOATS, not just those who think they deserve what they “worked” for? If only we could “tithe” the love with which we love ourselves to help others who need more support? Every time I catch a ray of hope, I hear another “Christian” proclaim support for a narcissist like Donald Trump, who has little love for anyone but himself, clearly. Donald Trump may just be the hood ornament of the car most Americans are driving, all the while we proclaim ourselves as a “Christian” nation. Acts 4 tells us this week that nations CAN’T be “Christian,” and that it will require personal sacrifice for any of us individuals to BE one! 

 

There was a time when I advanced the idea that the proper symbol for Christianity was the empty tomb, because of the hope it represents. However, I am now convinced that the cross truly is, because it forever reminds us of the sacrificial nature of God’s love for us, and of the individual sacrifice it calls us to manifest. This will never be a “comfortable” message; the cross should remain a hurtful, vexing symbol. One week into the Easter season, may we revisit the cost of the “great grace” we enjoy, Beloved. Amen.