A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

speak, dear friend

Acts 5:17-26, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, January 24, 2010

This guy sees a sign in front of a house "Talking Dog for Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the back yard. The guy goes into the back yard and sees a mutt sitting there." You talk?" he asks. "Yep," the mutt replies. "So, what's your story?" The mutt looks up and says "Well, I discovered this gift pretty young and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my gift, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, cause no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies eight years running. The jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger and I wanted to settle down. So I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings there and was awarded a batch of medals. Had a wife, a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired." The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. The owner says, "Ten dollars." The guy says he'll buy him but asks the owner, "The dog's amazing. Why on earth are you selling him?" The owner replies, "'Cause he's such a darn liar."

When the church began, recorded in Acts, people gathered for worship in homes and they prayed. As scripture says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." Acts 2:42  They took care of widows and orphans. It was pretty simple. They heard about Jesus Christ, came to believe, and then in turn invited others to their home and into their faith. There really wasn't anything else but the basics: Hear, believe, speak. I don’t think Jesus could have envisioned a church with all the structure, institutions, and even politics that we see today, not that it is all bad. It's just that the basics are the basics for a reason. Without the foundation, the building stands on weak ground. 

In our scripture this morning we read how Peter and other apostles were arrested and put in jail. “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, and said. 'Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people the full message words of this new life.'” Acts 5:19-20 This passage has in it the challenging imperative, “Go, stand and speak.” This is the essence of God’s command for all Christians. The apostles were Christ’s witnesses. They told what they had seen with their eyes and heard with their ears. Their testimony created belief in the hearts of thousands of others and a movement was begun, which was destined to sweep through all centuries of time and touch multiplied millions of lives. We Christians of today have the same charge, “Go, stand and speak.”

When we talk about Christian witness, chances are, we are referring to one of two main categories of witness. We’re either talking about the public witness of the church to society and the world, or we’re talking about personally sharing our faith with someone. Almost any act of witness that comes to mind could be plugged into one of those two categories. The public witness of the church includes such things as church planting and evangelism, community and economic development, medical missions, disaster relief, food distribution, Christian education, social service or peacebuilding, speaking to the government, or to the larger society. And personal faith-sharing can also include a wide range of acts of Christian witness: talking to a neighbor about your walk with Jesus, long conversations with a friend at a coffeeshop, showing kindness to a stranger, correspondence with a pen-pal, simply speaking freely about your faith with persons you meet. All of these acts of witness, when carried out with sensitivity and sincerity, are important ways to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A group of middle school youth visited different neighbors to collect food for the local Food Bank. In one hour, 760+ pounds of food were collected. The youth returned joyful at people's generosity and amazed at what they had accomplished. Over pizza they traded stories. One kid shared that they knocked on the doors of several lovely homes with nice cars in the driveway where the people said, "We really don't have any extra food to give." One parent said, "A teacher friend of mine calls that poor talk: when people of means pretend they are just getting by." The vast majority were delighted to be asked to be a part of the effort.
          We mustn’t poor talk our relationship to God. We should not stop ourselves from speaking about our faith when the time is right. We each have our story, our reasons, no matter how little understood or seemingly important to someone else. It's your faith, and it's meant to be shared.

Back during Jesus' time, scribes were public speakers. They were extremely accurate and precise in matters pertaining to the law of Moses. AT that time, the terms scribe and lawyer were interchangeable. People learned the word of God from an articulate, educated, accurate, and many times sanctimonious lawyer. Tell me that wouldn't give just cause for timidity. A scribe would be a “hard act to follow.” After all, how could you and I compare to someone like that? What would give us the right to speak of God? And then Jesus showed up: “Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. 'Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?' they asked. 'Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us?” Mt 13: 54-55 Jesus astonished the people, not because of his great formal education, but because he spoke from the heart, with passion. He spoke what he knew. We in turn should speak from the heart. It's your faith, your heart, your story, which reminds me of Harry and Jack, two friends who argued their whole life about whether Jesus was white or black. As it happened, they both die the same day and as they approached the Pearly Gates they rushed up to St. Peter and asked him, "Please tell us, St. Peter, is Jesus black or white?" Just then Jesus walked by and said, "Buenos Dias." Not that we get everything correct....

Speaking of your faith can definitely be difficult and/or anxiety producing, so the best thing is not to worry about what to say. We each have at least a bit of the Holy Spirit in us, and the Spirit helps us to say what is true and good. Fact is, even when I preach, or when others preach or teach, we can only do our human best, and then we have to let the Spirit do the rest, that is, do the most. And just remember: there is no failure when we speak of our God or faith, even if you think you put your foot in your mouth or if you get a less than positive reaction from the listener. That's because just attempting to say something is a remarkable and good thing, when it comes from a good heart and for good reasons. Regardless of the outcome, speaking of Christ, speaking of God, talking about your church to others will always be a victory in the eyes of the Lord.

Still, you might be like many Christians afraid of sharing faith. You might buy into the old adage, “don’t talk about religion or politics.” You might believe that you don’t know enough. You might tell yourself that sharing the faith is for evangelists and/or fanatics. You might believe that faith is a personal thing and everyone has their own spin on it so it doesn’t do any good to share it with someone else. Nonetheless, sharing the story of where God is in your life is one of the most rewarding ways to live out one's faith. It is also a conversation that takes a bit of pre-thinking, or even planning.

If you really think about it, regular daily conversations offer opportunities to talk about your faith. Listen for open-ended comments, such as, “I wonder why life is like that,” or “Sometimes life seems so hard.” When possible offer a response. The best way to begin is with phrases such as, “I’ve come to think…” or “I don’t have the answer, but..” Expressing should be natural and should definitely come across naturally and easily. I would never listen to someone who changed his or her tone of voice when starting to talk about their faith. Avoid that, and don’t try to impress the other person with your knowledge. Remember, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide. As in other two-way communication, when we speak of our faith, we need to carefully gauge the other person’s response. Observe facial expression, verbal tone, and body language. If the other person seems to be closing down, you can end quickly, and say something like, "This may not be for everyone, but it is important to me." While we are often attracted to each other by our strengths, we nevertheless bond because of our weaknesses. One of the most important keys to sharing faith humbly and yet effectively is being willing to be honest about our own life’s struggles. Our faith doesn't make us perfect; it's because of imperfections that we have sought to live with God. Finally, most people join a church after being invited by a friend. When the time is right invite the person to attend church here. Tell them what makes it special to you. At least this way you let me do the work.

Find a way to know what you believe. We owe it to God to put some time and effort into making God's life in ours understandable to others. I have a feeling we too often downplay how much the Lord has seen us through, given us the strength, picked us back up, shown us the way, showered us with blessings, grace and mercy, delivered us from troubles of our own making, saved us from difficulties others were intent on casting in our path, bestowed us with loved ones, friends, work, kindnesses of all kinds, all this and untold more. So you've got the story, you've got the material, and you have the faith. Put God's actions, your life, into words, and let others know you know who has brought you this far, and will bring you home.

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