“AN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY”
Acts 2:42-47
(04-13-08)

Our text this morning is part of the Pentecost story,
when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples of Jesus.
On that day about 3000 people were added
to the community of what we call the early church.
There was something compelling about what the disciples were preaching,
about what the Holy Spirit was conveying,
that made the church a place where people wanted to belong.
What makes a church compelling?
What kind of church do you want to belong to?
I know you’re here this morning, but is this the kind of church you want to be part of? Why? Have you ever given that question much thought?
What if I asked you to go and tell a friend about this church?
What if you were to go and try to give a reason why
they should come to Grace Church next week.
What reason would you give them as to why they should come here?
Is there anything particularly profound or compelling about us,
our worship, our ministry, our church,
that would make this church something that you would recommend to your friend?
Why would we bring a friend to church,
indeed, why do we come to church,
if the church doesn’t have something profound or compelling to offer?
Why would you come to worship on a beautiful spring day like today,
when you could be off playing golf, or hiking in the mountains,
or just spending a lazy morning having a cup of coffee,
reading the paper, catching up on a book, just hanging out?
Does the church, does this church, offer something
that the rest of our society doesn’t or can’t?
The truth is that the line which has separated the church from society
is getting more and more blurred each day.
And its not that society is becoming more and more like the church,
in fact it’s the other way around.
Today, someone who professes to being part of the church,
to being a churchgoer, to being a Christian,
is often hard to distinguish from someone who hasn’t a clue about the church
or has absolutely no interest in learning about the church or about Christianity.
Surveys have been done with youth who attend church,
which tells us that many young people, teenagers,
overwhelmingly admire their parents as the single greatest influence in their lives
and gladly imitate their religious beliefs.
And the same studies indicate that these young people actually like the church,
contrary to popular opinion.
But what the survey also showed
was that when they were asked to describe the particulars of their religious faith,
these young people were incredibly inarticulate
about even the most basic tenants of their beliefs and practices.
They don’t know how to articulate their faith,
they are at a loss to explain in any reasonable way, what the church believes or why.
The researchers conclude that most ‘Christian’ kids really operate
with a vague sort of Moral Therapeutic Deism:
be nice, don’t do bad, because some remote deity
wants you to be happy and feel good about yourself.
In other words, there is plenty of evidence to suggest
that a significant number of people who consider themselves Christians
are actually only tenuously Christian in any sense
that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition.
(Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton,
“Soul Searching, The Religious and Spiritual lives of American Teenagers”)

But if it is the case the teenagers imitate their parents religious beliefs,
wouldn’t it also be the case that the same sort of tenuous connection
holds for the parents of these teenagers?
Studies again have shown that there is much truth to such an assertion.
And so it should come as no surprise
that our ignorance about the particulars of our faith leads to the living of lives
which are hardly distinguishable from the non church going part of our society.
As I said, the line between the church and society
is getting more and more blurred each day
and its not society that is getting closer and closer to the church.
Divorce rates, incidences of abuse, stereotypical attitudes,
addictions to alcohol, recreational drugs, pornography,
the differences between church people and non church people are non-existent.

So why go to church?
There needs to be something compelling and profound about being part of this gathering,
something that sets us apart
from what people can find just about anywhere else besides the church.
And if its true that the church has become more and more like the rest of our society
and that we have become hardly distinguishable
from dozens of other organizations, service clubs and charitable groups,
then the task before us is even larger than we realize.
If there are generations of people, young and old,
who are dangerously ignorant of what their religious faith confesses and why,
then for the church to recapture our identity will take a great deal of intentionality.
What I mean to say is
that we can’t be the kind of community that Jesus originally called us to be
just by relying on what comes naturally to us.
What comes naturally is moral therapeutic deism,
be good, be nice, feel happy about yourself.
But Jesus calls us to be an intentional community.
One needs to be careful not to romanticize the early Christian church.
Our text from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
tells us about the early Christian community,
in the days following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
While at first, the description of the church seems so wonderful and perfect,
we need to keep in mind that very soon
the same problems that have plagued the church throughout history
will pop up in the early church,
greed, politics, exclusionary policies, divisions over doctrine and personalities,
debates over what’s acceptable and what’s not, who’s acceptable and who’s not.
But while we need not romanticize the early church,
we can still learn from the intentionality of the first Christian communities.

I say that they are intentional
because what is described as going on in these first communities
are as different as day is from night
from what would be expected of the society of their day.
Luke, the gospel writer, is also the author of Acts,
and he notes that after the Pentecost experience
the disciples were transformed
and many people heard their teaching and were baptized.
As they grew in number,
these people devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
They studied the teaching of God’s word together,
they were rooted in the word of God.
The first intentional act of the church
is to be rooted in, and knowledgeable of, the word of God.
Without moving out of our ignorance of what we believe and why,
we will continue to be destined for confusion and co-option
into how the rest of society functions.
Then our text says that they shared in fellowship, they ate together,
not only in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, but in all their meals,
and they prayed together.
I imagine the community taking time to pray for each other,
laying on hands and praying for healing.
When so much of the society around them was looking out for survival,
the first church communities were looking out for each other.
This sense of community is so critical,
it was then, it is no less critical now.

In ministry I have noticed with increasing alarm
the growing sense of loneliness which exists in this city.
Not only for the aged, but also for the young.
We always speak of how busy Calgary is, how busy all of us are,
but that busyness is no tonic for the debilitating loneliness
that so many people experience in this city today.
We can be surrounded by people all day long,
at work, on the bus to and from work, at school, where we live,
but we can be devoid of meaningful relationships.
We can be in touch with people,
face to face, over the phone, by email, what have you,
but at the end of the day,
we have made no intimate contacts,
there’s been nothing that has touched our soul,
that has refreshed our spirit.
Calgary, busy, booming Calgary,
the envy of the nation and of so much of our world,
is in desperate danger of becoming an isolating city,
a place where the pressure to succeed
outstrips the potential for enjoying the joy of living,
a place where the fanatic pace leads to families forgetting to visit their elders,
where trying to keep up with everyone else
means that everyone else becomes a rival,
a target to be overtaken,
someone with whom meaningful relationships of depth and substance
are nearly impossible to cultivate or nurture.
What if, in the midst of such loneliness,
the church were to become an intentional community?
What if the church were to be very intentional
about not being just like the rest of society,
not moving closer and closer to society,
but be a community which like the first Christian communities,
are set apart, are unique and compelling in what we do, what we say, what we stand for?

Imagine an intentional community
where material goods and resources were shared for the good of all!
You say, don’t be a communist,
but I say that part of what we do each week
in bringing our offering to use in God’s service
is very much an intentional act of sharing.
Each of us in invited to return to God
something of the bounty God has blessed us with in our lives.
For each of us that amount will be different.
There are some who will give much more than others.
But when that offering is collected,
it is used for the sake of the community,
this community and the community beyond these doors.
And it is not divided according to who gave what,
but rather, where the need is.
It takes an act of intentionality to give to something
where we don’t control the outcome.
But that’s the kind of community our Lord invites us to be.
An experiment presented people with two salary options.
First, you could earn $50,000 a year while everyone else earns $25,000.
Or second, you could earn $100,000 a year while others get $250,000.
Which option would you choose?
Studies show that most people choose the first option.
Having more than others,
and not just having a lot or even merely enough,
seems important to many people.
But God invites us to an intentional community
where having more than others
is replaced by sharing with others as any have need.

I know of a church whose practice is to give away the first 25%
of whatever comes in through their offering.
I wonder if we could adopt a similar approach to our budgeting?
What if our budget said that no matter how much we got,
how much you gave to the church,
the first 25% would be given away?
Would that be a compelling reason to tell a friend about coming to church?

What if you were to tell them that this church is a community
which shares in the breaking of bread, in eating together?
I know of churches where after each Sunday service,
the entire congregation sits and shares lunch.
I know that you might be thinking that for a small congregation of 50 or so
that might be feasible, but certainly not for us.
One church I know of does this each Sunday
for a congregation that numbers close to 1000 people.
It’s a lot of work, but its done intentionally.
Its not something you’d do if you tried to reason it out
or do a cost benefit analysis of time and energy.
But its something we could consider
if we were to look at caring for people
who live with incredible loneliness in the midst of this busy city.
Its something we could do to combat the isolation
and lack of quality time that people experience,
something that would provide people with the knowledge
that there is a place, there are communities
where people care for you and care about you.
Its something we could do intentionally
to give people time and opportunity
to cultivate and nurture meaningful relationships.
Would that be a compelling reason to invite a friend to church?

Its not that we as Grace Church should or ought to
necessarily do the things that I have spoken of.
There are other churches that already do these things and they do them well.
But whether we do these things or something else, the question is,
how does the Holy Spirit lead us and inspire us
to become an intentional community and to be intentional people?
What do we do and what can we do
to be compelling in our witness as God’s community,
as Christ’s church, as the people of God?
What’s so compelling about us that people would stop and take notice?
Is there anything compelling about a community or people
who look, speak and act just like everyone else?

My friends, I know that there is much intentionality in our community already.
I know that in our worship and in our ministry,
God’s word guides us and is central to all that we do.
I know that in many of our mission and fellowship areas,
we are so very intentional in reaching out
and caring for the lonely, the vulnerable, the poor and the hurting.
There are many things that you could share with your friends
if you wanted to invite them to come and see why the church should be an option,
maybe even the first option on a Sunday morning like today.

And yet, I invite us, and I’m pretty certain, God invites us,
to be even more intentional.
Led by the Holy Spirit,
convicted in our knowledge of God’s word,
may we as God’s family
give people a profound and compelling reason
to become part of Christ’s body and community
as we praise God and earn the goodwill of the people.

And to God be the glory, now and forevermore, Amen.