ACTS of Sharing (Acts 2:42-47)

Today is Sunday, May 3, the fourth Sunday of Easter.

Our scripture today comes from the book of Acts. The reading is only six verses long, but it provides a powerful glimpse of a community doing its best to actually live in God’s kingdom.

Acts 2: 42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, they worshiped together in the temple, then they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

What this community of Christians is doing here is putting into practice an idea that is present throughout scripture - namely, that if we are willing to share, there will be enough, and all needs will be met. 

It’s an idea rooted in the belief that God’s creation is good, and provides for everyone’s needs. It appears in the Exodus, when God provided manna in the wilderness.It is encoded into law through the Jubilee. It is reflected in the story of Elijah visiting the poor widow. And it is seen in the teachings and actions of Jesus - most especially, when he multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed thousands.

If we share what we have, there will always be enough. If we don’t hoard, but instead are generous, there will always be enough. If we act out of love, and not out of fear, there will always be enough.

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, God provided for them manna, food that they could go out and collect each day, as much as they needed…

As much as they needed, but no more…

If any person tried to collect more than they needed, the surplus would rot and become good for nothing.

But there was always enough to meet every person’s need.

It takes a great amount of faith to believe in this idea…the idea that, if we share, we will always have enough. 

That early community of Christians was demonstrating the greatness of their faith by having all things in common, and distributing all they had to each person according to their need.

They did this in response to the apostle Peter’s powerful preaching on Pentecost. Peter’s preaching encouraged people to completely change their hearts and lives. “Repent!” he said. “Turn to God, and be baptized. Get out of this sick and perverse society we live in, this society in which you are all caught up, and instead, live in God’s kingdom!”

And just in case there’s any doubt in your mind what it means to repent and live in the kingdom of God, as soon as Peter said this - as soon as he told the people to repent and give themselves over to God’s kingdom - 3,000 people committed themselves to this way of living. 3,000 people were baptized. 3,000 people agreed to devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to worship, to prayer, and to having all things in common.

And everything they had, they distributed out, according to each person’s need.

It is - as Peter said - a sick and perverse society in which we live. The blessings God has given us through creation are not received with gratitude, or shared according to people’s need. 

The blessings are hoarded. They are exploited. They are gobbled up by the greedy, who can’t get enough.

Even in this time of pandemic, when so many are suffering, care and resources are not being distributed according to the people’s needs. 26 million people are newly unemployed because of the pandemic. Millions more are poor - and have been poor, before this even started. Millions lack health care. 

All while our government passes bills which have as their primary focus the welfare of corporations, and the welfare of billionaires. Not the welfare of the people.

Since the pandemic started, the collective wealth of this country’s billionaires has grown by 308 billion dollars. They are profiting off this pandemic! But relief to the poorest, to those hardest hit, is too little, and too slow. 

It is a sick and perverse society that allows this.

Because our society is so focused on economic growth as the most important measure of success, people are dying. And among some of our leaders, that’s okay. They’re okay with some people dying, as long as we can get the economy going again. I watched William Barber’s sermon last week, and he lamented with great emotion the fact that we have too many people in power who are too comfortable with other people dying.

That’s what he said: We have too many people in power, who are too comfortable, with other people dying.

Because that’s the price of their greed. They don’t care that every person gets what they need. They only care that they get all that they think they deserve. They want their “more than enough.” They want their daily allotment of manna, and they want their neighbor’s manna, too. As much as they can get.

“Let the poor people have the same health care that I can afford? No way - I’m not sacrificing my abundance for their need!”

“Let immigrants and refugees find a home where they can safely raise their families, just as I’m safely raising my family? No way - I’m not going to make room for them so they can have what I have.”

“Sacrifice just a little bit of my ability to accumulate an obscene amount of wealth so we can effectively fight a pandemic that disproportionately affects poor people and people of color? No way - why would I want to do that?”

We want to do that - we should do that - because the kingdom of God demands that we do that. We should do that, because love of neighbor demands that we do that. We should do that, because the shalom we long for depends on us doing that.

It is a sick and perverse society in which we live.

It doesn't have to be this way. Politicians have made it this way. Voters have made it this way. Non-voters have made it this way. But it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Those early Christians found a way to live in which every need was met; a way of living in which people shared out of their abundance, and everyone had what they needed.

Unfortunately, this is not our reality. And we mourn that. We mourn because of the sick and perverse society in which we live. We mourn the deaths, even if our leaders don’t. Yes, some would have died anyway, no matter what we did, but a great number of deaths could have been prevented, if only our society valued lives as much as money. 

We mourn. We mourn a dysfunctional health care system. Some people with symptoms are too afraid to go get tested because they’re worried about how much treatment will cost and how much possible hospitalization will cost them. And because they are too afraid to get tested and get treated, the pandemic is made even worse.

We mourn. We mourn the lost opportunities, the cancelled events, the lack of social interaction.

We mourn. We mourn the despair, the lack of purpose, the emptiness that so many are feeling while they are confined to their homes.

And we mourn that the beloved community envisioned by the prophets and proclaimed by Jesus is still a long, long way off. The kingdom where God's abundance is shared so that everyone has what they need. The kingdom where every person, every life, is valued.

We mourn. 

But the vision remains. As the prophet Isaiah says, the word that goes out, the vision that is proclaimed, shall not return empty, but it shall accomplish that which God intends. [Isaiah 55:11] So the vision of the prophets, and the example of the apostles, is still active, and we know that such a life is possible. All we have to do is imagine it, and work for it.

This week I’ve been reading a book by Anna Woofenden called This Is God's Table. The book is about Anna’s attempt to start a new church in nearby San Pedro - a church that meets in an empty lot that became a community garden. 

Each week, worship takes place in three parts: First, garden work. Second, worship. Third, a community meal. And everyone, no matter who they are, is invited to work, to worship, and to eat.

In the book, Anna Woofenden writes: “What if everyone has something they are hungry for and everyone has something to offer? … What might happen in our food systems and our economic systems if we focused on collaboration and generosity, rather than the accumulation of wealth for a few at the expense of the many?”

At the Garden Church in San Pedro, one can catch a glimpse of the radical alternative that is God’s kingdom.

Now, some call this way of living - if enacted on a large scale - socialism. I couldn’t find the quote, but I know people have made that complaint to William Barber. “Are you a socialist?” they’d ask him. But for him, it’s not about socialism. It’s not about capitalism. It’s about what he calls “biblicism.” It’s about following the Bible. It’s about following God’s plan, God’s intention, for humanity. 

It’s about living in the kingdom of God.

Jesus called on people to repent, which means he called on people to change their hearts and lives, to completely transform their way of living.

Peter echoed that call in his sermon to the people on Pentecost. 

And in response to that call, 3,000 were baptized, and committed themselves to this alternative way of living. And, as we heard, in the days that followed, more and more were added to their number.

If you’ve been baptized, this is what that means. It means turning away from what Peter calls our sick and perverse generation, our sick and perverse society, and embracing whole-heartedly life in the kingdom of God.

If you’ve not been baptized, this is what you are invited to. A life that is based on sharing. A life that is based on compassion. A life that is based on justice. 

A life that is based on love. 

It’s not impossible. But it does require radical change. If we - like those early Christians - commit ourselves to the teachings of the prophets, the teachings of the apostles, and the teachings of Jesus… and commit ourselves to life together, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer,... then - by the power of the Spirit at work among us and within us - every person will have their daily bread, and every person will find a place at the table, and every person will have life in abundance… and the kingdom of God will be made real on earth, as it is in heaven.