Last week there was a special election in Montana, and in a
spectacle unlike anything we have seen before, one of the candidates grabbed a
reporter by the neck, slammed him to the ground, and punched him. Or, at least
that was what he said. There was no
video of this. There was an audio recording which sounded shocking enough. Initially,
beyond that, it was the word of the reporter against the word of the candidate,
who had a completely different account of what happened.
But later, we heard from three eyewitnesses who were in the room
and saw the whole thing. They said, yes it really happened, and even provided
more details. At this point it became much more awkward for this candidate, and
harder for him or anyone else to say that it didn’t happen. The man was charged
with assault – and then he won his election, so it wasn’t a completely bad day
for him. I do wonder now if, once he gets to Washington, his colleagues will
want to give him a wide berth. Just in case.
If you ask a trial attorney, he or she will probably tell you
eyewitness testimony is not reliable. Even when witnesses feel quite sure their
recollections are accurate, they might be completely wrong. There are many
reasons why this happens in trials, such as the length of time that passes
between an event and a trial, or the anxiety a witness is experiencing at the
time of the event, or the effect of having been prompted and asked leading
questions that influence one’s recollections. It is certainly fallible. Nonetheless,
in daily life, eyewitness testimony is a powerful thing and we rely on it a lot.
In this story from Acts, Jesus is counting on it. He is relying
on his followers to be his witnesses, not only in Judea, but to the ends of the
earth. They ask him a question about what he will do and he responds by telling
them what he expects they will do. Their reaction is unsurprising; we would
have done the same: they just stood there, speechless.
These first followers were not quite ready to carry on the work
without Jesus. They were pretty good followers, but at this point they did not
know how to be the leaders of this movement. They probably didn’t even understand
what Jesus wanted from them. What did it mean to be his witnesses? What were
they bearing witness to? How were they supposed to do it?
They were being asked to carry the good news to the ends of the
earth, but they did not even understand what the good news was. They still thought
the good news is that the land of Israel will be restored to greatness. This is
what they asked him when they gathered together. “Lord, is this the time when
you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They had no concept, yet, of how
far and wide will be the consequences of his redemptive death and resurrection.
Again, I have to say, we would very likely not be any different.
This is outside the realm of what they have experience with. And
they can’t quite discern the shape of what they are being asked to participate
in.
When the angels ask, “Why are you still standing here?” they
don’t know what they should be doing. But the question suggests that they
should be doing something other than what they are doing. So they do what they
know – they return to Jerusalem, to the upper room. In fact, they do what they
need to do.
There is a time for every matter under heaven and this is a time
to wait. Wait for the power of the Spirit that will come upon you. Wait for the
moment when you will know what it means to bear witness, and you will be
empowered to bear witness. Wait, but this is not a passive waiting.
During this season of Easter, we have been talking about the
ways Jesus draws us closer to him and closer to one another. We have
contemplated the stories of his post-resurrection appearances to his friends
and followers. We have remembered the stories of how he walked beside them,
drew near enough to touch them, spoke to them. We have recalled some of the
things he taught his disciples earlier, which make sense now in a new way. We
have seen that there is no way we can draw near to Jesus without drawing nearer
to one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, for as the Apostle Paul would
say, we are, collectively, his body and each individually members of it.
Let us recall some words from the gospel lesson we heard last
Sunday, from the 14th chapter of John when Jesus said to his
disciples, “Because I live you also will live” for “I am in my Father, and you
in me, and I in you.” Our relationship with Christ gives us life inseparable
from him, but also, inseparable from one another, who are all collectively, in
him. We must nurture this communal life.
Our life together is made stronger by taking time to do things
together. In addition to our worship gatherings, we make time for fellowship
after worship each week. We have groups that gather together regularly, like
Presbyterian Women, the sermon roundtable, Sunday school classes, Jam, and
choir – for spiritual support and learning. And, we work together for the sake
of the world, like our weekly tutoring program and various other projects.
Coming together in work and play and worship are important
things for us to do as the body of Christ. They draw us closer to God and
closer to one another at the same time. Yet, there is something important in
this story that we are likely to miss – something that is as important, or more
important, than other things we do.
When his followers
returned to Jerusalem they went back to the upper room, where they gathered
together with some others of his followers, where they all constantly devoted
themselves to prayer.
I am afraid that too often prayer is an afterthought for us. I
am afraid that too many of us share the opinion that prayer is best left in the
hands of the professionals, and that for the rest of us it is sufficient to simply
make our prayer requests. I am afraid that too many of us believe that one’s
prayer life is strictly private business. And I am afraid that this is true for
too many congregations in our denomination and other mainline denominations.
When I did a google search on the subject of praying together, I
came up with a lot of material from Baptist churches and some from charismatic
churches. But nothing from any churches like ours.
You might want to push back right now and remind me that we have
a lot of prayer in our worship service. And you might remind me that we have a
policy of praying before and after every church meeting. And you are right, but
it’s not enough. We need to devote ourselves to prayer.
You see, Jesus’ first followers were lost, just as we are lost,
when it came to the matter of responding to his call to bear witness. They
stood dumbly, waiting for who knows what. It took some nudging from the angels
to get them moving, but then they did something right – something truly necessary.
They devoted themselves to prayer.
If they had not devoted themselves to prayer, they would have
been unable to make a faithful decision about replacing Judas who had betrayed
Christ. If they had not, they would not have been ready for the Spirit when she
blew in that room a week later, on the day of Pentecost. If they had not, they
might have drifted off, somewhere else, unable to even see the point in
remaining in Jerusalem any longer.
It was the power of praying together that made these men and women
ready to receive the Spirit and able to respond to Jesus’ call to be his
witnesses to Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
It is by the power of praying together that we will be ready to
receive the Spirit and able to respond to Jesus’ call to be his witnesses to
Huber Heights and to the ends of the earth.
It is prayer that connects us with God. Without it we are just a
gathering of nice people that like to be together. With it we are the body of
Christ. And we have words to say, stories to tell, the gospel to share in
powerful ways.
Last week, I shared with you how we gather the preschool
children together here for Children’s chapel. Let me tell you, now, what
happens when we pray. When I say, “let us pray,” and begin to offer a prayer, I
hear all these little voices around me praying too. They don’t need me to give
them the words – they have their own words and they are unafraid to offer them
to God.
Are we unafraid? Now is a good time to begin shedding any fears.
Prayer is merely a conversation with God. Among friends. About whatever is on
your heart.
Now is a good time.
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