St. Mary's Episcopal Church

The Reverend Beth Fain
May 7, 2006
Easter 4b: A spirit-filled fellowship and a carried-away church (Acts 4. 23—37)

Let us pray:

Sovereign God, ou made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit. Enable your servant to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand and heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. AMEN

The crowning evidence that Jesus was alive was not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.
Clarence Jordan

If a spirit-filled fellowship and a carried-away church is evidence that Jesus is alive, then the community of believers described in our lesson from Acts 4 this morning shouts loud and clear:
Alleluia Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed Alleluia!
Peter and John are in trouble again.
They have upset the leaders of the temple because they have healed a man lame since birth rather than give him money.
Then they preached about the One who had given them the power to do that healing.
All this even though they are unschooled, ordinary men who have done nothing more remarkable than be with Jesus.
Public pressure had allowed them to be released from jail, even though they told the leaders of the temple that they will continue to preach and teach in the name of Jesus.
“We can’t help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard!” Peter and John say. Back in community, after catching up with what has been going on in each others’ lives, the community begins to pray.
What a prayer it was!
At the conclusion, the place where they are meeting begins to quake, and the people feel filled with the power of God and begin to speak boldly about God. If that wasn’t enough, every one was united in purpose.
If that wasn’t enough, the people considered that what they owned as individuals belonged to the community of believers, and no one was needy.
If that wasn’t enough, even though they might end back in prison, the apostles continued to preach even more boldly the power of God.
Then to top things off, Barnabas and others sold property and brought the money and gave it to the apostles to use as they will.
Nice story. We say.
Yes, it is a nice story. Such a nice story that the author of Acts has similar stories of signs and wonders and proclaiming the Word with boldness nine different times.
Our passage today is only the second of the nine times.
That was then, we say. Now is now.
Yes. That was then. But I believe that it can be now. I yearn for it to be that way for St. Mary’s. That we could be described as a Spirit-filled fellowship and a carried-away church. Do you?
Wednesday I returned from my 10 day Women Touched by Grace retreat at Our Lady of Grace monastery outside of Indianapolis.
Where with 29 other women pastors and 80 or so sisters we gathered daily to pray morning and evening.
Some days we joined the sisters for prayers at noon.
One night we ate dinner in the monastery and then presented follies to thank them for their hospitality. I sang. With a group.
At Compline, night prayers, I “shared the Word”—that is, preached.
Another night the sisters challenged us to a basketball game.
We called our team, Little Sisters in Perpetual Need of Grace.
They soundly beat us women clergy.
Each morning, an Episcopal priest, Liz Canham, taught us women clergy about how to be spiritual mentors.
This is the sixth time we’ve come together in the past three years.
I am grateful to you for generously and graciously giving me time to go on these twice a year retreats.
I am thankful to the Lilly Foundation who pays the expenses of these retreats, which after our final retreat, a trip to Italy in November, will amount to about a $15,000. A gift for St Mary’s!
The sisters of our Lady of Grace Monastery are much like the earliest followers of Jesus described in Acts today.
In their own quiet way, they are a Spirit-filled fellowship and a carried-away church.
When the sisters of Our Lady of Grace enter the monastery, they give all that they own to the monastery, so that all is shared in common.
Being Benedictines, many of them have work in the world, and their salaries all go into one common monastery fund.
The monastery pays all their living expenses, their educational expenses, and their medical expenses. The monastery owns a fleet of cars which they use—though no one has “her” own car.
Clothes come from a common closet, mainly of clothes donated to the monastery. Most no longer wear habits.
Though there are an awful lot of Birkenstocks.
Personal items are bought in bulk.
Each sister receives $100/month for incidentals.
For things that we would likely put in our “needs” column:
Special shampoo. Clothing other than that provided by the monastery. Even coffee at Starbuck’s.
Just like us, the monastery’s heating and medical and gasoline expenses are through the roof.
Just like us, the sisters have to work to get along with one another. Maybe even harder since they are together more often than not.
Yes they are an Acts 4 community.
They pray faithfully.
They expect to see signs and wonders—though with a practical bent since they are from the Midwest.
They speak the Word boldly.
Much, much grace is upon them.
Yes, you say. They are nuns. They’ve given their lives to God.
Yes, I say. But we are baptized. We’ve given our lives to God, too.
The Holy Spirit is with us, and much, much grace is upon us, too.
Wednesday night, a night most of us don’t usually come to church, you are invited to come to St. Mary’s to worship and be part of an Acts 4 church.
Bishop Buchanan will be here and we will pray.
The Holy Spirit will be invited to come, and I promise that the Holy Spirit will show up.
One person will be baptized.
A dozen or so will confirm their baptismal promises.
New Daughters of the King will make a commitment to pray and to serve.
When we pray Wednesday night, will St. Mary’s quake?
Will we see signs and wonders?
Will we speak the Word boldly?
Will we have much grace upon us?
Will we be a spirit-filled fellowship?
Will we be a carried-away church?
Will we?
AMEN