Ac 2:14a, 36-41

10 April 2005

3rd Sunday of Easter

“Try Another Street”

            Question:  how many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?  Answer:  four.  One to change the bulb, and three to say how nice the old one was!

            So began the sermon last month by Steve Boots at Presbytery Day, which was at North Presbyterian in Williamsville.  Get ready for this:  he is the Associate for Congregational Transformation in the Evangelism and Church Development Program Area of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  (Try fitting all that on a business card!)  Before taking his post in Louisville, he was a pastor in Minnesota.

            Rev. Boots was the featured speaker during the worship service at Presbytery Day.  It was a service filled with multimedia images.  He had some nice visual and auditory stimuli for the people in the pews, of whom I was one.  Yet oddly enough, his main focus was something quite low-tech!

            He started talking about all the churches he’d visited who present themselves as “friendly” congregations.  That would seem to be a very common and understandable aspiration.

            Still, our friend Steven was unimpressed.  He reached the conclusion that “friendly” churches are the ones where they say, “Welcome to our church”…and that’s about it.  Some don’t even bother to learn your name.  Rev. Boots stated flatly that churches shouldn’t be friendly; they should be hospitable.

            Hospitable churches make an effort to get to know you.  You might even be asked to join somebody for lunch!  That’s what I meant by his focus being low-tech.  It doesn’t require a satellite link-up or a huge plasma screen display in the sanctuary to be hospitable.  It’s a matter of the spirit.

            Speaking of the Spirit, today’s reading in the book of Acts presents the conclusion of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit has filled the disciples; they’ve spoken in tongues, and it’s caused quite a disturbance.  There have even been some onlookers who’ve laughingly dismissed them as drunk.  So Peter breaks it down for them.  He says it’s the fulfillment of something spoken by the prophet Joel, who said that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all people, not just Israelites.

            Peter, now empowered by the Spirit (and that makes all the difference!), ends his sermon on this note:  “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified” (v. 36).  Peter lets his hearers know that they and God have treated Jesus in very different ways!  After hearing his sermon—and especially that last bit—the scripture says that “they were cut to the heart” (v. 37).  They desperately ask, “What should we do?”

            Here’s where the bad news turns into the good news.  This is where judgment turns into gospel.  Peter speaks of repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Spirit.  He says that “the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away,” everyone called by God (v. 39).

            But the first link in that chain of events is to repent, to turn.  That word “repent” comes from a Greek word (metanoew, metanoeō) which literally means “to change the mind.”  When we repent, our mind is changed; our thinking is changed.  We are transformed.

And this signals a key theme in a booklet by Steven Boots, Living the Vision:  Congregational Transformation.  As the name suggests, it’s a pamphlet that deals with his particular area of interest, congregational transformation, or redevelopment.  “Some describe transformation as a ‘communal conversion,’” he says.  “That is, a congregation turns away [it repents] from preoccupation with its survival to focusing on Christ’s call to new possibilities for ministry, including outreach to new people.”[1]

When the people in our scripture reading listened to Peter, they were made aware of their need to turn, to change, to be transformed.  Their old ways had led them to a dead end.  They recognized in Christ new possibilities.  And the very fact that they were new possibilities meant that they were ones they hadn’t yet explored.

Sometimes we think that if we just had enough money, everything would be fine.  That may be true, if our only interest is keeping an institution going.  But Jesus calls us to new possibilities.  “Money is a tool that can help transformation take place, but it cannot create energy, passion, or a vision.  If you think money is the issue, ask yourself what would you do differently if you had the money?  Doing the same things over and over again will not produce different results.”[2]

            “Transformation is not working harder, faster, and smarter in the same direction.  It is about change and challenge, leaving the past and looking ahead.  It is about death and resurrection.”[3]  If that isn’t at the very heart of the Easter message of Jesus Christ, then I can’t imagine what is!

            During his sermon at Presbytery Day, Boots used the example of the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly.  At one stage during the metamorphosis, he said what exists in the cocoon is something in between caterpillar and butterfly.  There’s a creature in a kind of gel-like state.  At that point, it’s hard to tell what the result will be.

            That’s how a congregation in the midst of transformation is.  It’s in process; it’s on the way.  What it will look like isn’t yet clear.  No one can say for sure what form it will take—what its identity will be.  But it’s a necessary stage if it is to live.

            Change is something that most of us tend to resist.  Even those who like to pride themselves for being on the cutting edge of stuff have a lot more routine in their lives than they would like to admit.  The question really should be:  how adaptable are we?  Do we continue walking with Jesus into the future, or do we try to turn back the clock?

            Speaking of turning back the clock, who remembers seeing the movies The Sound of Music and Doctor Doolittle?  (I have vague memories of seeing Doctor Doolittle as a little kid.  I didn’t see The Sound of Music until I was an adult.)  The late actress Portia Nelson, who was in both of them, was a multi-talented person.  Among other things, she was an artist, singer, and writer.  I’ve included something by her on the back of the worship bulletin, from her book There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk.[4]

            Each of the segments of her poem can represent a stage in our own lives or in the life of a congregation.  Please turn to it and look at it with me.

I.          I walk down the street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I fall in.  I am lost.  I am helpless.  It isn’t my fault.  It takes me forever to find a way out.

II.          I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I pretend I don’t see it.  I fall in again.  I can’t believe I am in the same place, but it isn’t my fault.  It still takes a long time to get out.

III.         I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I see it is there.  I still fall in.  It’s a habit.  My eyes are open.  I know where I am.  It is my fault.  I get out immediately.

IV.        I walk down the same street.  There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.  I walk around it.

V.        I walk down another street.

            Think of the deep holes in the sidewalk that you have encountered.  Where are you in this poem?  How willing to learn from your mistakes have you been?

            Now think of the deep holes in the sidewalk that Westminster has encountered.  Where are we in this poem?  How willing to learn from our mistakes have we been?

            In our scripture reading from Acts, Peter pleads with his hearers, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation” (v. 40).  Now, just as back then, there are plenty of deep holes in the sidewalk that the world around us provides.  Our corrupt generation provides ample opportunity to be tripped up, to make mistakes.

            It’s not very often that I try to watch every episode of a TV series.  (Understand, “Star Trek” in all its incarnations is not a subject for discussion right now!)  I used to watch “ER” a lot, but if something came up and I missed a week, it wasn’t a huge deal!  Unfortunately, I caught the very first episode of “Lost,” and I don’t think I’ve missed any of it since.  At first, I thought it would be a ridiculous take-off on “Gilligan’s Island,” but in my humble opinion, it’s one of the few well-written shows on television.  Very quickly, it’s about the survivors of a plane crash on an island.

            Anyway, I said all that to say this.  At the end of the last episode this past week, one of the characters, Claire, who has been pregnant all this time, finally gave birth.  And she did that, amid less than ideal circumstances.  As a number of the people gather around Claire and her baby boy, a real sense of joy permeates the group.

            I especially noticed one of the characters, a guy named Sawyer; he’s supposed to be the “bad boy” on the island.  I don’t recall seeing him smile unless it was some variety of a smirk.  But in that moment, with mother and child in their midst, his face radiated with pure happiness.  He wasn’t trying to be cool.

            Peter tells his listeners to save themselves from their corrupt generation.  That’s directed to us, as well.  There are all kinds of things we can come up with, but that episode of “Lost” got me thinking.  We need to save ourselves from trying to be cool.  Every age group does it, in one way or another—even though the word “cool” may not be used.  We hide behind walls; we try to avoid those moments of being unguarded.

            But that’s not how the church should be.  That’s not the way of Christ.  Jesus didn’t try to be cool; he just was, anyway!

            Laying aside that stuff frees us from fear.  Fear makes a habit of telling us why things won’t work—why we can’t do things.  Fear tries to hold back others who do want to go forward.  Fear is the enemy of faith.  And on the matter of faith, here’s one last quote from Living the Vision.  “Think about becoming a congregation of missionaries rather than a congregation with a mission.  And be constant in prayer about everything.  God does answer prayers!”[5]

            Our scripture reading ends with this:  “So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were baptized” (v. 41).  These are people tired of the deep holes in their sidewalk, so to speak.  They’re trying another street.

back to home page