A blog by Jeff Farley at the Otisville - Mt. Hope Presbyterian Church, in Otisville New York.
Monday, October 12, 2020
On Fire: Speaking Truth from Acts 4:1-12 on October 11
When the Spirit moves, we go!
And when we go with the Spirit, things happen!
Last week we were talking about the man born lame who was sitting at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, who was healed, and then went into the Temple walking, and leaping, and praising God.
And I said, “It turns out that if healing is not happening in our community because the church and its people are not in the community… then the testimony of the church about the power of Jesus is without evidence!”
This is huge! This matters! This is essential!
If there is NO evidence of Jesus’ healing power, then no one will be listening to the church’s testimony.
This is gospel truth right here, so pay attention!
If we are too busy, if we are too wrapped up in our own stuff, if we are too wrapped up in what is happening in our isolated little church building to make a difference in our communities on Jesus behalf…
Then no one will be listening to our testimony about Jesus!
So, maybe, just maybe, while I don’t think God sent this horrible virus, it may be that God is using it to get the church and its people out the door of our buildings, so that we can engage in healing this world and thereby bringing the testimony of God’s love and power to it.
But…
Be aware, when we go outside the building, there may be those who will oppose what we are doing and saying.
Because sometimes, when we go and do and tell, others get upset.
Why?
Because sometimes change is uncomfortable and scary!
Sometimes change upsets the establishment, and can make them fearing losing their power and authority.
Sometimes when God starts to shake the tree, not only does the ripe fruit fall, but so does some of the rotten apples.
As happened with Peter and John.
They were still in the Temple with the formerly lame man, and were explaining to the people what had just happened, who Jesus was, and why they should put their faith in him and join the growing community of followers of Jesus.
And then the authorities came to get them.
They arrested them and took them to jail, because they were upsetting the carefully laid plans of the religious authorities, and were preaching that there was a resurrection of the dead.
This sounds crazy!
Because to our ears it seems like such an odd thing to be worried about, especially since there were some other sects in Israel that believed in resurrection.
But the Sadducees did not, as well as some others, and some felt that only the “official theology” should be spoken of in the Temple.
According to Luke some 5000 people had started following Jesus and become part of the faith community that was meeting with the Apostles because of what had happened to the lame man.
And some authorities felt that something needed to be done to squash this movement immediately and get things back under official control.
Imagine if the church in this generation, in this community, unafraid of the consequences, was bringing healing to so many lives that the officials nearby were worried that folks were no longer sick and struggling, and the church was growing too fast!
Too much traffic, people parking all over in weird ways, no food left at the stores in town as everyone went to get an egg sandwich after church.
Except that with COVID, that’s not what is happening in the building. Instead it’s happening online. Right now, that is where our impact in transformed lives is happening just as much as in person.
Where people on Sunday at 11:00am are hearing God’s word and being challenged to live transformed lives right where they are.
So, what if we decided that what we need to do, is not be shy, and careful, and just hope things go back to the way they were, but instead decided to go and bring God’s presence with power to the online community.
What if we decided transform our sanctuary into a studio with space for all the folks we need to help us be online?
Where instead of just poor John and Elizabeth squeezed into a corner, and Wendy at home doing the tasks of 6 or 7 people, that all seven tech people we need were able to make sure that every person who joins us online is invited in, greeted, connected, loved and given an opportunity to let us know what they need right now from God, so that we can pray and care and bring the Holy spirit’s power to bare in their lives!
So that we had room for an internet director, screen producer, in house sound person, internet sound person, camera operator, online hosts for Facebook, and online hosts for the Website and app.
Bringing God’s healing power to every person we meet so that we have an opportunity to share with them the amazing good news that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten son of God in whom you can place your faith and know that for all eternity you will be in his care.
Not just on the streets of Otisville, but to this whole broken world. So amazing that while the streets of Otisville are quiet and empty, the world is meeting Jesus because of this small unassuming sanctuary at the corner of Main and Orchard streets.
Because when the Spirit moves, we go! And when we go with the Spirit, things happen! And we have decided to go, no matter what stands in our way, just like Peter and John.
And all God’s people said, Amen!
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